The Botstiber Podcast

In this captivating narrative podcast episode, we embark on a journey through the remarkable life of Austrian-American historian Günter Bischof. Raised in the alpine village of Mellau, Austria, Bischof's path to becoming a renowned historian is a tale of transcontinental exploration. We follow him from his academic origins in Europe, where he earned his master's degree at the University of Innsbru...

When Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl and Empress Zita embarked on their exile from Austria in 1919, it marked the conclusion of the Habsburg family's rule over Europe after several hundred years. In this episode, historian and author Larry Wolff joins Luke Morgante of the Botstiber Institute to underline the significance of this transition, and how Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss' fictitio...

A professor of modern European history and the Habsburg monarchy at the University of Chicago, Tara Zahra joins this episode of The Botstiber Podcast to discuss the concepts of globalism and anti-globalism, as they evolved throughout the early 20th century. Important figures and norm-shattering events of the era helped shape international sentiment in a rapidly globalizing world. Listen in to lear...

Originally Recorded: 2021 Special guest host Jacqueline Vansant, professor emerita of German at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, discusses different research perspectives examining Austrian-Jewish Child Migration during WWII. In "Epistolary Rescue in Austrian Children and Youth Fleeing Nazi Austria" with Kirsten Krick-Aigner, adolescent agency is featured as well as the diversity of archival r...

Originally Recorded: 2021 Special guest host Jacqueline Vansant, professor emerita of German at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, discusses different research perspectives examining Austrian-Jewish Child Migration during WWII. In Early Refugee Studies in Austrian Children and Youth Fleeing Nazi Austria with Swen Steinberg, the conversation features the research questionnaires from Ernst Papanek...

Originally Recorded: 2021 Guest host Jacqueline Vansant sits down with Tim Corbett to discuss his research into the history of Jewish Cemeteries throughout Austria.

Originally Recorded: 2021 In this podcast, Thomas Antonic discusses the life and work of Austrian-American Beat poet ruth weiss. His film about weiss, "One More Step West Is the Sea," won New York Independent Cinema's 2021 Best International Documentary Feature Award.

Originally Recorded: 2021 Lilly Maier is the author of Ernst Papanek biography, "Auf Wiedersehen, Kinder!: Ernst Papanek. Revolutionär, Reformpädagoge und Retter jüdischer Kinder." In this podcast, she discusses the remarkable life of the Viennese-born socialist and educator who saved the lives of almost 300 children from the Nazis.

Originally Recorded: 2021 Prof. Alison J. Clarke discusses her book, "Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World," a biography of social design's Austrian-American trailblazer. Victor Papanek wrote "Design for the Real World," a book that augured the ascent of socially and ecologically sustainable design movements many years later. Published in 1971, the impact and relevance of his book persists...

Originally Recorded: 2021 Dr. Christiane Tewinkel discusses her musicology research as related to Theodor Leschetizky and his American students. Born in Galicia in 1830, Theodor Leschetizky, a pianist and composer himself, became internationally famous as a piano teacher with over 1,000 students. Of these, 350-400 were American. Although Leschetizky had enormous influence during his time, his pers...

Originally Recorded: 2021 The Camphill Movement is a global network of intentional communities for abled and intellectually disabled people. With over 100 communities today, Camphill began in 1939 after Dr. Karl Koenig, his wife Tilla, and a group of volunteers—all having fled Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1938—rejoined in Aberdeen, Scotland. There they undertook the care of Austrian- and German-Jewish...

Originally Recorded: 2020 Clemens von Pirquet, an Austrian pediatrician and scientist, held a prominent role in the international post-WWI humanitarian relief efforts during Austria’s hunger crisis. Pirquet directed his unique, scientific-based system of nutrition (no cocoa here, please) with the support of the American Relief Administration. As a result of this transatlantic partnership, hundreds...

Original Recording: 2019 Vic Huber is an American Honorary Consul in Vienna and the Programme Director of the Austro-American Society in Vienna. He shares his own personal story about growing up in post-war Vienna and his lifelong journey with American culture with Jonathan Singerton.

Originally Recorded: 2019 In his book, The Paper War between the United States and Austria-Hungary, historian Kurt Bednar looks at the final years of the Habsburg Monarchy through an American lens. He discusses the research for his book, his findings, and his views on one of the most pivotal chapters in Austrian-American relations with Jonathan Singerton.

Originally Recorded: 2019 Marion Romberg discusses how the image of America (with feather crowns, parrots, and crocodiles) was popularized in early modern times with Jonathan Singerton. Marion Romberg is a research associate at the Department of Habsburg and Balkan Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna, Austria), the network editor of the Habsburg Discussion Network, and a Member of...

Originally Recorded: 2019 In this podcast on their book entitled "From a Multiethnic Empire to a Nation of Nations: Austro-Hungarian Migrants in the US, 1870 to 1940", authors Wladimir Fischer-Nebmaier, James Oberly, and Annemarie Steidl discuss the unique findings of their collaborative, multi-disciplinary study in which they uncovered new information regarding the migration between the Habsburg...

Originally Recorded: 2018 Austrian novelist Theodora Bauer discusses her 2017 book, "Chikago."

Originally Recorded: 2017 Historian Alison Orton examines how central European immigrants impacted American beer culture.

Originally Recorded: 2017 Dr. Kristina Poznan, Associate Director of the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies, discusses the experiences of early 20th century Austro-Hungarian migrants to the United States.

Sigmund Freud has an immense legacy of unraveling the mysteries of the human psyche. While his professional exploits are well-known, the dramatic story of this Jewish-Austrian scientist's escape from Nazi-occupied Vienna has often been overlooked. In this podcast, long-time author and former Newsweek editor and foreign correspondent, Andrew Nagorski, discusses the exhilarating life that Freud led,...

Following WWI, five American journalists carved out their legacies abroad as foreign correspondents. These five, referred to as the "Inner Circle" by Professor Cohen, were paramount to reporting on the dismaying rise of dictators and fascism in the early-mid 20th century. From uncertain interviews with Hitler to friendly letters with Nehru, listen in as Professor Cohen and Luke discuss the experie...

In this episode of The Botstiber Podcast, Luke sits down with Dr. Reill to discuss the crisis city of Fiume, known today as Rijeka, Croatia. Fiume faced immense challenges between 1918-21 after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire left it stateless, leaving room for celebrity poets like Gabriele D'Annunzio to stoke nationalist flames and attempt to benefit from the chaos. Public-Use Intr...