In November 1938, the SS commander Heinrich Himmler ordered the construction in Nazi Germany of the only concentration camp built specifically for women. It would be called Ravensbruck. Selma van der Perre tells Witness about the horrors of life in Ravensbruck, including experiments on women and children, and how she survived. Photograph: women at Ravensbruck concentration camp (Credit: Das Bundesarchiv)

In the 1940s the Royal Navy intercepted dozens of Jewish refugee ships trying to reach British-controlled Palestine. It was part of British government policy to limit Jewish immigration to Palestine. Witness hears from Alan Tyler who served as an officer onboard HMS Chevron, patrolling the Mediterranean sea. (Photo: The ship 'Jewish State' docking at Haifa in October 1947. The Jewish refugees on board were sent to Cyprus by the British authorities. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In the 1990s the Cuban economy came close to collapse after the fall of the Soviet Union. The end of the millions of dollars in Soviet aid meant power cuts and severe food shortages on the Caribbean island. Some of the first private businesses started up under communism. We hear from Juan Carlos Montes, who opened a small restaurant at home to make ends meet, but was arrested by the communist authorities. (Photo: Due to severe fuel shortages in the 1990s, a Cuban peasant is forced to use...

In November 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a plane flying from the US city of Portland to nearby Seattle. He demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. ‘Cooper’ later jumped from the aircraft and has never been seen again. The case remains one of America's biggest criminal mysteries. We hear from the co-pilot on the flight, Bill Rataczak. (Photo: Artist sketches of D.B. Cooper. Credit: FBI)

In late November 1979, a mob inspired by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini set fire to the US Embassy in Islamabad. Those inside fled to the steel lined safe-room to await rescue, which took several hours to come. We hear from Marcia Gauger, an American reporter who was trapped inside. Photo: Pakistani troops resting outside the burnt out US Embassy in Islamabad 1979 (BBC)

In autumn 1953, a new literary magazine was launched in London that would become the magazine of choice of the English-speaking liberal intelligentsia. The magazine was called Encounter. And fourteen years later, it would emerge, it had been funded by the CIA as part of a cultural Cold War. Photograph: British poet Sir Stephen Spender, co-editor of Encounter, a year after he resigned when it became clear the magazine had received CIA funding (credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)

In 1973, Erica Jong, a young feminist author from New York, wrote a groundbreaking novel about female sexuality, called Fear of Flying. Photo courtesy of Erica Jong

Indian film star Shabana Azmi remembers playing a lesbian in the controversial Bollywood film, Fire, in 1998. (Photo: Shabana Azmi. Credit: AFP)

In 1986, dozens of Kenyans were detained and accused of belonging to an underground opposition movement called Mwakenya. They were taken to Nyayo House - a government building in the centre of Nairobi - and secretly tortured. Many more were arrested by President Moi’s government in the years that followed. But it was not until he left office that the full details of Kenya’s torture chambers emerged. Witness speaks to Wachira Waheire one of the former detainees. (Photo: Wachira Waheire...

On 13 November 2001, the Taliban administration collapsed in Afghanistan. Northern Alliance fighters, aided by American air strikes, had driven the Islamic fundamentalists from power. Monica Whitlock has been speaking to Afghan writer, Aziz Hakimi about life under Taliban rule. (Photo: Residents of Kabul listening to music on the radio in November 2001. Credti: Associated Press)

On 12 November 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on independence activists in East Timor's capital, Dili. British cameraman Max Stahl filmed the attack on unarmed demonstrators in the Santa Cruz graveyard. (Photo: East Timorese activists preparing for the demonstration. Copyright: Max Stahl)

Romany of the BBC was a pioneer naturalist broadcaster of Roma Gypsy origin. His programmes were popular in the UK in the 1930s and 40s. Dina Newman explores his life and his work. Photo: Romany and his spaniel Raq. From the family archive

Following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984, India was gripped by anti-Sikh riots. Thousands of people were killed. One Delhi suburb, Trilokpuri, saw the worst of the bloodshed. Hear from survivor, Mohan Singh, and Rahul Bedi, one of the first journalists to reach the affected area. PHOTO: Mohan Singh in his home in Delhi (Credit :BBC)

