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
Hermann Florstedt: Brutal Nazi Commandant of the Majdanek Death Camp
Hermann Florstedt was a brutal SS officer who commanded the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp, where tens of thousands of prisoners were murdered…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Willi Geiger: Nazi Judge Who Later Served on West Germany's Highest Court
Willi Geiger was a Nazi jurist who helped enforce Adolf Hitler's dictatorship before later serving as a justice on West Germany's Federal Constitutional Court…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Josef Riegler: Nazi Guard and Hangman at Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Josef Riegler was an Austrian SS guard whose brutality made him one of the most feared perpetrators at the Mauthausen–Gusen concentration camp system during…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Döme Sztójay: Hungary's Prime Minister Who Deported 440,000 Jews to Nazi Camps
Döme Sztójay was the pro-Nazi Hungarian prime minister whose government helped deport more than 440,000 Jews to Auschwitz in just a few months during the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Khatyn Massacre: Nazi Revenge for the Death of a German Olympic Champion
The Khatyn Massacre was one of the most horrific Nazi atrocities against civilians in occupied Belarus during the Second World War. In March 1943, in the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Liane Berkowitz: Teenage German Hero Who Defied Hitler's Nazi Regime
Liane Berkowitz was a teenage German resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazis for defying Adolf Hitler's regime. Born in Berlin in 1923, she came of…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Magda Hellinger [part 2]: The Auschwitz Prisoner Who Saved Lives Through Compassion
Magda Hellinger was a Jewish prisoner leader in Auschwitz-Birkenau who risked her life to save thousands of women from Nazi persecution. A young Slovak Jewish…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Magda Hellinger [part 1]: The Auschwitz Prisoner Who Saved Lives Through Compassion
Magda Hellinger was one of the longest-surviving Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, where she risked her own life to help others through compassion and courage…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hans Biebow: The Nazi Businessman Who Built a Slave Labour Empire
Hans Biebow was the Nazi official who turned the Łódź Ghetto into a vast system of forced labor, starvation, and profit during the Second World War. Born in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Rachele Mussolini: The Loyal Wife of Italy's Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini
Rachele Mussolini was the wife of Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and remained fiercely loyal to him throughout his rise and fall. Remembered…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Edmund Heines: Brutal Nazi Leader Purged in the Night of the Long Knives
Edmund Heines was one of the most feared and controversial SA commanders in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Born in 1897, Heines emerged from the shattered…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Rüsselsheim Massacre: American Airmen Lynched by Fanatical Nazi German Civilians
The Rüsselsheim massacre was one of the most shocking attacks on captured American airmen during the Second World War. On 26 August 1944, the war reached a…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Alexandre Villaplane: From France's Football Captain to Nazi Collaborator and Killer
Alexandre Villaplane was the captain of the French national football team who became one of France’s most notorious Nazi collaborators during the Second World…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Max Koegel: Nazi Camp Commandant of Ravensbrück, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg
Max Koegel was one of the most ruthless commandants in the Nazi concentration camp system during the Second World War, serving at Ravensbrück, Majdanek, and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Hans Frank: The "Butcher of Poland" Who Ruled the Nazi General Government Like a King
Hans Frank was one of Adolf Hitler’s most powerful civilian officials and the Nazi Governor-General of occupied Poland during World War II. As Governor-General…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Fritz Becher: Murderer of Catholic Priests at Dachau Concentration Camp
Fritz Becher was a brutal Kapo at Dachau concentration camp who was executed for Nazi war crimes after the Second World War. A German prisoner functionary…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Anton Mussert: Dutch Fascist Leader and Hitler Collaborator
Anton Mussert was the most prominent Dutch Nazi collaborator during the Second World War and the founder of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Tulle Massacre: SS Panzer Division Das Reich Atrocity Against French Civilians in World War II
The Tulle massacre was one of the most brutal atrocities committed by the SS against French civilians during the Second World War. Following the Allied D-Day…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Jan Verleun: Dutch Soldier and Resistance Hero Against the Nazis
Jan Verleun was a Dutch resistance hero who was executed by the Nazis at the age of 24 for his role in the underground resistance during World War II. Born…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Gert Schramm: Black Survivor of Nazi Germany's Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Gert Schramm was one of the few Black Germans to survive the Nazi concentration camp system and later bear witness to a largely forgotten chapter of Holocaust…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Louis Renault: French Car Manufacturer Accused of Collaborating with Nazi Germany
