The History Hour

8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone: for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army. In this documentary, Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unfolds the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time, through their memoirs and diaries. Amongst others, we hear from:Siegbert Stümpke, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war;Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) who had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon;Hans Rosenthal, who was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators;Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists. Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth Producer / Editor: Kristine Pommert Research: Katie HarrisA CTVC production for the BBC World Service.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Katrin Paehler, Professor of modern European history at Illinois State University.First, a journalist describes how he accompanied Hitler through the embers of the Reichstag fire in 1933.Then, the harrowing recollections of a doctor who saved survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.Next, a woman describes how she was caught between her job and her clan during the UN's disastrous Somalia mission in the 1990s.A Liberian woman explains how she helped end the country's civil war.Finally, how Germany's 'death zone' became a natural paradise.Contributors:Sefton Delmer - British journalist at the Reichstag fire. Dr David Tuggle - surgeon at the Oklahoma City bombing. Halima Ismail Ibrahim - former UN worker in Somalia. Leymah Gbowee - Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Professor Kai Frobel - co-founder of Germany's 'Green Belt'.(Photo: Reichstag building on fire. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s. Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.Next, Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship in 2013, tells us about achieving her goal after contracting polio as a child.Then, the invention of the life-size training dummy Resusci Anne in the 1960s, which was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.The ghost town in Namibia that's slowly being buried by the desert after it was abandoned in the 1950s when the diamonds ran out.Finally, the accidental invention of superglue in 1951, which only became a big hit following an appearance on a US tv show.Contributors: Jenette Kahn - former President of DC Comics. Dr Mel Gibson - associate professor at Northumbria University. Minda Dentler - wheelchair athlete. Tore Lærdal - Executive Chairman of Lærdal Medical. Dieter Huyssen - grandson of an emigree to Kolmanskop in Namibia. Adam Paul - grandson of Dr Harry Coover, inventor of superglue.(Photo: Cover illustration for Action Comics with Superman, June 1938. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about the historic moment in Nigerian politics when Goodluck Jonathan made a phone call to General Buhari marking the peaceful handover of power in 2015.Our expert is historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast, Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, who takes us through Nigeria's political history in the leadup to the phone call that changed Nigeria.We find out about Harold Riley who was the only artist to ever be granted a sitting to paint Nelson Mandela and how the portrait was unveiled in 2005.Plus the moment co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, crashed Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 into a mountain killing 150 people on board in 2015.In 1991, when a Yugoslav People's Army Commander died in mysterious circumstances during the Croatian War of Independence. Finally, the creation of a new genre of music called Ethio-jazz in 1960s New York.Contributors:Dr Reuben Abati - one of Goodluck Jonathan's special advisers Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie - Historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast Archive of Harold Riley - the only artist to be granted a sitting with Nelson Mandela General David Galtier - military person who led the Germanwings plane crash search operation Mulatu Astatke - musician and 'father of Ethio-jazz'Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo:Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari (L) speaks with outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan (R) Credit: Pool / Nigeria Presidency Press Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we’re looking at the history of space travel, including the 60th anniversary of the first ever space-walk by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Also, the speech that would have been given if the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t make their way back from the moon; the founding of the European Space Agency and how Brazil came back from tragedy to launch their fist successful rocket. The Sky at Night’s Dr Ezzy Pearson joins us to tell us about the history of robot’s in space and the Soviet Union’s exploration of Venus. Contributors: Archive of Alexei Leonov – the first man to walk in space Dr Ezzy Pearson – Features Editor for the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine Felix Palmerio – engineer for Brazil’s space programme Archive of William Safire – speechwriter for US President Richard Nixon Bill Holland – former historian for NASA Andrea Amaldi – grandson of Edoardo Amaldi, one of the founding fathers of the European Space Agency(Photo: Alexei Leonov on his first space walk in 1965. