50 Detailed World War II Fiction Writing Prompts: Historical Story Ideas for Writers

Compelling Historical Fiction Ideas for Writers, Novelists, and History Enthusiasts

Looking for inspiration for your next World War II historical fiction project? This comprehensive collection of 50 detailed writing prompts spans the entire war—from resistance movements in occupied Europe to survival in the Pacific Theater, from Holocaust experiences to post-war recovery. Each prompt features fully developed characters, specific historical contexts, and central conflicts ready to be expanded into short stories, novels, or screenplays.

Whether you’re a novelist searching for your next book concept, a creative writing student working on historical narratives, or a history enthusiast exploring the human stories of WWII, these meticulously crafted prompts offer rich starting points for compelling fiction. Dive into the moral complexities, untold perspectives, and dramatic scenarios that defined one of history’s most consequential conflicts.

The Enduring Significance of World War II in Literature and Collective Memory

World War II remains one of the most pivotal events in modern human history, reshaping geopolitics, technology, social structures, and moral frameworks across the globe. The conflict’s unparalleled scale—involving over 30 countries, resulting in 70-85 million casualties, and introducing the world to industrial genocide and atomic warfare—created a watershed moment that continues to influence our contemporary world nearly eight decades later.

For writers and readers alike, WWII provides an inexhaustible wellspring of human drama where ordinary people faced extraordinary circumstances, making impossible choices under unimaginable pressure. The war’s moral clarity in opposing fascism, combined with its moral ambiguities in how that opposition manifested, creates a complex backdrop for exploring timeless themes of courage, betrayal, resilience, identity, and the human capacity for both tremendous cruelty and profound compassion.

Historical fiction set during this era continues to captivate audiences because the stakes could not be higher—for characters, communities, and civilization itself. Through these stories, we process collective trauma, preserve crucial testimony, and extract meaning from chaos. As firsthand witnesses diminish with time, thoughtfully crafted historical fiction serves as a vital bridge connecting future generations to the lessons and legacies of this transformative period.

Disclaimer: All characters in these writing prompts are fictional and not intended to represent specific historical individuals. While these prompts are set within authentic historical contexts and may reference actual events, organizations, or locations from World War II, the characters, their specific circumstances, and their personal narratives are invented for creative purposes. Any similarities to real individuals are coincidental. Some prompts may draw inspiration from general experiences or roles that existed during the war (such as resistance fighters, concentration camp survivors, military personnel, etc.), but they do not depict or claim to represent the lives of actual historical figures.

Resistance & Underground Movements

The Cafe Double Life – Marguerite Lefèvre runs a quaint Parisian café that has become a regular gathering spot for Nazi officers seeking wine and entertainment. Behind her polite smiles and perfect service, she operates one of the most effective resistance networks in the city. When a perceptive Gestapo officer begins to notice inconsistencies in her behavior, Marguerite must orchestrate her most dangerous operation yet while under intense scrutiny. Each night she serves the enemy, each day she works to destroy them.
The Courier’s Path – After witnessing her family’s deportation to Auschwitz, 19-year-old Eliza Kaczmarek abandons her medical studies to join the Polish underground. Utilizing her innocent appearance and perfect German (taught by her university professor father), she becomes a courier transporting vital intelligence across heavily guarded borders. When she’s tasked with infiltrating a Nazi administrative office to steal documents revealing upcoming deportation schedules, Eliza must confront both external dangers and the consuming hatred that threatens to destroy her from within.
Fallen Chessboard – RAF intelligence officer James Sinclair parachutes into occupied France to coordinate with resistance fighters before the Allied invasion. Upon arrival, he discovers his contact has been captured and likely tortured for information. With no way to verify which resistance members remain loyal and which have been compromised, Sinclair must establish a new network while evading a manhunt specifically targeting him. His only ally is a mysterious French woman who may be his salvation—or his executioner.
The Young Wolves – In occupied Amsterdam, five high school students—none older than 17—form their own resistance cell after witnessing Nazi brutality firsthand. Led by the calculating Pieter and resourceful Hannah, they begin with small acts of defiance: distributing forbidden newspapers and painting resistance symbols. Their activities escalate to sabotaging German vehicles and eventually helping hide Jewish families. Their youth provides perfect cover, but their inexperience breeds mistakes. When one of their parents discovers their activities, the group faces exposure from an unexpected direction.
The Reluctant Traitor – Wehrmacht Captain Friedrich Weber’s disillusionment with the Nazi regime grows as he witnesses atrocities on the Eastern Front. After his Jewish childhood friend’s family is taken, Weber begins passing information to Soviet partisans. As his rank rises, so does the value of his intelligence—and the danger of his position. When tasked with rooting out a suspected informant in his own command, Weber must investigate himself while maintaining absolute composure among comrades who would execute him without hesitation if discovered.

