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The Man Who Calculated Death

Wondery
  • 4.9 (480)
  • HISTORY
  • WEEKLY SERIES

New episodes released for free every Tuesday. In 2013, journalist Suzanne Rico gets the call. Her mother, Gabriele, is dying. As time ticks down, Gabriele reveals an unfinished memoir about her World War II childhood–and makes a daunting last request: “Finish what I started.” When Suzanne and her sister, Stephanie, dive into their mother’s turbulent past, they come face to face with the truth of their own ancestry for the first time, including mind blowing mysteries that swirl around inventor Robert Lusser–their grandfather–and his work for the Third Reich. As they struggle to bring closure to something as intimate as a memoir, they have no idea of the revelations in store, or the reckoning they will require. 

  1. EPISODE 1

    The Last Request

    Suzanne and Stephanie Rico dig through their deceased mother's office searching for clues to their dark legacy--a flying bomb built in World War II by a brilliant Nazi grandfather they've never met. We learn more about their mother's extraordinary life, her death, and how the sisters' quest to understand their own troubled ancestry began. When the tantes, Aunt Heide and Aunt Traute, help create an itinerary through Germany, the odyssey will take Suzanne and Stephanie from the remote ruins of a military base to an underground concentration camp to the Bavarian farmhouse where their grandmother died in 1945.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    38 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Candles In The Window

    Suzanne and Stephanie begin at their mother’s childhood home in Augsburg, where they’re faced with a difficult question: as granddaughters of a man who created a weapon of mass destruction for the Nazis, what responsibility do they bear? From tattered letters, photographs, and home movies from their mother’s early days, the sisters piece together their grandfather’s life, and their grandparents’ love story. Then, they discover a well kept family secret with dangerous undertones. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    41 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Into The Fire

    Suzanne and Stephanie investigate their family's experience in the long-ago fire bombing of Kassel, Germany that killed 10,000 civilians in a single night. As they learn more about their grandfather's career, they uncover an intriguing--and frightening--turn, when he came up against one of Adolf Hitler’s infamous “blood judges.” Then, they learn that Robert Lusser moved his family to Kassel--a favorite Allied bombing target—in the first place because of an offer to lead of one of the Nazis most important--and top secret--weapons projects. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    41 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    V Is For Vengeance

    In the aftermath of the fire bombing, Robert Lusser’s family finds shelter in an abandoned mansion while he heads to a remote island in the Baltic Sea. This is where he must perfect his "wonder weapon" - a never before seen flying bomb that will become the world's first cruise missile. In their search for how their grandfather managed this achievement, Stephanie and Suzanne go behind the locked gates of a ruined military base with an engineer-turned-historian who knows exactly who their grandfather was - and what he did. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Your well-being is worth it. Visit www.BetterHelp.com/THEMAN to get 10% off your first month See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    41 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    Chamber 44

    Suzanne and Stephanie visit Tante Heide in Sacramento, California, where the sisters’ beloved aunt has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Realizing that time is running out to get the family story straight, the sisters ask difficult questions - with answers that are not black and white. Back on their odyssey through Germany, the whispers of the dead swirl around them as they walk the dark, dank tunnels of a concentration camp where the V1s were made. When Suzanne tracks down a Holocaust survivor who assembled her grandfather's flying bombs, she finds a surprising moment of grace. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Your well-being is worth it. Visit www.BetterHelp.com/THEMAN to get 10% off your first month See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    43 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Broken Glass

    Suzanne and Stephanie stumble around a small cemetery in Bavaria, searching for their grandmother’s grave. The next day, the owner of the farmhouse where she died tells the sisters about the devastation that rained down from the sky on a cold March afternoon in 1945 and the sisters revisit the moment Gabriele learned her mother was gone. Then, as the farmer takes the sisters on a tour, showing them bomb craters and shrapnel, they stumble upon a clue that points in a new, and unexpected, direction.  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Your well-being is worth it. Visit www.BetterHelp.com/THEMAN to get 10% off your first month See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    36 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    The Dark Road of the Future

    In the wake of investigating their grandmother’s death, the sister revisit the day their own mother died and we hear Gabriele’s last words. Focus turns to the aftermath of the bombing and Tante Heide tells of how a black binder found among the rubble would come to haunt her family. Meanwhile, Robert Lusser is trying to get home from Berlin, as Germany crumbles. When the family is finally reunited, they struggle to survive as the their own countrymen turn on them. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Your well-being is worth it. Visit www.BetterHelp.com/THEMAN to get 10% off your first month See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    37 min

  8. EPISODE 8

    Lost Souls

    Suzanne and Stephanie walk the halls of a children’s home where their mom described her mother’s ghost haunting her every night. The sisters begin to wonder: can they ever truly finish the memoir without knowing who was responsible for their grandmother’s death? Suzanne decides to try to solve the mystery once and for all. After initial frustration, she finds an ally in Colonel Matt Dietz, a fighter-pilot-turned-WWII-historian, and together, they uncover the incredible truth.  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp: Your well-being is worth it. Visit www.BetterHelp.com/THEMAN to get 10% off your first month See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    37 min
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4.9
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480 Ratings

About

New episodes released for free every Tuesday. In 2013, journalist Suzanne Rico gets the call. Her mother, Gabriele, is dying. As time ticks down, Gabriele reveals an unfinished memoir about her World War II childhood–and makes a daunting last request: “Finish what I started.” When Suzanne and her sister, Stephanie, dive into their mother’s turbulent past, they come face to face with the truth of their own ancestry for the first time, including mind blowing mysteries that swirl around inventor Robert Lusser–their grandfather–and his work for the Third Reich. As they struggle to bring closure to something as intimate as a memoir, they have no idea of the revelations in store, or the reckoning they will require. 

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