History Flakes - The Berlin History Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Wanna have a coffee? Well, I hope you're not an East German in the '70s & '80s, 'cos it's gonna be tough (and taste like wood).

On this episode of History Flakes Pip & Jonny dive deep into the lukewarm cup of coffee that is East Germany's struggle to procure the brown stuff for its people. To do that we've enlisted the help of TikTok's own Call Me Steve. If you follow Jonny on various socials you may have bumped into Steve's excellent, deep, engaging, and humorous East German/Cold War content. He takes us on a ride through East Germany's economic woes as we sit and sip our own coffee (Jonny had tea...) in East Berlin's Café Sibylle.

++++++

Jonny's idea (sorry) to record this in a café was perhaps a little ambitious. Bear with us through some robotoic AI-sounding audio.

++++++

Want more Steve? You got it:

• YouTube
• TikTok
• Instagram

++++++

LIVE LIVE LIVE!!!! Come see us LIVE on the 29th March 2025 at the Comedy Cafe Berlin at 8pm, tickets available here: https://www.comedycafeberlin.com/event/history-flakes-live-2/

++++++

Tours
Want to book Pip & Jonny for tours you can get in touch via the Whitlam's Berlin Tours website.

You can follow Jonny online on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more!

++++++

Donations keep us running. If you like the show and want to support it, you can use the following links:

Donate €50 •• Donate €20 •• Donate €10 •• Donate €5

++++++

Sources

Books
Brewing Socialism: Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization by Andrew Kloiber

⁠Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe edited by Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger

⁠Illustrierte Konsumgeschichte der DDR by Annette Kaminsky

⁠The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of the GDR by André Steiner

Stasi Files
https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-1/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-1/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-2/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-2/

Come enjoy an atmospheric walk around a cemetery bursting with history! Let's explore the Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde in this beautiful, golden Autumn together.

Listen at home, or follow along with a blog post, map, and photos - you could even follow the route as you walk through the cemetery!

How do you do that? Check out this link to find a map, exact locations of all the graves, photos to make it easier to find them, and information on each of the people we discuss.

To celebrate the beautfiul change of season, crunching leaves (Jonny) and acorns (Pip) underfoot, and not least Halloween, we hope you agree this is something a bit special. The Friedrichsfelde Cemetery is the final resting place of many Berlin workers and towering figures in the Socialist and Communist movements.

Find the graves of Walter Womacka, Rosa Luxemburg, (in)famous spies, WWII victims the man responsible for setting up the Berlin Wall and loads more!

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

... and don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Did you enjoy this special episode? Consider donating to keep the show running:

Donate €50 •• Donate €20 •• Donate €10 •• Donate €5

++++++

You can find Jonny online on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more!

++++++

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

++++++

Sources

Berliner Friedhöfe by Ingolf Wernicke

https://www.sozialistenfriedhof.de/

Ok, let’s see how this guy ends. In part 2 of our episode on Law and Justice in Nazi Germany we talk about some of the big legal events which make life increasingly difficult for those categorised 'undesirable' by the Nazi regime and sees Roland  progress in his attempt to gain full control of the Nazi legal system, right the way up to this sudden and the visually appealing way he (probably) died.

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
Die NS-Justiz: Recht des Unrechts | Doku HD | ARTE
Hitler's Executioner: Roland Freisler, President of the Nazi People's Court, Helmut Ortner

Strap in nerds. In the first episode of our first two-parter, we use the career of Roland Freisler to track some of the huge legal changes that would secure the dictatorship of the Third Reich. We get up to 1934 here, where the Nazis are on the cusp of becoming the one and only political force in the country, having outlawed all other parties.

Watch out for the next episode to hear about how Freisler himself would weaponise the law for the Nazi’s murderous means and his ultimate and quite satisfying death.