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We find out about the landmark protest in 1990 when wheelchair users crawled up the steps of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC, campaigning for disability rights.Our expert is Dr Maria Orchard, law lecturer at the University of Leeds, who has carried out research into disability and inclusion.We hear about the 2015 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunisia's capital, in which 22 tourists were killed.Next, the Gambian woman who in 1997 began making bags and purses out of old discarded plastic and is now globally recognised as Africa's Queen of Recycling.The South African musical King Kong which opened to critical acclaim in 1959 and whose all-black cast defied apartheid.Finally, the invention of the Global Positioning System - GPS - in the late 1970s, which now keeps aircraft in the sky and supports banking transactions.Contributors:Anita Cameron - disability rights campaigner Dr Maria Orchard - lecturer in law at the University of Leeds Hamadi Ben Abdesslem - tour guide Isatou Ceesay - environmental campaigner Nelson Mandela - former President of South Africa Marian Matshikiza - daughter of Todd Matshikiza, jazz pianist and composer Professor Brad Parkinson - chief architect of GPS(Photo: 8 year-old Jennifer Keelan crawls up the steps of the US Capitol, 12 March 1990. Credit: AP/Jeff Markowitz)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.We find out how Sylvan Goldman’s invention of the shopping trolley in 1930s America turned him into a multi-millionaire.Our expert is Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London, who is also the author of two books on the history of shopping.We hear about Toyota’s military pick-up trucks that transformed the 1987 north African conflict between Chad and Libya.The 2015 migrant crisis in Europe which led to thousands of people setting-up camp in the French port of Calais.Next, how US forces invaded the Central American state of Panama in 1989 to depose General Manuel Noriega.And finally in 1965 at the height of the USA’s civil rights struggle, the landmark legislation that was brought in to guarantee the rights of African Americans to vote.This programme contains outdated language which some people might find offensive.Contributors: Charles Kuralt – a journalist for CBS News Sylvan Goldman – inventor of the shopping trolley Rachel Bowlby - Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London Mahamat Saleh Bani - former officer in the Chadian Armed Forces Enrique Jelenszky – lawyer Jean-Marc Puissesseau - former President and Chairman of the Port of Calais C T Vivian – US minister George Wallace – former Governor of Alabama Lyndon B Johnson – former President of the United States(Photo: A woman pushing a shopping cart, 1949. Credit: Bettman via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.We hear about the moment Dr Max Perutz discovered the haemoglobin structure.Our expert is Professor Sir Alan Fersht, who is a chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology and knew Dr Perutz personally.We also hear about 22 Inuit children from Greenland's indigenous population who were sent to Denmark as part of a social experiment in 1951.Also, when mixed-raced children from the then Belgian Congo known as ‘métis’, were forcibly taken from their homes in 1953.When an eruption of violence in Assam led to an estimated 3,000 being killed in the Nellie massacre of 1983.Finally, the devastating impact of the 2010 tsunami in Chile and a woman who survived it.This programme contains outdated language which some people might find offensive.Contributors: Lectures and programmes from the BBC archive Professor Sir Alan Fersht - chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Helen Thiesen - a child in Denmark's Inuit children social experiment. Marie-José Loshi - one of the mixed-race ‘métis’ who was forcibly removed from her home in the then Belgian Congo. Bedabrata Lahkar - a journalist for the Assam Tribune newspaper at the time of the Nellie massacre. Alison Campbell - a survivor of Chile’s 2010 tsunami.(Photo: Dr Max Perutz and Dr Paul Kedrew. Credit: Hulton Deutsch/Contributor via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.We hear about the death of one of the oldest languages in the world, when an 85 year old woman died and took it with her in 2010.Our expert guest is Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur, who is the Head of the Endangered Languages Archive which endeavours to preserve languages that are disappearing at “an alarming rate.”We also hear about the historian who helped bring a former Stasi officer to justice decades after he killed a man.Also the moment Bolivia elected its first ever indigenous president in 2005.The Thai couple that broke the world record for the longest kiss twice.Plus, it’s 60 years since the controversial black activist, Malcolm X was assassinated. We hear from a man who was in the audience in New York when it happened.This programme contains outdated and offensive language.Contributors: Dr Anvita Abbi – linguist who documented one of the oldest languages before it died Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur – Head of the Endangered Languages Archive Dr Filip Gańczak – the historian who helped convict a former Stasi officer of murder Herman Ferguson who was in the audience when Malcolm X was assassinated Álvaro García Linera – Vice President of Bolivia under Evo Morales for 14 years Ekkachai – one half of the couple who broke the record for the world’s longest kiss(Photo: Boa Senior in Hospital. Credit: Anvita Abbi)

Don Watson, a renowned speechwriter for Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, discusses the powerful Redfern Address, which confronted Australia’s colonial past. Eva Perón, the iconic former First Lady of Argentina, is remembered for her impactful speeches that championed social welfare and women's rights. Mary Fisher reflects on her groundbreaking speech at the 1992 Republican Party convention that changed perceptions of the AIDS crisis, emphasizing the need for compassion and understanding. Together, these voices highlight the transformative power of oratory in addressing societal issues.