Home Front Experiences

The Harvest of War – The Sullivan family’s small Pennsylvania farm transforms after their oldest son joins the Marines following Pearl Harbor. Led by the indomitable matriarch Eleanor, they convert operations to support the war effort, planting victory gardens and exceeding government quotas. When Japanese POWs are assigned to help with their harvest, Eleanor faces hostility from neighbors while developing an unexpected connection with a prisoner who reminds her of her son—now missing in action in the Pacific. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter discovers love letters revealing her mother’s own complex past during the First World War.
Riveting Change – Claire Atwell reluctantly takes her husband’s position at a Bristol aircraft factory after he enlists in the RAF. Facing open hostility from male colleagues and management who believe women don’t belong on the factory floor, Claire gradually earns respect through sheer competence. When production problems emerge and aircraft begin failing in combat, Claire suspects deliberate sabotage. Her investigation pulls her into a dangerous web of industrial espionage where she discovers the saboteur may be the one person who’s supported her from the beginning.
Ration Runners – In a London suburb hit hard by bombing and shortages, four seemingly proper housewives establish an extensive black market network to help their community survive. Led by former socialite Victoria Hamilton, who uses her pre-war connections with farmers and merchants, they navigate increasingly dangerous operations as their network expands. When a desperate police inspector—whose own family benefits from their goods—is pressured to shut them down, Victoria must decide whether to disband their operation or take even greater risks to help their neighborhood survive the darkest days of the Blitz.
Beneath Barbed Sky – The Nakamura family—respected orchard owners in California’s Central Valley for two generations—are given seven days to sell their property before being relocated to Manzanar internment camp. Teenage son James, born in America and fiercely patriotic despite the government’s betrayal, clashes with his traditional father who counsels dignified acceptance of their situation. Inside the camp, family dynamics fracture further when James applies to join the all-Japanese American 442nd Regiment while his sister secretly corresponds with a white American soldier she met before internment—relationships that expose the painful contradictions of their circumstances.
The Windermere Assignment – Ten-year-old Londoner Lily Shepherd is evacuated to the Lake District after her neighborhood is devastated in the Blitz. Placed with the aristocratic but eccentric Hartwell family in their imposing manor, Lily observes strange midnight gatherings and visitors arriving via the lake rather than the main road. When she discovers hidden radio equipment and maps, Lily must determine whether her host family is engaged in espionage for Germany or something else entirely. Her investigation reveals a shocking operation that makes her question everything she’s been taught about the war and Britain’s allies.

Military Operations

The Alpine Detour – After their reconnaissance mission in Northern Italy goes catastrophically wrong, seven Allied soldiers from different backgrounds—American, British, Canadian, and Free French—find themselves stranded fifty miles behind enemy lines. Their journey to safety is complicated by a rescued Italian Jewish family they can’t abandon and a wounded German officer who knows the safe paths through the heavily patrolled mountains. As winter descends on the Alps, the impromptu group must navigate treacherous terrain, partisan conflicts, and their own prejudices, forming unlikely bonds that transcend national loyalties.
The Wolves of Stalingrad – Renowned Soviet sniper Yelena Pavlova has survived three years of brutal warfare with 309 confirmed kills, becoming a propaganda symbol for Russian resistance. Assigned to train a new generation of snipers during the desperate defense of Stalingrad, she selects Nadia, a teenage girl from Moscow with uncanny marksmanship but no combat experience. As they stalk German officers amid the city’s ruins, Yelena recognizes disturbing aspects of herself in her protégée’s growing coldness. When Nadia begins taking increasingly risky shots, Yelena must confront whether she’s creating a hero or a monster—and which one she has become herself.
The Drowning Eagle – Oberleutnant Klaus Hoffmann commands a Type VIIC U-boat in the increasingly treacherous waters of the Atlantic. A brilliant naval officer but private skeptic of Nazi ideology, Hoffmann watches as Germany’s advantage in the submarine war diminishes. After rescuing a survivor from an Allied merchant vessel his U-boat sank, Hoffmann’s conversations with the Canadian sailor—conducted in secret from his fanatically loyal first officer—trigger deeper doubts about the war. When he receives orders to attack a clearly marked hospital ship, Hoffmann faces a decision that will either brand him a traitor or implicate him in a war crime.
The Forgotten Battalion – The 370th Infantry Regiment—an all-Black combat unit despite Army segregation policies—fights its way through Italy, liberating villages while enduring racism from the military hierarchy that denies them recognition and adequate supplies. Lieutenant Marcus Washington, a former law student from Howard University, documents these injustices while leading his platoon through increasingly dangerous missions. When his unit is assigned a near-suicidal objective after white units refused the assignment, Washington must balance his duty to his country, his men, and historical truth, preserving evidence of both their heroism and their mistreatment for a posterity he may not live to see.
The Final Flight – After completing 29 of their required 30 bombing missions over Nazi Germany, the crew of the B-17 “Lady Luck” prepares for their final operation before returning home. Captain Robert Novak struggles with sending his exhausted men—now more family than crew—on one last potentially fatal mission. Their target: a heavily defended aircraft factory deep in German territory. When mechanical problems force them to drop behind the formation, making them vulnerable to fighter attacks, buried tensions within the crew surface. As they fight their way to the target, flashbacks reveal each man’s journey to this moment and the promises waiting at home—if they can survive one more day.

