Podcast
Messy History
Hosted by Thad & Robyn · EN
Left vs Right. Communism vs Capitalism. Democracy vs Dictator. Good vs Evil.
Whole countries have traded in their old ways for new opportunities. Over the last 200 years the world has struggled with its identity - who are we and how do we want to live? These struggles continue today. History books show us an orderly account of who did what to whom and when. But behind those polished narratives, we find everyday people struggling to build a future for themselves and their children.
These are the real, firsthand accounts of those people, in their all their raw messiness. This is our history.
11episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Great War Comes Home
4w ago00:56:54Tap to summarizeToday is Gustav’s story - the daily account of a grandfather living on the German homefront during World War I. While the glorious war starts as “the greatest time of my life”, he worries about his son Ludwig fighting on the front. IMAGEPicture from Gustav’s diary: Ludwig Schlott. BIBLIOGRAPHYMarshall von Hindenburg. Translated by F.A. Holt. Out of my Life. Cassell and Company, ltd. 1920Gustav Schlott memoirs. Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA Reg.Nr. 3768, 1 translation by Robyn Thompson.
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Peace, Land, and Bread!
May 1000:40:20Tap to summarizeToday we continue our conversation on life during the Russian Revolution and the Bolsheviks' ambitions for the country. Our primary account comes from Elfriede, a young woman living in Odessa, Ukraine when the revolution came. She describes the conflicts between the Reds and Whites, her stint as a typist for the infamous Cheka (secret police), and her eventual escape through Bulgaria.BibliographyElfriede Becker memoirs, Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA 4710-1, translation By Robyn ThompsonImageEarliest flag of the Soviet Union, 1922-1923Gütersloh 1975, ISBN 978-3-570-01591-9, Public Domain
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An Escape From Russia
Apr 1801:12:47Tap to summarizeWhat would you do if you woke up one day and suddenly found yourself an "enemy" of the people with whom you had grown up? In this episode, we follow the story of Anna's family - bourgeois Germans caught in Russia during World War I and the Russian Revolution. Bibliography"Anna's Memoirs", Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA-368-1-2, Reg NR 418,1-2, Translation By Robyn Thompson"Who Needs the War? Alexandra Kollantai: Selected Articles and Speeches" Progress publishers, 1984. First printing 1915."Apostles into Terrorists: Women and the Revolutionary Movement in the Russia of Alexander II." Vera Briodo, Maurice Temple Smith, 1977."A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924", Orlando Figes, Penguin Books, 1988."The Communist Manifesto", Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, 1848ImageImperial Russian Railways series Б (B)Public Domain
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Preserving the Past
Apr 800:40:44Tap to summarizeWhat's the difference between a diary and a memoir? In this episode, we take advantage of an opportunity to interview Christiane Weinzierl from the German Diary Archive in Emmendingen, Germany about diaries, memoirs, and the art and task of preserving the past.You can find out more about the archive at their website: https://tagebucharchiv.de
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The Last First Family of Russia
Jan 501:40:13Tap to summarizeThe story of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family.We discuss their early lives, marriage, and the challenges they faced, such as their son Alexei's hemophilia and the introduction of Rasputin into their lives. Following this, we cover the political turmoil and the unrest leading up to World War I, Nicholas's role in the war, and his eventual abdication. Both primary sources, Sophie and Pierre, provide firsthand accounts of the family's final days.ImageNicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana.Livadiya, Crimea, 1913. Portrait by the Levitsky Studio, Livadiya. Today the original photograph is held at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.SourcesBuxhoeveden, Sophie. The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. Original, 1928. Denikin, Anton. The Russian Turmoil; Memoirs: Military, Social, and Political. The Field Press Ltd. Windsor, London, 1922. Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924. Penguin Books, 1998.Gatrell, Peter. A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in Russia During World War I. Indiana University Press, 1999.Gillard, Peter. Thirteen Years in a Russian Court. 1920, Wentworth Press. Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs. Basic Books, 2024.Lenin, Essential Works of Lenin: ‘What is to be Done?’ and Other Writings. Ed. By Henry M. Christman. Dover, 1929.Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade, 2000.“Nicolas’s Diaries” https://www.alexanderpalace.orgPipes, Richard. Three ‘whys’ of the Russian Revolution. A Vintage Original, 1995.Radzinsky, Edward. The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II. Anchor, 1973.“Russian Revolution,” https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/russian-revolution-quotations-rasputinSemertzides, Meletios. The Twilight of the Tsars: Russia’s Fall and the Birth of Revolution. Volume 3. Trade Paperback, 2025.Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. Picador Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York, 2016.“The Nicky and Willy Telegrams (1914).” https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nicky-and-willy-telegrams-1914Wilhelm II. The Willy-Nicky Correspondence: Being the Secret and Intimate Telegrams Exchanged between the Kaiser and the Tsar. Forward by Theodore Roosevelt. Toronto, 1918.
