Episodes
This episode is a 3 in 1! We talk about 3 distinct characters broadcasting to enemy soldiers during WW2. William Joyce, aka Lord Haw Haw, a seemingly confused Irishman with a pretty serious alcohol problem. Mildred Gillers, aka Axis Sally, a failing, racist actress, who would be labelled as particularly stupid by the FBI, and Iva Toguri D'Aquino aka Tokyo Rose, someone who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to survive in Wartime Tokyo. All of them are utilised by ...
Published 06/08/24
Ok, let’s see how this guy ends. In part 2 of our episode on Law and Justice in Nazi Germany we talk about some of the big legal events which make life increasingly difficult for those categorised 'undesirable' by the Nazi regime and sees Roland progress in his attempt to gain full control of the Nazi legal system, right the way up to this sudden and the visually appealing way he (probably) died.You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tour...
Published 05/25/24
Strap in nerds. In the first episode of our first two-parter, we use the career of Roland Freisler to track some of the huge legal changes that would secure the dictatorship of the Third Reich. We get up to 1934 here, where the Nazis are on the cusp of becoming the one and only political force in the country, having outlawed all other parties.Watch out for the next episode to hear about how Freisler himself would weaponise the law for the Nazi’s murderous means and his ultimate and quite sati...
Published 05/11/24
This episode we'll be talking about Jazz's reception in Berlin and Germany more broadly, from its early arrival in the 20s to the Third Reich's attempts to stamp it out. Minister for Propaganada and Enlightenment Joseph Goebbels has a plan to make really cool and great white supremacist music actually… but the results are as one might expect. We also take a look at the rebellious teens of Nazi Germany; the Swing-Jugend, a youth subculture already inclined to scoff at the Nazis will find their...
Published 04/29/24
Just weeks before the beginning of the Second World War, a dark spectre begins to stalk a particular section of the S-Bahn train line in Berlin. The press under Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is loathe to publish news of anything but glorious German victory and the crimes of their supposed enemies within and without. As more and more women are violently attacked and eventually murdered, a decision is made to let the public in on what is happening, and inadvertently, the murderer....
Published 04/13/24
You know how it is, you want Greta Garbo in your next Hollywood Talkie, but she's awkward and weird and won't get on the phone, you need Salka Viertel. Weimar Theatre Actress, Consummate Hostess, tireless anti-fascist, Garbo whisperer. You might not have heard of Salka Viertel but some of the greatest connections and collaborations made in the early years of Hollywood happened in Salka Viertel’s Santa Monica living room. A life touched over and over by tragedy but always focussed on love and...
Published 04/03/24
It’s November in Germany, so you know that there's History afoot. Join Jonny Whitlam and Pip Roper as we discuss some of the context leading up to the November Revolution, (29th October-9th November) and try to detangle the confusion of those in the thick of it. Kaiser Wilhelm II doesn’t know when to leave the party, Rosa Luxemburg’s fresh out of prison and she told you this war was a bad idea all along, and there’s a town full of sailor’s who aren’t that keen on pointlessly dying actually....
Published 03/20/24