Intelligence & Espionage

The Enigma Variation – Mathematics prodigy Catherine Spencer joins the codebreakers at Bletchley Park after her Cambridge studies are interrupted by war. Assigned to the impossible task of breaking Germany’s supposedly unbreakable Enigma cipher, she discovers a pattern in naval communications that everyone else has missed. As Catherine races to develop a method to exploit this weakness, her superior takes credit for her breakthrough. Forced to choose between recognition and the war effort’s secrecy requirements, Catherine faces another crisis when she suspects a security breach is putting her work—and British naval convoys—at risk. The pattern in the code might save thousands, but only if she can convince someone to listen to a young woman in a male-dominated environment.
The January Man – Pierre Rousseau has spent three years cultivating his cover as a collaborator while actually passing German military intelligence to British handlers. As preparations for the Allied invasion intensify, both sides increasingly rely on his information. When Gestapo agents investigating a security leak begin to focus on his network, Pierre receives contradictory orders from his handlers: the British want him to feed false information about the invasion plans, while his French resistance contacts need him to warn of imminent German operations against their networks. With D-Day approaching and pressure mounting from both sides, Pierre realizes someone has betrayed him—but determining which side has set him up means choosing where his true loyalty lies.
The Curator’s List – Jewish art historian Dr. Samuel Berger assumes a false identity and remains in Paris after the occupation, documenting the systematic Nazi theft of artwork from Jewish collections and museums. Working as an unassuming museum assistant, he secretly photographs stolen masterpieces and records their destinations as they’re shipped to Germany. When given an unexpected opportunity to join the Nazi art cataloging unit through his expertise, Samuel gains unprecedented access to their operation. His meticulous documentation could help recover thousands of artworks after the war—if he survives. As he becomes trusted by the German art experts, Samuel walks an impossible line between gathering crucial intelligence and becoming complicit in cultural genocide.
The Norse Connection – In neutral Sweden, American diplomat Ellen Sorenson utilizes her Scandinavian heritage and language skills to establish an intelligence network monitoring German troop movements through Norway and Baltic shipping. When a series of her assets across Northern Europe are exposed and captured, Ellen suspects a mole within Allied intelligence. Her investigation leads to a prominent Swedish businessman with connections to both the Nazi regime and Allied intelligence services. As Ellen works to expose the double agent, she discovers evidence of an imminent German operation that could change the course of the war in the North Atlantic—information she can’t share without revealing her unsanctioned intelligence operation to her increasingly suspicious superiors.
The Voice of Deception – Richard Fleming, a British voice actor with an uncanny ability to mimic accents and specific individuals, is recruited by SOE (Special Operations Executive) for an audacious deception. After months of training, he impersonates a captured German general in radio transmissions, feeding disinformation to enemy command. The deception works brilliantly until Fleming recognizes subtle changes in the responses suggesting the Germans have identified the ruse. As preparations for Allied operations in Sicily depend on his continued credibility, Fleming must improvise increasingly dangerous communications. Meanwhile, he grows uncomfortable with the moral implications of speaking as a man who may have been executed upon discovery of the impersonation, blurring the lines between acting and complicity.

