The opening of Enemies of the People: Hitler's Critics and the Gestapo as read by the author.By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

The concentration camps symbolize the Holocaust. But the twisted road to Auschwitz was only one path in a wider system of terror. How did the concentration camp system change from 1935 to 1938? Who was in charge? How did the camps go from shrinking to expanding? What was the SS camp culture? What was life like for the prisoners? Join us for part tw…

How did the Accountant of Auschwitz end up before a court at 93 years of age? Who bears responsibility for genocide? What justice can there be for crimes committed a lifetime ago? Join us for a conversation with Ricki Gurwitz about the thorny moral issues raised by her new documentary.The news this week recounts the experiences of one survivor who …

Who defended Nazi war criminals after 1945? What limited prosecution and how did the German public think about post-war justice? Tune in to our interview with Craig Sorvillo about his research on Rudolf Aschenauer to find out!Get a hold of us on twitter @staxomatix or through email to john.ryan.stackhouse@gmail.com…

How did life change for slave labour after Stalingrad? How did the German way of irregular warfare shape their experience as a vital yet dangerous resource in Nazi eyes? In part two, Chris begins by briefly describing the foreign worker program and the functions of work education camps before discussing life under the bombs as a foreign worker. He …

How did an oppressive system become a murderous one? How was the Nazi foreign worker program built upon colonial precedents? In our latest episode, Ryan interviews Chris about his freshly defended dissertation on forced labour under Nazism. In part one, Chris tells us why he became a historian before outlining his main arguments and explaining thei…

Chris is back! In his triumphant return, we discuss how the Reich Ministry of the Interior functioned as the war turned against Germany. What changed after Himmler took control? Who was Wilhelm Stuckart? What was the SS theory of government administration? Tune in to find out!By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

Where did the Nazi idea of a Judeo Bolshevik Conspiracy come from? How were modern anti-Semitic tropes woven into a narrative of Jewish puppet masters? In the first half of a two part Roots of Nazism episode, join Ryan for a whirlwind overview of modern anti-Semitism from the Enlightenment to the end of the First World War.…

How did a democratic police force transform into the Gestapo in three short years? Tune in to find out and bear in mind the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

How do historians come up with questions and find sources with answers? What are the ins and outs of working in an archive? In an episode chock full of resources, Ryan waxes poetic about overcoming the obstacles of taking research from conception to completion.Links:Klaus Gietinger on Wolfgang Niess, Die Revolution von 1918/19: Der wahre Beginn uns…

How do authoritarians silence dissent? How were libel laws used to criminalize criticism? What punishments awaited those who spoke out against Hitler? Find out in the latest Roots of Nazism episode as Ryan traces the development of Orwellian speech laws governing private conversation.By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

Where can historians find sources? What questions can different archives answer? What is there to do when you aren’t digging through a heap of dusty documents? In a new series that is part travel log and part research report, Ryan reminisces of archives he has known. This week, lazing on the banks of the Rhine and toiling in the North Rhine Westpha…

The concentration camps symbolize the Holocaust. But the twisted road to Auschwitz was only one path in a wider system of terror. Where did the camps come from? How did their purpose change over time? What was life like in the different types of camps? Join us for a new series exploring the complex and dynamic evolution of concentration camp system…

Was Hildegaard Beetz a lovestruck secretary or international woman of mystery spying for the Nazis? How did the Gestapo police women for political offences? In a grab bag episode, Jim Retallack tells us how his new book about political culture in the Kaiserreich suggests 1933 as a vanishing point and we conclude our discussion with Katrin Pahler ab…

How do historians write history? How do they approach sources and tease out insights lurking between the lines? How do they deal with biases when writing about ideologies like Nazism? Most importantly, what undiscovered gems are hidden in the archives? Katrin Paehler joins Chris and Ryan to chat about her new book and the fine art of source critiqu…

What would you do if a cherished family member had been a Nazi? How would you make sense of the silences that had held an uncomfortable reality at bay? Roger Frie joins us to discuss the process of forgetting, remembering, and his intensely personal confrontation with the Nazi past chronicled in his award winning new book NOT IN MY FAMILY.…

How did Nazi Jewish policy escalate into the Holocaust? What role did security policy in occupied territories and the SS Einsatzgruppen play? What was the Final Solution decided at the Wannsee Conference? Was the man who oversaw it all a careerist or a true believer? This week, Chris and Ryan trace the career of Reinhard Heydrich from the invasion …

The Reich Security Main Office orchestrated the worst crimes of Nazi Germany. The RSHA was in charge of the Gestapo, the concentration camp system, security in occupied Europe, the murderous Einsatzgruppen, and the Holocaust. But who was in charge of the RSHA? Who was Reinhard Heydrich? How did he come to power? What did the man who oversaw the Hol…

