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  • You watched him set the Stradivarius on the chair - would you speak up?

    You watched him set the Stradivarius on the chair - would you speak up?
    2026/10/06
    A violin worth a lifetime is left alone in a Carnegie Hall dressing room during intermission - you watched him set the Stradivarius on the chair; would you speak up?

    You watched him set the Stradivarius on the chair - would you speak up?

    In this episode, we follow a single intermission at Carnegie Hall in 1936 and the disappearance that followed, then widen to the choices a celebrated violinist made as Europe unraveled and he tried to build an orchestra in Palestine. What happened in that empty dressing room, and what would you have done in the moment?

    Person: Bronisław Huberman
    Date: February 28, 1936
    Location: Carnegie Hall, New York City
    Instrument: 1713 Stradivarius (the Gibson)
    Event: Theft during a 45-minute intermission

    - Huberman performed at Carnegie Hall, set the Gibson Stradivarius in his dressing room, and left it unattended for the 45-minute intermission.
    - The Gibson had been made in 1713, previously stolen in 1919 and recovered three days later before coming into Huberman’s hands.
    - Huberman publicly refused invitations to play in Nazi Germany in 1933 and began organizing what became the Palestine Symphony Orchestra.
    - Nearly a thousand musicians and their families were later given papers and positions through Huberman’s recruitment and fundraising efforts.
    - After the 1936 theft, Lloyd’s of London paid a $30,000 insurance claim while the instrument itself remained missing for decades.

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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
  • You step forward to volunteer with a one-lung, one-arm wound-what do you do?

    You step forward to volunteer with a one-lung, one-arm wound-what do you do?
    2026/10/05
    A one-lung, one-armed veteran volunteers for war, rises to become Berlin’s early Nazi organizer, and dies years later in Sachsenhausen-what do you do?

    You step forward to volunteer with a one-lung, one-arm wound-what do you do?

    In this episode, we follow the life of Ernst Schlange from a Prussian estate to the trenches and into early Nazi politics, tracing the choices that propelled him into leadership and the circumstances of his death at Sachsenhausen. What do we make of a man who helped build a movement, lost power within it, and died under Soviet detention?

    Person: Ernst Schlange
    Date of death: 28 February 1947
    Birth: 1 September 1888
    Location: Sachsenhausen (Soviet special camp within former Nazi camp)
    Membership number: 4837

    - Lost his left hand in a pre-1914 hunting accident and still volunteered for World War I.
    - Wounded near Stepj, Galicia on 1 June 1915, losing his right arm and right lung; awarded Iron Cross First and Second Class.
    - Studied law (Halle, Greifswald), earned a doctorate, worked at a bank, and passed Prussia’s highest legal exam before the war.
    - Joined Deutschnationale Volkspartei in 1919, moved to the Deutschsoziale Partei in 1922, and helped build local chapters in three Berlin districts.
    - Appointed Gauleiter of Gau Groß-Berlin in March 1925, with Hitler ratifying the role after rejoining the Nazi Party on 28 February 1925.

    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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    15 分
  • You must choose: believe a Soviet agent's promise or keep the school and your people

    You must choose: believe a Soviet agent's promise or keep the school and your people
    2026/10/04
    A Daur leader navigates empires to protect his people. When a Soviet agent offers arms for an uprising, he must choose: fight or surrender his school.

    You must choose: believe a Soviet agent's promise or keep the school and your people

    This episode explores the life of Merse, a Daur leader caught between the Chinese Republic, the Russian Empire, and Japanese-occupied Manchuria in the early 20th century. It asks what one does when every protective side sees you as expendable.

    Person: Merse (Mersentei, Guo Daofu, Chun Hwang)
    Date: 1894 (birth)
    Location: Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia
    Event: Hulunbuir Uprising
    Status: Secretary-General of the Inner Mongolia People's Revolutionary Party

    - Merse was born into a noble Daur family in 1894, a distinct people with their own language and culture.
    - He received an education across different cultures, learning three languages and scripts by age twenty-three.
    - Upon returning home in 1918, Merse's first significant act was to open a school for children in Hailar.
    - By 1925, he became secretary-general of the Inner Mongolia People's Revolutionary Party, aiming for autonomy without full commitment to either China or the Soviet Union.
    - In 1927, a Soviet agent named Ivan Stepanov promised Merse arms and funding for an uprising against Chinese warlords.

    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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    15 分
  • You find a silver-rimmed skull cup on the college table - do you drink?

    You find a silver-rimmed skull cup on the college table - do you drink?
    2026/10/03
    A silver-rimmed skull cup sits in an Oxford college, passed around for generations. No one ever asked whose skull it was, until now.

    You find a silver-rimmed skull cup on the college table - do you drink?

    This episode delves into the unsettling history of a skull cup at Worcester College, Oxford, and the man who donated it. It explores the disturbing beliefs and actions of a prominent figure whose legacy is intertwined with this macabre object.

    Person: George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers
    Date: 1946 (donation of cup)
    Location: Worcester College, Oxford
    Object: Silver-rimmed skull cup
    Period: Early 20th Century

    - A skull cup with a silver rim and stand was passed around the senior common room of Worcester College, Oxford, for decades.
    - Carbon dating in 2025 estimated the skull to be 225 years old, with circumstantial evidence pointing to the Caribbean.
    - The cup was donated in 1946 by George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, a decorated British officer and published anthropologist.
    - Pitt-Rivers was a committed fascist who corresponded with Nazi eugenicists and hosted figures like William Joyce and Oswald Mosley.
    - His grandfather, Augustus Pitt Rivers, a Victorian anthropologist, purchased the skull cup at Sotheby's in 1884.