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Her Majesty's Drug Cartel
Dec 2000:50:42Tap to summarizeThat time China declared a war on drugs, and found themselves pitted against the narco traffickers of the 19th century - the British Empire. Welcome to the first Opium War.Image Commissioner Lin and the Destruction of the Opium in 1839.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_of_opium_in_1839.jpgSourcesChang, Hsin Pao. Commissioner Lin and the Opium War. The Norton Library. W.W. Norton and Company, inc. New York, 1970.Cree, Dr. Edward H. Naval Surgeon: The Voyages of Dr. Edward H. Cree, Royal Navy, as Related in his Private Journals, 1837-1856. Dutton Adult, 1982.Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1. p. 380Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the Chinese Coast, Vol. 1. The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854. Harvard University Press, 1953.Farooqui, Amar. Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants, and the Politics of Opium, Lexington, 2005.Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1. p. 380Haijian, Mao. The Qing Empire and the Opium War: The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. English text edited by Joseph Lawson. Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2016.Letter to Queen Victoria. Chinese Repository, vol. VIII, no 10 (February 1940): 497-503. Internet ArchiveLevanthes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. Oxford University Press, 1994.Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China. Picador, 2011.Morse, Hosea Ballou. The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire. London and New York, 1908. Morse. International Relations of the Chinese Empire, Vol. 1, Appendix Ahttps://web.archive.org/web/20160502205830/http://chinaforeignrelations.net/node/247The Times (London). August 19, 1840, p. 3. [An account of the 1839 confinement of the foreign shipping at Whampoa by the surgeon of a detained ship, taken from The Times (London), August 19, 1840, pg. 3] in Hsin-pao Chang. Commissioner Lin and the Opium War. The Norton Library. W.W. Norton and Company, inc. New York, 1964.“Treaty of Nanking” https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/pw/18420829.T1E.htmlWaley, Arthyr. The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. Stanford University Press, 1958.Lin Zezu, Letter to Queen Victoria (1839) https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/files/Primary%20Source%2013.0%20-%20Lin.pdf
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The Shanghai Refugees
Dec 801:21:56Tap to summarizeAfter Kristallnacht, there were few places still taking in Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. One of those was Shanghai, under Japanese occupation. When Japan entered the war as allies of Germany, the fate of these refugees hung in the balance.PhotoThe arrival of Jewish refugees from Austria in Shanghai. The refugees are disembarking from the Italian ship Conte Verde. 1938 December 14United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College ParkReferencesGerman and Austrian Jewish Refugees in ShanghaiGriffiths, James. Shanghei’s Forgotten Jewish Past in The Atlantic. 21 November 2013. Judgement of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Part B. Chapter VII: The Pacific War. November 1948 https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llmlp/Judgment-IMTFE-Vol-II-PartB-Chapter-VIII/Judgment-IMTFE-Vol-II-PartB-Chapter-VIII.pdfKozak, Warren. The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser. Harper Perennial, 2005. Mitter, Rana. Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937-1945. Mariner Books, 2014. National Public Radio. “Where did 20,000 Jews hide from the Holocaust? In Shanghai”. 6 August 2023.Newman, Amy. The Nuremberg Laws: Institutionalized Anti-Semitism. Lucent Books Inc., 1999.“Polish Jewish Refugees in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1941-1945”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Proclamation of Restricted Zone in Shanghai for Refugees.” Issued 18 February 1943. From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue. “Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II”. The National World War II Museum: New Orleans. Reischauser, Edwin O. Japan: The Story of a Nation. 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill Publishing, 1964. Tennembaum, Baruch. “Feng-Shan Ho, Chinese Savior”. International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation” “Good-bye Mr. Ghoya pamphlet”. Accession number 1998.49.1. Friedrich Melchior Collection. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C. RG-50.477.0391. Oral History Interview with Hans Arons. From the Bay Area Oral History Project donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DCRG-50.477.1231. Oral History Interview with Hella Levi. From the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DCRG-50.462.0069 Oral History Interview with Walter Silberstein. Gift of the Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C.RG-50.462.0441. Oral History Interview with Willie Nowak From the Gratz College Oral History Archive donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
