Achtung! History

As the Third Reich rises in Germany, Switzerland suffers with its own problems with National Socialism, and its own identity. Overshadowed by its neighbours, fractured by its cantons, the nation has to face to the real threat that Hitler's national socialism brings, both outside and within. This conflict is further exasperated as Hitler's henchman, Wilhelm Gustloff, rule over a small enclave with an iron fist. 

Discover, Hitler's Swiss Enclave and the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff only on Achtung! History. 

In this episode of Achtung! History Simon J. James returns to the tales of resistance to the National Socialist regime of Germany. 

It is a common perception that the National Socialist regime of Germany (1933-1945) was a totalitarian one. But was it as totalitarian as popular culture has led us to believe. In this episode of Resistance, Simon J. James looks into the resistance that existed amongst the youth of the German nation and in doing so explores the history and ideology of the Hitler Youth. Follow as he looks into one specific group, without political conviction but united in their disgust of all things National Socialist, the Edelweißpiraten, and how they tested the limits of Hitler's totalitarian state. 

In the production of this episode, Simon would like to express his thanks to the resources of both The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, without which this episode would not have been possible. 

Discover the incredible, true story, of possibly the 20th centuries greatest con man, a man who defrauded the Church of England, and wiggled his way not only into British Government but also into two different German governments, that of Kapp and later that of Hitler and his NSDAP, in this two parter uncover the fantastic tale of 'The Man With A Thousand Faces.' 

His name became infamous, his story legend. But today the name Schlageter has faded into history, so who was Schlageter and why did Adolf Hitler proclaim him to be 'The First Soldier of the Third Reich?" Find out in the latest episode of the Achtung! History podcast. 

A small victory or the turning point in the Napoleonic wars? Find out about the oft forgotten Battle of Großbeeren in this weeks episode of Achtung! History. 

A special thanks to Katja Hoyer for her input in this episode, her book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 is available now. 

How did the discovery of the body of a man in the Landwehrkanal in Berlin in August 1919 lead to the exposing of and the collapse of the much of the Police Informant ring. And what did one man have to do both with the Communist uprising in Berlin and the short lived Bavarian Soviet Republic? Find out now in Achtung! History's latest episode. 

It was the most audacious plan of the West in the Cold War, to tunnel beneath the boundary between East and West and steal information from the Soviet's own telephone line. In this concluding episode, discover the true story of spies, espionage, deception and traitors in a whirlwind adventure into the acts that defined the Cold War. 

Discover one of the most audacious and incredible forgotten tales from the Cold War. A story following the CIA and British SIS as they attempt to understand the intentions of the Soviets and gain an upper hand in an Europe divided by undertaking one of the greatest acts of underground secretive engineering ever attempted. This is Tunnel, Traitor, King, Gold, a Podcast by Achtung! History.  

The Second World War is over yet East has not met West everywhere. Nestled in the Ore mountains a region centred around the town of Schwarzenberg remains strangely empty of Allied Occupying Forces. It seems as the world has forgotten this small town that once lay on the border of Czechoslovakia. 

Discover the strange story of Schwarzenberg and how for 42 days at the end of the Second World War it fell into no occupation zone but formed its own government and council and how history can be misleading. 

May Day, famously the day of the international worker. It was a day used by Unions and by the parties, especially in Germany, to unite their workers in putting down tools as a demonstration of international strife. However, when the NSDAP came to power in 1933, and Hitler became Chancellor and with that Joseph Goebbels the Reich Propaganda Minister, they quickly set about destroying the powers of old and turning May Day into Tag der nationalen Arbeit. 

Join Simon J. James in this adventure into the history of May Day and how the NSDAP powers subverted it, turning it into their own propaganda festival. 

In this, the final episode of The Reichstag for now, the German parliament building lays smouldering but the persecution of those considered enemies of Hitler and the NSDAP continues. How does Hitler and his party use the fire to further their hold on Germany and continue the tearing down of the republic only for it to be rebuilt as a dictatorship. 

