The Southeast Passage

 With Norig Neveu, Karène Sanchez Summerer, and Annalaura Turiano hosted by Andreas Guidi for a joint release with Ottoman History Podcast   Since the 19th century, different forms of missionary activities and preaching have been shaping the role of religion within the societies of the Middle East and North Africa. Not only Christian congregations, … Continue reading An Interconfessional History of Missions in the Middle East and North Africa

  With Milena Methodieva hosted by Andreas Guidi and Jovo Miladinovic for a joint release with Ottoman History Podcast   The Aladja Mosque in Plovdiv, early 20th century (Wikimedia Commons)   In 1878, following the Congress of Berlin, Bulgaria became a de facto independent principality. Not anymore under Ottoman rule, the Muslims of Bulgaria navigated … Continue reading Bulgarian Muslims between Empire and Nation

  With Nadège Ragaru Marco Behar: “Their Last Way” (from the Series “Past”, detail, 1958), Courtesy of the Bulgarian National Gallery, Sofia.   Since the immediate aftermath of the end of World War II, a narrative concerning the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews from deportation and genocide has nurtured the self-representation of the governments in … Continue reading A History of Knowledge about the Holocaust in Bulgaria

With Ümit Kurt Hosted by Zeynep Ertuğrul and Andreas Guidi   A prominent Armenian family deported and perished in 1915. Source: Mihran Minassian Private Collection.   The Armenian community of Aintab, nowadays Gaziantep, was among the most flourishing of Ottoman Anatolia. The Armenian Genocide not only brought an end to the community’s coexistence with the … Continue reading The Armenian Genocide and Property Usurpation in Aintab

With Gaëlle Fisher At the crossroad of Bukovinans Street and Radauti Street, Stuttgart. Courtesy of Gaelle Fisher.   Before World War II, Bukovina was a region marked by multiconfessional coexistence and ruled by the Habsburg Empire (1774-1918) and then by Romania (1918-1940). Two among Bukovina’s population groups, the “ethnic” Germans and the Askhenazi Jews, left … Continue reading #038 – German Resettlers and Jewish Survivors from Bukovina after 1945

with Paolo Fonzi A 1941 cartoon from the newspaper “The Manchester Dispatch”, mocking Mussolini’s dependency on Hitler to defeat Greece   In the spring of 1941, after a brief war ending in an embarrassing retreat for Italy one year earlier, Mussolini’s troops supported by Nazi Germany occupied various regions of Greece. In Fascist Italy’s vision … Continue reading #037 – Hunger and War during the Italian Occupation of Greece

with Christine Philliou hosted by Zeynep Ertugrul and Jovo Miladinovic   Portrait of Refik Halit Karay in Aleppo (1928). Courtesy of the Taha Toros Archive Refik Halid Karay was a satirical writer whose life can help us rethink the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey. After 1908, Refik Halid opposed the … Continue reading #036 – Political Opposition from the Ottoman Empire to Republican Turkey

with Malte Fuhrmann hosted by Andreas Guidi and Zeynep Ertugrul for a joint release with Ottoman History Podcast (Steamers, row and sailing boats on the Istanbul Golden Horn, ca. 1890. Courtesy of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul)   At the turn of the twentieth century, Ottoman port cities of the Eastern Mediterranean were sites of … Continue reading #035 – Ottoman Port Cities of the Modern Mediterranean

with Martin Rempe A military band from Germany, 1913 (Wikimedia Commons) A few countries can boast a musical heritage comparable to Germany’s. Yet, this tradition was made possible by rank-and-file musicians, whose position in society was far from stable and acknowledged. In this episode, we discuss a history of music in Germany “from below”. Applying … Continue reading #034 – Being a Musician in Germany, 1850-1960

with Alan Mikhail Sultan Selim I and Piri Reis’s world map (1513) – collage based on Wikimedia commons   The Ottoman Empire was a key force in the making of the early modern world. Growing from a regional to a global player and to the most powerful Muslim empire at the turn of the 16th … Continue reading #033 – How the Ottomans shaped the Modern World