Because homosexuality remained criminalised after the Nazis were defeated, many of the stories of LGBT persecution and LGBT resistance went undocumented, it's victims and heroes were at risk of prosecution if outed as gay.

Gad Beck's story of resistance is one exception to that secrecy. Gad,  was both Jewish and gay, and therefore was thoroughly stigmatised by Nazi law, but nonetheless found ways to resist.

Josh Bradlow, Head of Policy at Stonewall, told us how Gad found his identity in resistance to the Nazis and how he would continue that tradition for the rest of his life.

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Krystyna Skarbek was travelling outside of Poland when the country fell to the Nazis. In order to fight back after the occupation she threw her lot in with British intelligence offering her unique courage and skills to courier early reports back of the Nazi plan - Operation Barbarossa. Skarbek would go on to serve in three theatres of war and became one of the highest trained and most effective of British spies. 

Clare Mulley, the author of A Spy Who Loved, tells us a short part of Skarbek's remarkable story.

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Witold Pilecki, a resistance fighter in the Polish underground, was sent on a mission of great danger and crucial importance to the fight against the Nazis. Witold was tasked with the infiltration of a new camp, that there was scant intelligence on. That camp was Auschwitz. What Witold found there continues to be remembered today for its unimaginable horror, but at the time Witold's reports from inside the camp fell on deaf ears.

Pilecki's time in the camp was documented by Jack Fairweather in his book - The Volunteer. Jack tells Witold's story here.

Additional audio licensed by the Imperial War Museum.

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Sonia Purnell discusses Virginia Hall, who she wrote about in A Woman of No Importance. Working for SOE Virginia was able to do what many of her male colleagues had tried and failed to do- she build a strong resistance network that was able to undermine fascist authority in Vichy France from below. 


Additional audio taken from School for Danger, licensed by IWM.

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We spoke to Caroline Moorehead about her book A House in the Mountains, the story of four partisan women and their struggle against fascism.

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On 19th of April 1943, armed with only a pistol and a lamp, 3 Belgian resistance fighters stopped a train destined for Auschwitz. Outgunned, they nevertheless were able to fend off the Nazi guards, and their heroism rescued 233 prisoners from almost certain death.

The history books remember the War of 1939-1945 as one of a clash between nations, but World War 2 was also fought from below. We remember the heroism of those who resisted even when they were occupied or ruled by imposibly cruel regimes.

Resistance in Europe took many forms,  sabotage, espionage and armed uprising, but also non-compliance, industrial action and protest. Sometimes resistance was simply the courage and insistence on survival in the face of the Nazi plan to exterminate it's enemies..

 Nick Lowles and Jemma Levene discuss their favourite stories from the new report, and tell us why they resonate with them today.

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Matthew Collins spoke with some of the remaining heroes of the resistance. The Italian partisans he spoke with were messengers and fighters, saboteurs and agitators against Nazism and fascism on Italian soil. Now elderly, each and every one of the antifascists that Matthew spoke with said they would again suffer the pains they felt in their youth again today, if it was needed to see off a new far-right threat. Those that Matthew interviewed have dedicated their lives to helping teach children of the dangers of fascism as a part of the antifascist institution ANPI (the Alliance of Italian Partisans). Each and every one was a hero, with stories of incredible bravery against their cruel enemy.

Those interviewed are:
-Gino Boldini (RIP)
-Elsa Pelizzari
-Rosi Romelli
-Romano Colombini
-Linda Tridenti

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Patrik Hermansson discusses the spread of conspiracy theories and denialism in the Coronavirus outbreak. Patrik discusses how the divergent theories related to the disease's development have shaped online, far-right spaces, leading to fractious conversations as conspiracy theorists catch the disease and get sick, or where competing theories contradict, and are forced to adapt.

The spread of these conspiracies is a good case study in how the far right uses misinformation and false narratives to spread it's hatred. Behind every conspiracy theory there is a conspirator, and too often behind the mask of 'them' there will lie a minority group- the object of their hatred.

The Covid 19 outbreak is an especially dangerous media environment, and we must be quick to resist these false narratives by working to build trust between vulnerable groups, the media and governments.

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Matthew McGregor spoke with Rosie Carter regarding her work in tracking the changing attitudes during the Corona virus outbreak. Far from what you would expect in this gloomy period, Rosie's polling found a rise in optimism, at at time of desperate economic outlooks. Amidst rolling news coverage of the disastrous pandemic, certain key indicators have actually improved. But what's behind the numbers? HOPE not hate's measure of these attitudes, and our analysis of their direction is something with which every antifascist should be concerned.

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"This is a pandemic, this is a virus it knows no boundaries[...] therefore we need an international response, not one that seeks to spread division and hatred" Sarah Owen MP.

With the contagion spreading internationally, the responses from governments have varied from the lacklustre to the authoritarian. Hard right politicians have ramped up nativist language and elements in the west and the east have sought to blame the other side for the outbreak. With Trump and others labeling the virus the 'Chinese Virus' the contagion has been invested with a racial identity in the minds of xenophobes. The implications are troubling for Chinese and East Asian people internationally.

Sarah Owen talks with us about how she thinks we can respond to this outbreak of hatred.

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