

Spaßbremse
Spaßbremse
Michelle and Ted dissect German politics from Spargel to the Schwarze Null, and tell us why Germany isn't as seen on TV. Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 19, 2021 • 59min
19 - The Twelve Days of Christmas Market Scandals, Pt. 1
To celebrate the holiday season in true Spaßbremse style, we convened a panel with Nathan (@nthnashma) to walk you through the twelve days of Christmas market scandals, from selling Glühwein to minors in Frankfurt to tax evasion in Kiel.
We were drinking some Glühwein (mit Schuss!) ourselves and as we went through the twelve days we went on more and more tangents, so this episode only gets through days one through six. You can look forward to days seven through twelve of Christmas market scandals on Christmas Day.
If you want to read more about the scandals discussed on this episode yourselves:
Glühwein für 13-Jährige! - https://www.bild.de/regional/frankfurt/weihnachtsmarkt/gluehwein-fuer-13-jaehrige-33654140.bild.html
Wiener empört über Gebäck-Schwindel auf Weihnachtsmarkt - https://www.heute.at/s/wiener-empoert-ueber-schwindel-gebaeck-auf-weihnachtsmarkt-100174643
Vergaberecht beim Weihnachtsmarkt missachtet - https://www.wz.de/nrw/krefeld/krefeld-vergaberecht-beim-weihnachtsmarkt-missachtet_aid-53940451
Die Konkurrenz der Glühweinkönige - https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/duesseldorf/duesseldorfer-weihnachtsmarkt-konkurrenz-der-gluehweinkoenige_aid-64352431
31.000 Euro Miete für Lagerung von Weihnachtshütten - https://www.heute.at/s/wiener-empoert-ueber-schwindel-gebaeck-auf-weihnachtsmarkt-100174643
Der „Romantische Weihnachtsmarkt“ in Regensburg bleibt geschlossen: Söder teilt gegen Veranstalter aus - https://www.merkur.de/bayern/regensburg/regensburg-romantische-weihnachtsmarkt-corona-soeder-gericht-schliessung-veranstalter-zr-91169264.html
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Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Dec 17, 2021 • 10min
PREVIEW: Premium 4 - Nazi Washing Machines (German companies during WWII, Pt. 3)
A short preview of our fourth premium episode, where we round out our three-part series about German companies during the Third Reich.
To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back in a few days with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

Dec 8, 2021 • 55min
18 - Wir verstehen nur Bahnhof (Transport and climate policy w/ Giulio Mattioli)
This week, Ted (@ted_knudsen) interviews TU Dortmund transport researcher Giulio Mattioli about German transport and climate policy in light of the recent traffic light coalition agreement and the COP 26 climate summit.
To hear more from Giulio, you can follow him on Twitter: @giulio_mattioli. He also has a recent book chapter out on transport poverty and car dependence.
Co-hosted by Michelle (@shhellgames) and produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).
Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Nov 28, 2021 • 1h
17 - Willkommen in Pullman City (The Indianthusiasm episode)
What's with the bizarre obsession that some Germans have with Indigenous people from North America? Every year, thousands of Germans gather to dress up and play "Indianer"—or at least their imagined, naive stereotype of what it's like to be a First Nations person—complete with appropriated powwow dances, regalia, and living in tipis. On this episode, Ted, Michelle, and Isaac go through some of the darker history of this phenomenon, and Ted and Isaac interview Drew Hayden Taylor, a Canadian writer from the Curve Lake First Nation. A few years ago, Drew made a documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called "Searching for Winnetou," in which he visits some of the "Indian hobbyist" communities in Germany to see firsthand what it's all about.
You can find Drew Hayden Taylor's documentary "Searching for Winnetou" here: https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/episodes/searching-for-winnetou
And you can learn more about Drew and his work on his website: http://www.drewhaydentaylor.com/
There's also a great documentary from the New York Times called "Native Fantasy: Germany's Indian Heroes" that you can find on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcuyYUgFMd0
On this episode, we cited from the following sources:
"The Role of the Romantic West in Shaping the Third Reich" by W. Raymond Wood: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25668974?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
"Germany's Obsession with American Indians is Touching—And Occasionally Surreal" by Red Haircrow for Indian Country Today: https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/germanys-obsession-with-american-indians-is-touchingand-occasionally-surreal
"Why Germany can't quit its racist Native American problem" from Deutsche Welle :https://www.dw.com/en/why-germany-cant-quit-its-racist-native-american-problem/a-52546068
"Karl May museum returns Native American human scalp" from Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/en/karl-may-museum-returns-native-american-human-scalp/a-57181103
Produced by Isaac Würmann.
Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Nov 26, 2021 • 9min
PREVIEW: Premium 3 - Nazi Soda (German companies during WWII, Pt. 2)
A short preview of our third premium episode, where Ted, Michelle, and Isaac talk about the Nazi history of three more German companies.
To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back in a few days with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

