Spaßbremse

We're moving on from trains to talk about what is by far the most dominant mode of transport in Germany: the car. What is it about Germany's history that paved the way for such a pervasive car culture, and what's up with the Autobahn?? Luckily, we have a great guest who recently published a book on exactly these questions. Dr. Conrad Kunze is a researcher at the Research Centre for Sustainability...

We return from our Sommerpause to talk about one of the things dominating conversations in Germany over the past few months: trains! From inter-Europe rail travel to Deutsche Bahn woes to the 9-Euro-Ticket, Ted goes through it all with Jon Worth, a Berlin-based writer and communications consultant who has been documenting his experience crossing every possible internal European border by train thi...

First, thanks to our listeners who have been so patient with us as we have been taking a little Sommerpause. Some of us have been travelling, some of us have have COVID, and it's been taking a little longer than usual to put a new episode out. That's why we're unlocking one of our premium episodes that was published on our Patreon back in April. The episode is part two of our series we've been doi...

A short preview of our latest premium episode, in which Ted and Michelle round out our Spaßbremse Grenzen series by discussing the Alsace-Lorraine region on the France-German border. To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back soon with another full-length episode.

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland could soon have its own state-funded political foundation called the Desiderius Erasmus Stiftung (DES). We speak with freelance journalist Ruairi Casey about why this matters, and ask him what the deal is with all these political Stiftungen anyway.  Read Ruairi's recent article in Foreign Policy on the subject: Germany May Soon Pay Millions to Far-Rig...

Pride Month in North America may have just ended, but here in Germany the local Pride festivals — or "Christopher Street Days" — are just beginning. To talk about the complicated history of Germany's queer movements, we're joined on this episode by writer and historian Ben Miller, co-host of the podcast Bad Gays and co-author of the book Bad Gays: A Homosexual History , which just came out last mo...

On our thirtieth episode on the main feed (!!) we have an interview that Ted did with historian Jan Tattenberg about the "clean Wehrmacht" myth, or the idea that members of the German Wehrmacht were not complicit in the crimes and atrocities of the Holocaust. Ted and Jan go into quite a bit of detail about why this myth doesn't hold water, so we have abut 45 minutes of their conversation on this e...

Ted and Michelle sit down with journalist David de Jong to talk about his new book, Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties .  Longtime listeners will know that this is a recurring subject on Spaßbremse. You can listen to our three-part series about the history of some specific Nazi businesses on Patreon: Pt. 1: Nazi Pizzas , Pt. 2: Nazi Soda , Pt. 3: Nazi Washin...

A short preview of our latest premium episode, in which we discuss the beloved German "Mittelstand" and why your favourite family-owned screw company might not be as cool and relatable as you think.  To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back in a few days with anothe...

It's Spargelzeit! For those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar, that's the time of year when Germany's most prized vegetable — the white asparagus — is in season. On this episode, we try to get in the mind of the Germans to understand their obsession with this mediocre dish by sitting down with some Spargel and Schnitzel. We give a bit of background to the German Spargelkult before speaking with...

As we celebrate May Day, we’re asking: Why do things keep getting worse for so many workers around the world? For one answer to that question, we look at the neoliberalisation of formerly “left-wing” parties such as the SPD. To walk us through this history, Ted spoke with Stephanie Mudge, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Davis. In 2018, she published Leftism Reinvented:...

A short preview of our latest premium episode, in which Ted and Isaac discuss the Danish-German border. This is part 3 of our ongoing series "Spaßbremse Grenzen" about the histories and legacies of Germany's borders.  To listen to the full episode and all other premium episodes — including parts 1 and 2 of our Grenzen series, in which we discuss the Czech-German and Polish-German borders — su...

They're the largest ethnic group in the United States but remain relatively invisible, despite contributions that include beer, kindergartens, and Kissinger (oops). That's right, we're talking German Americans on this episode, joined by special guest Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House. How, when, and where did Germans immigrate in such huge numbers, what makes them different from other white ethni...

