We went in hard on this one… you’re getting a 2 for 1. A live spectacular on Kaiser Wilhelm II and his mother Empress Frederick AND some musings from us afterwards because we couldn’t get enough of this German/British collab that ended, well… terribly.

Follow Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria and liberal reformer Prince Albert, as she dives into the absolute viper’s nest that was the 19th Century court of Prussia ruled over by the Hohenzollerns. She’s got a gorgeous, kind husband, representing the hopes of German reformers. But first born Kaiser Wilhelm will fall terribly far from the tree and ruin a lot.

If you get to the end, you will be rewarded with the scandal of how Empress Frederick was possibly buried  and the traditional British cure for cancer… smiling at it. 

(Sorry that some of the sound goes up and down and that you can occasionally Pip fanning herself dramatically. It was hot)

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources: 

An Uncommon Woman, The Empress Frederick, Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm, Hannah Pakula.

George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I,  Miranda Carter

Iron Kingdom, Christopher Clark

Blood & Iron, Katja Hoyer

Hello Dear History Flakes Listener!

We miss you all most cruelly. To tide you over until Season 4 begins in 2026, here's a live show all the way from August 2024. It was over 30 degrees but Jonny rallied valliantly (and only mentioned it 7, 8, or 100 times). 

We share with you some of the more ingenious and puzzling escapes from East to West Berlin. Air, land, sea, and even an inflatable mattress - you name it, it's here. So settle in for some daring escapes to freedom in the West, home of demorcracy, Hasselhoff, and Ikea: everything a growing boy or girl needs.

Shout out to our wonderful friend and fellow guide Glenn in the audience for live fact checking!

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Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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Follow us online!

Pip is on Instagram

... and you can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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Hello there! Just a reminder that we will return...most likely in the new year with season 4!!! 

Thank you to all our listeners and supporters, it's a genuine pleasure to think about what you might enjoy hearing and getting your feedback!

We have a couple of live episodes in our back pocket to keep you tied over until the new year so look out for those.

Bis bald and take good care! 

Jonny and Pip

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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Agent ZigZag, Agent Garbo, Mutt and Jeff…who are these people? Are they or have they ever been Portuguese wine merchants? How is running a spy ring like a running a cricket club? All this and more in…

The Double Cross, LIVE!!!!! A special treat we recorded back in March at the Comedy Cafe Berlin! Bringing to an end our series marking the 80 year anniversary of the end of WWII.

We revisit John C Masterman, formerly playing football for the Ruhleben FC whilst a British POW in Berlin, he has a plan to exploit Germany’s lack of competency in the spy World. We've even got a little drinking game (that can also be played with snacks!) if you feel jealous hearing us gulp down our classy cocktails...play along!

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

The Double Cross System, John C. Masterman

jamesbondlifestyle.com

This episode we dive into the ins and outs of Wernher von Braun’s wartime credentials, before the Americans would be faced with the decision of whether or not his file needed a paperclip to begin with. (It did!) Contrasting heavily from last episode’s Klaus Fuchs, we look at someone whose humanity always came second to his ambition as a scientist in Nazi Germany, and contextualise his role into the broader scope of the Nazi concentration camp system. Who were some of the more sinister characters he met along the way? What did the Summer of 1945 look like for him and his fellow engineers as the Third Reich crumbled around them?

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 💸 Donations keep us running.

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility. Michael J. Neufeld

The Nazi Smoke and Mirrors Escape That Launched America Into the Space Age. Amy Shira Teitel

Germans in Russia: Cold War, Technology Transfer, and National Identity By Asif A. Siddiqi 

Podcast: Paperclip: America's Nazi Scientists, Monique Laney, Michael Ian Black.

Excellent at mathematics, physics, and possibly even better at being an all round nice guy. Jonny tells us about the life of Klaus Fuchs and his roll in the melodrama of THE BOMB in 1945. Fleeing the Nazi regime, his relationship with Max Born, life as a German in WW2 Britain, his traumatic journey to Canada and his triumphant journey to the US and... spying!

Also we talk a bit about Werner von Braun as if we've already done an episode...Pip got a little turned around on the release dates...von Braun is coming up next, you didn't miss one! 

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 💸 Donations keep us running.

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs, Nancy Thorndike Greenspan

Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings were two of the biggest stars in both Weimar Germany and Hollywood in the early 20th century…they’re not that bothered about each other, but they would star together in The Blue Angel, filmed precisely as Wall Street crashed, catapulting them off into wildly different directions, personally, professionally and politically. 

This episode began as an attempt to check in with these two people in 1945, and whilst we do that, they're too interesting to confine to that one time! 

We kick off with Jannings, because you have to eat your slightly rotten cabbage before you get to a delicious cream-topped strudel like Marlene…we don’t make the rules. Who had better legs? Who literally tried hiding behind their Oscar? How many tangents can we get into one episode?! Find out and please enjoy this romp through movie history, the 20th century, and don't worry, some WAR!

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

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Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

Jannings: The Portrait of an Actor. Liam Ó Laoghaire

Berlin Year Zero: The Making of "The Blue Angel"
John Baxter

MINISTRY OF ILLUSION: German Film 1933-1945
Eric Rentschler

For Posterity’s Sake: Emil Jannings’ Autobiographical (Self-)Denazification
By Wesley Kirkpatrick

Hadley Meares, Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/which-best-actor-winner-allegedly-once-shouted-dont-shoot-i-have-won-an-oscar-4146311/

You Must Remember This Podcast, Karina Longworth: https://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/episodes/youmustrememberthispodcastblog/2015/2/10/star-wars-episode-vi-marlene-dietrich-at-war-ymrt-32

Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography, Charlotte Chandler 

The Potsdam Conference... The Pozi Confs for those in the know, as you are soon to be. It’s like summer camp for if you’ve been a good boy and defeated Nazi Germany in Europe. You all get together and decide what the hell do we do now? Stalin and Molotov are there, having a BLAST. The newly elected Labour Party of the UK forgot their swimming trunks and no-one knows who this Truman guy is.

Seriously though…who’s in charge? Who’s not in charge? Who’s dead? Who’s been voted out? Who’s playing good cop bad cop with Joe Stalin? Who’s got stomach ulcers and what’s wrong with German milk?!

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

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You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

++++++

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

Potsdam, Michael Neiberg

Cecilienhof Palace Museum

World War II is over in Europe. But technically, like how? Who's involved? What's in Karlshorst? What will Marshall Zhukov be drinking and who IS Julie Busted? Inquiring minds want to know. 

Join us as we start to find a bit more brevity & levity in this series of War and despair. And reflect on the madness of a few people making decisions for huge numbers of us in medium sized rooms. 

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

++++++

You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

++++++

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

The Karlshorst Museum & Supporting Materials

++++Content warning for violence and sexual violence, not one for youngsters or those of a senitive nature to these topics ++++

The Curse of the Dodgy Microphone! We've been trying to find ways to record remotely, and Pip had a bit of trouble this time, but you'll pull through, we believe in you!

In this episode Jonny leads Pip through some of the key moments of the Battle of Berlin, from the Red Army entering the city on April 21 to the surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2. We look at the human cost of the battle and give an insight into what it was like to live through it.

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 💸 Donations keep us running.

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🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

++++++

You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok!

++++++

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/
 
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📚 Sources:

Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Antony Beevor

Bloody Streets, Aaron S. Hamilton

A Woman in Berlin, Anonymous