Profuse apologies and choccies and flowers for starters. Your wife may be it bit over sensitive, but it seems she may also find your control, a problem. She obviously resents the comments, although many guys do have this type of joke, (me included) but there is no intent.
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.