Civilian Survival

The Berlin Basement – The Schulz family—secret Jews passing as Christians for generations—have managed to remain in Berlin by maintaining elaborate false identities and helping the German war effort. When their building is damaged in an Allied bombing raid, they shelter in their basement alongside their neighbors, including a dedicated Nazi Party official and his family. As days stretch into weeks in the increasingly dire conditions of the basement shelter, maintaining their secret becomes nearly impossible. When their teenage daughter begins developing feelings for the Nazi official’s son, the family faces impossible choices about truth, survival, and what remains of their identity after years of necessary deception.
The Warsaw Pharmacist – Tadeusz Nowak operates the last functioning pharmacy in the Warsaw Ghetto, using his permission to acquire medical supplies as cover to smuggle food and weapons to resistance fighters. When his name appears on a deportation list, Tadeusz continues his clandestine work while hiding in a series of secret rooms built into the ghetto’s architecture. As the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, his pharmacy becomes both a medical center and strategic planning location. Treating wounded fighters at night while maintaining a legitimate business by day strains Tadeusz to breaking point, especially when a sympathetic German officer begins frequenting his pharmacy—an officer whose wife is dying from a condition only Tadeusz knows how to treat.
The Leningrad Symphony – During the 900-day siege of Leningrad, concert violinist Irina Petrova joins the city’s radio orchestra as they attempt to maintain cultural life despite starvation and constant bombardment. When the orchestra receives the score of Shostakovich’s new “Leningrad Symphony,” they commit to performing it despite their diminishing numbers and strength. Irina navigates daily survival—standing in bread lines, melting snow for water, avoiding bombing raids—while practicing a demanding piece that has become symbolically crucial to the city’s morale. As orchestra members succumb to starvation and cold, those remaining redistribute the parts, learning new instruments if necessary to ensure the historic broadcast happens, creating art in defiance of annihilation.
The Manila Hotel – American expatriate Sophia Wheeler refuses evacuation from the Philippines, choosing to remain at the historic Manila Hotel where she’s worked for fifteen years. When Japanese forces occupy Manila, the hotel becomes command headquarters for the Japanese administration. Sophia and the remaining staff continue operating the hotel under occupation, creating a surreal environment of forced normality amid atrocity. As conditions deteriorate and Filipino resistance intensifies, Sophia uses her position to smuggle medicine to American POWs while gathering intelligence from conversations overheard in the hotel’s grand lobby. When liberation approaches in 1945, Sophia becomes caught in the brutal battle for Manila, protecting civilians sheltering in the hotel’s ballroom as the structure is destroyed around them.
The Alpine Passage – Swiss schoolteacher Margrit Weber lives in a remote village on the border with occupied France. Though her country remains officially neutral, Margrit begins guiding Jewish refugees across the mountainous border after witnessing French police handing families over to German authorities. Creating a network of safe houses within Switzerland despite the official policy of refusing Jewish refugees, Margrit enlists her students to watch border patrol schedules and create diversions. When Swiss authorities begin investigating her activities, coinciding with a severe winter storm that strands her on the mountain with a group of children fleeing France, Margrit must find a new route while confronting her country’s complicated relationship with the surrounding conflict.

