The Reel Reich

We're back! And this week on The Reel Reich, we are gently clearing the dust away from the history behind the movie, The Monuments Men. We discuss the Allied creation of a special department of art nerds tasked with recovering the art stolen by the Nazis and protecting historic cultural monuments from the destruction of battle. We recount their journey through pre- and post-war Europe as they recover all sorts of paintings, statues and artifacts. And we take a dive into some of those works: the Adoration of the Lamb, Michelangelo's Madonna, Da Vinci's Last Supper...Join us for this artsy ride!Support the show

We're still here! We haven't gone anywhere, we just took a couple weeks of much needed holiday time. But we're back next week with more stories -ever heard of the Monuments Men? Here's a 5-minute rant where we wish you a happy new year with our sweet mellow voices and we chat about our plans for the podcast. Stay tuned!Support the show

This week on the Reel Reich, we are launching into Outer Space and visiting the dark side of the moon. We watched the cult classic B-movie, Iron Sky, which couldn't possibly have any history behind it, right? Wrong! We get into the real history of early German science fiction, the scientists and stargazers of the rowdy rocketeers, and the possibility of Nazis on the moon. Join us as we venture where no podcast has gone before...Support the show

It's hard to be a pacifist in today's world, but it was deadly to be one under the Third Reich. On this episode of the Reel Reich, we will be telling the story of Franz Jägerstätter, an incredibly brave man who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice rather than compromise his beliefs. His life and martyrdom inspired the film A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick, which we also recommend. Join us as we recount the truth behind the saint and discuss the issues around the Catholic Church and the Nazis.Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?Support the show

I'm sure you know all about Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman or Greta Garbo, stars of the silver screen, but have you heard of Kristina Söderbaum? On today's episode of the Reel Reich, we are discussing the "Marilyn Monroe" of Nazi Germany. We'll look at her career and complicity in the National Socialist film propaganda machine as well as the contradictions in Nazi beauty ideals compared with the glamorous goddesses of film.Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?Support the show

Welcome to Part 2 of this week's episode of the Reel Reich. If you haven't listened to Part 1, this will make very little sense to you, so go listen to that first. On Part 2 of our Inglorious Basterds episode, we are discussing the truth behind Tarantino's WWII revenge fantasy. After visiting underground partisans, army bears and the headquarters of the Jewish Brigade in Part 1, we are now ready to flesh out the plans of the Brigade, who took a detour from their army duties to go on a vengeful anti-Nazi rampage across post-war Europe. Killing Nazis? Check. Infiltrating beer halls? Check. No burning theater, but believe it or not this story has a better ending. Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?Support the show

In Part 1 of this week's episode we follow The Avengers, a group of Lithuanian teenagers battling the Nazis from the ghettos and the forests. We discuss Anders' Army, the Soviet-assembled fighting squad that never was, and begin the story of the Jewish Brigade, the real-life Inglorious Basterds who signed up to fight Nazis and were soon swallowed by a spiral of hatred and revenge. It's liars and bear-Jews and bear-bears (oh my!) on this episode of the Reel Reich.Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?Support the show

Things are a little different and, dare we say, spooky this week on the Reel Reich. Instead of working from a film specifically about the Third Reich, we are drawing inspiration directly from the life of a legend. Underneath the piercing, mesmerizing gaze of the eternal and original Dracula, we delve into the real journey of Bela Lugosi, his vampyric homeland, and the mixed stew of ideologies and culture that was Hungarian Fascism. Listen to learn more about the man, myth and truth behind the blood sucking seducer of the silver screen. Happy Halloween!Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show.   Becoming our Patron is the opposite of being Dracula: instead of leeching life through our blood, you give us life, much like Dr. Frankenstein did to his monster.   Be   like Dr. Frankenstein, become a Patron!Support the show

On this episode of The Reel Reich, we are inspired by a scene in The Book Thief where they depict one of the most infamous events in the early years of Nazi rule: the book burnings. The Book Thief is a beautiful coming of age novel and film about the freedom, joy of life and humanity that we find both in the most horrible of situations and in the power of storytelling and the written word. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the book burnings. Perhaps nothing foretells the  crimes the Nazis would commit  like those hateful fires.  The burning of ideas and authors that don't fit into the National Socialist ideology. As we recount those events, don't miss out on the book recommendations. The books the Nazis burned have to be read,  preserved and celebrated. And   cuddled with during the long winter that's coming.   Books, books, books. Tune in!Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And now also on Patreon if you want to help us keep running this show. With as little as what a coffee costs, you can become one of our patrons, I mean, how cool is that?Support the show

This week on The Reel Reich we are discussing our love of Mel Brook's The Producers (1967). We delve into how this movie reflected the tumultuous political climate of 1960s America and how the public at different points in history perceives humor when it comes to Nazis and the Holocaust. We will also discuss musical theater and political pageantry in Hitler's Germany and, most importantly, our love of LSD (it's not what you think!)Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And don't forget to subscribe for more wild stories about the Third Reich, movie Nazis and the history behind the fiction. Until next time!Support the show

The year is 1972. Jerry Lewis, entertainer and comedian, receives an unconventional screenplay titled 'The Day The Clown Cried'. The premise: a washed-up clown ends up in a Nazi camp and redeems himself through comedy. Lewis accepted the role and took on the first-ever attempt at a Holocaust slapstick. The film is still, to this day, unreleased.Join us in this Reel Short episode to hear all about the delusions, the good intentions and the questions raised by this misguided film. Is laughter still possible in a grim world?Find us on Twitter and Instagram as @reelreich for extra content and behind the scenes! And don't forget to subscribe for more wild stories about the Third Reich, movie Nazis and the history behind the fiction. Until next time!Support the show

