In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Dr Caroline Sharples to discuss Adolf Hitler’s death. Drawing on Caroline’s new book, The Long Death of Adolf Hitler: An Investigative History (Yale University Press), they explore the ways the Nazi dictator’s demise was imagined for years beforehand, what really unfolded in the Führerbunker on 30 April 1945, and how forensic detective work, from dental records to skull fragments, pieced together the truth from charred remains in the garden above the bunker.
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the long chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first postwar leader. From the narrow vote that brought him to power in 1949 to the economic miracle, Western integration, NATO membership, and the slogan “No Experiments”, they examine how Adenauer helped turn a defeated and divided country into a stable democracy. But they also ask what this success cost: the sidelining of reunification, the compromises made over Germany’s Nazi past, Adenauer’s increasingly authoritarian style, and the scandals that finally brought his era to an end.
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the life of Konrad Adenauer before he became West Germany’s first chancellor. From his Catholic Rhineland upbringing and bitter opposition to Prussian dominance to his transformation of Cologne and uneasy survival under the Nazis, they examine the experiences that shaped his political outlook.
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the Eulenburg Affair, a royal scandal that struck deep into the heart of Kaiser Wilhelm II's circle of friends and advisors with grave and unintended consequences for Europe. They examine Wilhelm’s intense friendship with diplomat Philipp zu Eulenburg, and how accusations of homosexuality became a weapon in the struggle over power.
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the origins of the Stasi, East Germany’s notorious secret police, and the ruthless mindset of its long-serving chief, Erich Mielke. From Soviet influence and early political repression to mass surveillance and paranoia, they examine how the GDR built one of the most intrusive police states in modern history.
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris continue their exploration of the tangled relationship between Austria and Germany, from the collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918 to the Nazi regime’s annexation of Austria in 1938. Why had so many Austrians believed their new republic could not survive alone? Why was union with Germany banned in the post-war peace settlement? And how did an idea previously associated with liberals and socialists become synonymous with ultranationalism, militarism, and antisemitic violence?
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the long and complicated relationship between Germany and Austria. They explain how religious differences and Great Power rivalry sustained two competing German identities in Central Europe. Starting from Katja’s childhood memories of crossing the Austro-German border into a familiar yet foreign world, they debate the Holy Roman Empire, the impact of Napoleon, the Hohenzollern-Habsburg dynastic rivalry, the 1848 revolutions, Bismarck, and the competing “small” (kleindeutsch) and “greater” (grossdeutsch) answers to the nineteenth century “German Question”. They show that the idea of “Anschluss”, or union between the German-speaking states, had existed long before Hitler. Perhaps surpisingly, considering what was later to come in 1938, the cause had been associated far more with liberal and progressive forces than those of the political Right.
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Mark Jones to discuss the 1923 Ruhr Crisis: the French and Belgian occupation of Germany’s industrial heartland, the policy of passive resistance, and the crisis of violence, hyperinflation, and political extremism that pushed the Weimar Republic to the brink.
Guest: Mark Jones
Book: 1923: The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler’s Coup
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris explore the Weimar hyperinflation crisis, when German money became almost worthless, prices changed by the hour, and a loaf of bread could cost billions of marks.
How did Germany reach this point? What did it mean for ordinary people trying to survive? And why did the trauma of 1923 leave such a deep mark on German society?