The Reichstag is in flames. Inside the burning parliament Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and von Papen gather together on a balcony overlooking the fire and discuss how to go forward. At the Brandenburger Tor, Rudolf Diels interviews the captured Dutch man by the name of Marinus van der Lubbe. All, except Diels, are convinced it is a communist conspiracy and are ready to once and for all stamp out the opposition to their NSDAP not only within the Reichstag but across the German Reich. 

A cold night in Berlin turns into a night that will change the course of the 20th century itself. A young theology student wandering home from his studies at the Staatsbibliothek on Unter den Linden witnesses a shadowy figure scaling the walls of the German parliament building, little does he know that he is the first to witness the makings of an event that would bring death and destruction for Germany. 

In this episode Simon J. James takes you through the minute by minute happenings of that fateful evening, the responses, and the reactions of the fire crews and police on the ground. 

Don't forget to listen to episode 1 first!

What does resistance to tyranny mean? Is it fighting with guns on the streets, distributing pamphlets, trying to organise a coup. In this episode Simon takes a deep dive into an event that occurred in Berlin as the Soviet Red Army forces closed upon the Reichs Capital and those within the high offices of the NSDAP regime desperately tried to cling on to power and continue living the life of luxury they had enjoyed for twelve years, even if that meant starving their own people. 

Discover, in this latest episode, the events leading up to the infamous journey of Lenin, Russian leader in the making, from Switzerland to a Russia in the midst of Revolution. Unearth a brief biography of the controversial man who would lead a Russian Revolution down a dark and bloody path.

Rominten is a forgotten domain. Once ruled over by Electors, Kings, Kaisers and Reichsmarshalls, discover the forgotten history of what was once the last Kaiser's favourite hunting ground and how it brought him into conflict with Hermann Göring.

When Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP came to power in 1933 they quickly set about changing all aspects of the German state, even Christmas. In this episode, Christmas: In the Shadow of the Swastika, discover how all aspects of Christmas were perverted to aide the National Socialist cause. 

Franz Müller aboard the sail ship Victoria has no idea that steaming across the Atlantic are the Metropolitan Police and those that can point the finger toward him for the murder of Thomas Briggs on the 9:50 from Frenchchurch Street Station on the 9th of July 1864. The plan of Inspector Tanner, arrest Müller aboard the ship on which he sails and beg for extradition from the US courts for the man wanted for murder. But will it go to plan? And if he is extradited what will happen to him in the English Courts of Law. Find out in the final episode of Murder on the Tracks, an investigation into the first murder on British Rail, pieced together from testimonies and court documents and news stories of the day and brought to you by Achtung! History.

Inspector Tanner and the London Metropolitan Police are faced with a difficult predicament. It has come to light that the man of most interest in the murder of Thomas Briggs, the first person to be murdered on British rail, has left British shores and that now they must give chase. 

Discover London in the 1860s, the streets, the docks and wharfs and its people in Murder on the Tracks to true story of the first murder on British railway and the incredible story that followed. This is episode 3 the chase. 

Thomas Briggs was found unconscious on the tracks of London's Northern Railway in 1864, a short time after he died. In this second episode of Murder on the Tracks, delve into the early history of London's Metropolitan Police, the streets, sounds and people of London and discover the investigation into Thomas Briggs death and how it all hinged on a chain and a hat before turning into a steamer chase across the Atlantic. 

Come on a journey, a journey into the past. Travel to a time when Britain ruled much of the world and London was its beating financial heart, Join Simon J. James in the discovery of the incredible and true story of the first murder on the British railway. A murder of a well respected banker that left a city in shock and led to an international chase that took criminal investigators over an ocean. This is, Murder on the tracks, episode one: Thomas Briggs.  

