26 episodes

Welcome to Exile, a podcast about Jewish lives under the shadow of fascism. Narrated by award-winning screen and stage actor, Mandy Patinkin. Untold stories and firsthand accounts drawn from intimate letters, diaries and interviews found in the Leo Baeck Institute’s vast archive. Each episode, a story of beauty and danger that brings history to life. Because the past is always present.

Starting November 1, episodes are released weekly every Tuesday.

The Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin is a research library and archive focused on the history of German-speaking Jews.

Antica Productions produces award-winning non-fiction podcasts, films and series which inform and inspire audiences around the world.

Exile Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin and Antica Productions

    • History
    • 4.8 • 105 Ratings

Welcome to Exile, a podcast about Jewish lives under the shadow of fascism. Narrated by award-winning screen and stage actor, Mandy Patinkin. Untold stories and firsthand accounts drawn from intimate letters, diaries and interviews found in the Leo Baeck Institute’s vast archive. Each episode, a story of beauty and danger that brings history to life. Because the past is always present.

Starting November 1, episodes are released weekly every Tuesday.

The Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin is a research library and archive focused on the history of German-speaking Jews.

Antica Productions produces award-winning non-fiction podcasts, films and series which inform and inspire audiences around the world.

    LBI Presents - Episode 10: A 16th Century Flame War

    LBI Presents - Episode 10: A 16th Century Flame War

    In the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1500s, there was a campaign to burn all Jewish books. A legal scholar named Johannes Reuchlin wrote a pamphlet called Augenspiegel that convinced the powers-that-be that these texts had historical and scholarly value. Historian and author Erika Rummel joins Mark to tell this remarkable tale, which features everything from political power grabs to bribery to a Middle Ages version of a flame war.
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
     
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.
     
    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. 

    • 24 min
    LBI Presents - Episode 9: Food as Power

    LBI Presents - Episode 9: Food as Power

    You may have heard of the transit camp Theresienstadt as a place of hope and resilience throughout the Holocaust. But the music, art, and recipes found in the Czech ghetto  after the war only tell one part of the story. Today, historian Anna Hájková, author of The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt, joins Mark to discuss the complexities of life at Theresienstadt, including class structure, the barter system, and most importantly, food. 
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
     
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.

    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson.

    • 28 min
    LBI Presents - Episode 8: Propaganda for Breakfast

    LBI Presents - Episode 8: Propaganda for Breakfast

    In 1933, Joseph Goebbels said that the Nazis could never have taken power without the radio. Heidi Tworek is a professor of history at the University of British Columbia and author of News From Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-1945. On this episode, she joins Mark to tell the incredible story of how the Nazis broadcast their propaganda not just in Germany, but around the world.
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.
    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. 

    • 31 min
    LBI Presents - Episode 7: Life Doesn’t Last, Art Doesn’t Last

    LBI Presents - Episode 7: Life Doesn’t Last, Art Doesn’t Last

    In the 1960s, artist Eva Hesse found herself at the center of the iconic New York contemporary art scene. A Jewish refugee who escaped Austria on the Kindertransport as a toddler, Hesse went on to become an icon of post minimalist art. 
     
    Elisabeth Sussman is a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She’s written and edited books about Hesse, and has curated exhibitions of her work. On this episode, Elisabeth and Mark discuss Hesse’s personal history, artistic style, and legacy.
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
     
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.
     
    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. 

    • 28 min
    LBI Presents - Episode 6: Ghosts of Your Family Past

    LBI Presents - Episode 6: Ghosts of Your Family Past

    On this episode, we bring you two stories of people who unexpectedly unearthed their personal histories with the help of LBI and its archive. 
     
    Danny Shot, a poet from the Bronx, stumbled across a familiar face at an LBI exhibit—and discovered the double life of a mysterious relative. And Elliot Aronstam, a Brooklyn native, found himself literally buried in letters in a script he couldn’t read. Luckily, LBI was able to decipher a family story he never thought he’d learn. 
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
     
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.

    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson.

    • 26 min
    LBI Presents - Episode 5: Fact, Fiction, and Finding Yourself

    LBI Presents - Episode 5: Fact, Fiction, and Finding Yourself

    The archive and library at LBI contains over 2000 memoirs. On this episode, Mark and literary critic Ruth Franklin, author of A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction, discuss the line between fact and fiction in memoir writing and the evolution of Holocaust memoirs from first hand accounts to books written by second and third generation authors. 
     
    LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions. 
     
    Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.

    Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson.

    • 29 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
105 Ratings

105 Ratings

Robertag-t ,

Wonderful listens. Very professional but not “slick”.

These programs are so well researched, written, and produced. Thank you Mandy and LBI.

Jakeybean ,

Such interesting stories!

Mandy Patinkin is a fabulous storyteller. I’ve enjoyed every one of the stories. This time period & how people survived such horrors always astounds me. I just so appreciate this podcast. I love learning new things.

Listener NSF ,

EXILE

Such varied and fascinating stories moderated exceptionally by Mandy Patinken. Too many echoes to today, actually!

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