Shows / World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
World History presents powerful true stories from the most dramatic events of the 20th century. This history podcast explores World War II, the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, war crimes, resistance movements, and the individuals whose actions shaped history. Through carefully researched narration and historical sources, each episode reveals the human stories behind global conflict, from concentration camps and political trials to acts of courage and survival. Produced by the creators of World History…
Episodes
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Konrad Henlein: Sudeten Nazi Leader Who Helped Hitler Destroy Czechoslovakia
Konrad Henlein was the leader of the Sudeten German Party and one of Adolf Hitler’s most important political allies in the destruction of Czechoslovakia…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Roland Puhr: Nazi SS Guard Who Beat Austrian Prosecutor Karl Tuppy to Death
Roland Puhr was an SS concentration camp guard at Sachsenhausen who participated in the fatal beating of Austrian prosecutor Karl Tuppy, a man who had helped…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Emanuel Moravec: Czech Army Officer Who Became Hitler’s Leading Collaborator
Emanuel Moravec was a decorated Czechoslovak army officer and outspoken patriot who became one of the most notorious Czech Nazi collaborators during the Second…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Michniów Massacre: Nazi Forces Burned Polish Families Alive in Their Village
The Michniów massacre was one of the most notorious crimes committed against Polish civilians during the German occupation. Over two days in July 1943, German…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Jan Bonekamp: Dutch Resistance Fighter Who Assassinated Nazi Collaborators
Jan Bonekamp was a Dutch communist resistance fighter who took increasingly dangerous action against the German occupation, eventually participating in armed…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Evelina Merová (Part 2): Jewish Girl Who Survived Auschwitz and Mengele’s Selection
Evelina Merová, born Evelina Landová in Prague, survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Josef Mengele’s selection, forced labour, and the loss of almost…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Evelina Merová (Part 1): Jewish Girl Who Survived Mengele’s Selection at Auschwitz
Evelina Merová was a Czech Jewish girl whose childhood in Prague was destroyed by Nazi persecution before she was deported first to Theresienstadt and later to…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Coco Chanel: Fashion Millionaire Who Worked with Nazi German Intelligence
Coco Chanel became one of the most influential figures in fashion history, but her connections to German intelligence during the occupation of France remain…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Gerda Bormann: Wife of Hitler’s Secretary Who Raised 10 Children as Nazis
Gerda Bormann was the wife of Martin Bormann, Adolf Hitler’s powerful private secretary, and a devoted supporter of National Socialism who raised ten children…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann: “Beautiful Spectre” Who Terrorized Women at Stutthof
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was one of the most infamous female guards at Stutthof concentration camp, remembered by survivors for her striking appearance and extreme…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Bleiburg Repatriations: Axis Soldiers Handed Over to Tito’s Partisans in 1945
The Bleiburg repatriations remain one of the most controversial episodes surrounding the end of the Second World War in Europe. In May 1945, soldiers and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Theodore Schurch: British Fascist Who Spied on Allied Prisoners for Nazi Germany
Theodore Schurch was a British soldier and fascist collaborator who betrayed his own country by spying on fellow Allied prisoners and passing military…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Egon Zill: Nazi Camp Commandant Who Tortured and Sexually Abused Prisoners
Egon Zill, nicknamed “Little Zill” because of his short stature, was a veteran SS officer who served at numerous Nazi concentration camps and became notorious…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Albert Forster: Nazi Gauleiter Who Turned Danzig–West Prussia Into a Killing Ground
Albert Forster was the Nazi Gauleiter of Danzig–West Prussia and one of the most ruthless officials responsible for mass murder, ethnic cleansing…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hermann Hackmann: Sadistic Nazi Camp Officer Sentenced to Death by the SS
Hermann Hackmann was a senior SS concentration camp official whose career took him from Buchenwald to Majdanek, where he became notorious for brutality against…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Meinoud Rost van Tonningen: Dutch Nazi Collaborator Who Financed Hitler’s War
Meinoud Rost van Tonningen was one of the most committed Dutch Nazi collaborators and supporters of Adolf Hitler, rising to considerable political and economic…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Courcelles Massacre: Belgian Nazi Collaborators Murdered 27 Civilians
The Courcelles massacre was one of the worst atrocities committed by Belgian Nazi collaborators during the Second World War, when members of the Rexist…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Lyudmila Pavlichenko: Soviet Female Sniper Who Killed 309 Nazi Soldiers
Lyudmila Pavlichenko became the most successful female sniper in recorded history, credited with 309 confirmed kills while fighting Nazi Germany on the Eastern…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Helena Citrónová: Jewish Auschwitz Prisoner Loved by an SS Guard Who Saved Her Life
