In this episode of the podcast historycast, Dr. Heiner Wember speaks with media historian Dr. Hans-Ulrich Wagner about the impact of Thomas Mann’s “German Listeners” speeches, which were broadcast on the BBC’s international service at the time, and the ongoing significance of public broadcasting for democratic development in Germany.
Click here to listen to the episode, which is only available in German.
Background
Thomas Mann’s 55 “Deutsche Hörer” [German listeners] speeches, recorded in Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles, were ‘stones thrown at Hitler’s window’. Broadcast via the BBC World Service, they repeatedly condemned Hitlerism. “This is England, this is England” were the words that opened the BBC broadcasts. They provided an unvarnished account of the war situation, thereby gaining credibility among German listeners. The World Service was headed by Hugh Carleton Greene, who played a key role in shaping the development of public broadcasting in the Federal Republic of Germany after the war. The goal was to create a model that was independent of the state but subject to societal oversight, modelled on the BBC, as an alternative to state-run broadcasting and the purely private-sector system in the United States.
About the Podcast
The “historycast” is a podcast produced by the Verband der Geschichtslehrerinnen und -lehrer Deutschlands e. V.[Association of History Teachers in Germany] Now in its fifth season, it is produced in cooperation with the Foundation for Sites of German Democratic History.
Image collage edited with AI.