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  • The prison cell where you chose madness

    The prison cell where you chose madness
    2026/10/30
    A poet faces Soviet repression in 1931. His friends are disappearing, and he calculates that his only path to survival is to feign madness.

    The prison cell where you chose madness

    This episode explores the story of Teodosiy Osmachka, a Ukrainian poet who chose to deliberately lose his mind to survive the Soviet regime. It delves into the profound cost of sustaining such a performance for decades.

    Person: Teodosiy Osmachka
    Date: 1931
    Location: Soviet Ukraine
    Event: Poet feigns madness to escape repression

    - Teodosiy Osmachka was born in 1895 in Kutsivka, a village in the Cherkasy region of what would become Soviet Ukraine.
    - His first collection of poetry, "Krucha," was published in 1922, followed by "Scythian Fires" in 1925, a declaration of ancient, pre-imperial identity.
    - In 1916, Osmachka faced a military tribunal during World War I for his poem "Soldier's Thoughts," but the October Revolution dissolved the charges.
    - He joined prominent literary circles in Kyiv, including ASPYS and Lanka (MARS), alongside friends like Hryhoriy Kosynka, during Ukraine's Executed Renaissance.
    - By the early 1930s, as his friends were systematically arrested, Osmachka, then 36, began to perform seizures and a theatrical loss of control while in custody.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • The Unfinished Book That Sent Her To The Fire

    The Unfinished Book That Sent Her To The Fire
    2026/10/29
    A revolutionary faces the guillotine, accused not of opposing the Revolution but of asking it to be consistent. Her unfinished book-why?

    The Unfinished Book That Sent Her To The Fire

    This episode explores the life of Olympe de Gouges, a woman who championed radical ideas before her time and ultimately faced execution by the very revolution she helped inspire. What happens when an idea outpaces the people who claim to own it?

    Person: Olympe de Gouges (Marie Gouze)
    Date: November 3, 1793
    Location: Paris, France
    Age: 45
    Occupation: Playwright, political pamphleteer

    - Born Marie Gouze in Montauban, France, her parentage was whispered to be a mix of a butcher and a nobleman.
    - At 17, she was unhappily married to Louis Yves Aubry, who drowned 13 months later, leaving her a widow with a son at 18.
    - Moving to Paris, she educated herself and frequented literary salons, meeting prominent writers and political thinkers.
    - Her first play, about slavery in French colonies, premiered at the Comédie-Française in 1785 but was sabotaged by pro-slavery lobbies.
    - Years before the Revolution, she proposed social security, care for the elderly, and shelters for homeless children, anticipating many modern welfare state concepts.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Pope's Excommunication Letter Demanded an Impossible Choice

    The Pope's Excommunication Letter Demanded an Impossible Choice
    2026/10/28
    A man’s faith makes him an outlaw in Elizabethan England. Loyalty to Rome or the Crown: the Pope's excommunication demands an impossible choice?

    The Pope's Excommunication Letter Demanded an Impossible Choice

    This episode explores the story of John Ingram, a man executed in 1594 for the crime of being a Catholic priest ordained abroad. It delves into the political climate of England in the 1580s and the difficult decisions individuals faced when their faith became illegal.

    Person: John Ingram
    Date: July 1594
    Location: Gateshead, England
    Event: Execution for high treason
    Law: Jesuits Act of 1584

    - The municipal ledger for Gateshead in 1594 meticulously recorded the costs associated with John Ingram's execution, including gibbeting his quarters.
    - John Ingram, a 29-year-old, was sentenced to death despite no evidence of him performing priestly acts on English soil.
    - Queen Elizabeth I's excommunication by Pope Pius V in 1570 created a legal framework where Catholic priests were considered agents of a foreign power.
    - The Jesuits Act of 1584 made it high treason for any priest ordained abroad to enter England, making presence itself the crime.
    - John Ingram left England at 17, studied at English Catholic seminaries in the Low Countries and Rome, and was ordained a priest in 1589.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • If you must choose, would you take the SS uniform that won him command?

    If you must choose, would you take the SS uniform that won him command?
    2026/10/27
    A commander once a brewer walks toward a rope in Belgrade after choices led him from beer halls to SS command; what would you have chosen?

    If you must choose, would you take the SS uniform that won him command?

    In this episode, we follow the documented steps of a single life as it moves from ordinary roles into the machinery of wartime power, tracing each decision and institutional pull that reshaped a man. What does it mean when every choice feels reasonable at the time?

    Person: August Schmidhuber
    Date: 19 February 1947
    Location: Belgrade
    Event: Execution by hanging following tribunal conviction
    Topic: Command of the 21st SS Division "Skanderbeg" and deportations from Kosovo

    - Born 8 May 1901 in Augsburg; son of a modest civil servant who valued order and respectability.
    - Joined the Freikorps in May-June 1919, then served twelve years in the Reichswehr beginning in 1919.
    - Lost an election as a Bavarian People's Party candidate in Lindau, then joined the NSDAP and SA before entering the SS in May 1935.
    - Took command of the 21st SS Division "Skanderbeg" on 17 April 1944 amid poor recruitment, high desertion, and weak combat performance.
    - In May 1944 the division carried out the deportation of Kosovo’s Jewish community to Bergen-Belsen.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    14 分
  • The Order to Exterminate: Would You Have Written It?

