Spaßbremse

What's with the bizarre obsession that some Germans have with Indigenous people from North America? Every year, thousands of Germans gather to dress up and play "Indianer"—or at least their imagined, naive stereotype of what it's like to be a First Nations person—complete with appropriated powwow dances, regalia, and living in tipis. On this episode, Ted, Michelle, and Isaac go through some of the darker history of this phenomenon, and Ted and Isaac interview Drew Hayden Taylor, a Canadian writer from the Curve Lake First Nation. A few years ago, Drew made a documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called "Searching for Winnetou," in which he visits some of the "Indian hobbyist" communities in Germany to see firsthand what it's all about. 

You can find Drew Hayden Taylor's documentary "Searching for Winnetou" here: https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/episodes/searching-for-winnetou

And you can learn more about Drew and his work on his website: http://www.drewhaydentaylor.com/

There's also a great documentary from the New York Times called "Native Fantasy: Germany's Indian Heroes" that you can find on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcuyYUgFMd0

On this episode, we cited from the following sources: 

"The Role of the Romantic West in Shaping the Third Reich" by W. Raymond Wood: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25668974?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

"Germany's Obsession with American Indians is Touching—And Occasionally Surreal" by Red Haircrow for Indian Country Today: https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/germanys-obsession-with-american-indians-is-touchingand-occasionally-surreal

"Why Germany can't quit its racist Native American problem" from Deutsche Welle :https://www.dw.com/en/why-germany-cant-quit-its-racist-native-american-problem/a-52546068

"Karl May museum returns Native American human scalp" from Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/en/karl-may-museum-returns-native-american-human-scalp/a-57181103

Produced by Isaac Würmann.

Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

A short preview of our third premium episode, where Ted, Michelle, and Isaac talk about the Nazi history of three more German companies.

To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back in a few days with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

To celebrate (???) the traffic light coalition agreement and Christian Lindner's ascension to Finance Minister, we're unlocking our first Patreon Premium episode, in which Ted and Michelle talk us through Lindner's rise to prominence.

We also released an episode on Oct. 31 (15 - Zombie-Ideologien und das Inflationsmonster) in which Ted interviews Dominik Leusder from the London School of Economics and Dezernat Zukunft about what a Lindner-led Finance Ministry might look like (god help us all). Give it a listen, if you haven't already!

It's also worth noting that the coalition agreement announced plans to repeal Section 219a of the Criminal Code, which prohibits doctors from advertising abortion services. To learn more about that, and other ways abortion remains criminalized in Germany, check out our most recent episode (16 - Weg mit §218!), in which Michelle inteviews Kate Cahoon of the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung and Stephanie Schlitt of Pro Familia.

This episode's reading is courtesy of Politico: Christian Lindner - The Radical from their 2018 list of "the 28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe."

To see some of the incredible Lindner photos mocked on this episode, check out the biography page on his website. You can find the oft-mentioned TV spot from 1997 about the young Lindner's ad business on YouTube.

Produced by Isaac Würmann. Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider. Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter: @spassbremse_pod.

This week, Michelle (@shhellgames) digs into the criminalization of abortion in Germany. In a Spaßbremse first, she interviews two (2!!) fantastic guests — Kate Cahoon (@katecahoon) of the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung and Stephanie Schlitt (@StSchlitt) of Pro Familia.

SIGN THE PETITION TO REPEAL §218

Get involved with the “Weg mit 218” campaign: https://wegmit218.de/

To learn more about the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung, you can visit their website: https://www.sexuelle-selbstbestimmung.de/ or follow them on Twitter @ProChoice_DE

And for more about Pro Familia and their counseling centers, you can visit: https://www.profamilia.de/ or find them on Twitter @profamilia_bv

Check out Kate’s article in the Local DE from 2018 here

Read the Euronews article Michelle and Ted (@ted_knudsen) discuss here. 

Produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).

Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

A short preview of our second premium episode, where Isaac joins Michelle and Ted to talk about the Nazi history of some notable German companies. 

To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back next week with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

Just in time for Halloween, an interview about the biggest boogeyman in Germany: inflation! Ted (@ted_knudsen) sits down with Dominik Leusder (@NewLeftEViews) of the London School of Economics and economic policy think-tank Dezernat Zukunft to talk about what the aftermath of last month's German elections means for German politics, economics, and the European Union. This episode ties together some ideas and themes discussed in previous Spaßbremse episodes about Hartz IV and the debt brake, so we'd recommend you listen to those if you haven't already for some background. 

Before getting into the interview, Ted and Michelle (@shhellgames) can't help but do a short reading from a recent Deutsche Welle article about FDP leader Christian Lindner, who we discussed in greater detail on our first Patreon premium episode released last week. 

Produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).

Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

A short preview of our first premium bonus episode, where Michelle and Ted talk about one of the most exciting, innovative, and dynamisch people in German politics: the one and only Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP and likely next German finance minister.

To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back next week with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

It's Tee trinken time! Hosts Michelle (@shhellgames) and Ted (@ted_knudsen) are joined by producer Isaac (@wuermann) and friend of the pod Alice (@aalicerrose) to talk about Germans' bizarre obsession with alternative medicines such as homeopathy and anthroposophy. 

The articles referenced on this episode are: 

- Homeopathy doesn't work. So why do so many Germans believe in it? by Sami Emory in Bloomberg 

- Ginger root and meteorite dust: The Steiner 'Covid cures' offered in Germany by Philip Oltermann in the Guardian 

On this episode we also announced our new Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

What's behind Die Linke's abysmal 4.9% result in Germany's latest federal election? Michelle (@shhellgames) and Ted (@ted_knudsen) conduct their own post-mortem with Alex Brentler (@full_enjoyment) and Loren Balhorn (@fraubalhorn) from Jacobin Germany. 

Sources:

Alex Brentler with an election post-mortem for Die Linke

Loren Balhorn on Die Linke's lack of pre-election strategy

Quinn Slobodian on the "Aufstehen" movement

Produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.