Dan Snow's History Hit – Details, episodes & analysis

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 some of its most egregious war criminals sought to escape justice by fleeing Europe, most famously to South America. The escape routes they used, established by Nazi sympathisers, came to be known as 'ratlines'. The escaping Nazis had helped from an unexpected source; senior figures within the Catholic Church.

The story of SS officer Walter Rauff exemplifies how these networks operated and the subsequent lives of the escapees. Rauff was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people during the Second World War and was a key perpetrator of the Holocaust. After escaping to Chile, he would eventually come to work for the brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. There he would go on to inflict further miseries on the Chilean people. Rauff was never put on trial, but is it possible to obtain a different kind of justice for his numerous crimes?

Philippe Sands, a renowned British-French lawyer and author, joins Dan to provide insights from his book '38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia', which explores Rauff's life and actions and the involvement of the Catholic Church.

Produced & edited by Dougal Patmore.

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The Romans built an empire that reshaped the world through brutal wars, brilliant strategy, and even the power of the pen. From the blood-soaked battlefields to the marble halls of Rome, a few towering figures stand out: Pompey, Scipio, Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius... but who truly deserves the title of the Greatest Roman of All Time?

Many would say Julius Caesar — the bold general who crossed the Rubicon and shattered the Republic. To find out if he truly deserves the title, Dan is joined by renowned Roman historian Dr. Simon Elliott, as they debate Caesar’s legacy and weigh him against Rome’s other titans.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

You can now find Dan Snow's History Hit on YouTube! Watch episodes every Friday (including this one) here.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

Synonymous for somewhere far away, Timbuktu has been mythologised by the stories of old European explorers. But in fact, for centuries it was in fact a key trading post on the edge of the Sahara and the centre of the Islamic Golden Age- home to some of the most important manuscripts in African history. Dan is joined by Kai Mora, an author and historian in African and African American Studies as she takes Dan on a tour of its history and explains how this city of gold, an ancient centre of learning, is slowly turning to dust.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and James Hickmann, and edited by Tim Arstall.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

Lieutenant Charles Hare was a young British naval officer who made an extraordinarily elaborate escape from a French prisoner-of-war camp during the Napoleonic Wars... with the help of his English Terrier dog. Captured at just 14, Hare spent years in captivity before devising an audacious plan to flee dressed in the uniform of a French customs officer. He took a convoluted 'trains, planes and automobiles' style journey up the Rhine, through Germany, to the Netherlands and finally back home to England, deceiving both locals and officials of his true identity.

This tale of ingenuity and bravery was recently uncovered thanks to Hare's descendants, who recently handed over his disguise and firsthand account to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Curator Dr Katherine Gazzard regales Dan with the story in a world-exclusive story when he visited the museum to see the uniform for himself.

You can see Hare's disguise and discover more about his story at a new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and see it in our new History Hit documentary. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW’ to watch it.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

Other episodes mentioned in this episode:

Thomas Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander

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