In 1986 a young punk and underground artist within the DDR (East Germany) travels, with his super 8mm Russian made camera through a forest north of Berlin. There, glinting against the white of the snow he catches sight of something. Something that no other German had seen for 40 years. Recording the objects with his camera he returns to Berlin, edits it into a film, holds a showing and, as soon as the show is over, he burns the film. Why? What had he discovered? But what he had done had started, unknowingly, a story that would come to involve, classic car dealers, envelopes of cash, art historians and smugglers, international criminals and more! 

Discover 'The Hunt for Hitler's Horses'. 

Multi-millionaires, an East German Punk, art dealers, con artists, police informants, and two giant bronze horses that once stood outside Hitler's Reich Chancellery that went missing at the end of the war. This is, the two parter, 'The Hunt for Hitler's Horses.' This first episode looks Josef Thorak the artists of the Hitler horses and with art during the time of National Socialism. Join us again next week for the second part, when discovery leads to international plots, raids, a secret film and much more, in the strange but true story of 'The Hunt for Hitler's Horses.'

In August 1348 an old man arrives before the Archbishop of Magdeburg. He is frail and worn but, in dropping a signet ring before the Archbishop, he claims to be Woldemar the Great, Margrave of Brandenburg, but there is only one problem. Woldemar the Great had been dead for 29 years. 

Who was this old man, what did he want, could it possibly be that this man truly was the Great Leader, the last in the Brandenburg Ascanian line, known as Woldemar returned to claim his land and who would believe him? 

Join Achtung! History for a journey into the history that involces Woldemar, Archbishops, excommunication, the Bavarian Wittelsbachs, and discover the fascinating story of Woldemar and the greatest con in history! 

Achtung! History brings you a Halloween bonus episode "The Haunting of House Hohenzollern." She had sworn revenge on the family of the man who imprisoned her, Johann Georg, Prince Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia. Swearing to enact punishments that would bring misery on to their family that had stolen her children from her and imprisoned her in the Spandau Citadel. Over the centuries she was seen, dressed in white, walking the corridors of the Berlin Schloß heralding the death of another member of the family that would eventually rise to become Emperors of Germany.  

A thoughtful gift from the city or an insult against the highest man in  the land? In 1891 Max von Forckenbeck would, as a sign of respect and easing of frustrations, gift to German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, a magnificent fountain that still stands in Berlin today. Cast by the favourite sculptor of the Kaiser it was supposed to bring joy to the often petulant Kaiser, instead it brought the Kaiser to go head to head with a god. 

Discover the story of 27 year old resistance fighter Ursula Goetze who in times of great horror, when Hitler's Gestapo (secret police) were at their most powerful fought with words and knowledge against the regime and would pay the ultimate price. 

"Resistance" will be a new theme podcast that over the coming months multiple episodes will be produced of. 

It has been a tale regurgitated time and time again. A story of a rider riding against the elements to deliver the news of Prussia and Britain's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo to Nathan Rothschild in London, who, in selling stocks, fools other traders into believing Britain was defeated, only to buy the stocks back once the price had plummeted. How much truth is there in the tale, or was it all in fact, a myth? 

Born into violence and forced to live the life of the perfect socialist child, this is the story of Maria a girl who became 'The Dictator's Daughter.' 

January 1931 and the Berlin district of Friedrichshain has become a battle ground. Berlin, in the midst of a horrid recession racked by unemployment is finding its working class population being pushed further to the fringes. But then why? Does Joseph Goebbels invite the Communist Party under Walter Ulbricht to a hall in Friedrichshain. Find out what happens in this, the latest episode by Achtung! History. 

What does the years after the war hold in store for Wernher von Braun and his V2 rocket program. Find out in the latest and final round of The Nazi and the Moon. 

The war is over, von Braun has handed himself in, but what is to become of the man who had pushed the Nazi rocket program, a man, belonging to the now criminal SS, who dreamed of space but ended up creating weapons of war and advocated the use of slave labour to pursue his dream?

After comparing Himmler's offer of SS control over the A-4 rocket program to drowning flowers in manure, Wernher von Braun finds himself in a very unpleasant situation. 