Helena Citrónová was a Slovak Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz whose extraordinary story became intertwined with Franz Wunsch, an SS guard who fell in love with…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Alfried Krupp: Nazi Germany’s Industrial Billionaire Who Exploited Concentration Camp Labour
Alfried Krupp was heir to Germany’s most powerful industrial dynasty and became deeply connected to Nazi Germany’s war economy. His factories produced weapons…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Gretl Braun: Eva Braun’s Sister Who Married SS General and Mass Murderer Hermann Fegelein
Gretl Braun, the younger sister of Eva Braun, lived remarkably close to the inner circle of Adolf Hitler and eventually married SS officer Hermann Fegelein…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Irma Grese: The 22-Year-Old Nazi Guard Who Terrorized Women at Auschwitz and Belsen
Irma Grese became one of the most notorious female perpetrators of the Holocaust. Serving as an SS guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later Bergen-Belsen, she…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Cephalonia Massacre: German Forces Massacred Thousands of Italian Soldiers After Surrender
In September 1943, thousands of Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Cephalonia suddenly found themselves fighting their former German allies. Following…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Harold Cole: British Traitor Who Betrayed 150 Resistance Fighters to the Gestapo
Harold Cole became one of Britain’s most notorious traitors of the Second World War. A thief, con artist, and British soldier, he infiltrated resistance and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Fritz Suhren: Nazi Commandant of Ravensbrück, the Largest Concentration Camp for Women
Fritz Suhren was one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious concentration camp commandants. As commandant of Ravensbrück—the largest concentration camp for women in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hans Krebs: Sudeten Nazi Leader Who Helped Hitler Destroy Czechoslovakia
Hans Krebs was one of the most dedicated ethnic-German Nazi activists working to undermine Czechoslovakia between the wars. Born in 1888 in Iglau, today…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Gerhard Palitzsch: Auschwitz SS Executioner Who Claimed He Shot 25,000 Prisoners
Gerhard Palitzsch was one of the most feared SS officers at Auschwitz, notorious for personally executing prisoners at the Death Wall and participating in the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Victor Matthys: Belgian Fascist Leader Behind the Courcelles Massacre
Victor Matthys, wartime leader of Belgium’s fascist Rexist Party, became one of the country’s most notorious Nazi collaborators. His rise from political…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Palmiry Massacre: Nazi Germany’s Secret Murder of Poland’s Political and Cultural Elite
The Palmiry massacre was one of the most systematic campaigns of political murder carried out in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Between…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Yefrosinya Zenkova: 18-Year-Old Partisan Leader Who Sabotaged the Nazis in Belarus
Yefrosinya Zenkova was only 18 when she became one of the youngest Soviet partisan leaders resisting Nazi occupation in Belarus. As leader of the “Young…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Dita Kraus (part 2): Teenage “Librarian of Auschwitz” Who Risked Her Life for Books
At just fourteen years old, Dita Kraus arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau and became responsible for a secret collection of books used to educate Jewish children…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Dita Kraus (part 1): Teenage “Librarian of Auschwitz” Who Risked Her Life for Books
Dita Kraus, born Edith Polachová in Prague in 1929, survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen and became known as the “Librarian of…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Friedrich Flick: Nazi Germany’s Billionaire Industrialist Who Rebuilt His Fortune After Nuremberg
Friedrich Flick was one of the most influential industrialists in twentieth-century Germany, building a vast empire in coal, steel and heavy industry and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hedwig Höss: Auschwitz Commandant’s Wife Who Called Life Beside the Camp “Paradise”
The story of Hedwig Höss offers a rare look into how family life existed alongside one of the most infamous places created during the Second World War. While…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Night of the Long Knives: Hitler's Bloody Purge of Röhm and the Nazi SA
The Röhm Purge, also known as the Night of the Long Knives, was a decisive turning point in the consolidation of Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship in Nazi Germany…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Grishino Massacre: Nearly 600 German and Axis Prisoners Killed by Soviet Forces
The Massacre of Grishino was one of the most controversial war crimes on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. In February 1943, in eastern Ukraine…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Mildred Gillars: American “Axis Sally” Who Broadcast Nazi Propaganda to U.S. Troops
Mildred Gillars: American “Axis Sally” Who Broadcast Nazi Propaganda to U.S. Troops Mildred Gillars, better known as “Axis Sally,” became one of the most…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Kurt Franz: Sadistic Nazi Commandant of Treblinka Extermination Camp
Kurt Franz was one of the most brutal perpetrators of the Holocaust — a man whose innocent appearance hid a capacity for cruelty that made him feared in every…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Otto Thierack: Nazi Justice Minister Who Turned German Courts Into Instruments of Terror