Why did Hitler back down in some situations and not others? Why did some protests work and others fail? What do popular reactions to evacuations, euthanasia, and Jewish policy reveal about the nature of popular opposition? Nathan Stoltzfus joins us for another fascinating discussion about his work on the Rosenstrasse Protest and compromise in Nazi …

How did Hitler and Stalin rule? Does the theory of totalitarianism clarify or confuse? Working Toward the Führer opened a broader discussion about the nature of dictatorships. Tune in for the full conversation.H-net News: Conference report by Katrin Auer and Martin Hagmayr on Forced Labour in Europe under National Socialist Rule…

How was power exercised in the Third Reich? How do dictators use competing power centers to administer the state? How do they set policy while remaining aloof to preserve their popularity? Find out as Chris and Ryan discuss Ian Kershaw’s theory of working toward the Führer.News: Amerigo Caruso and Claire Morelon’s conference report on “The Dark Sid…

The final months of the Nazi regime are usually described in terms of apocalyptic chaos. A society in catastrophe. A spiral of violence. A state of confusion tinged with security paranoia that allowed individual actors to wield unchecked power over life and death. In this episode, Gerhard Paul’s chapter on executions in the Endphase outlines explan…

How did the Nazi regime respond to protest? How did Hitler's desire for popular authority shape the relationship between state and society? Find out in the first of our long awaited interviews with Nathan Stoltzfus. Ryan chats with Nathan about his latest book "Hitler's Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany" to find out what the Third…

In this episode, Chris and Ryan discuss Ralf Blank's chapter on the Endphase in the Rhein and Ruhr. His focus of Allied bombing campaigns and Hitler's "Nero Order" to destroy all industry in danger of falling into enemy hands highlights aspects of everyday life that have fallen by the wayside in our focus on the Gestapo.H-Net News: Review of Norman…

Who was excluded from the Nazi “community of the people” in the final months of the war? What can post-war trials tell us about atrocities committed in the Endphase? In this episode, Chris and Ryan review Sven Keller’s chapter Crimes in the End Phase of the Second World War: Considerations on Exclusion, Methodology, and Source Critique. Join us for…

How did the Gestapo operate? What were the day-to-day routines of Hitler's political police? What have historians written and rewritten on the subject since 1945? Join us for a discussion about the latest research on Hitler's secret police! In this episode, Chris and Ryan discuss Gerhard Paul's Continuity and Radicalization: Gestapo Station Würzbur…

Why did Germans support Hitler? What did they see in the man? What was the source his charisma? How could someone who hated the Nazis remain loyal their leader? Join us for the latest installment of The Roots of Nazism to understand Germans' fierce, intensely personal, yet ultimately fragile devotion to the Hitler Myth.Discussion begins at 14:16New…

How did a generation of Germany's best and brightest become mass murderers? How did Gestapo executioners process their atrocities and justify them to themselves? In this episode, Chris and Ryan discuss Hans-Joachim Heuer's chapter Brutalization and Decivilization: On State Police Killing. A diary entry written by a Gestapo officer about his first e…

How did polarized politics contribute to the rise of Nazism? How did Hitler's vision of community capture Germans' hopes and fears? In the first installment of a new series examining the roots of popular support for Nazism, we explore the ideology of the people's community.By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

Did you know the Nazis had more than one type of concentration camp? What role did camps play during the final months of the Third Reich? In this episode, Chris and Ryan discuss Gabriele Lotfi's Concentration Camps of the Gestapo: Work Education Camps in the Third Reich. Ryan starts the episode off with a short overview of the development of the co…

In this episode, Chris and Ryan review Michael McConnell's "The Situation is Once Again Quiet." We talk about the evacuation operation of fall 1944, decentralization of the Gestapo, and influence of the partisan wars in Eastern Europe on domestic policing. A much clearer picture of when violence started to affected different groups emerges.Correcti…

In this episode, Chris and Ryan argue about whether delinquent foreign workers hiding out in the ruins of Cologne were resisting the Nazis or simply surviving. What does resistance entail? We also bounce around some ideas about what the security services learned from the example of Cologne.By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar

In this episode, Chris and Ryan review Bernd-A. Rusinek's Gesellschaft in der Katastrophe: Terror, Illegalität, Widerstand - Köln 1944/1945. We discuss whether the Ehrenfeld Gang were resistance fighters, criminals, or even a gang at all as we talk about the underground networks that emerged in the ruins of Cologne over fall 1944. Grab your gun, we…

In this episode Chris and Ryan review Ian Kershaw's The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945. We discuss why Germans continued to serve Nazi leadership as defeat loomed, how the regime maintained control, the motivations of different social groups, and when they were swept up in state sanctioned terror.…

In the pilot episode, Chris and Ryan introduce themselves, explain why they became historians of Nazi Germany, outline the first project they'll be tackling with the podcast, and reveal the significance behind the opening music.By Ryan Stackhouse and Chris Osmar