    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 number that erased a name, but not a life

    The number that erased a name, but not a life
    2026/10/02
    A philosopher's grave in the taiga bears only a number, not a name. The Soviet state erased his identity, but could it erase his ideas?

    The number that erased a name, but not a life

    This episode explores the story of Lev Platonovich Karsavin, a philosopher and historian whose identity was systematically stripped away by the Soviet state. It delves into the profound question of what it means to be a person when your very name is deemed a threat.

    Person: Lev Platonovich Karsavin
    Location: Komi Republic, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, Clamart, Kaunas
    Period: 1882-1950
    Event: Philosophers' Ships
    Status: Exiled, Professor

    - Lev Karsavin was born in Saint Petersburg in 1882, into a household blending art and philosophy.
    - By 1916, he had completed doctoral theses on medieval religiosity and held a professorship.
    - In 1922, he was arrested and exiled from Russia on one of the "Philosophers' Ships."
    - He continued his intellectual life in Berlin and Clamart, joining the Eurasian movement.
    - In 1927, he accepted a professorship at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, and learned Lithuanian to teach his courses.

    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 hold Berzarin's protection letter-do you hand it to the men or burn it

    You hold Berzarin's protection letter-do you hand it to the men or burn it
    2026/10/01
    You hold Berzarin’s protection letter-do you hand it to the men or burn it? Heinrich George clutches the document as Soviet forces close in.

    You hold Berzarin's protection letter-do you hand it to the men or burn it

    In this episode, we follow the days when Heinrich George, Germany’s great actor, tries to keep a life’s work from being erased amid Berlin’s collapse. The episode traces his arrests, the protection letter from Soviet commander Nikolai Berzarin, and the choices that follow-what would you do with a talisman like that?

    Person: Heinrich George
    Person: Nikolai Berzarin
    Date: May-July 1945
    Location: Berlin, including Zehlendorf and Hohenschönhausen
    Event: Berzarin’s signed letter of protection catalogued as a confiscated passport in KGB files

    - George is a celebrated actor, named Staatsschauspieler in 1937, who starred in regime films like Hitler Youth Quex and Jud Süß.
    - By May 1945 he was arrested three times within twelve days, each release acting as a delay rather than a resolution.
    - In June 1945 Soviet commander Nikolai Berzarin issued a written protection naming George specifically, which George kept on his person.
    - Berzarin died in a motorcycle accident on 16 June 1945, after which George was arrested again and the protection’s power was suddenly uncertain.
    - Years later the original letter was found in George’s KGB file, catalogued as a confiscated passport, showing how its meaning shifted when authorities seized it.

    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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    13 分
  • He Died Twice: The Scholar Who Refused to Betray Anyone

    He Died Twice: The Scholar Who Refused to Betray Anyone
    2026/09/30
    A scholar in Kyiv is offered freedom if he betrays his circle; he refuses and faces interrogation, exile, and erasure - what would you have done?

    He Died Twice: The Scholar Who Refused to Betray Anyone

    In this episode, we follow the life and choices of Mykhailo Drai-Khmara, a linguist and poet at the center of Ukraine’s literary renaissance, as pressure from state agents closes in. What does it take to keep refusing when refusal costs you everything and compliance costs almost nothing?

    Person: Mykhailo Drai-Khmara
    Date of birth: October 10, 1889
    Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
    Event: Arrest and NKVD interrogation, March 1933
    Work: Translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy (destroyed)

    - A polyglot scholar who knew nineteen languages and shaped his own surname from Drai to Drai-Khmara as an act of authorship.
    - A central figure in the Kyiv Neoclassicists who taught, led a Slavic department, and collaborated on a scientific Ukrainian language.
    - His manuscripts and unpublished poetry collections were confiscated or blocked by political pressure in the 1930s.
    - He sheltered a fifteen-year-old orphan during the Holodomor, quietly keeping her alive with no public recognition.
    - Arrested in March 1933, he was offered informant status by NKVD agents and repeatedly refused to name colleagues.

    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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    15 分
  • You have Rocco's letter, one seat on the last train - do you board?

    You have Rocco's letter, one seat on the last train - do you board?
    2026/09/29
    A powerful bootlegging kingpin vanishes without a trace in 1944. His disappearance sparks a decades-long mystery: what really happened to Rocco Perri?

    You have Rocco's letter, one seat on the last train - do you board?

    This episode explores the extraordinary life and sudden disappearance of Rocco Perri, a figure who rose from humble beginnings to become Canada's undisputed bootlegging king. It delves into the unanswered questions surrounding his vanishing act and the enduring legacy of his criminal empire.

    Person: Rocco Perri
    Date: April 23, 1944
    Location: Hamilton, Ontario
    Status: Missing
    Event: Disappearance

    - Rocco Perri, born in Platì, Italy in 1887, immigrated to North America at 15, working as a laborer in New York and Ontario.
    - In 1912, Perri met Bessie Starkman, who left her husband and children to join him and became the financial architect of his bootlegging operation.
    - Bessie Starkman identified the opportunity in the Ontario Temperance Act of 1916, suggesting bootlegging and building the financial network from her kitchen table.
    - Perri's operation supplied whiskey from legal Canadian distilleries like Seagram and Gooderham and Worts to the Chicago Outfit.
    - At its peak in 1924, Perri's bootlegging empire generated one million dollars a year, with him openly stating he sold to judges, bankers, and senators.

    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