Reichs & Republics | The German Histo...
Takes you beyond the familiar clichés to uncover the richness and diversity of the German past.
Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.
Do you like our podcast?
Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot!
Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon
https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host
To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters
Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal
Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all
Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/
Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com
Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/
Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter
Katjas socials
X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat
Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/
General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk
Credits:
- Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon
- Production: Linus Klaßen
1
Episode 33: ‘The Greatest of All Revolutions’. ...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the German Revolution of 1918–19, when a mass popular uprising swept away the Kaiser and every other German dynasty.
56 min
2
Episode 32: The Curious Cult of St Oswald: King...
In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by Sarah Bowden, Professor of German and Medieval Studies at King’s College London, to explore one of the strangest puzzles of medieval Europe: why hundreds of churches and chapels across southern Germany, Austria and the Alps are dedicated to Oswald, a 7th-century king of Northumbria.
51 min
3
Episode 31: The Making of Baldur von Schirach a...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the life of Baldur von Schirach, leader of the Hitler Youth. Born into a wealthy, cosmopolitan family with American roots, Schirach enjoyed the privilege to pursue almost any career. Instead, he threw himself into the fledgling Nazi movement.
56 min
4
Episode 30: Augustus the Strong - Europe's Wors...
In this week's episode, Katja and Chris are joined by Professor Tim Blanning to discuss Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.
55 min
5
Episode 29: The Guillaume Affair: A Stasi Spy i...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the Guillaume Affair, one of the Cold War's most dramatic spy scandals. Arrested in 1974, Günter Guillaume was an East German Stasi officer who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks of the SPD to become Chancellor Willy Brandt's personal aide.
51 min
6
Episode 28: Wilhelm I with Jan Markert
In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Dr. Jan Markert to look past the myth of Wilhelm I as a passive "soldier on the throne" and uncover the shrewd, hands-on monarch who shaped Germany's path to unification.
52 min
7
Episode 27: The Hidden Germans of the White House
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the hidden history of German America in the White House. From Friedrich Trump's secretive teenage flight from Kallstadt in 1885 to the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.
46 min
8
Episode 26: A Bureaucracy of Death: Nazi German...
In this episode, Katja and Chris examine the origins and implementation of Aktion T4, the Nazi regime’s systematic programme of mass murder targeting disabled people. Beginning with nineteenth-century eugenic thought and Weimar-era anxieties.
61 min
9
Episode 25: The Dark Legacy of Nietzsche’s Sister
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the extraordinary life of Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the sister who became the architect of her brother Friedrich's public legacy.
60 min
10
Episode 24: From the Rhine to the Reich: German...
In this episode, Katja and Chris trace the long and sometimes misunderstood history of Jews in German-speaking Europe, from Roman Cologne to the founding of the German Empire in 1871.
50 min
11
Episode 23: Building Socialism: How the GDR Tri...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the East German regime's ambitious drive to build socialism one prefabricated apartment at a time, drawing on Katja's own family history.
52 min
12
Episode 22: How Germany Invented the Way You Ea...
In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Dr Claudia Kreklau to uncover the surprising German origins of the way the world eats today. They explore how chefs fleeing the French Revolution found new homes in Prussian courts, how volcanic eruptions and failed harvests triggered starvation and revolution in the 1840s.
43 min
13
Episode 21: Blood and Iron in Africa - Germany'...
In this episode, Katja and Chris continue their exploration of Germany's colonial empire, turning to the violence that underpinned it. They examine the daily brutality of plantation and settler life, the international suppression of China's Boxer Uprising, to lesser-known uprisings in East Africa, and debate over whether Germany's colonial atrocities prefigured the horrors of the Holocaust.
47 min
14
Episode 20: The Reich Overseas
In this episode Katja and Chris explore Germany’s colonial empire, from its early roots in Brandenburg to its rapid expansion under the Kaiserreich. They examine why Germany pursued colonies, how empire was sold to the public at home, and the violence, racial hierarchy, and dispossession behind the colonial dream.