Louis Renault was a pioneering French industrialist whose wartime role during the German occupation of France remains one of the country's most enduring…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Florentine Rost van Tonningen: The Dutch "Black Widow" Who Never Renounced Nazism
Florentine Rost van Tonningen was a Dutch Nazi sympathizer whose unwavering support for National Socialism continued long after the Second World War. This…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Ernst Röhm: Nazi SA Leader Executed During the Night of the Long Knives
Ernst Röhm was the co-founder of the SA (Sturmabteilung) and one of Adolf Hitler’s earliest and most influential allies during the Nazi Party’s rise to power…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Mühlviertel Rabbit Hunt: Nazi Manhunt for Escaped Soviet Prisoners of War in 1945
he Mühlviertel Rabbit Hunt was one of the most brutal massacres of escaped Soviet prisoners of war during the final months of the Second World War. In February…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Robert Alesch: Nazi Collaborator Priest Who Betrayed the French Resistance
Robert Alesch was a Catholic priest who became one of the most dangerous Nazi collaborators operating inside occupied France during the Second World War…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Otto Förschner: Nazi Camp Commandant of Mittelbau-Dora and Kaufering
Otto Förschner was a Nazi SS officer and concentration camp commandant responsible for the exploitation and destruction of tens of thousands of prisoners in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Arthur Seyss-Inquart: Nazi Ruler of the Netherlands and Architect of Occupation Terror
Arthur Seyss-Inquart was one of the most powerful Nazi officials in occupied Europe, helping orchestrate the annexation of Austria and the persecution of more…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Miroslav Filipović: The Fascist Priest Known as “Brother Satan” of Jasenovac
Miroslav Filipović was one of the most disturbing figures to emerge from the machinery of terror created by the Ustaša regime during the Second World War. A…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Vojtech Tuka: Slovak Prime Minister Behind the Deportation of 58,000 Jews
Vojtech Tuka was one of the most influential and dangerous figures of the wartime Slovak State—a politician whose ambition, ideology, and loyalty to Nazi…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Distomo Massacre 1944: Nazi Reprisal That Killed 228 Greek Civilians
The Distomo Massacre was one of the worst atrocities committed by German occupation forces in Greece during World War II. After the rapid collapse of Greek and…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Zinaida Portnova: Teenage Soviet Resistance Hero Against Nazi Occupation
Zinaida Portnova was one of the youngest and most courageous figures of the Soviet resistance during World War II, a teenage partisan whose defiance of Nazi…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim: Gay Survivor of Nazi Persecution and the Holocaust
Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim was one of the few openly documented gay survivors of Nazi persecution — a man whose life reveals a lesser-known chapter of the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Viktor Abakumov: Stalin’s Secret Police Chief Who Fell Victim to the Purges
Description: Viktor Abakumov was one of the most powerful and feared figures in Stalin’s Soviet Union—a man who helped enforce a system built on fear, control…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Clara Petacci: Mussolini’s Companion Who Chose to Share His Final Fate
Clara Petacci was Benito Mussolini’s closest companion and remained loyal to him until the final collapse of Fascist Italy in 1945. Born into a well-connected…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler: From Hitler’s Bodyguards to Waffen-SS War Criminals
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Hitler’s personal guard unit that evolved into one of the most prominent formations of the Waffen-SS during World War II…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Broniki Massacre 1941: The Killing of 153 German Prisoners of War
The Broniki Massacre was one of the most controversial killings of German prisoners of war during the early stages of the Eastern Front in World War II. In the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Karel Čurda: The Czech Traitor Who Betrayed Hundreds to the Gestapo
Karel Čurda was a Czech resistance fighter whose betrayal helped the Nazis destroy much of the underground network behind Operation Anthropoid during World War…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Franz Stangl: Nazi Commandant of Two Holocaust Death Camps Known as the “White Death”
Franz Stangl was a Nazi camp commandant who played a central role in the Holocaust at Sobibor and Treblinka during World War II. Born on March 26, 1908, in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Josef Bühler: Nazi Official Who Helped Implement the Holocaust in Poland
Josef Bühler was a senior Nazi official who helped implement the Holocaust and administer German-occupied Poland during World War II. Once a promising young…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Soviet Invasion of Poland 1939: Stalin, Hitler, and the Partition of Poland
The Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 completed the partition of Poland and reshaped Eastern Europe at the start of World War II. On 1 September…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Fernand de Brinon: France's Leading Nazi Collaborator During World War II
Fernand de Brinon was one of the most prominent French collaborators who supported Nazi Germany during World War II. Born into a privileged French family, de…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Lidice Massacre: Nazi Reprisal After the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
The Lidice Massacre was one of the most notorious Nazi war crimes of World War II, carried out in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Lepa Radić: Teenage Anti-Fascist Hero of Occupied Yugoslavia
Lepa Radić was a teenage Yugoslav resistance fighter whose courage made her one of the most iconic symbols of anti-fascist resistance in World War II. Born in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Carl Gröpler: Germany's Executioner Who Beheaded the Vampire of Düsseldorf
Carl Gröpler was one of the last official executioners in German history and a key figure in the system of capital punishment that operated during both the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Grigory Shtern: Soviet Commander Who Defeated Japan but Was Executed by Stalin
Grigory Shtern was one of the Soviet Union’s most talented military commanders—a decorated war hero whose career ended not at the hands of a foreign enemy, but…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Elisabeth Willhaus: The Nazi Commandant's Wife Who Allegedly Shot Prisoners
Elisabeth Willhaus remains one of the most controversial female figures associated with the Nazi occupation system in Eastern Europe during World War II. As…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
The Rinnan Gang: Nazi Collaborators Who Infiltrated the Norwegian Resistance
The Rinnan Gang, officially known as Sonderabteilung Lola, was one of the most feared collaborationist organizations in Nazi-occupied Norway during World War…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Mauthausen Liberation: When Prisoners Took Revenge on Their Nazi Guards
Mauthausen was one of the most brutal concentration camps operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Established in Austria in 1938 after the Anschluss, the…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Antonina Makarova: Soviet Nurse Turned Nazi Executioner
Antonina Makarova was one of the most notorious collaborators of World War II, a former Soviet nurse who became an executioner for the Nazi-backed Lokot…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Martin Weiss: SS Commandant Who Ran Some of Nazi Germany's Deadliest Camps
Martin Gottfried Weiss was a German SS officer and one of the most important concentration camp commandants in Nazi Germany. During World War II, he held…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Baldur von Schirach: Nazi Leader Who Indoctrinated Millions of German Children
Baldur von Schirach was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest followers and the man responsible for transforming millions of German children into loyal supporters of…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Operation Unthinkable: Churchill's Secret Plan to Attack the Soviet Union
Operation Unthinkable was a secret British military plan developed in 1945 that explored the possibility of war between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Louis Collard: Belgian Fascist Collaborator Behind the Courcelles Massacre
Louis Collard was one of the most prominent Belgian fascist collaborators during the Nazi occupation of Belgium and a leading figure within the Rexist…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre: SS Division Das Reich Murdered 642 Civilians
The Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre was one of the worst atrocities committed against civilians in Western Europe during World War II. On 10 June 1944, just days…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Gerrit Kastein: Dutch Doctor Who Led Resistance Attacks on Nazi Collaborators
Gerrit Kastein was one of the most remarkable figures of the Dutch resistance during World War II. A neurologist, anti-fascist, and resistance leader, he…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Vasily Blokhin: Stalin's Chief Executioner and the Butcher of Katyn
Vasily Blokhin was the Soviet Union’s most prolific executioner and one of the most feared figures of Stalin’s era. As the head of the NKVD's elite execution…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Lev Shvartzman: Stalin's Torturer During the Great Purge in the Soviet Union
Lev Shvartzman was one of the most feared interrogators of Stalin’s Soviet secret police, becoming notorious for torture, forced confessions, and his role in…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Erna Petri: Wife of an SS Officer Who Executed Six Jewish Children
Erna Petri was the wife of an SS officer who became a willing participant in Nazi crimes during World War II. Her story remains one of the most disturbing…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
SS Division Prinz Eugen: Nazi Unit Responsible for Atrocities in the Balkans
The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was one of the most notorious Waffen-SS formations of World War II, becoming infamous for anti-partisan…
- World History: True Stories of the 20th Century
Le Paradis Massacre: SS Murder of 97 Surrendered British Soldiers
The Le Paradis Massacre was one of the first major Waffen-SS war crimes in Western Europe during World War II. On 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France…