Messy History

Thad & Robyn

Left vs Right. Communism vs Capitalism. Democracy vs Dictator. Good vs Evil.Whole countries have traded in their old ways for new opportunities. Over the last 200 years the world has struggled with its identity - who are we and how do we want to live? These struggles continue today. History books show us an orderly account of who did what to whom and when. But behind those polished narratives, we find everyday people struggling to build a future for themselves and their children. These are the real, firsthand accounts of those people, in their all their raw messiness. This is our history.

  1. Oct 6

    When the Russians Ran Auschwitz

    Growing up in 1920's Munich, Marianne had an idyllic childhood. Of it she writes: "since both my parents worked as artists - Father was an academically trained sculptor and Mother an academically trained craft artist I grew up in an apartment in an artists' studio building in Schwabing, surrounded by sculptures of naked little men and women, marble, plaster, and enormous boxes of clay." A few years later, she finds her family in Gleiwitz, modern-day Poland, with the Second World War nearing its end. Caught between a retreating Germany and the advancing Russian army, she and her family find themselves fighting for survival, in a world on fire... Image "The Mourner" by Hanns Breitenbach (Marianne's father), in the Gliwice Linden Cemetery Gliwi, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Bibliography DTA 647-1R Marianne Ottmann-Breitenbach. Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. DTA Reg. Nr. 735-I-1

    When the Russians Ran Auschwitz

  2. Aug 20

    The World Turned Upside Down

    By the end of 1918, it was becoming apparent that Germany was not going to win The Great War, and that defeat would come at a price. At home, the Spartacus League looked at the apparent success of the Russian Revolution and were pressing for a similar revolution in Germany. The Kaiser departed for Holland, leaving the monarchy defunct. Germany in 1919 is a world turned completely on its head. Even among the chaos, life goes on while people work out their future. Image A British Mark IV tank, captured and re-used by the German army - at the Sparticist Uprising, Berlin, 1919. By Agence de presse Meurisse - This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b9041984h, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115099225 Bibliography DTA 3936-1 Gerhard R. "Tagesheft 1. Januar 1919 bis 10 Dezember 1919". Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. DTA Reg. Nr.  3936-1 DTA 3876-3 Wilhelm von Marcard. "Briefe aus dem Revolutionsjahr 1919 in Auszügen". Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. DTA Reg. Nr. 3876-3 Rabotchii Soldat, organ of the Petrograd Soviet, Vol. 1 Published October 31, 1917.  Referenced in The Liberator, January 1919.

    The World Turned Upside Down

  3. Jul 11

    Letters from your Boy

    "This is a dark day and a dark hour. The sword is being forced into my hand. This war will demand of us enormous sacrifice in life and money, but we shall show our foes what it is to provoke Germany." – Kaiser Wilhelm II, July 31, 1914 In the summer of 1914, the world went to war. The heady early days of glory soon gave way to the realities of war, both on the front and at home. Our story today follows the lives of a husband and wife in Germany, separated by war, and their struggles to survive a world plunged into chaos. Image A memorial near the Lochnagar Crater. The crater was created by a large mine detonated beneath the German front line by the British Army’s 179th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers, at 7:28am on 1 July 1916. The explosion marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, This was not far from where many of these letters were penned. Bibliography "Das Leben der ______ B. in Tagebüchern und Briefen” DTA-70,63 Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. Translation by Robyn Thompson.

    Letters from your Boy

  4. Jun 11

    The Great War Comes Home

    Today is Gustav’s story - the daily account of a grandfather living on the German homefront during World War I. While the glorious war starts as “the greatest time of my life”, he worries about his son Ludwig fighting on the front.  IMAGE Picture from Gustav’s diary:  Ludwig Schlott.  BIBLIOGRAPHY Marshall von Hindenburg.  Translated by F.A. Holt.  Out of my Life. Cassell and Company, ltd.  1920 Gustav Schlott memoirs. DTA-3768,1 Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen.  Translation by Robyn Thompson.

    The Great War Comes Home

  5. May 10

    Peace, Land, and Bread!