52 min
15
Episode 19: Reichs and Wrongs: Your German Hist...
In this special Q&A episode, Katja and Chris tackle listener questions on everything from whether the Nazis were really right-wing, to why Hitler never invaded Switzerland, the myth of the German Sonderweg, and the deep roots of Germany's "Russlandversteher" sympathies.
58 min
16
Episode 18: Hitler’s Long Death with Caroline S...
In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by Dr Caroline Sharples, to discuss the long history of Adolf Hitler’s death. They explore the ways the Nazi dictator’s demise was imagined for years beforehand, what really unfolded in the Führerbunker on 30 April 1945, and how forensic detective work, from dental records to skull fragments, pieced together the truth from charred remains in the garden above the bunker.
56 min
17
Episode 17: Konrad Adenauer and the Making of W...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the long chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first postwar leader. From the narrow vote that brought him to power in 1949 to the economic miracle, Western integration to NATO membership. But they also ask what this success cost and the scandals that finally brought his era to an end.
51 min
18
Episode 16: Konrad Adenauer, the Rhineland and ...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the life of Konrad Adenauer before he became West Germany’s first chancellor. From his Catholic Rhineland upbringing and bitter opposition to Prussian dominance to his transformation of Cologne and uneasy survival under the Nazis, they examine the experiences that shaped his political outlook.
51 min
19
Episode 15: The Eulenburg Affair and the Kaiser...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the Eulenburg Affair, a royal scandal that struck deep into the heart of Kaiser Wilhelm II's circle of friends and advisors with grave and unintended consequences for Europe.
48 min
20
Episode 14: Erich Mielke and the Origins of the...
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the origins of the Stasi, East Germany’s notorious secret police, and the ruthless mindset of its long-serving chief, Erich Mielke.
49 min
21
Episode 13: Austria and Germany: The Anschluss
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris continue their exploration of the tangled relationship between Austria and Germany, from the collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918 to the Nazi regime’s annexation of Austria in 1938. Why had so many Austrians believed their new republic could not survive alone? Why was union with Germany banned in the post-war peace settlement? And how did an idea previously associated with liberals and socialists become synonymous with ultranationalism, militarism, and antisemitic violence?
44 min
22
Episode 12: Why is Austria not in Germany?
In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the long and complicated relationship between Germany and Austria. From childhood memories of crossing the border into a familiar yet foreign world, they trace how two German-speaking societies developed such distinct identities. Along the way, they unpack the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon, the Habsburgs, Prussia, the German Question, 1848, Bismarck, and the rival visions of a “small” or “greater” Germany. They also examine how ideas of Anschluss existed long before Hitler, and why Austria’s place in German history was never as straightforward as it might seem.
49 min
23
Episode 11: 1923 The Ruhr Crisis with Mark Jones
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Mark Jones to discuss the 1923 Ruhr Crisis: the French and Belgian occupation of Germany’s industrial heartland, the policy of passive resistance, and the crisis of violence, hyperinflation, and political extremism that pushed the Weimar Republic to the brink.
61 min
24
Episode 10: Who Wants To Be A Trillionaire? The...
In this week’s episode, Katja and Chris explore the Weimar hyperinflation crisis, when German money became almost worthless, prices changed by the hour, and a loaf of bread could cost billions of marks. How did Germany reach this point? What did it mean for ordinary people trying to survive? And why did the trauma of 1923 leave such a deep mark on German society?
48 min
25
Episode 9: 'We Are The People'. How the Berlin ...
In this episode, Katja and Chris dive into the final, frantic days of the GDR. They explore the lived reality of the Wende (the turning point) from the perspective of East Germans watching their world dissolve in real-time. From the bravery of the Monday Demonstrations to the surreal shock of the first border crossings, they discuss what it felt like to suddenly step out from the known and into an uncertain, reunified future.
56 min