Leningrad's Dmitri Shostakovich has risen from a child prodigy to be one of the Soviet Union's most celebrated composers, having rescued his career from Stalin's interference along the way. Desperate to defend Russia after the German invasion, he fights back, not with a rifle, but with music.

Amin al-Husseini is one of the leading figures in global Islam. He's an Arab nationalist, an anti-Semite, and anti-Zionist. But he's also willing to work with imperialist powers if it suits him. He's been loyal to the Ottomans and the British. In 1941, he throws his lot in with Hitler and the Nazis.