    Today we continue our conversation on life during the Russian Revolution and the Bolsheviks' ambitions for the country. Our primary account comes from Elfriede, a young woman living in Odessa, Ukraine when the revolution came. She describes the conflicts between the Reds and Whites, her stint as a typist for the infamous Cheka (secret police), and her eventual escape through Bulgaria. Bibliography Elfriede Becker memoirs. DTA-4710,1 Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. Translation By Robyn Thompson Image Earliest flag of the Soviet Union, 1922-1923 Gütersloh 1975, ISBN 978-3-570-01591-9, Public Domain

    Peace, Land, and Bread!

  6. Apr 18

    An Escape From Russia

    What would you do if you woke up one day and suddenly found yourself an "enemy" of the people with whom you had grown up? In this episode, we follow the story of Anna's family - bourgeois Germans caught in Russia during World War I and the Russian Revolution. Bibliography "Anna's Memoirs". DTA-368-1-2, Reg NR 418,1-2 Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen. Translation By Robyn Thompson "Who Needs the War? Alexandra Kollantai: Selected Articles and Speeches"  Progress publishers, 1984.  First printing 1915. "Apostles into Terrorists: Women and the Revolutionary Movement in the Russia of Alexander II." Vera Briodo, Maurice Temple Smith, 1977. "A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924", Orlando Figes, Penguin Books, 1988. "The Communist Manifesto", Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, 1848 Image Imperial Russian Railways series Б (B) Public Domain

    An Escape From Russia

  7. Apr 8

    Preserving the Past

    What's the difference between a diary and a memoir? In this episode, we take advantage of an opportunity to interview Christiane Weinzierl from the German Diary Archive in Emmendingen, Germany about diaries, memoirs, and the art and task of preserving the past. You can find out more about the archive at their website: https://tagebucharchiv.de

    Preserving the Past

  8. Jan 5

    The Last First Family of Russia

    The story of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family. We discuss their early lives, marriage, and the challenges they faced, such as their son Alexei's hemophilia and the introduction of Rasputin into their lives. Following this, we cover the political turmoil and the unrest leading up to World War I, Nicholas's role in the war, and his eventual abdication. Both primary sources, Sophie and Pierre, provide firsthand accounts of the family's final days. Image Nicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Livadiya, Crimea, 1913.  Portrait by the Levitsky Studio, Livadiya. Today the original photograph is held at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Sources Buxhoeveden, Sophie.  The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.  Original, 1928.  Denikin, Anton.  The Russian Turmoil; Memoirs: Military, Social, and Political.  The Field Press Ltd.  Windsor, London, 1922.  Figes, Orlando.  A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924.  Penguin Books, 1998. Gatrell, Peter.  A Whole Empire Walking:  Refugees in Russia During World War I.  Indiana University Press, 1999. Gillard, Peter.  Thirteen Years in a Russian Court. 1920, Wentworth Press.   Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi.  The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs.  Basic Books, 2024. Lenin, Essential Works of Lenin: ‘What is to be Done?’ and Other Writings.  Ed. By  Henry M. Christman. Dover, 1929. Massie, Robert K.  Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade, 2000. “Nicolas’s Diaries” https://www.alexanderpalace.org Pipes, Richard.  Three ‘whys’ of the Russian Revolution. A Vintage Original, 1995. Radzinsky, Edward.  The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II.  Anchor, 1973. “Russian Revolution,”  https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/russian-revolution-quotations-rasputin Semertzides, Meletios.  The Twilight of the Tsars: Russia’s Fall and the Birth of Revolution.  Volume 3. Trade Paperback, 2025. Smith, Douglas.  Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs.  Picador Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York, 2016. “The Nicky and Willy Telegrams (1914).” https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nicky-and-willy-telegrams-1914 Wilhelm II. The Willy-Nicky Correspondence: Being the Secret and Intimate Telegrams Exchanged between the Kaiser and the Tsar. Forward by Theodore Roosevelt.  Toronto, 1918.

    The Last First Family of Russia
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About

Left vs Right. Communism vs Capitalism. Democracy vs Dictator. Good vs Evil.Whole countries have traded in their old ways for new opportunities. Over the last 200 years the world has struggled with its identity - who are we and how do we want to live? These struggles continue today. History books show us an orderly account of who did what to whom and when. But behind those polished narratives, we find everyday people struggling to build a future for themselves and their children. These are the real, firsthand accounts of those people, in their all their raw messiness. This is our history.

Information

  • Creator
    Thad & Robyn
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Messy History
  • Show Website
    Messy History