Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings were two of the biggest stars in both Weimar Germany and Hollywood in the early 20th century…they’re not that bothered about each other, but they would star together in The Blue Angel, filmed precisely as Wall Street crashed, catapulting them off into wildly different directions, personally, professionally and politically. This episode began as an attempt to check in with these two people in 1945, and whilst we do that, they're too interesting to confine to tha...
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 7
The Potsdam Conference... The Pozi Confs for those in the know, as you are soon to be. It’s like summer camp for if you’ve been a good boy and defeated Nazi Germany in Europe. You all get together and decide what the hell do we do now? Stalin and Molotov are there, having a BLAST. The newly elected Labour Party of the UK forgot their swimming trunks and no-one knows who this Truman guy is. Seriously though…who’s in charge? Who’s not in charge? Who’s dead? Who’s been voted out? Who’s playing good...
Jun 24, 2025•54 min
World War II is over in Europe. But technically, like how? Who's involved? What's in Karlshorst? What will Marshall Zhukov be drinking and who IS Julie Busted? Inquiring minds want to know. Join us as we start to find a bit more brevity & levity in this series of War and despair. And reflect on the madness of a few people making decisions for huge numbers of us in medium sized rooms. ++++++ History Flakes LIVE RECORDING JULY 20TH 18.30, Comedy Cafe Berlin 🎟️🎟️🎟️ TICKETS HERE!!! 🎟️🎟️🎟️ ...
Jun 10, 2025•50 min•Season 3Ep. 5
++++Content warning for violence and sexual violence, not one for youngsters or those of a senitive nature to these topics ++++ The Curse of the Dodgy Microphone! We've been trying to find ways to record remotely, and Pip had a bit of trouble this time, but you'll pull through, we believe in you! In this episode Jonny leads Pip through some of the key moments of the Battle of Berlin, from the Red Army entering the city on April 21 to the surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2. We look at the ...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 4
80 years ago the Battle of Seelow Heights was the final hurdle for Stalin’s Red Army before reaching Hitler’s fascist capital, Berlin. Before the Battle of Berlin could begin, Soviet troops needed to cross the Oder river, break through several lines of German defences, and capture all the small towns and villages on the approach to Berlin. In this episode, Jonny tells Pip all about the four-day fight that opened the gates to Berlin in April 1945. Listen out for: Zhukov’s mistakes and Stalin’s an...
May 14, 2025•38 min•Season 3Ep. 3
We continue our discussion about Ravensbrück concentration camp and to reflect on the 80 year anniversary of its liberation with Pablo aka Berlin con Pablo , who's been guiding Spanish language vistiors to Berlin for many years! We each bring a story of an individual woman's survival of Ravensbrück: Neus Català, Yevgenia Lasarevna Klemm, and Odette Sansom. This was a tough one to record because of the sheer horror of the content and apologies everyone, it's not our best audio quality. But we hop...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Spring 2025 marks the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II. We're kicking off this season, focused on WWII, by discussing Ravensbrück concentration camp, the only camp purpose built for women under the Nazi regime. In this first of two parts, we take a look at whom this camp was built for, who ran it day to day, and how it changed dramatically over the course of it's life. We also discuss the concentration camp system more generally, contextualising it along side our knowledge as guides o...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Dearest Listener! Please enjoy this very special bonus episode! We welcome Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, from The History of the Germans Podcast. If there’s something this man doesn’t know about the Wittelsbachs, I sure as hell don’t want to hear about it! Dirk takes Jonny and I from the earliest context surrounding the founding of Berlin and introduces us to some real characters like Henry the Fowler, all round nice guy, Uta von Ballenstedt, popped collar, cold hard stare, medieval FOX; As well as the...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 11
‼️👉 Click here to sign up! 👈‼️ Link not working? Look up “Pay What You Want Tour - International Women's Day Special with Pip Roper” on eventbrite.com Pay What You Want Tour - International Women's Day Special with Pip Roper It’s international Women’s Day! Come along for a special tour led by Pip Roper of History Flakes, Gender Historian and highly experienced Berlin Tour Guide. Learn about some of our more famous figures, Marlene Dietrich, Rosa Luxemburg, that most beloved Queen Luise, and di...
Mar 03, 2025•2 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Josephine Baker...Josi Bakes as we've taken to calling her, respectfully. Fizzing with energy, talent, and pure GUMPTION. The only African American woman to be inducted in the Pantheon of France. Her story takes us from the poverty and violence of segregated St. Louis, to the scandalously modern revues of interwar Europe. Beloved in Berlin, but finding herself most at home in Paris, she would tirelessly work for the French resistance during the Second World War, only to return to rejection and r...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Join us for a discussion with Berlin tour guiding legend Matti Geyer, as we tackle the sad, mad and certainly very bad Stella Goldschlag. Born and raised to a secular Jewish Berlin family, she would take advantage of her ability to pass as 'aryan' to aid the Gestapo as a chief ‘ Greifer ’ or ‘catcher’ of Jewish people during the Nazi period. We talk about her role alongside that of husband Rolf Isaaksohn, and discuss why it might be that his actions as well as 30 other Greifer in Berlin are larg...
Feb 05, 2025•55 min•Season 2Ep. 8
How to build a new country Step 1: No, not like that! Step 2: Stalin, do you like your birthday present? Step 3: We must make Stalin a nice birthday present, this time while singing a catchy song. Step 4: Oh, Stalin, are you dead? This episode Pip & Jonny explore how the grand buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee, formerly Stalinallee, came to be. The story of these momentous buildings is filled with hard work, hope, optimism, and trying to impress daddy. ++++++ History Flakes LIVE RECORDING JULY 20...