Transport researcher Giulio Mattioli returns to talk about the ongoing debates over introducing a "Spritpreisbremse"—a limit on the price of fuel—in Germany.  To hear more from Giulio, you can follow him on Twitter: @giulio_mattioli . He also has a recent book chapter out on transport poverty and car dependence . Co-hosted by Ted ( @ted_knudsen ) and Michelle ( @shhellgames ). Produced by Isa...

We have on repeat guest Dominik Leusder, researcher at the economic policy thinktank Dezernat Zukunft and the London School of Economics, to react to the developing situation of sanctions on Russia in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine last week. Sources referenced on this episode include:  America's Generation Gap on Ukraine by Peter Beinart and Russia's Financial Meltdown and the...

A short preview of our latest premium episode, in which we try to wrap our heads around the rapid changes to Germany's foreign policy since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Featuring a short conversation with Julia Wiedemann of Die Linke's foreign policy department which was recorded prior to the invasion. To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse If you're not...

We continue our series on German foreign policy with an interview with Hans Kundnani ( @hanshundnani ), director of the Europe Programme at Chatham House and author of the book The Paradox of German Power .  On this episode, Hans references two books: Oliver Nachtwey's Die Abstiegsgesellschaft: Über das Aufbegehren in der regressiven Moderne and Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson's Eurafrica: The...

On the first episode of our (long-awaited) German foreign policy series, Ted (@ted_knudsen) sits down with Berlin journalist James Jackson (@derJamesJackson) to talk about why the British and American liberals are mad at Germany. They talk about Ukraine, of course, and end with what may be a Spaßbremse first…  Read James’ piece in Jacobin here: https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/germany-nato-russ...

A short preview of our latest premium episode, where we discuss the changes to East German universities in the wake of reunification. Featuring an interview with Markus Kienscherf , junior professor of sociology at the JFK Institute of North American Studies at FU Berlin. To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse If you're not able to support us monetarily r...

Ted, Michelle, and Isaac answer some listener questions to start off the new year! We will be having our second live show ***tomorrow (Jan. 23)*** with our friends at Corner Späti at Donau 115 in Neukölln. Join us at 7:30 p.m. as we celebrate (mourn?) the death of 2021. For more details, see the Facebook event page: https://fb.me/e/315PJyXpt Some of the sources cited in this episode: Why Germany N...

While we work on putting together some great new episodes for 2022, here's a premium episode we first released on the Patreon back in November to tide you over. On this episode, producer Isaac joins Michelle and Ted to talk about the Nazi history of some notable German companies. You can listen to parts 2 and 3 of this series by subscribing to our Patreon . For some of our sources cited on this ep...

After a few more mugs of Glühwein, we round out our twelve days of Christmas market scandals with some Schwabenhass and culture wars. Thanks so much to Nathan for joining us on this episode to share his expertise as a local entrepreneur and thought leader. For more of Nathan, you can find him on Twitter at @nthnashma . You can also find his second-hand furniture curation and recommendations at @fu...

To celebrate the holiday season in true Spaßbremse style, we convened a panel with Nathan ( @nthnashma ) to walk you through the twelve days of Christmas market scandals, from selling Glühwein to minors in Frankfurt to tax evasion in Kiel. We were drinking some Glühwein (mit Schuss!) ourselves and as we went through the twelve days we went on more and more tangents, so this episode only gets throu...

A short preview of our fourth premium episode, where we round out our three-part series about German companies during the Third Reich.  To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back in a few days with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

This week, Ted ( @ted_knudsen ) interviews TU Dortmund transport researcher Giulio Mattioli about German transport and climate policy in light of the recent traffic light coalition agreement and the COP 26 climate summit.  To hear more from Giulio, you can follow him on Twitter: @giulio_mattioli . He also has a recent book chapter out on transport poverty and car dependence .  Co-hosted...