The Darkest Hours

Kaitlin Roig-Debellis is the first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School who saved her entire class of fifteen six- and-seven-year-olds from the tragic events that took place on December 14, 2012, by piling them into a single-occupancy bathroom within her classroom, mere feet from the brutal and indiscriminate massacre taking place outside the door.

Hamas’s 7 October murderous rampage through southern Israel provoked a major hostage crisis and a devastating war. More than 32,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliatory attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli operations, intended to root out Hamas, have left much of the territory in ruins.

December 1942 saw the bloodiest Christmas in the history of mankind. From the islands in the Pacific to the China front, from the trenches in Russia to the battlelines in North Africa, in the skies over Europe and in the depths of the Atlantic, men were killing each other in greater numbers than ever before. The Holocaust continued, and innocent civilians were murdered by the thousands throughout the evil Nazi empire, even as the perpetrators celebrated the birth of Christ.