The Berlin Tour Guide

01/02/2021

‎History · 2021

27/01/2021

OTD in 1859 Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert better known as Kaiser Wilhelm II was born in Berlin. A difficult breech birth led to the damage in his left arm, damage known as Erbs Palsy. Through most of his life Wilhelm would hide his arm, resting it on a hilt of a sword during parades or carrying gloves in the grasp of his hand. To find out more about Kaiser Wilhelm II and his lineage check out our latest podcast 'Monarch of the Forest' https://bit.ly/2Kvek50 and our podcast Kaiser against God, https://bit.ly/3prQZAk.

02/12/2020

Our Berlin podcast Achtung History has gone somewhat on holiday (albeit still researching and producing from Berlin) and is investigating Britain's first murder on a train, a story that would culminate in a transatlantic steamer chase. Listen now!

Episode 1: https://bit.ly/2JrzfW2
Episode 2: https://bit.ly/2Jsb0Hd

Today an Italian Cafe but if you look carefully you might be able to see that it used to be a millinery (hat maker). Above the number there is a face of a man who’s head is bedecked with a hat. In the 1860s this corner shop at 49 Crawford Street in London, belonged to J. H. Walker, a hat from whom was found in the railway carriage where poor Thomas Briggs was murdered, the only thing was the hat didn’t belong to the murdered but it would be come central to the investigation into his death that would culminate in a steamer chase across the Atlantic and our latest mini-series. Listen now.
Episode 1: https://bit.ly/2JrzfW2
Episode 2: https://bit.ly/2Jsb0Hd
(image copyright Google 2020, taken from Streetview)

23/11/2020

Check out the latest episode of our Achtung! History podcast, this time we leave Berlin and go on a journey to London in 1864 and the explore the first murder on British rail in "Murder on the tracks."

Come on a journey, a journey into the past. Travel to a time when Britain ruled much of the world and London was its beating financial heart, Join Simon J. James in the discovery of the incredible and true story of the first murder on the British railway. A murder of a well respected banker that lef...

16/11/2020

Check out the first episode in our two parter, before things get weird in episode two, out this evening!

Multi-millionaires, an East German Punk, art dealers, con artists, police informants, and two giant bronze horses that once stood outside Hi**er's Reich Chancellery that went missing at the end of the war. This is, the two parter, 'The Hunt for Hi**er's Horses.' This first episode looks Josef Thorak...

02/11/2020

Discover probably the greatest con in history!

In August 1348 an old man arrives before the Archbishop of Magdeburg. He is frail and worn but, in dropping a signet ring before the Archbishop, he claims to be Woldemar the Great, Margrave of Brandenburg, but there is only one problem. Woldemar the Great had been dead for 29 years. Who was this old...

21/10/2020

Check out our podcast page and the latest episode!

An incredible photograph of the 1937 Paris exposition where the growing tensions in ideals between Fascism and Communism can clearly be seen.

It was during this exposition that Ursula Goetze, the subject of our latest podcast episode Resistance visited Paris and met with members of the Communist Party of Germany that was in exile. Ursula Goetze became an important resistance fighter who fought tyranny with words and ideas rather than with guns.

https://anchor.fm/achtunghistory/episodes/Resistance-Ursula-Goetze-el929k

19/10/2020

If you are wondering what to do on these shortening days, check out the latest episode of our Achtung History podcast, and delve into the dark and secretive world of the German resistance against the NSDAP Hi**er regime. Our first sporadic episode is on the heroine Ursula Goetze who paid the ultimate price in standing up against tyranny. Listen for free on all your favourite podcasting platforms! https://apple.co/3m1dfPl

14/10/2020

The new episode of our Achtung History podcast is out now! Listen on your favourite podcasting platform or on apple here apple.co/2GPT7kl

This week Simon looks into the story of Nathan Rothschild and the money made in the wake of Blücher's (and Wellington's) victory at Waterloo (Belle-Alliance) over Napoleon, and if there is any truth in the myth that has been told and told again!

06/10/2020

Our new Achtung History podcast episode was released on Friday. This week hear about Beate Ulbricht, the daughter of the East German dictator Walter Ulbricht.

Her life began in tragedy, born into a concentration camp for Ostarbeiter, her first few months spent as a baby surrounded by falling bombs, one of which claimed her mother. As an orphan she survived the children's homes that few others survived before being adopted as the first child of Socialism by Walter and his partner Lotte. To the world of the DDR she was a happy child, in reality her life was one of tragedy and torment and it ended so. Find out more in Beate Ulbricht - The Dictator's Daughter out now on your favourite podcasting platforms!

Born into violence and forced to live the life of the perfect socialist child, this is the story of Maria a girl who became 'The Dictator's Daughter.' Achtung! History is produced by The Berlin Tour Guide and presented by Simon J, James. You can follow Achtung! History on Twitter, Facebook and Insta...

29/09/2020

Thank you to everyone who came out for Thursday's tour last week, it was great to see so many faces. Hope you all had a great evening and hope to see you again for the next tour.

In the meantime, you can listen to our latest Achtung! History podcast here https://anchor.fm/achtunghistory/episodes/The-Battle-of-Friedrichshain-ek9r01 or on your favourite podcasting platform. This week it's the heavy weight fight between Ulbricht of the KPD and Goebbels of the NSDAP in an event that became known as "The Battle of Friedrichshain."