Pacific Theater

The Jungle Radio – Australian radio operator Thomas Keegan is stationed in the dense jungles of New Guinea, maintaining vital communications for Allied forces fighting the Japanese in brutal terrain. When his unit is overrun during a surprise attack, Keegan escapes with his radio equipment and finds himself alone behind enemy lines. Setting up a hidden observation post, he begins transmitting Japanese troop movements to Allied command. As weeks pass, Keegan forms an uneasy alliance with local tribespeople who have their own complicated history with both Japanese and Australian forces. His mental state deteriorates from isolation and tropical disease, making him increasingly uncertain whether the voices responding to his transmissions are real or hallucinations.
The Emperor’s Translator – Half-American, half-Japanese Akiko Tanaka works as a translator for the Japanese diplomatic corps in Tokyo, secretly horrified by the military government’s actions but trapped by her position and mixed heritage. When assigned to translate increasingly desperate peace feelers from moderate Japanese officials to American contacts, Akiko becomes an unwitting conduit for communication that could potentially end the war before an invasion of Japan. Suspected by hardliners and under constant surveillance, she encodes additional information in her translations while navigating the dangerous factional politics of a regime preparing for national suicide rather than surrender. As American bombers reduce Tokyo to ash around her, Akiko races to preserve crucial documents that might prevent a final catastrophe.
The Bataan Surgeon – U.S. Army doctor Major Robert Fletcher establishes a field hospital in the Philippine jungle during the desperate retreat down the Bataan Peninsula. With dwindling supplies and mounting casualties, Fletcher performs increasingly innovative surgeries while mentoring Filipino medical students pressed into service. When surrender becomes inevitable, Fletcher must decide whether to evacuate with the last boats or remain with patients who cannot be moved. His choice leads to the infamous Bataan Death March and imprisonment in a Japanese POW camp where he continues practicing medicine with improvised tools and smuggled supplies. As the brutal camp commander takes interest in Fletcher’s medical knowledge for reasons that become increasingly sinister, the doctor walks an ethical tightrope between collaboration and resistance.
The Coastwatcher – Former Australian plantation owner William McGregor volunteers to remain on Japanese-occupied New Britain as part of the Allied coastwatcher network. Hidden in the mountains with a radio and small team of loyal local guides, McGregor observes Japanese naval movements through the vital sea lanes. When a American bomber is shot down offshore, McGregor must decide whether to break radio silence to report the crash and risk exposure, or attempt a dangerous rescue operation. The arrival of a critically injured female American war correspondent among the survivors complicates his mission, especially as her documentation of Japanese atrocities against the indigenous population makes her a high-value target for Japanese patrols intensifying their search for the hidden observation post.
The Comfort Woman’s Revenge – Korean teenager Min-ji is taken from her village by Japanese forces and forced to become a “comfort woman” for Imperial troops stationed in the Philippines. After enduring months of abuse, she escapes during an American bombing raid and finds refuge with Filipino guerrillas operating behind Japanese lines. Driven by vengeance but traumatized by her experiences, Min-ji becomes an unlikely intelligence asset, using her knowledge of Japanese military customs to help the guerrillas coordinate devastating ambushes. When she discovers the location of a comfort station where her captured friends remain imprisoned, Min-ji insists on participating in a rescue mission despite the resistance commander’s concerns about her emotional stability and the mission’s strategic risk.

Holocaust and Genocide

The Hidden Synagogue – Rabbi David Abramovich converts the secret basement of his Amsterdam home into a concealed synagogue after Jewish religious services are banned by Nazi occupiers. What begins as small prayer gatherings for a few trusted neighbors evolves into a spiritual lifeline for dozens of Jews living in hiding throughout the city. Maintaining Jewish traditions becomes an act of resistance as Rabbi Abramovich conducts clandestine services, weddings, and even circumcisions. When a member of his congregation is captured and tortured, the rabbi faces the agonizing decision of whether to suspend services or continue providing spiritual sustenance at escalating risk. His theological understanding is challenged when he’s asked to create a religious framework for Jews joining violent resistance—a question placing his commitment to peace against the immediate need for survival.
The Photographer’s Archive – Polish photographer Henryk Wojcik witnesses the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto and methodically documents daily life behind its walls while working as a building inspector. Secretly taking thousands of photographs showing both atrocities and moments of human dignity, Henryk creates duplicate negatives which he smuggles out in hollowed-out building materials. When deportations to Treblinka begin, Henryk accelerates his dangerous documentation, knowing his images may be the only evidence of what is happening. As the ghetto’s population dwindles and his own deportation becomes imminent, Henryk must find a secure hiding place for his complete archive—images that will eventually become crucial historical evidence if they survive the systematic destruction of both people and memory.
The Righteous Neighbor – German widow Margarethe Schulz discovers the Jewish family next door is hiding in their attic after refusing deportation. Though initially fearful of repercussions, Margarethe begins leaving food outside their hidden entrance and warning them of police activity. As their Berlin neighborhood endures intensifying bombing raids, the relationship evolves from reluctant assistance to deep friendship. When her teenage son joins the Hitler Youth, bringing Nazi officials to their home for meetings, Margarethe’s dangerous double life becomes nearly impossible to maintain. After her son discovers her secret actions, Margarethe must choose between family loyalty and moral conviction while the Jewish family debates whether to seek another hiding place rather than risk their protector’s life.
The Roma Caravan – Romani (Gypsy) patriarch Mircea leads his extended family in constant movement through the forests of Romania and Hungary, evading both fascist militias and Nazi deportation squads targeting Roma communities for extermination. Having lost half his family during earlier roundups, Mircea adapts traditional nomadic survival techniques to the extreme circumstances of genocide. When they encounter a group of escaped Jewish prisoners from a labor camp, the Roma caravan reluctantly incorporates them despite the additional danger they represent. Cultural tensions and mutual suspicion complicate their cooperation until external threats force them to develop shared strategies for survival. When winter makes continued movement impossible, Mircea negotiates with partisans for seasonal sanctuary, offering his people’s services as scouts and information gatherers in exchange for protection.
The Witness Scribe – Young Lithuanian Jew Rebecca Levinson survives the massacre of her entire village by playing dead among the bodies in a mass execution pit. Pulled out alive by farmers after the German killing squad departs, Rebecca vows to document everything she witnessed. Assuming a Catholic identity and finding work as a typist for a German administrative office, she secretly records details of ongoing killing operations from documents that cross her desk. When she connects with Jewish partisans operating in the forests, Rebecca becomes their documenter, interviewing other survivors and creating a contemporaneous chronicle of the genocide unfolding across Lithuania. As evidence of her true identity surfaces and German authorities begin investigating the leaks from their office, Rebecca must decide whether to flee to the forest or continue her increasingly dangerous documentation work.

