The History Podcast – “The House at Number 48: The Eisners”

Host: BBC Radio 4
Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode follows Antony Easton's decade-long journey to uncover the hidden legacy of his family, the Eisners, once among Germany’s wealthiest Jewish industrial dynasties. Triggered by his father's death and the discovery of mysterious objects—a family tree, cryptic documents, and even a birth certificate bearing a different name—Antony pieces together a history obliterated by the Nazis, culminating in a quest to confront those who profited from his family’s stolen wealth.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Discovery: Clues in a Suitcase

• Location and Atmosphere:
  Antony stands before the grand crypt of his great-grandfather, Heinrich Eisner, in Berlin—an imposing monument that starkly contrasts with Antony’s ordinary upbringing.
  • Antony Easton (00:58): “It's not like a normal grave… This is a monument really to him. It shows what position they held in this society.”
• Initial Shock:
  Antony was unaware growing up that he was the descendant of powerful, wealthy industrialists. His family history was obscured, even as palpable traces like Heinrich’s elaborate grave persisted.
  • Antony Easton (01:40): “It is a dead dynasty. My great grandfather Heinrich is ground zero… what happened?”

2. Piecing Together the Family Tree

• Processing Loss / Discovery:
  Antony finds an old, tattered family tree in his father’s things—“almost 2 ft long, handwritten in black ink… faded brown like the color of spilt tea.”
  • Antony Easton (02:48): “That family tree starts in 1710. And at the bottom… my dad and his sister.”
• Obsessive Research:
  Antony describes his meticulous research: thousands of pages, sorted into digital folders, each representing a new branch or mystery.
  • Antony Easton (03:23): “Over 20 different folders, there’s easily 10,000 pages of documents here.”
• Family Support:
  Anna, his wife, acknowledges Antony’s deepening obsession as he disappears for hours, looking for answers.
  • Anna (03:56): “He’d just disappear… up into his loft… He would just sit and do Google Translate… I don’t think ever he thought what he was going to find. It really is once you start digging—oh my goodness.”

3. The Lost Empire: Who Were the Eisners?

• Legacy of Heinrich Eisner:
  Antony uncovers obituaries lauding Heinrich's power and philanthropy.
  • Antony Easton (04:33): “Heinrich Eisner had no envious, no enemies, but only friends, admirers and adorers…”
• A Fortune Built on Steel:
  The Eisners’ company, Hansa Werke, was a steel titan—controlling factories from Odessa to Moscow. At their height, they were "the equivalent of billionaires.”
  • Antony Easton (05:29): “They owned, let's say, the equivalent of Uber. They had a high tech steel business… one of the biggest companies in Germany.”
• Opulent Lifestyle:
  The Eisner family’s Berlin legacy included multiple lavish properties, including a marble-floored six-story home guarded by statues of angels—a sharp contrast to Antony’s own modest upbringing.
  • Antony Easton (06:45): “Their lives were the lives of the rich and successful. Music, opera, theater. Heinrich… sponsored a lot of theaters and was a philanthropist.”
• Art and Industry:
  While Hitler was a struggling artist in Vienna, Heinrich was commissioning work from Europe’s best. The family’s art collection and patronage underlined their prominence and ties to Germany’s modernization.

4. Fortunes and the Business of War

• War Profiteering:
  The family’s steel business prospered in WWI, manufacturing the materials essential to war.
  • Antony Easton (07:50): “They made tubular steel… used in war. They were very close to… people making money out of war.”
• Rudolf Eisner’s Inheritance:
  When Heinrich died, an immense fortune passed to Rudolf, Antony’s grandfather. Despite post-WWI chaos, Rudolf thrived, building a mansion outside Berlin.
  • Antony Easton (09:29): “The Eisner family were counterintuitive to what was going on… profiteering from World War I.”
• Village Life and Family Memory:
  A local’s recollection of Rudolf’s punctual visits, setting the village’s clocks by his arrival in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes, highlights the family’s lasting local impact and sense of social order.
  • Antony Easton (09:29): “We would all set our watches in the village, we’d all set our clocks. Four o’clock, Rudolf Eisner would turn up…”

5. Clues from the Past: A Son’s Handwriting

• Peter’s Notes:
  Antony finds his late father’s handwritten notes, a voice “reaching out from the past”—reflecting a child’s idyllic memories amid darker times.
  • Antony Easton (10:32): “I felt it was a hand reaching out from the past. I don’t want to use the word beyond the grave but… he wanted them to be read in posterity.”
• Life at the Country Estate:
  • Actor reading Peter’s notes (11:13): “The chauffeur, Herr Glaser drove us… in a splendid 1927 Mercedes Benz Nurnberg limousine… We children spent much time on our bikes. There were miles of forest ideal to play in.”

