The Reel Reich

This week on the Reel Reich, we are launching into Outer Space and visiting the dark side of the moon. We watched the cult classic B-movie, Iron Sky, which couldn't possibly have any history behind it, right? 

Wrong! We get into the real history of early German science fiction, the scientists and stargazers of the rowdy rocketeers, and the possibility of Nazis on the moon. Join us as we venture where no podcast has gone before...

We're back! And this week on The Reel Reich, we are gently clearing the dust away from the history behind the movie, The Monuments Men. 

We discuss the Allied creation of a special department of art nerds tasked with recovering the art stolen by the Nazis and protecting historic cultural monuments from the destruction of battle. We recount their journey through pre- and post-war Europe as they recover all sorts of paintings, statues and artifacts. 

And we take a dive into some of those works: the Adoration of the Lamb, Michelangelo's Madonna, Da Vinci's Last Supper...

Join us for this artsy ride!

We're still here! We haven't gone anywhere, we just took a couple weeks of much needed holiday time. But we're back next week with more stories -ever heard of the Monuments Men? 

Here's a 5-minute rant where we wish you a happy new year with our sweet mellow voices and we chat about our plans for the podcast. 

Stay tuned!

It's hard to be a pacifist in today's world, but it was deadly to be one under the Third Reich. On this episode of the Reel Reich, we will be telling the story of Franz Jägerstätter, an incredibly brave man who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice rather than compromise his beliefs.

His life and martyrdom inspired the film A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick, which we also recommend. Join us as we recount the truth behind the saint and discuss the issues around the Catholic Church and the Nazis.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?

I'm sure you know all about Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman or Greta Garbo, stars of the silver screen, but have you heard of Kristina Söderbaum? 

On today's episode of the Reel Reich, we are discussing the "Marilyn Monroe" of Nazi Germany. We'll look at her career and complicity in the National Socialist film propaganda machine as well as the contradictions in Nazi beauty ideals compared with the glamorous goddesses of film.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?

In Part 1 of this week's episode we follow The Avengers, a group of Lithuanian teenagers battling the Nazis from the ghettos and the forests. We discuss Anders' Army, the Soviet-assembled fighting squad that never was, and begin the story of the Jewish Brigade, the real-life Inglorious Basterds who signed up to fight Nazis and were soon swallowed by a spiral of hatred and revenge. 

It's liars and bear-Jews and bear-bears (oh my!) on this episode of the Reel Reich.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?

Welcome to Part 2 of this week's episode of the Reel Reich. If you haven't listened to Part 1, this will make very little sense to you, so go listen to that first. 

On Part 2 of our Inglorious Basterds episode, we are discussing the truth behind Tarantino's WWII revenge fantasy. After visiting underground partisans, army bears and the headquarters of the Jewish Brigade in Part 1, we are now ready to flesh out the plans of the Brigade, who took a detour from their army duties to go on a vengeful anti-Nazi rampage across post-war Europe. 

Killing Nazis? Check. Infiltrating beer halls? Check. No burning theater, but believe it or not this story has a better ending.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?

Things are a little different and, dare we say, spooky this week on the Reel Reich. Instead of working from a film specifically about the Third Reich, we are drawing inspiration directly from the life of a legend.

Underneath the piercing, mesmerizing gaze of the eternal and original Dracula, we delve into the real journey of Bela Lugosi, his vampyric homeland, and the mixed stew of ideologies and culture that was Hungarian Fascism.

Listen to learn more about the man, myth and truth behind the blood sucking seducer of the silver screen. Happy Halloween!

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show.   Becoming our Patron is the opposite of being Dracula: instead of leeching life through our blood, you give us life, much like Dr. Frankenstein did to his monster.   Be   like Dr. Frankenstein, become a Patron!

On this episode of The Reel Reich, we are inspired by a scene in The Book Thief where they depict one of the most infamous events in the early years of Nazi rule: the book burnings.

The Book Thief is a beautiful coming of age novel and film about the freedom, joy of life and humanity that we find both in the most horrible of situations and in the power of storytelling and the written word. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the book burnings. Perhaps nothing foretells the  crimes the Nazis would commit  like those hateful fires.  The burning of ideas and authors that don't fit into the National Socialist ideology.

As we recount those events, don't miss out on the book recommendations. The books the Nazis burned have to be read,  preserved and celebrated. And   cuddled with during the long winter that's coming.   Books, books, books. Tune in!

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?

This week on The Reel Reich we are discussing our love of Mel Brook's The Producers (1967). We delve into how this movie reflected the tumultuous political climate of 1960s America and how the public at different points in history perceives humor when it comes to Nazis and the Holocaust. We will also discuss musical theater and political pageantry in Hitler's Germany and, most importantly, our love of LSD (it's not what you think!)

Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And don't forget to subscribe for more wild stories about the Third Reich, movie Nazis and the history behind the fiction. Until next time!