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
Die NS-Justiz: Recht des Unrechts | Doku HD | ARTE
Hitler's Executioner: Roland Freisler, President of the Nazi People's Court, Helmut Ortner

This episode we'll be talking about Jazz's reception in Berlin and Germany more broadly, from its early arrival in the 20s to the Third Reich's attempts to stamp it out. Minister for Propaganada and Enlightenment Joseph Goebbels has a plan to make really cool and great white supremacist music actually… but the results are as one might expect. We also take a look at the rebellious teens of Nazi Germany; the Swing-Jugend, a youth subculture already inclined to scoff at the Nazis will find their anthem in the music of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
Different Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany
Book by Michael H. Kater

Jazz Mini Series by Ken Burns

Just weeks before the beginning of the Second World War, a dark spectre begins to stalk a particular section of the S-Bahn train line in Berlin. The press under Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is loathe to publish news of anything but glorious German victory and the crimes of their supposed enemies within and without. As more and more women are violently attacked and eventually murdered, a decision is made to let the public in on what is happening, and inadvertently, the murderer. Against the backdrop of an extraordinarily violent regime, we take a look at an historically mundane violent occurence, as it unfolded in the city.

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
'A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer'
Book by Scott Andrew Selby

You know how it is, you want Greta Garbo in your next Hollywood Talkie, but she's awkward and weird and won't get on the phone, you need Salka Viertel.

Weimar Theatre Actress, Consummate Hostess, tireless anti-fascist, Garbo whisperer.
You might not have heard of Salka Viertel but some of the greatest connections and collaborations made in the early years of Hollywood happened in Salka Viertel’s Santa Monica living room. A life touched over and over by tragedy but always focussed on love and togetherness, Salka’s life has become somewhat forgotten, showing our habit of overlooking the often invisible work of hosting, caring and bringing people together.

You can can in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
'The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood' by Donna Rifkind

It’s November in Germany, so you know that there's History afoot. Join Jonny Whitlam and Pip Roper as we discuss some of the context leading up to the November Revolution, (29th October-9th November) and try to detangle the confusion of those in the thick of it. Kaiser Wilhelm II doesn’t know when to leave the party, Rosa Luxemburg’s fresh out of prison and she told you this war was a bad idea all along, and there’s a town full of sailor’s who aren’t that keen on pointlessly dying actually. Join us as we, and they, try to navigate a forced abdication, end of an Empire and beginning of a whole new and turbulent world.

You can can in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

Sources:
'The Weimar Years' by Frank McDonough
'The Downfall of Money' by Frederick Taylor

Dear Listener,

Come closer to the fire, pull your shawl a little tighter about your shoulders...pay no attention to the pale looking figure staring longingly at your neck from the shadows.

It is our great pleasure to kick off History Flakes Season 2 with a celebration of Halloween and the story of film maker F. W. Murnau and his most infamous film NOSFERATU.

We've missed you most cruelly, but now we're back to accompany you through the harsh depths of winter.

ALSO...Pip's mic went a bit weird on this one, apologies, it's not your headphones!

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com.

Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

You can find Jonny online on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more!

++++++

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

++++++

Sources

Where to Begin with F.W. Murnau, Ben Nicholson

Nosferatu review, Roger Ebert

F.W. Murnau, Director of the Nosferatu - Stuff You Missed in History Class

The F.W. Murnau Foundation - www.murnau-stiftung.de

'The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood' by Donna Rifkind

The Horror Films of F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Phantom, The Haunted Castle and Faust), Dark Corners Reviews

F.W. Murnau Biography - Director of Nosferatu, Portraits of History

Let's dive into the wild and bruising life of Germany’s best-known pugilist, Max Schmeling—the man who went from Weimar wonder to darling of Nazi propaganda, and somehow managed to emerge in post-WWII West Germany with an intact reputation.

Schmeling’s life reads like a script from the golden age of cinema—coming of age in the chaos of Weimar Germany, he punched his way to the top, becoming a national hero with a controversial world title and a shocking victory over Joe Louis. But it wasn’t all champagne and glory. A short turn in the movies, reinventing himself as a Coca-Cola mogul and beloved television star, Schmeling’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and how a nation deals with its past - this man was a star in the Weimar, Third Reich, *and* West German eras!

Tune in to hear how this legendary boxer left his mark on the ring and on history itself.

Recorded at the Comedy Cafe in Berlin.

Want to come to the next History Flakes LIVE recording? Keep up to date with Jonny's Instagram, Threads, and Twitter for more info on upcoming shows!

You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks!

Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths
https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/
https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/

++++++

Sources
Max Schmeling and the Making of a National Hero in Twentieth-Century Germany (Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics), Jon Hughes

Stalingrad und der Nationalsozialismus Podcast mit Christoph Fromm, Folge 162: Max Schmeling und Johann Trollmann - von Helden und Außenseitern

The Lost Cities of Berlin by Historia Mag