Berlin Companion Podcast

Jun 04 2022 9 ep. 10 mins 18

Berlin Companion Podcast artwork

Everything you never even knew you wanted to know about Berlin by the author Berlin history blog, kreuzberged.com and the Berlin Companion book series.

History Society & Culture

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EPISODE 8 DEATH AND RAILWAYS: THE CEMETERY AT POTSDAMER BAHNHOF

Jun 04 2022 12 mins

Last week we talked about the long-vanished cemetery railway line which connected Berlin-Wannsee with Germany's second largest burial site, Berlin's Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf. This episode remains in the realm of both the dead and the railways but with a serious shift towards Berlin's centre. This time we are travelling to the first half of the eighteenth century and will take it

EPISODE 7 COFFINS ON WHEELS: THE CORPSE TRAIN OF BERLIN

May 28 2022 10 mins

What do large cities do when they run out of space to bury their dead? They go beyond their limits. Traditionally all large European cities like Paris, Vienna or London eventually established new burial sites further and further from their centre. Vienna even considered using the pneumatic tube system to transport their deceased to the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery).By the end

EP 6 SLEEPING IN BERLIN: LIVING IN A BOX

May 21 2022 15 mins

Many old Berlin flats in the typical 19th century apartment buildings are equipped with a curious feature: a small storage space under the ceiling, usually installed in the bathroom, the kitchen or the corridor. What makes these so curious is not their function today - a storeroom for suitcases, skis and snorkels or that gear you wore for your first Love Parade in the mid-1990s - b

Ep 5 SOUND IN BERLIN. WHEN HITCHOCK COMES TO TOWN

May 09 2022 7 mins

The 1920s in Berlin were an incredible time, full both of misery and wonder. It was the time which brought both the worst and the best in people who lived there. And sometimes it helped pave way for genius. Or future classics.Episode 5 of Berlin Companion Podcast tells the story of one such classic made in Berlin.Sound effects:BBC Sound Effects Archive bbc_animals---_07037493 piege

Ep. 4 LANDING IN BERLIN

May 07 2022 8 mins

We all know how annoying air traffic can be these days for those who experience it from the ground - not only is it a time-bomb just waiting to make our environment go belly-up but it can also bring any conversation to a halt, if said conversation takes place under what is known as a flight corridor. But whenever if you think this is bad, here is a little story from the days where

EP. 3 HANNA FLIES TO HELL - THE LAST DAYS OF THE THIRD REICH IN BERLIN

Apr 30 2022 19 mins

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 h

EP.2 TREFFPUNKT 8 UHR: BERLIN CLOCKS

Apr 23 2022 12 mins

In the 1920s elegant Berliners fell in love with a scent called "Treffpunkt 8 Uhr" (Rendezvous at 8PM). Made by a legendary local manufacture Schwarzlose - which still exists today - it stood for the Exciting and the Romantic but also for what Berlin seemed never to have enough of: time.From 1787 when the first public clock appeared in Unter den Linden, clocks dictated the pace of

EP. 1 BERLIN O'CLOCK

Apr 16 2022 8 mins

When in April 1893 German Empire introduced new time measuring system based the Greenwich meridian, Berlin lost something big for good. It lost its own time. Here is the story behind it.Main theme for the podcast: “Assembly Line Frustration" © Ionics Music | TerraSound.de Sound effects: ChaliceWell, Bidone, JRosin and LG (CC Licence https://freesound.org/s/56874/) via freesounds

Berlin Companion Podcast Pilot

Apr 09 2022 3 mins

For anyone interested in history, Berlin is your playground. From old Slavic and Germanic tribes through Crusaders, alchemists and feuding houses to Prussian expansion, Emperors and world wars, including the Cold one. But next to big events, which often changed the world - and not always for the better - myriads of smaller things happened here daily, turning the city into what it i