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Nov 2200:08:22Tap to summarizeA short except from a survivor of the Ukrainian Hunger Famines. In solemn remembrance of the millions who perished.Source:Execution By Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust, Miron Dolot, 1985
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A Jew Who Stood Guard for Hitler
Nov 1200:54:20Tap to summarizeWe discuss the experiences of Edward Adler, a Jewish man in 1930's Germany, as he describes growing anti-semitism, being forced to build one of the first extermination camps, and his narrow escape after Kristallnacht. And that one time he was a kid and joined the Nazis - before they found out he was a Jew.ImageGermany - a sign on a Jewish store: Protect Yourselves, Germans, Do Not Buy From Jews.Yad Vashem ArchivesArchival Signature: 3116/50SourcesRG Number: RG-50.042.0003 Interview with Edward Adler. United States Holocaust Memorial Museumhttps://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn505557
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King Leopold and his Rubber
Nov 500:59:01Tap to summarizeToday we talk about Leopold II, King of Belgium from 1865-1909, and his personal empire in the African Congo. This is the story of a man who put his pocketbook ahead of a people, the nation he enslaved, and the global cast of writers and advocates that worked to bring him down.ImageIn The Rubber Coils. Scene - The Congo 'Free' State" Linley Sambourne depicts King Leopold II of Belgium as a snake attacking a Congolese rubber collector. Published on 28 November 1906Edward Linley Sambourne, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsBibliographyAdam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Mariner Books, United States, 1999.David Renton; Seddon, David; Zeilig, Leo. The Congo: Plunder and Resistance. London: Zed Books, 2007.“General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa, 26 February 1885”. Signed by the representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United States of America, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway, and Turkey (Ottoman Empire). Berlin, February 26, 1885. George Washington Williams. “Appendix 1: An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo.” Stanley Falls, Central Africa, July 18th 1890. George Washington Williams. “Report upon the Congo-State and country to the President of the Republic of the United States of America, ” 1890. “In the Rubber Coils.” Punch, 1906 from King Leopold’s Ghost, 120.“The Guilt of Delay.” Punch, 1909. In King Leopold’s Ghost, p. 120.Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. Originally published 1899. Independently published, December 9, 2019Inventory of the Stanley Archives. “Henry Morton Stanley: correspondence.” Maps from the Belgian Congo and Congo Free State. 1921. Internet Archive. Mark Twain. King Leopold’s Soliloquy: A Defense of His Congo Rule. Boston: The P.R. Warren Co., 1905. In King Leopold’s Soliloquy.The University of New Orleans Press Edition, 2016.David Renton; Seddon, David; Zeilig, Leo (2007). The Congo: Plunder and Resistance. London: Zed Books.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Crime of Congo. New York Doubleday, Page & Company, 1909.Vachal Lindsay (1914). The Congo and Other Poems. New York: The Macmillian Company. OCLC 40402773Accounts and Papers: Sixty-Five Volumes. (14) Colonies and British Possessions—continued. Africa—continued. Session: 2 February 1904-15 August 1904. Vol. LXLL. Correspondence relating to the Recruitment of Labour in the British Central Africa Protectorate for Employment in the Transvaal. [In continuation of “Africa No 2 (1903.] “Correspondence and Report from Hist Majesty’s Consul at Boma Respecting the Administration of the Independent State of the Congo.” Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty. February 1904. London: Printed for His Majesty’s Stationary Office, by Harrison and Sons, 1904. Found in Project Gutenberg eBooks.
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