6. The Shadow of Nazism and the Disappearance of Jewish Identity

• Historical Turning Point:
  The family’s golden era ends as the Nazis gain power in 1932. Though perfectly positioned to profit under Hitler, their Jewish identity becomes an existential threat.
• Suppression of Jewish Roots:
  Neither Antony nor Anna recall any Jewish customs or discussions; the religion and its history were erased from the family narrative.
  • Anthony Easton (13:10): “When I looked at the past in my family, what I saw was a great big gaping black hole.”
• Rising Fear and Foreboding:
  Young Peter’s notes describe overheard adult whispers and a sense of increasing danger as antisemitism spreads.
  • Actor reading Peter’s notes (13:51): “I had heard adults whispering about Nazi threats. The hypnotic effect of Hitler’s personality… This is where the anti Jewish mentality started.”
• The Hope to Endure:
  Rudolf, an accomplished CEO and engineer, tries to “ride it out,” unaware of how total and destructive Nazi power would become.
  • Actor reading Peter’s notes (14:35): “People wanted a one party state dictatorship… Few realized what it would mean.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On family legacy and loss:
  • Antony Easton (01:40): "It is a dead dynasty… what happened?"
• On finding the family tree:
  • Antony Easton (02:48): "That family tree starts in 1710... my dad and his sister."
• On research obsession:
  • Antony Easton (03:23): "Over 20 different folders, there’s easily 10,000 pages of documents here."
• On the grandeur of Heinrich Eisner:
  • Antony Easton reading obituary (04:33): "Heinrich Eisner had no envious, no enemies, but only friends, admirers and adorers. A man who brought all under the power of his kindness..."
• On prosperity amid chaos:
  • Antony Easton (09:29): "We would all set our watches in the village... Four o’clock, Rudolf Eisner would turn up in his chauffeur driven Mercedes."
• On the invisible erasure of Jewish identity:
  • Antony Easton (13:10): "When I looked at the past in my family… I saw a great big gaping black hole."
• On the ominous whispers of 1930s Germany:
  • Actor as Peter (13:51): "I had heard adults whispering about Nazi threats… This is where the anti-Jewish mentality started."
• On the Eisner name and consequences of visibility:
  • Antony Easton (15:01): "If you drive around in a big Mercedes Chevy driven car, you make a mark. You're visible... that put a target on their back."

Important Segments with Timestamps

• 00:58 – 01:24: Antony at his great-grandfather’s grave; realization of family grandeur
• 02:48 – 03:36: Discovery and digitization of the family tree and documents
• 03:56 – 04:21: Anna describes Antony’s obsessive pursuit of family history
• 04:33 – 05:14: Reading obituaries praising Heinrich Eisner
• 05:29 – 06:45: Description of the Eisners’ industrial empire and opulent lifestyle
• 09:29 – 10:10: Tales from the village of Rudolf’s punctuality and estate
• 10:32 – 11:43: Peter’s notes, read by an actor, painting a vivid picture of rural aristocratic life
• 13:04 – 13:34: The “black hole” of lost Jewish identity
• 13:51 – 14:52: Peter, as a child, overhearing whispers of Nazi threats and antisemitic climate
• 15:01 – 15:26: Reflection on family success also acting as a mark of vulnerability under the Nazis

Flow and Tone

• The episode maintains a reflective, personal tone, blending meticulous archival detective work with poignant family reminiscence.
• There is a quiet sadness, a sense of loss and bewilderment as Antony uncovers a suppressed heritage, but also determination—a drive to reconstruct and reclaim the family story piece by piece.
• The narrative combines the scale of history (war, genocide, loss of fortune) with the intimacy of everyday life, memory, and family bonds.

This engrossing episode of The History Podcast does not just retell the fate of a lost dynasty, but captures a living descendant’s quest for truth—an attempt to bridge the chasm between present and past, ordinary and extraordinary, the visible traces and those forcibly erased.