Jan 22, 2025•59 min•Season 2Ep. 7
What happened when civil rights activist, one-time FBI’s most wanted, scourge of J Edgar Hoover, Angela Davis met the GDR? A lot actually. Want to find out? Join us as we dive into Angela’s early years and into her eventful 20s, growing up surrounded by threats of death and violence in the southern US to studying in Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin. And discover why she holds cult status for an entire generation of children and youngsters who grew up under the leadership of the GDR. Oh… and there’s a...
Jan 08, 2025•48 min•Season 2Ep. 6
And what a special it is! We're joined by the Berlin Companion herself, Beata Gontarczyk-Krampe, author of the wonderful Berlin Companion blog . Beata's deep dives into Berlin history most people have never heard of are consitently fascinating and delightful. If you like this show, you'll love her blog! Beata blessed us with surprising stories of Berlin Christmases past over wine and Christmas treats - What is a Christmas Pyramide? What didn't Prince Albert bring to Britain, and if you're not ac...
Dec 21, 2024•55 min•Season 2Ep. 5
What makes a king “Great”? In this episode, we follow up on our exploration of Frederick’s intense and domineering father, the Soldier King, to uncover what shaped Frederick into a true Renaissance man. With secret lessons in music and literature, famously philosphers, the flute, and an incredible instinct for survival, Frederick became one of history’s most intriguing monarchs. Sure, he invaded another kingdom early in his reign - young and impulsive, we all are (or were) - but even he admitted...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 4
THIS guy...This. Guy. Meet Friedrich Wilhelm II. The Soldier King. Father of Friedrich the Great, second ever King of Prussia. He's a fighter not a lover, unless you're over 6 foot, in which case watch out, he might love you so hard you'll be taken away to join his battalion of giant human toy soldiers. In what was a surprisingly fulfilling fall down a Prussian rabbit hole, we discuss the Passion of the Soldier King, to the great disappointment of his mother and the brutalisation of his children...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 3
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 co...
Nov 13, 2024•45 min
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 beaut...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 2
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...
Oct 30, 2024•52 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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 ...
Sep 04, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Anita Berber, pioneering dance performer extraordinaire, or violent thieving drug-addled lunatic? Why not both!? Join us during our first live recording as we talk about the life and times of Anita Berber, the ultimate performance wunderkind of Weimar Berlin. There’s quite a bit bubbling up under the surface, and the inter-war peace feels pretty tenuous. Much like the era itself, her nihilist self-destruction and sexual decadence flickers brightly and briefly, leaving a vacuum for the horrors to...
Aug 21, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Finally, the most important part of any super spy’s career… Le Sex. Markus Wolf continues to prove himself second to none in spy mastery. We hear about his highs and lows…but mostly highs because he wrote the book on himself which we’re using and he’s both humble but amazing actually (and epic in bed). Join us as we try to remain un-seduced by Markus Wolf’s account of his own life. Infiltrating the highest office of West Germany, building his roster of Romeo spies, to his final act, publishing a...
Aug 04, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Who’s the greatest spy that ever spied and love machine spreading Communism throughout the world? WOLF! Markus Wolf that is. Join us as we discuss the early days of the elusive and seductive spy master of East Germany. Born in Germany, raised partially in the Soviet Union during WWII to committed communist parents, Wolf is perfectly placed to establish one of the most nebulous and far reaching intelligence networks of the cold war. And because this guy is so fascinating we’ve split this into a t...
Jul 22, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Where can you find a former air field, military parading ground, amusement park, Turkish cemetery, concentration camp and kite surfer’s paradise?! Not all at the same time, it’s Tempelhofer Feld of course!!! We’re going through the history of this one incredible site which dates back over 800 years, starting on the fringes of what will become the metropolis of Berlin. Those lads coming back from the crusades need keeping somewhere out of trouble, and it all kicks off from there. It would be espe...
Jul 02, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Are you enjoying the Football? Or do you feel like it’s very much happening at you?! Either way, enjoy the latest episode of History Flakes! How else would you know that there was an English Football league in Berlin during WWI? Crazy! Find about Derby Legend Steve Bloomer and what the hell Bumberino is, I think you’re gonna like it! ++++++ History Flakes LIVE RECORDING JULY 20TH 18.30, Comedy Cafe Berlin 🎟️🎟️🎟️ TICKETS HERE!!! 🎟️🎟️🎟️ ++++++ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a...
Jun 24, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 8
This episode is a 3 in 1! We talk about 3 distinct characters broadcasting to enemy soldiers during WW2. William Joyce, aka Lord Haw Haw, a seemingly confused Irishman with a pretty serious alcohol problem. Mildred Gillers, aka Axis Sally, a failing, racist actress, who would be labelled as particularly stupid by the FBI, and Iva Toguri D'Aquino aka Tokyo Rose, someone who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to survive in Wartime Tokyo. All of them are utilised by the Nazi...
Jun 08, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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. ++++++ History Flakes LIVE RECORDING JULY 20TH 18.30, Comedy Cafe Berlin 🎟️🎟️🎟️ TICKETS HERE!!! �...
May 25, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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 satisf...
May 11, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 an...
Apr 29, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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. Again...
Apr 13, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 3