Of all the podcasts in all the world, you had to listen to this one. This week, we're discussing the real history behind the timeless classic that is Casablanca. We'll reveal how many of the actors were victims of the very circumstances they were portraying and how the actual city of Casablanca played host to characters even more outrageous than those frequenting Rick's Café.  There are tales of refugees, saviors, scandalous performers, romance, and that not just the film. So who inspired Casablanca's iconic characters? Was Rick's a real place? You'll just have to listen to this episode of the Reel Reich to find out. I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful Podcast, er, friendship.Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@reelreich), where we post extra content about each topic we cover. Support the show

Imagine you are given the ability to time travel. What do you do with this awesome power? Obviously you go back in time to 1889 to kill Hitler, thus preventing WWII and saving millions of lives. OR WOULD YOU? And even if you did, would the outcome of history change for the better? On today's episode of the Reel Reich, we are attempting to answer one of the oldest questions in time travel history (or present?): Would you kill baby Hitler? Join us as we delve into the ethical dilemmas around the big question, and discuss the basic inaccuracies of Tom Cruise, the prevalence of Forest Whitaker in time and space, and the alternative histories you didn't know you feared. Learn why Hitler was an obnoxious incel and why Drag is the answer to all our questions. Support the show

On part 2 of this episode, we try to answer a simple question: In the 1930s, was fascism a foreign threat for the United States, or was it a national phenomenon? Were fascist ideas an import or were they homegrown? In a narrative that links The Birth of a Nation, the Ku Klux Klan and the isolationist movement 'America First', we trace the history of star-spangled fascism to answer a question that many were asking at the time: Could it happen here?Support the show

On Part 1 of this episode, we talk about the real trial of a Nazi spy ring discovered in New York that inspired the film Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939). The Rumrich spy trial shocked Americans by proving that suspicions of a Fifth Column, sent from Germany to subvert American democracy, were not as farfetched as people had believed. So, were there Nazis living next door in America in the 1930s? What was Operation Sex? Why did they need extreme security when this movie came out? If you want some answers (and ramblings about spy craft), listen to this episode of the Reel Reich!Support the show

Today's episode is truly a foray into the unknown. An obscure Mexican wrestling film, back in 1969 -it was a weird year, wasn't it?- decided to cast John Carradine as a Nazi war criminal that plans to take over the world. And here is the catch: he is the head clown at a circus.Through a twisted landscape of both swastikas and ferris wheels, we set to answer a question: What was that clown make-up like in real life? What ever happened to the many Nazi war criminals that escaped Europe and found new lives abroad, often leading a quiet, undisturbed existence, running from deeds that the world seemed willing to forget? Support the show

Did you know a bunch of Norwegians on skis saved the world? It might sound like an overstatement, but the Norwegian resistance thwarted the Nazi plans to develop an atomic bomb. That relatively unknown episode of World War II, as well as the first English-language film to portray it, "The Heroes of Telemark", are the subject of today's episode.Do you know what heavy water is and why the Nazis needed it? Do you know the connection between nuclear power and Kirk Douglas’s spectacular chin dimple? If you don’t know about either or how they can possibly be related, this is the episode for you! In Part 2 we walk, climb and ski side by side with the nine men that were part of Operation Gunnerside, in their final attempt at sabotage of the Vemork heavy water facility. The stakes have never been higher. Support the show

Did you know a bunch of Norwegians on skis saved the world? It might sound like an overstatement, but the Norwegian resistance thwarted the Nazi plans to develop an atomic bomb. That relatively unknown episode of World War II, as well as the first English-language film to portray it, "The Heroes of Telemark", are the subject of today's episode.Do you know what heavy water is and why the Nazis needed it? Do you know the connection between nuclear power and Kirk Douglas’s spectacular chin dimple? If you don’t know about either or how they can possibly be related, this is the episode for you! In Part 1 we discuss the race for the atomic bomb, the life of scientist and resistance fighter Leif Tronstad, and the two operations that would prepare the ground for the final sabotage.Support the show

This is Part 2 of our Hitler Youth episode. Join us in this journey to explore the experiences of millions of children in Nazi Germany, from the early enthusiasm to the tragedy of the war years. Given the current events in the United States, we wanted to lend our support to the Black Lives Matter movement and all anti-racist movements across the globe. As historians, we think it is crucial to understand the dangers of fascism and white supremacy, both their historical roots and their present forms.Here are some resources that we found helpful to educate ourselves:A #BlackLivesMatter comprehensive document with all sorts of resourcesAnti-racism resources for white people1619, a podcast that examines the long shadow of American slaveryCodeswitch, fearless conversations about race by journalists of colorIf you like the Reel Reich, make sure to subscribe and follow us in Instagram and Twitter for more content, book and movie recommendations, and to give us your feedback! Stay safe, Hannah and DaniSupport the show

Ever wonder about how the Nazi boy scouts got their start? Join us as we explore some of the themes raised by the movie Jojo Rabbit and examine the history of the Hitler Youth. We discuss the intentions and driving forces behind a machine whose gears transformed innocent children into "political soldiers".Given the current events in the United States, we wanted to lend our support to the Black Lives Matter movement and all anti-racist movements across the globe. As historians, we think it is crucial to understand the dangers of fascism and white supremacy, both their historical roots and their present forms.Here are some resources that we found helpful to educate ourselves:A #BlackLivesMatter comprehensive document with all sorts of resourcesAnti-racism resources for white people1619, a podcast that examines the long shadow of American slaveryCodeswitch, fearless conversations about race by journalists of colorIf you like the Reel Reich, make sure to subscribe and follow us in Instagram and Twitter for more content, book and movie recommendations, and to give us your feedback! Stay safe, Hannah and DaniSupport the show