In April 1945, as the Red Army was closing its grip on Berlin, coming closer and closer to Hitler's last refuge under the Chancellery gardens, one of his favourite pilots managed to fly a small aeroplane into the burning capital and land it near Brandenburg Gate. On board she carried a wounded future head of the Nazi Luftwaffe.
Aircraft Capitan Hanna Reitsch. Here is the story of her remarkable Berlin coup. And of her post-war denial.
Music theme: “Assembly Line Frustration" © Ionics Music | TerraSound.de
Sound effects:
BBC Sounds (artillery barrage, Junkers Ju-88, Stukas, Messerschmitt, air-raid sirens, park ambience)
Search Results | BBC Sound Effects (bbcrewind.co.uk)
Freesounds.org (Junker Ju-52 by Reinsamba, Creative Commons Licence 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/128542/
Frog in the throat: private
You can read fascinating stories about Berlin's past and present, as well as listen to all the episodes from Season 1 of the podcast at:
- Kreuzberged: Berlin Companion | BerlinCompanion: Kreuzberged | Substack (theberlincompanion.com)
- KREUZBERGED – BERLIN COMPANION – Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin
Social Media contact:
- Berlin Companion twitter.com/kreuzberged
- Berlin Companion @berlincompanion.bsky.social
- The Berlin Companion on Instagram
The Berlin Companion Audio-Tours coming soon!
