Katja Hoyer

Welcome to Reichs and Republics, the German History Podcast.

I'm Katja Hoyer, a German-British historian and author.

And

I'm Christopher Dillon, Senior Lecturer in Modern German History at King's College London.

So that, Katja, was an extract from a memoir by a counter-revolutionary soldier, Rudolf Mann, that was published in 1921 under the title Across Germany with Erhardt.

Mann is recalling how in 1919 he and his volunteer Freikorps unit had gone about neutralising German neighbourhoods suspected of harbouring left-wing revolutionaries.

Now this dark gallows humour and the tough guy relishing of violence are characteristic of Freikorps memoirs.

So they thought the November 1918 revolution in Germany was an analogue to February 1917 in Russia.

Welcome to Reichs and Republics, the German History Podcast.

I'm Katja Hoyer, a German-British historian and author.

And I'm Christopher Dillon, Senior Lecturer in Modern German History at King's College London.

So that was the instant verdict, Katja, of the Berliner Tageblatt, Germany's most influential newspaper on events in Berlin on the 9th of November 1918.

Mass protest demonstrations that day had climaxed at the installation of Germany's first ever socialist government.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, with the grisly fate of his cousin, Tsar Nicholas II on his mind, had fled in panic to the Netherlands.

In fact, as that book shows, 1848 was... created democratic and revolutionary cultures that will remain important in 1918 and indeed throughout the Republic.

So there's a cult of 1848 amongst pro-Republicans all the way until the 1930s.

If you want to hear more on covert ops and murky goings-on in the Cold War, then do please check out episode 285, where Antonia Senior rages that the Cambridge Five are a bunch of shit.

Or episode 103, where Katja Hoyer rages that there is more to East Germany than the Stasi.

Thank you very much for listening and stay angry.

Bye-bye.

Hello and welcome to Dortmund, the city that was once the industrial powerhouse of Germany's rural valley, a place that earned its living from coal and steel and brewing beer.

I'm Katja Hoyer, I'm an academic, journalist and author, born in Germany and during my lifetime the city has undergone the most remarkable transformation.

As the coal and steel industry has declined in the latter half of the 20th century, Dortmund successfully modernised, transforming its economy into a centre for innovation in services, technology and applied sciences.

It's become for many a clean and desirable place to live.

So that's changed from my youth, definitely.

And so, yes, made this turnaround that makes me proud.

You've been listening to Germany's Rust Belt Revival, presented by me, Katja Hoyer, and produced by Susan Marling.

It's a Just Radio production for the BBC World Service.

I mean, don't you just love medieval history, Chris? All we modern historians ever seem to get is politics, wars, and misery.

Well, there's no shortage of that in medieval history either, Katja, is there? Not to mention trebuchets and antipopes.

But you're right, a few mermaids and talking ravens were probably enlivened by 9am lectures on Gustav Streisand's foreign policy.

But we digress.

I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner.

Welcome to Reichs and Republics, the German History Podcast.

I'm Katja Hoyer, a German-British historian and author.

And I'm Christopher Dillon, Senior Lecturer in Modern German History at King's College London.

So yeah, I don't know, but the only plausible explanation is that they said, "Look, well, the only way that we will get out of paying reparations is if they realize that it'll destroy our financial system," which they did.

I had Katja Hoyer, the historian, on this show a while back, and she postulated that Gustav Stresemann was a, a kind of hero of the '20s.

His death was a great tragedy.

He's underrated.

Welcome to Reichs and Republics, the German history podcast.

I'm Katja Hoyer, a German-British historian and author.

And I'm Christopher Dillon, senior lecturer in modern German history at King's College London.

So Baldur von Schirach is one of the group of senior Nazi leaders who have long fascinated and horrified subsequent generations, and he's a perplexing figure.

He was an intellectual.

He wasn't a beer and cigars Nazi of the kind that we associate with the 1920s days of the movement.

So I think we can agree, Katja, there's a lot to unpack in this episode, and I guess we should start at the beginning.

So could you take us through this sensitive young Nazi's early years? What do we know about Baldur von Schirach's upbringing?