ZEITGEIST - The Podcast

After the Second World War and the Holocaust, many Germans wanted nothing more than to leave the past behind and bury discussions around guilt and responsibility. But the German-Jewish lawyer Fritz Bauer made it his mission to bring justice to the Nazis and force a nation to confront its complicity in war and genocide. I speak to Jack Fairweather, author of a new book that brings the remarkable st...

Did Germany's last Kaiser and Crown Prince help Hitler into power? That is a fascinating historical question with very real legal consequences in the present. Unearthing an enormous amount of new sources, the historian Stephan Malinowski took a fresh look at the situation and came to a conclusion that brought him into conflict with the Hohenzollern family. I sat down to discuss his new book The Ho...

From butcher's daughter in Communist Hungary to winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 — Katalin Karikó’s story is astonishing. I spoke to her about growing up in a state that offered excellent education and childcare as well as brutal oppression and secret police surveillance. And I asked her what it was like to move from Hungary to America, to persevere and to make a breakthrough that change...

Over half a million British soldiers killed during the First World War are still missing. More than a century later, they have no known grave or their body has never been identified. In a deeply personal journey, John Nichol uncovers the story of one of them: the Unknown Warrior who lies in Westminster Abbey. Few are better placed to reflect on what it means if a person is lost in combat. As a Roy...

In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind… I spoke to Andrea Wulf about her amazing book Magnificent Rebels , which brings historical figures to life whose echoes I had heard loud and clear during my time in Jena in central Germany where I stu...

As a German historian, I think a lot about dictatorships — usually, about the age-old question of how tyrants rise. Marcel Dirsus turns this question on its head. How do tyrants fall? Uprisings? Palace intrigue? Peaceful protest? The author met with coup leaders, dissidents and soldiers to find answers. ZEITGEIST - The Podcast spoke to Marcel Dirsus for a fascinating teaser. You can pre-order the...

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, images of celebrating Germans went around the world. But there is another story, too. Nearly a quarter of East Germans have since left their home and moved west. One of them is journalist Sabine Rennefanz. On ZEITGEIST, we talk about her life in the GDR, her new book Kosakenberg and what it means to be East German today. Get full access to ZEITGEIST at www.katjah...

In 2019, one of the last Nazi trials began. 93-year-old Bruno Dey stood accused of aiding the murder of over 5,000 people at Stutthof concentration camp where he was deployed as an SS guard when he was 17. Tobias Buck followed the trial as a journalist. But as a German, he soon realised this was more to him than a job. As the trial unfolded, he began to grapple with huge moral questions about just...

German car making is nearly as old as the state itself and woven into the national fabric. It fuelled the country’s innovative zeal during its ‘second’ Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century. It was a crucial pillar of Hitler’s social and economic vision for Nazi Germany. The lack of automotive desirability made East Germans yearn for more while its presence restored West German conf...

A little-known group of diplomats attempted to save the lives of thousands of Jewish men, women and children trapped in Nazi-occupied Europe. Earlier this week, I spoke to Roger Moorhouse about his new book. Get full access to ZEITGEIST at www.katjahoyer.uk/subscribe