On 9 November 2005, three hotels in Jordan's capital were targeted by suicide bombers. Nearly 60 people were killed in the country's worst terror attack. BBC journalist Caroline Hawley was in one of the bombed hotels and she has returned to Jordan on the 10th anniversary of the bombings to speak to a couple whose wedding celebration was torn apart by a suicide bomber. (Photo: Nadia al-Alami and Ashraf al-Akhras on their wedding day, before the attack. Courtesy of the family)

In November 1975, a huge crowd of Moroccans marched into the desert colony of Spanish Sahara to claim it from Madrid. About 350,000 people took part in the Green March, which is now considered one of the key events in the history of Morocco and the wider region. Seddik Maâninou covered the Green March for Moroccan TV. (Photo: The Green March. Credit: Getty Images)

On 7 November 1917 Lenin and his Bolshevik party overthrew the Provisional Government led by Alexander Kerensky. Dina Newman presents Kerensky's comments from the BBC archive. (Photo: Demonstrators gather in front of the Winter Palace in Petrograd, formerly St Petersburg, during the 1917 Russian Revolution. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In October and November 1942, the Allies fought a famous battle against German and Italian troops close to the small Egyptian village of El Alamein. General Bernard Montgomery, the British commander, knew that victory was crucial. But his offensive was in danger of stalling almost as soon as it began. Witness speaks to Len Burritt who was then a 24 year old wireless operator with the British Seventh Armoured Division. (Photo: A German tank is knocked out and British troops rush up...

Using archive recordings we tell the story of Britain's most famous hangman. During the 1940s and 50s, he was responsible for the execution of some of Britain's most notorious murderers and was sent to Germany to hang more than 200 Nazi war criminals after WW2. He said he was always determined to treat prisoners with dignity and respect whatever their crime. He initially appeared to support the abolition of the death penalty. Photo: Albert Pierrepoint at home, 1973 (Credit: Getty Images)

In the 1930s, many parts of Britain were suffering the effects of the Great Depression. But conditions were particularly harsh in the town of Jarrow, in the north-east of England. In 1936, two hundred men marched the 300 miles from Jarrow to London to protest against mass unemployment and to demand that new industries be established in their town. They called it the Jarrow Crusade. Witness delves into the BBC archives to hear the voices of the marchers. (Photo: Marchers on the...

In 1930, the USSR created a Jewish Autonomous Region in Siberia, as a homeland for Soviet Jews. Dina Newman talks to someone who grew up there. Photo: Birobidzhan, the Jewish capital. Courtesy of Birobidzhan Regional Museum

In October 1929, Wall Street crashed and the greatest depression the world had ever seen began. Harry Leslie Smith tells Witness his story of growing up in extreme poverty in the north of England, and how his sister died of TB in a workhouse infirmary, too poor for proper medical care. Photo: unemployed men queue for work at a dockyard during the Great Depression (Credit:Fox Photos/Getty Images)

World-famous prima ballerina Alicia Alonso talks to Witness about her long and successful career on the stage, and how in 1959 she founded the prestigious Cuban National Ballet. (Photo: Alicia Alonso courtesy of A. Alonso)

In 1945 the English physicist was exposed as a nuclear spy for the Soviet Union. Alan Nunn May had been working on Britain's top-secret nuclear project during WW2. Witness hears from his step-son, Paul Broda. (Photo: Alan Nunn May. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In October 1945, countries ratified the founding charter of a new organsation, the United Nations, that it was hoped would ensure there was never a world war again. Earlier that year thousands of delegates from around the world had met in San Francisco to hammer out the charter. Witness talks to two people who worked for the UN that year; and to historian Stephen Schlesinger. Photo: a delegate from Saudi Arabia addresses the UN's founding conference in San Francisco (Credit: the UN)

In October 1975, 90% of all women in Iceland took part in a nationwide protest over inequality. Vigdis Finnbogadottir, later Iceland's first female president, talks about that momentous day. (Photo Credit: The Icelandic Women's History Archives)