Home Front & Civilian Life

The Factory Saboteur – Czech worker Pavel Novotny secures a job at the Škoda Works factory after it’s converted to tank production under Nazi control. Still grieving his brother’s death fighting for the Czech army during the German invasion, Pavel begins a careful campaign of industrial sabotage—making microscopic but critical adjustments to tank components that will cause failures on the Eastern Front. His meticulous approach avoids detection until production quotas increase and quality control becomes less stringent. When tanks start failing dramatically in combat, Pavel’s workshop comes under suspicion. A cat-and-mouse game develops between Pavel and the German industrial security officer investigating the failures—a man who admires the technical sophistication of the sabotage even as he methodically works to expose the saboteur.
The BBC Listener – In a small Norwegian coastal village under German occupation, elderly schoolteacher Ingrid Larsen listens nightly to forbidden BBC broadcasts on a hidden radio, transcribing news and resistance information that she distributes through a network of former students. Her age and reputation for political disinterest provide perfect cover until a Wehrmacht captain is billeted in her home. A former teacher himself with an interest in Norwegian culture, the officer develops a respectful relationship with Ingrid, even as she continues her clandestine broadcasts in the attic above his sleeping quarters. When resistance activities in the area intensify and reprisals threaten the village, Ingrid’s role as an information conduit becomes increasingly dangerous. Her growing personal connection with the captain—a decent man implementing indecent orders—forces her to confront complex questions about individual responsibility in wartime.
The Kindertransport Guardian – British spinster Lillian Harrington reluctantly takes in two German-Jewish sisters who arrive on a Kindertransport from Berlin in 1939. Initially overwhelmed by becoming a sudden parent to traumatized children who speak little English, the emotionally reserved Lillian gradually forms deep bonds with the girls. When her London neighborhood is devastated during the Blitz, Lillian moves the family to her brother’s country estate, which has been requisitioned for military use. As the girls struggle with survivor’s guilt after learning their parents have been deported from Germany to “the East,” Lillian fights bureaucratic battles to get information through the Red Cross. Meanwhile, she confronts lingering British antisemitism that affects her now-teenage wards’ integration into rural society, becoming an unexpected activist for refugee rights while creating a new family forged in the crucible of shared loss.
The Black Market Doctor – In bombed-out Naples after the chaotic German retreat from southern Italy, American-trained Italian physician Dr. Sofia Ricci establishes a clinic serving impoverished neighborhoods devastated by war. Operating outside the official Allied military government system, Dr. Ricci navigates Naples’ thriving black market to obtain medical supplies and food for her patients. Her clinic becomes a neutral ground where former fascists, resistance fighters, crime families, and Allied military personnel all seek treatment, creating a complex ecosystem of favors and obligations. When she’s approached by an American intelligence officer who wants to use her unique position to gather information about escaped Nazi officials hiding in the city, Dr. Ricci must balance her Hippocratic oath, the desperate needs of her community, and her own desire for justice in a city where survival necessitates moral compromise.
The Hunger Winter – During the devastating famine in German-occupied Netherlands during the final winter of the war, Dutch botanist Professor Willem de Vries secretly cultivates edible plants throughout Amsterdam’s public spaces and teaches urban foraging to help citizens survive. When his university position is threatened after he refuses to sign a loyalty oath to the Nazi regime, de Vries intensifies his clandestine work, converting the university’s botanical gardens into a hidden food production center. With starvation claiming hundreds of lives daily and frozen canals preventing food transport, de Vries organizes hazardous expeditions into the countryside to retrieve food from farms, navigating German checkpoints and avoiding collaborators who profit from starvation. His scientific approach to survival is tested when his own family’s health deteriorates, forcing impossible choices about food distribution between public need and personal loyalty.

