Just for the sake of comparison (I'm hoping someone has a better solution), here's (more or less) how I'm currently solving it (in untested ruby pseudocode).
I found an approach that seems much better than my original one, assuming that you only care about a single date.
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.