German Studies

German Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Germany about their new books.

Rachel Blumenthal, "Right to Reparations: The Claims Conference and Holocaust Survivors, 1951–1964" (Lexington, 2021)

March 18, 2024

Right to Reparations

Rachel Blumenthal

Right to Reparations: The Claims Conference and Holocaust Survivors, 1951–1964 (Lexington, 2021) examines the early years of the Claims Conference, th…

Dan Stone, "The Holocaust: An Unfinished History" (Mariner Books, 2023)

March 18, 2024

The Holocaust

Dan Stone
Hosted by Kelly McFall

The Holocaust is much-discussed, much-memorialized and much-portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked. Spanning …

Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa, "The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust" (Simon & Schuster, 2024)

March 17, 2024

The Counterfeit Countess

Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

World War II and the Holocaust have been the subject of many remarkable stories of resistance and rescue, but The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Wom…

Jonas Tinius, "State of the Arts: An Ethnography of German Theatre and Migration" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

State of the Arts

Jonas Tinius
Hosted by Adam Bobeck

State of the Arts: An Ethnography of German Theatre and Migration (Cambridge UP, 2023) is a bold and wide-ranging account of the unique German public …

David Savran, "Tell It to the World: The Broadway Musical Abroad" (Oxford UP, 2024)

March 11, 2024

Tell It to the World

David Savran
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Tell It to the World: The Broadway Musical Abroad (Oxford UP, 2024) offers a look at how the Broadway musical travels the world, influencing and even …

Matthew Longo, "The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain" (Norton, 2024)

March 8, 2024

The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain

Matthew Longo
Hosted by Lilly Goren

The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and The Collapse of the Iron Curtain (Norton, 2024) is a truly fascinating narrative—exploring a little-known event tha…

Leona Toker, "Gulag Literature and the Literature of Nazi Camps: An Intercontexual Reading" (Indiana UP, 2019)

March 6, 2024

Gulag Literature and the Literature of Nazi Camps

Leona Toker
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Devoted to the ways in which Holocaust literature and Gulag literature provide contexts for each other, Leona Toker's Gulag Literature and the Literat…

Yaniv Feller, "The Jewish Imperial Imagination: Leo Baeck and German-Jewish Thought" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 3, 2024

The Jewish Imperial Imagination

Yaniv Feller
Hosted by Amir Engel

The Jewish Imperial Imagination: Leo Baeck and German-Jewish Thought (Cambridge UP, 2024) discusses the life and work of Leo Baeck (1873–1956) the rab…

Roman Dziarski, "How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis: The True Story of the Holocaust Rescuers, Zofia Sterner and Her Family" (Cherry Orchard, 2024)

March 3, 2024

How We Outwitted and Survived the Nazis

Roman Dziarski
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In World War II's Poland, thirty year old Zofia Sterner and her husband Wacek refuse to be classified as Jews destined for extermination. Instead, the…

Ned Richardson-Little, "The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

February 26, 2024

The Human Rights Dictatorship

Ned Richardson-Little
Hosted by Jill Massino

In The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany (Cambridge UP, 2020), Ned Richardson-Little exposes the …

Ivo Goldstein and Slavko Goldstein, "The Holocaust in Croatia" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2016)

February 25, 2024

The Holocaust in Croatia

Ivo Goldstein and Slavko Goldstein
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Holocaust in Croatia (U Pittsburgh Press, 2016) recounts the history of the Croatian Jewish community during the Second World War, with a focus on…

Bojan Aleksov, "Jewish Refugees in the Balkans, 1933-1945" (Brill, 2023)

February 24, 2024

Jewish Refugees in the Balkans, 1933-1945

Bojan Aleksov
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Balkans provided the escape route for tens of thousands of German Jews, and remained a place of refuge until the Nazis brutally shut it off with t…

Till Van Rahden, "Multiplicity: Jewish History and the Ambivalences of Universalism" (Hamburger Edition, 2022)

February 24, 2024

Multiplicity

Till Van Rahden
Hosted by Paul Lerner

Since the Enlightenment, the question has arisen as to how it is possible to think of the “unity of the human race” as a multiplicity. How can the pro…

Devin O. Pendas, "Democracy, Nazi Trials and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945–1950" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

February 23, 2024

Democracy, Nazi Trials and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945–1950

Devin O. Pendas
Hosted by Eric Grube

In his new book, Democracy, Nazi Trials, and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945-1950 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Dr. Devin O. Pendas examin…

Mara Josi, "Rome, 16 October 1943: History, Memory, Literature" (Legenda, 2023)

February 20, 2024

Rome, 16 October 1943

Mara Josi
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Today I talked to Mara Josi about her new book Rome, 16 October 1943: History, Memory, Literature (Legenda, 2023). Rome. Saturday 16 October 1943. Th…

Ricky W. Law, "Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German-Japanese Relations, 1919-1936" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

February 20, 2024

Transnational Nazism

Ricky W. Law
Hosted by Craig Sorvillo

In his new book, Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German-Japanese Relations, 1919-1936 (Cambridge University Press, 2019), associate prof…

Tobias Straumann, "1931: Debt, Crisis, and the Rise of Hitler" (Oxford UP, 2019)

February 17, 2024

1931

Tobias Straumann
Hosted by Ryan Stackhouse

What can we learn from the financial crisis that brought Hitler to power? How did diplomatic deadlock fuel the rise of authoritarianism? Tobias Straum…

Paul Mendes-Flohr, "Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent" (Yale UP, 2019)

February 12, 2024

Martin Buber

Paul Mendes-Flohr
Hosted by David Gottlieb

In Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent (Yale University Press, 2019), Paul Mendes-Flohr, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinit…

Bjørn Westlie, "My Father's War: Confronting Norway's Nazi Past" (U Wisconsin Press, 2023)

February 11, 2024

My Father's War

Bjørn Westlie
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

My Father's War: Confronting Norway's Nazi Past (U Wisconsin Press, 2023) is simultaneously a history of the Nazi occupation of Norway in World War II…

Despina Stratigakos, "Hitler’s Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway" (Princeton UP, 2020)

February 11, 2024

Hitler’s Northern Utopia

Despina Stratigakos
Hosted by Craig Sorvillo

In her new book Hitler’s Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway (Princeton University Press, 2020), Despina Stratigakos investigat…