War Crimes and Justice

The Evidence Collector – Polish lawyer Stanisław Jankowski, working with the Polish government-in-exile, methodically gathers evidence of Nazi war crimes throughout occupied Poland, building cases for eventual prosecution. Creating a clandestine documentation network, he collects testimonies, photographs, and even physical evidence smuggled from concentration camps and mass execution sites. When Warsaw erupts in uprising in 1944, Jankowski must protect his irreplaceable archive from both Nazi destruction and Soviet seizure, recognizing that different victors might pursue very different forms of justice. Escaping through sewers with microfilmed evidence, Jankowski makes his way to London, where he discovers Allied governments are already making political calculations about which atrocities to prosecute based on postwar geopolitical considerations rather than justice for all victims.
The Reluctant Judge – American attorney Robert Sullivan arrives in Nuremberg in 1945 as part of the legal team preparing for the unprecedented trial of Nazi leadership. Initially viewing his assignment as a straightforward prosecution of obvious criminals, Sullivan’s perspective grows more nuanced as he interviews lower-level officials and reviews documentation revealing the bureaucratic machinery of genocide. When assigned to a secondary tribunal trying industrial leaders who enabled the Nazi war machine, Sullivan grapples with questions about corporate responsibility and the culpability of those who remained at their desks while atrocities were committed in distant locations. His certainty further erodes when he recognizes American companies had similar business relationships with the Nazi regime before Pearl Harbor, raising uncomfortable questions about where justice ends and victor’s retribution begins.
The Camp Secretary – Twenty-year-old German stenographer Helga Schmidt accepts a civil service position at a “labor camp” in Poland, imagining administrative work supporting Germany’s war effort. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, she gradually comprehends the true nature of the operation while transcribing orders, inventory lists, and transportation schedules that employ bureaucratic euphemisms to disguise mass murder. Initially convincing herself she’s merely a clerk with no direct involvement, Helga begins secretly preserving copies of incriminating documents as her moral comprehension evolves. When she witnesses a selection process firsthand, Helga must decide whether to maintain her increasingly unbearable position to gather evidence or attempt escape with documents that might not be believed even if she reaches Allied lines. Her growing awareness represents the journey from willful ignorance to moral responsibility that many ordinary Germans would only face after the war.
The Hunting Party – Austrian-born Jewish lawyer Simon Wiesenthal survives multiple concentration camps and begins tracking escaped Nazi perpetrators immediately after liberation in 1945. Establishing a documentation center in Linz, he works with a small team of fellow survivors to create a comprehensive system cataloging thousands of suspected war criminals. When Wiesenthal discovers that Allied intelligence services are recruiting former Nazi officials with specialized knowledge for Cold War operations, offering them protection from prosecution, his focused mission to deliver justice becomes entangled in postwar geopolitics. As leads on a particularly brutal camp commander place him in Argentina, Wiesenthal confronts both the practical challenges of international manhunting without official status and deeper questions about whether legal punishment can ever address crimes of such magnitude.
The Occupation Governor – U.S. Army Colonel James Harrison arrives in a mid-sized German city in 1945 as the military governor responsible for denazification and reconstruction. Idealistic about creating democratic institutions, Harrison is quickly overwhelmed by practical problems: starvation threatens the population, infrastructure is destroyed, displaced persons flood the region, and every potential German civil administrator has some connection to the collapsed Nazi system. His pragmatic decision to retain functionaries who were “only nominally” party members sets him against intelligence officers hunting war criminals who have disguised themselves as ordinary bureaucrats. When evidence emerges that the seemingly cooperative police chief he’s relied upon participated in massacre operations in Ukraine, Harrison confronts the inadequacy of individual screening in addressing systemic culpability, while facing the immediate humanitarian consequences of removing essential administrators.

