According to islam yes because on of the biggest signs of "end times" in islam is the death of prophet Muahammed a. S which happened around 1500 years ago,some other signs are:expansion of homosexuality,getting material worth in illegal ways,dissapearance of trust among people,"stupidity"(lack of knowledge among people,its shrinkage if you will,ik I spelled shrinkage wrong),children disobeying their mothers and "commanding them",war and murder,the sence that time is going faster then it actually is,bad relations between neighbours and abandoning family bonds. These are just some I can think of,my source is that I am muslim.
EDIT:Also time is a relative term,soon might be ten but it might be 1000 years.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.