15-Minute History30 Jan 2023

The German Resistance | Standing Alone

The factory worker's back ached as he sat with his wife and daughter eating a meager breakfast. No enemy raids last night, so the family had actually slept well. His son entered the kitchen with the morning's mail in his small hands. His father took the stack from his boy, passed a letter to his wife from her mother—God protect her, he thought—and then opened the first envelope. His eyes widened as he read the words and then flickered to the door; he half expected Gestapo agents to burst through it. "Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be ‘governed’ by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government." The man folded the paper and put it back in the envelope, then tucked it into his waistcoat pocket. But that night, in a candlelit cellar, he read every word. It spoke of German history, of morality and ethics, and cursed the Führer's regime to the hell from which it had emerged. His eyes were wet with tears as he read its final words, lines of poetry from the great German writer Goethe: "Now I find my good men | Are gathered in the night, | To wait in silence, not to sleep. | And the glorious word of liberty, they whisper and murmur, | Till in unaccustomed strangeness, | On the steps of our temple | Once again they cry in delight | Freedom! Freedom!"

Join us as we teach you about the German resistance against Hitler, the bravery of those who gave everything to stop him and the Nazis, and the relentless push against the evil perpetrated by both.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(503)

Pop Quiz | The Dunkirk "What If"

Would Britain have surrendered if Germany had destroyed its army at Dunkirk? This week, Joe and Jon explore one of the classic "what ifs" of the Second World War.Join us every Thursday this summer for...

30 Juli 4min

War of 1812 (Part 2) | The Fire That Reforged a Nation (Republish)

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History team will be republishing some of your favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on December 1, 2025.---Washington burns. The White House is in fl...

27 Juli 18min

Pop Quiz | Air Conditioning

The Europeans may envy America's mighty air conditioners, but what would our country look like without this wondrous invention?Join us every Thursday for new Pop Quizzes this summer!

23 Juli 3min

The War of 1812 (Part 1): Humiliation, Hawks, and Heroism (Republish)

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History team will be republishing some of your favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on November 17, 2025.---Detroit falls without a fight. War Hawks ...

20 Juli 19min

Pop Quiz | Summer Reading List

Jon didn't give his students a reading list this summer, but if he had, what books would he have assigned?Join us every Monday for rebroadcast episodes this summer and on Thursdays for new Pop Quizzes...

16 Juli 3min

John Adams | "I Know I Am Right" (Repost)

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History team will be republishing some of your favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on November 3, 2025.---In the popular mind, John Adams' life and ...

13 Juli 14min

Pop Quiz | Extremism and the "Political Pendulum"

How do we know when a political party goes "too far" on policy? And what happens when there is a backlash against their ideas?Join us every week this summer for rebroadcast episodes and new pop quizze...

9 Juli 3min

Theodore Roosevelt | A Strenuous Life (Republish)

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History team will be republishing some of your favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on January 26, 2026.---"You must make your body." An asthmatic bo...

8 Juli 21min