Aftermath and Recovery

The Divided Family – In Berlin, 1945, the Müller family finds their apartment precisely bisected by the line dividing Soviet and American occupation zones. Parents Karl and Greta must navigate increasingly divergent occupation policies while maintaining family unity across an internal border that grows less permeable each month. Their teenage children attend schools in different sectors, absorbing competing interpretations of recent history and Germany’s future. When Karl is offered a government position in the emerging East German administration because of his pre-Nazi socialist credentials, the family confronts an impossible choice: remain divided by an arbitrary line or choose sides in the rapidly solidifying Cold War. Their apartment becomes a microcosm of Germany’s fractured postwar identity, with each family member representing different aspects of a nation processing defeat, complicity, and division.
The Rescuer’s Secret – Polish Catholic social worker Irena returns to Warsaw in 1946 after hiding dozen of Jewish children in various locations throughout the war. With most of their parents murdered, Irena begins the agonizing process of determining their futures. Some children have formed deep bonds with their Christian foster families and forgotten their Jewish identities; others maintain their heritage but have nowhere to return to. When Zionist representatives arrive offering transport to Palestine for Jewish orphans, Irena faces impossible ethical questions about the children’s best interests. Her decisions become more complicated when she discovers her own teenage ward, whom she raised as her niece, is struggling with her restored Jewish identity after years of safety that depended on its concealment. Against the backdrop of postwar antisemitism and the contested future of Poland, Irena navigates the aftermath of rescue that preservation alone cannot resolve.
The Reverse Exodus – Jewish concentration camp survivors David and Sarah Goldstein attempt to rebuild their lives in their Polish hometown after liberation, only to find their property occupied by new owners, widespread hostility, and no remaining Jewish community. When a deadly pogrom erupts in a nearby town, they join the mass exodus of Jewish survivors fleeing renewed antisemitism in Eastern Europe. Traveling through displaced persons camps in Germany—ironically finding safety in the former nation of their persecutors—they follow a smuggling network attempting to reach Palestine against British restrictions. Their journey through Italy brings them to a Mediterranean coast where British naval blockades intercept refugee ships. As they board an overcrowded vessel of dubious seaworthiness, the Goldsteins face the final gamble of their years-long struggle for survival: risking everything for a homeland many have never seen, united primarily by the understanding that Europe will never again be home.
The Memory Keeper – Japanese-American photographer Ray Nakamura returns to Los Angeles after serving with distinction in Europe with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, only to find his family’s confiscated property sold, their business gone, and widespread discrimination despite his combat decorations. While struggling to rebuild, Ray begins documenting the Japanese-American community’s reintegration through photography, creating an archive of their resilience alongside evidence of continuing injustice. When the government offers token compensation for property losses contingent on signing away rights to further claims, Ray organizes community documentation of actual losses. His project expands to record oral histories preserving memories of the internment experience, facing resistance both from Nisei elders who prefer focusing on the future and government officials uncomfortable with this counter-narrative to triumphant war history. Ray’s growing archive becomes foundational for a multi-generational movement seeking meaningful recognition and redress.
The Haunted Liberator – Canadian Army chaplain Thomas Mackenzie, among the first Allied personnel to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, returns home profoundly traumatized by what he witnessed while administering to survivors and conducting burial services for thousands of unidentified victims. Unable to communicate his experiences to his congregation or family in small-town Nova Scotia, Mackenzie suffers from insomnia, flashbacks, and spiritual crisis that modern medicine identifies only as “battle fatigue.” When a resettled Holocaust survivor joins his community and recognizes the chaplain from Belsen, they form an unexpected friendship that allows Mackenzie to finally process his secondary trauma. As neo-Nazi groups begin claiming the Holocaust was exaggerated, Mackenzie finds his voice as a witness, delivering powerful testimony about liberation that acknowledges a fundamental truth: some burdens of memory must be carried rather than resolved, requiring witnesses to bear uncomfortable knowledge forward rather than seeking personal healing or closure.

Your Turn: From Prompt to Published

We hope these 50 detailed WWII fiction prompts have sparked your creativity and offered meaningful starting points for your next writing project. Whether you’re drawn to tales of resistance fighters in occupied territories, harrowing accounts of survival, complex moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people, or the challenging aftermath of global conflict, these prompts provide rich foundations for compelling historical fiction.

The power of World War II narratives lies in their ability to illuminate the past while speaking to universal human experiences that remain relevant today. By exploring these stories through fiction, writers not only preserve historical understanding but create emotional connections that statistics and textbooks alone cannot provide.

We’d love to hear about your writing journey! In the comments below, share which prompt resonated with you most deeply or tell us about the World War II fiction project you’re currently working on. Are you exploring a particular historical setting or perspective that isn’t represented in these prompts? Your insights might inspire fellow writers in our community.

Remember that while historical accuracy creates authenticity in your writing, it’s the human element—the fears, hopes, sacrifices, and moral questions faced by your characters—that will ultimately engage readers and bring history vividly to life.

Happy writing!

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Richard

Richard Everywriter (pen name), founder of EveryWriter, is a publishing industry veteran with 25 years of experience. He holds degrees in Writing, Journalism, Technology, and Education, and has taught writing and literature for 20 years.

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