Otto Thierack, the man who weaponized the Nazi justice system, played a central role in turning German courts into instruments of terror. As Minister of…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Wilhelm Dörr: Nazi SS Guard Who Murdered Prisoners on a Death March and Paid for His Crimes
Wilhelm Dörr was a Nazi SS guard whose crimes during the final months of the Second World War made him one of the youngest war criminals executed after the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Sverre Riisnæs: Norway's Nazi Justice Minister and SS Officer Who Escaped Trial
Sverre Riisnæs was one of the most powerful and fanatical collaborators in Nazi-occupied Norway. When Germany invaded the country in April 1940 under Operation…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Kleisoura Massacre: Nazi SS Division Massacred Greek Women and Children
The Kleisoura massacre was one of the most notorious Nazi atrocities against Greek civilians during the German occupation of Greece in the Second World War…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Jozef Gabčík: Slovak Resistance Hero Who Helped Assassinate Reinhard Heydrich
Jozef Gabčík was born on 8 April 1912 in the village of Poluvsie in today’s Slovakia, then part of Austria-Hungary. He was one of 4 children of well-to-do…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Joseph Schleifstein: The Little Boy Who Survived Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Joseph Schleifstein was just four years old when he became one of the youngest survivors of the Nazi concentration camp system. Hidden by his parents and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Pierre Pucheu: Vichy France's Fascist Minister Executed for Nazi Collaboration
Pierre Pucheu was one of the most influential ministers of Vichy France, helping enforce anti-Jewish policies and collaborating with Nazi Germany before…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Diana Mosley: Britain's Most Famous Fascist Wife and Hitler Supporter
Diana Mosley was one of Britain's most prominent fascist supporters, the wife of Oswald Mosley, and a close admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Born into…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Karl Ernst: Nazi SA Leader Executed During the Night of the Long Knives
Karl Ernst was one of the most powerful SA leaders in Berlin before Adolf Hitler had him executed during the Night of the Long Knives. His rise and fall…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Beisfjord Massacre: Nazi Forces Burned Yugoslav Prisoners Alive in Norway
The Beisfjord massacre was one of the darkest and least known war crimes committed on Norwegian soil during the Second World War, when German SS personnel and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Ib Birkedal Hansen: Denmark's Most Brutal Nazi Collaborator
Ib Birkedal Hansen was one of the most feared collaborators in Nazi-occupied Denmark, leading a Gestapo-backed network responsible for the arrest, torture, and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Siegfried Seidl: Nazi Commandant of Theresienstadt Who Sent Thousands to Death
Siegfried Seidl was the first Nazi commandant of the Theresienstadt ghetto-concentration camp, where he oversaw mass deportations and helped build the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Arthur Greiser: Nazi Gauleiter of Warthegau Who Terrorized Occupied Poland
Arthur Greiser was one of Nazi Germany's most ruthless civilian leaders, serving as Gauleiter and Reich Governor of the Warthegau, where he oversaw mass…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Franz Wunsch: The Auschwitz SS Guard Who Fell in Love with a Jewish Prisoner
Franz Wunsch was an SS guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau whose relationship with Jewish prisoner Helena Citrónová became one of the most controversial and morally…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Oswald Mosley: Britain's Fascist Leader and Founder of the Blackshirts
Sir Oswald Mosley was Britain's leading fascist politician and the founder of the British Union of Fascists, whose Blackshirt movement sought to bring fascism…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Piaśnica Massacre: Nazi Germany's First Mass Extermination of Polish Civilians
The Piaśnica Massacre was one of the earliest large-scale Nazi massacres of civilians during the Second World War, claiming the lives of between 12,000 and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hannie Schaft: The Red-Haired Dutch Resistance Hero Who Hunted Nazis
Hannie Schaft, remembered as "the girl with the red hair," was one of the most courageous and feared fighters of the Dutch resistance during the Second World…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Mandel Szkolnikoff: The Richest Nazi Collaborator in Occupied France
Mandel Szkolnikoff became the richest man in Nazi-occupied France by amassing a fortune through black-market dealings and collaboration with the German…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Margarete Himmler: The Loyal Wife of SS Chief Heinrich Himmler
Margarete Himmler was the wife of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. While her husband oversaw…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Josef Wagner: Nazi Gauleiter of Westphalia-South and Silesia Executed by Hitler's Own Regime
Josef Wagner was one of Nazi Germany's most powerful regional leaders—a double Gauleiter who helped implement Adolf Hitler's policies before ultimately…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Katyn Massacre: Stalin’s Secret Murder of 22,000 Members of Poland’s Elite
The Katyn massacre was one of the Soviet Union's greatest war crimes of the Second World War, claiming the lives of more than 22,000 Polish officers…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Violette Morris: French Sports Star Who Collaborated with the Nazis
Violette Morris was one of France's most accomplished athletes before becoming one of the country's most notorious collaborators during the Second World War…