8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone: for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army. In this documentary, Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unfolds the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time, through their memoirs and diaries. Amongst others, we hear from:Siegbert Stümpke, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war;Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) who had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon;Hans Rosenthal, who was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators;Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists. Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth
Producer / Editor: Kristine Pommert
Research: Katie HarrisA CTVC production for the BBC World Service.
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49:47
Nazis and sex strikes
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Katrin Paehler, Professor of modern European history at Illinois State University.First, a journalist describes how he accompanied Hitler through the embers of the Reichstag fire in 1933.Then, the harrowing recollections of a doctor who saved survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.Next, a woman describes how she was caught between her job and her clan during the UN's disastrous Somalia mission in the 1990s.A Liberian woman explains how she helped end the country's civil war.Finally, how Germany's 'death zone' became a natural paradise.Contributors:Sefton Delmer - British journalist at the Reichstag fire.
Dr David Tuggle - surgeon at the Oklahoma City bombing.
Halima Ismail Ibrahim - former UN worker in Somalia.
Leymah Gbowee - Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace.
Professor Kai Frobel - co-founder of Germany's 'Green Belt'.(Photo: Reichstag building on fire. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)
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50:57
The wonder woman of the comic world and Namibia's 'ghost town'
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s. Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.Next, Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship in 2013, tells us about achieving her goal after contracting polio as a child.Then, the invention of the life-size training dummy Resusci Anne in the 1960s, which was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.The ghost town in Namibia that's slowly being buried by the desert after it was abandoned in the 1950s when the diamonds ran out.Finally, the accidental invention of superglue in 1951, which only became a big hit following an appearance on a US tv show.Contributors:
Jenette Kahn - former President of DC Comics.
Dr Mel Gibson - associate professor at Northumbria University.
Minda Dentler - wheelchair athlete.
Tore Lærdal - Executive Chairman of Lærdal Medical.
Dieter Huyssen - grandson of an emigree to Kolmanskop in Namibia.
Adam Paul - grandson of Dr Harry Coover, inventor of superglue.(Photo: Cover illustration for Action Comics with Superman, June 1938. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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51:27
The phone call that changed Nigeria and a 'one of a kind' portrait of Nelson Mandela
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about the historic moment in Nigerian politics when Goodluck Jonathan made a phone call to General Buhari marking the peaceful handover of power in 2015.Our expert is historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast, Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, who takes us through Nigeria's political history in the leadup to the phone call that changed Nigeria.We find out about Harold Riley who was the only artist to ever be granted a sitting to paint Nelson Mandela and how the portrait was unveiled in 2005.Plus the moment co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, crashed Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 into a mountain killing 150 people on board in 2015.In 1991, when a Yugoslav People's Army Commander died in mysterious circumstances during the Croatian War of Independence. Finally, the creation of a new genre of music called Ethio-jazz in 1960s New York.Contributors:Dr Reuben Abati - one of Goodluck Jonathan's special advisers
Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie - Historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast
Archive of Harold Riley - the only artist to be granted a sitting with Nelson Mandela
General David Galtier - military person who led the Germanwings plane crash search operation
Mulatu Astatke - musician and 'father of Ethio-jazz'Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo:Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari (L) speaks with outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan (R) Credit: Pool / Nigeria Presidency Press Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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50:59
The history of space travel
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.
This week we’re looking at the history of space travel, including the 60th anniversary of the first ever space-walk by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
Also, the speech that would have been given if the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t make their way back from the moon; the founding of the European Space Agency and how Brazil came back from tragedy to launch their fist successful rocket.
The Sky at Night’s Dr Ezzy Pearson joins us to tell us about the history of robot’s in space and the Soviet Union’s exploration of Venus.
Contributors:
Archive of Alexei Leonov – the first man to walk in space
Dr Ezzy Pearson – Features Editor for the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine
Felix Palmerio – engineer for Brazil’s space programme
Archive of William Safire – speechwriter for US President Richard Nixon
Bill Holland – former historian for NASA
Andrea Amaldi – grandson of Edoardo Amaldi, one of the founding fathers of the European Space Agency(Photo: Alexei Leonov on his first space walk in 1965. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
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