** Warning. This podcast episode contains descriptions some listeners may find disturbing. Due to the nature of the history involved in the Nazi rocket production and the lives it destroyed, an understanding of the conditions of what those within the camp suffered is necessary so that we do not become complacent to history.**

After the air raid on Peenemünde the Nazi regime realises that the allies know something about the program. If the A-4 rocket is to be produced it needs to be produced where the enemies bombs cannot reach and produced in large numbers as to be an effective weapon, for this they created a concentration camp by the name of Dora, this episode is about the conditions and the fate of many of those that were forced to produce Wernher von Braun's rockets. 

Wernher von Braun has gone from firing rocket powered children's toys along Berlin streets to a research centre near Berlin and finally to his own research facility, financed by the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, at Peenemünde but it would not be long before death literally came calling. 

Part 1 of a mini series on Wernher von Braun, the scientist behind Nazi Germany's rocket program that would use slave labour and lead to the deaths of tens of thousands who were forced to produce the weapons that would rain down up on the land of Nazi Germany's enemies. However, he was also the man who put man on the moon. 

He lived in through changing times, when a great city changed from quaint baroque into industrial giant, Eduard Gärtner captured Berlin in the thralls of change. 

Albert Einstein, the eminent physicist had made his home in Berlin in 1905. He grew to become part of the community, and as his fame grew with his achievements so did admiration and respect of the people of the city that he now called home. In 1929 the city of Berlin and its Lord Mayor Böß decided to honour the man and present him with a gift, that, for the city, turned into a scandal.

On the 3rd of March 1945 Adolf Hitler, German dictator and Führer would leave the safety of the confines of the Reichskanzlei compound in Berlin for the final time. Discover his final day out of Berlin, the history behind his destination and the organisation known as the Sturmabteilung or SA, the Nazi brown shirt thugs. 

In this episode Simon J. James walks you through the thought process and research process behind writing The Watcher, the difficulties and the choice decisions that were made in order to portray the story effectively, also list closely as The Watcher series comes to an end there is one final twist in the tale before it is all over. Discover what happened after the case file of Hildegard Zäpernick is put into storage. 

Richard Schulz, Watchman of the Gillesbau in Berlin's Neu-Westend, is suspected by the Berlin Criminal Police of having murdered 11 year old Hildegard Zäpernick, now he stands before the District Councillor Löwenthal who has to make a decision on his guilt. However, whilst Schulz is held, worrying events take place in Berlin and in Germany that cast doubt on the case of who murdered Hildegard Zäpernick. 

Ticking off suspects one by one is time consuming but important. Ernst Gennat the buddha of Berlin implores his chief detectives Werneburg and Quoß to find the final people who may have seen Hilde alive, or at least might have some idea as to who may have killed her. 

Hildegard Zäpernick's body has been found beneath the earth of a construction site in Berlin's Neu Westend district. Suspicion is laid on the guard of the building site Richard Schulz, and some interesting people are prepared now to make some statements about him. 

After a discovery in the basement of the Gillesbau construction site in Berlin's Westend the police are called to examine the site further. Uncovering a body brings about the attention of Berlin's world famous Ernst Gennat, the Buddha of Berlin, who presides personally over the discovery. 

The pressure is mounting on Quoß and the officers and investigators of Sonderkommission Zäpernick. Internal and external forces are pushing for arrests to be made and a city to be calmed but as great events briefly distract a population Quoß and his team need to extract more information. For the workers of the Gilles bau the police's presence is becoming normalised, but soon a grim discovery is going to change everything. 

Hildegard Zäpernick an 11 year old girl from Berlin's Westend district goes missing on August 12th 1929. The police and local residents are left dumbfounded, no evidence or trace is found of the girl and fingers begin to point. Suddenly everyone in the city near a blond haired and blue eyed girl is a suspect, every strange action is suspicious and strangers represent danger. Listen to episode 3 now. If you haven't listened to episodes 1 and 2 we strongly recommend you do so first.