    The Order to Exterminate: Would You Have Written It?
    2026/10/26
    A general is stripped of his dignity before execution-what would you sacrifice when your system demands you become someone else?

    The Order to Exterminate: Would You Have Written It?

    This episode explores the life of Erich Hoepner, a German general whose choices reveal the complex moral compromises made within a totalitarian regime. It asks what happens when a person keeps saying yes to one more thing, and what it costs when they finally say no.

    Person: Erich Hoepner
    Date of Execution: August 8, 1944
    Location: Plötzensee Prison, Berlin
    Military Rank: Generaloberst

    - Erich Hoepner was hanged in 1944, deliberately humiliated by the state before his death.
    - He joined a plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1938, contingent on the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
    - Hoepner led the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 and later commanded a corps during the invasion of Poland.
    - In 1940, he ordered an investigation into the massacre of British prisoners of war by the SS Totenkopf Division.
    - He also wrote a directive calling for the racial extermination of an entire people on his own initiative.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • You answer the knock - do you open for the men in trench coats?

    You answer the knock - do you open for the men in trench coats?
    2026/10/25
    A German general, architect of the Weimar Republic's political-military machine, answers a knock at his door. He knows the system he built is now turning on him.

    You answer the knock - do you open for the men in trench coats?

    This episode explores the life and career of Kurt von Schleicher, a master political operator in Weimar Republic, and examines the moment when his own methods were used against him.

    Person: Kurt von Schleicher
    Date: June 30, 1934
    Location: Neubabelsberg
    Event: Assassination

    - Kurt von Schleicher, born in 1882, entered the Kadettenanstalt in 1896, stepping into the inherited architecture of the Prussian officer class.
    - He was commissioned into the Third Foot Guards in 1900, where he met Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, forming a lasting friendship.
    - Schleicher's patron, Wilhelm Groener, created the Ministeramt, a political bureau within the Defense Ministry, specifically for Schleicher's unique talent for political engineering.
    - In December 1918, Schleicher was a key architect of the Ebert-Groener Pact, which ensured the army's survival and independence during the German revolution.
    - He helped establish Sondergruppe R in 1921, a secret Reichswehr unit that cooperated with the Red Army to circumvent the arms restrictions of the Versailles Treaty.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • If you were the cadet who watched his country collapse, would you speak for it?

    If you were the cadet who watched his country collapse, would you speak for it?
    2026/10/24
    A brilliant cadet watches his country collapse. He believes he can save it, but his actions during the invasion will forever brand him a political traitor.

    If you were the cadet who watched his country collapse, would you speak for it?

    This episode explores the life of Vidkun Quisling, from his beginnings as a pastor's son and decorated military student to his controversial actions during a national crisis. It asks what happens when total belief reorganizes loyalty and conscience.

    Person: Vidkun Quisling
    Date: April 9, 1940
    Location: Oslo, Norway
    Event: Self-declaration as Prime Minister
    Status: Most decorated student in Norwegian Military College history

    - Vidkun Quisling, a pastor's son, achieved the highest entrance and graduation scores in the history of the Norwegian Military College.
    - At 20 years old, he was considered Norway's most promising soldier, even meeting King Haakon the Seventh.
    - He served as Norway's foremost expert on Russian affairs after witnessing the Russian Revolution firsthand in Petrograd.
    - Quisling worked with Fridtjof Nansen for the League of Nations, leading famine relief efforts in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1922.
    - During his time in Ukraine, he entered into a marriage with Alexandra Andreevna Voronina and later claimed an undocumented marriage to Maria Vasiljevna Pasetchnikova.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The Secret You Risk Everything To Tell

    The Secret You Risk Everything To Tell
    2026/10/23
    A man who helped build Iran's revolutionary government discovers a secret that could bring it down. What would you risk to expose the truth?

    The Secret You Risk Everything To Tell

    This episode delves into the story of Mehdi Hashemi, a key figure in the Islamic Republic who chose to reveal a devastating secret. It explores the personal cost of such a decision and the forces that shaped his life and ultimate choice.

    Person: Mehdi Hashemi
    Date: November 3, 1986
    Location: Lebanon
    Event: Ash-Shiraa magazine published a story
    Topic: Iran-Contra

    - Mehdi Hashemi was 42 years old and had dedicated his adult life to building the very system he was about to expose.
    - In 1977, Hashemi was arrested by SAVAK on charges including vigilante killings, which his supporters claimed were fabricated to neutralize him.
    - After the 1979 revolution, Hashemi rose quickly, joining the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and heading the Bureau of Assistance to Islamic Movements in the World.
    - He operated from the office of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini's designated successor, and controlled an extensive network of men, weapons, and connections.
    - Hashemi learned that the Islamic Republic, despite its public stance, was secretly buying weapons and spare parts from the United States and Israel.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分