Germany: Memories of a Nation Podcast
Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, explores 600 years of Germany's complex and often challenging history using objects, art, landmarks and literature.
Episodes to download
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Reichstag
Fri 7 Nov 2014
Neil MacGregor ends his journey through 600 years of German history at the Reichstag.
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Barlach's Angel
Thu 6 Nov 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on Ernst Barlach's sculpture Hovering Angel, a unique war memorial.
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The New German Jews
Wed 5 Nov 2014
Neil MacGregor discusses why Germany has the fastest-growing Jewish population in Europe.
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Out of the Rubble
Tue 4 Nov 2014
Neil MacGregor talks to a woman who cleared rubble from the streets of Berlin in 1945.
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The Germans Expelled
Mon 3 Nov 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the forced movement of more than 12 million Germans after 1945.
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At the Buchenwald Gate
Fri 31 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor visits Buchenwald, one of the earliest and largest concentration camps.
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Purging the Degenerate
Thu 30 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on how the Nazis attacked art they viewed as degenerate.
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Money in Crisis
Wed 29 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor on the emergency money created to replace metal coins, and hyperinflation.
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Kathe Kollwitz: Suffering Witness
Tue 28 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the art of Kathe Kollwitz, witness to the suffering of war.
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Bismarck the Blacksmith
Fri 24 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor charts the career of Otto von Bismarck, known as the Iron Chancellor.
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Bauhaus: Cradle of the Modern
Thu 23 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the Bauhaus school of art and design, founded in Weimar in 1919.
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From Clock to Car: Masters of Metal
Wed 22 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the long tradition of German metalwork, from clocks to cars.
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Porcelain: The White Gold of Saxony
Tue 21 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on how German chemists discovered the secrets of Chinese porcelain.
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Dürer: An Artist for All Germans
Mon 20 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the work of Dürer (1471-1528), the defining artist of Germany.
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Gutenberg: In the Beginning Was the Printer
Mon 20 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor examines how Johannes Gutenberg's inventions transformed our world.
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1848: The People's Flag and Karl Marx
Fri 17 Oct 2014
Black, red and gold become the colours of Germany, and Karl Marx publishes a manifesto.
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Iron Nation
Thu 16 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on 19th-century uses of iron, from jewellery to the Iron Cross.
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Holbein and the Hansa
Wed 15 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the Hansa, the great trading alliance, and the painter Holbein.
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Riemenschneider: Sculpting the Spirit
Tue 14 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on the supreme limewood sculptures of Riemenschneider (c1460-1531).
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The Battle for Charlemagne
Mon 13 Oct 2014
Was Charlemagne a great French ruler, or was he Charles the Great, a German?
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One People, Many Sausages
Fri 10 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on two great emblems of Germany's national diet: beer and sausages.
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The Walhalla: Hall of Heroes
Thu 9 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor visits the Walhalla, a 19th-century temple to German-ness, built in Bavaria
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One Nation Under Goethe
Wed 8 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor focuses on Germany's great national poet Goethe, who was born in 1749.
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Fairy Tales and Forests: The Grimms and Caspar David Friedrich
Tue 7 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor on how the Grimms and painter Caspar David Friedrich shaped German identity
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Luther and a Language for All Germans
Mon 6 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor examines how Luther created the modern German language.
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Fragments of Power
Fri 3 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor discovers how coins reveal the range and diversity of the Holy Roman Empire
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Strasbourg - Floating City
Thu 2 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor visits Strasbourg, now in France but also a key city in German history.
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Kafka, Kant and Lost Capitals
Wed 1 Oct 2014
Neil MacGregor visits Kaliningrad, now in Russia but formerly the German city Konigsberg.
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Divided Heaven
Tue 30 Sep 2014
Neil MacGregor examines the story of the two Germanys, East and West, created in 1949.
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The View from the Gate
Mon 29 Sep 2014
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Neil visits the Brandenburg Gate.