Nov 25, 2021 • 52min
UNLOCKED: Premium 1 - Lindy Talk (The Christian Lindner Episode)
To celebrate (???) the traffic light coalition agreement and Christian Lindner's ascension to Finance Minister, we're unlocking our first Patreon Premium episode, in which Ted and Michelle talk us through Lindner's rise to prominence.
We also released an episode on Oct. 31 (15 - Zombie-Ideologien und das Inflationsmonster) in which Ted interviews Dominik Leusder from the London School of Economics and Dezernat Zukunft about what a Lindner-led Finance Ministry might look like (god help us all). Give it a listen, if you haven't already!
It's also worth noting that the coalition agreement announced plans to repeal Section 219a of the Criminal Code, which prohibits doctors from advertising abortion services. To learn more about that, and other ways abortion remains criminalized in Germany, check out our most recent episode (16 - Weg mit §218!), in which Michelle inteviews Kate Cahoon of the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung and Stephanie Schlitt of Pro Familia.
This episode's reading is courtesy of Politico: Christian Lindner - The Radical from their 2018 list of "the 28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe."
To see some of the incredible Lindner photos mocked on this episode, check out the biography page on his website. You can find the oft-mentioned TV spot from 1997 about the young Lindner's ad business on YouTube.
Produced by Isaac Würmann. Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider. Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter: @spassbremse_pod.

Nov 13, 2021 • 53min
16 - Weg mit §218! (German abortion law w/ Kate Cahoon and Stephanie Schlitt)
This week, Michelle (@shhellgames) digs into the criminalization of abortion in Germany. In a Spaßbremse first, she interviews two (2!!) fantastic guests — Kate Cahoon (@katecahoon) of the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung and Stephanie Schlitt (@StSchlitt) of Pro Familia.
SIGN THE PETITION TO REPEAL §218
Get involved with the “Weg mit 218” campaign: https://wegmit218.de/
To learn more about the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung, you can visit their website: https://www.sexuelle-selbstbestimmung.de/ or follow them on Twitter @ProChoice_DE
And for more about Pro Familia and their counseling centers, you can visit: https://www.profamilia.de/ or find them on Twitter @profamilia_bv
Check out Kate’s article in the Local DE from 2018 here
Read the Euronews article Michelle and Ted (@ted_knudsen) discuss here.
Produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).
Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Nov 11, 2021 • 8min
PREVIEW: Premium 2 - Nazi Pizzas (German companies during WWII, Pt. 1)
A short preview of our second premium episode, where Isaac joins Michelle and Ted to talk about the Nazi history of some notable German companies.
To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back next week with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.

Oct 31, 2021 • 1h 8min
15 - Zombie-Ideologien und das Inflationsmonster (German economic policy w/ Dominik Leusder)
Just in time for Halloween, an interview about the biggest boogeyman in Germany: inflation! Ted (@ted_knudsen) sits down with Dominik Leusder (@NewLeftEViews) of the London School of Economics and economic policy think-tank Dezernat Zukunft to talk about what the aftermath of last month's German elections means for German politics, economics, and the European Union. This episode ties together some ideas and themes discussed in previous Spaßbremse episodes about Hartz IV and the debt brake, so we'd recommend you listen to those if you haven't already for some background.
Before getting into the interview, Ted and Michelle (@shhellgames) can't help but do a short reading from a recent Deutsche Welle article about FDP leader Christian Lindner, who we discussed in greater detail on our first Patreon premium episode released last week.
Produced by Isaac Würmann (@wuermann).
Thank so much to everyone who has already started supporting us on Patreon! We'll still be publishing full-length episodes twice monthly available on our main podcast feed, but Patreon supporters will also get access to a couple bonus episodes per month. It's a tough time out there so we totally understand if you don't have the capacity to support right now, but if you're able we'd really appreciate you becoming a subscriber. All the details here: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Oct 27, 2021 • 3min
PREVIEW: Premium 1 - Lindy Talk (The Christian Lindner Episode)
A short preview of our first premium bonus episode, where Michelle and Ted talk about one of the most exciting, innovative, and dynamisch people in German politics: the one and only Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP and likely next German finance minister.
To listen to the full episode, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spassbremse
If you're not able to support us monetarily right now, we totally get it! We'll be back next week with another full-length episode for the main podcast feed.