Podcasts about austrian jews

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

In Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna's cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna. Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna's history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution--the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s.  As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined "Jewish" culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism--instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction. In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust--a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence. Paul Lerner is Professor of History at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. He can be reached at plerner@usc.edu and @PFLerner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part II of this podcast of my interview with Columbia University Professor Shai Davidai on April 5th, we discuss the similarities between the reluctance of German and Austrian Jews to see the looming crisis almost one hundred years ago and the same tendencies among American and Canadian Jews today. Davidai discusses the ongoing investigation into his conduct that has been launched by the Columbia University administration. He sees it as being little more than an effort to intimidate him into silence. Meanwhile, Columbia has literally become a battleground in recent days. The crisis shows no signs of subsiding. That Columbia leadership has taken such a daft and irresponsible approach to such extreme antisemitism is as disturbing as the Jew hatred itself. But – we do end on a somewhat positive note, with Davidai encouraging everyone to step up so we can save ourselves. “We invented Superman!” he exults. “We can save ourselves!”State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Shai Davidai is an Israeli Professor at Columbia Business School. He moved to the United States in 2010 to pursue a PhD in Social Psychology from Cornell University and has worked at Princeton University and The New School for Social Research. Ever since October 7, Shai has been devoting his time and energy to battle support for terrorism and the rise in antisemitism at Columbia University and colleges all across the country. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

When  the book The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty was first published in 2009, it completely changed (and re-ignited) the conversation around poverty, ethics, and philanthropy. Clearly it affected Musings host Charlie Bresler, who, after reading the book, ultimately approached its author about starting a non-profit based around philanthropy. According to its author, Peter Singer, those with money are behaving unethically — even immorally — if they don't take steps to end the poverty and suffering of others. Singer's parents were Austrian Jews who immigrated to Australian to escape the Nazis. Tragically, three of his four grandparents died at the hands of the Nazi regime, and in this episode, Peter and Charlie discuss how this history may or may not have impacted his world view.  It's a fascinating conversation around why we give or don't. As you might imagine, the reasons are complex, rooted in human psychology, tinged with fear and cognitive dissonance, and seasoned with a lack of cultural pressure, thanks to an idea called the “diffusion of responsibility.” We hope you'll enjoy this episode and share it widely. And remember, you can request a free copy of The Life You Can Save from our website: www.thelifeyoucansave.org/the-book. More about Peter Singer: Raised in Australia, Peter Singer was awarded a scholarship to attend Oxford, where he received a Bachelor of Philosophy and later a Master's. He was a Radcliffe lecturer at Oxford, a visiting professor at NYU, and spent most of his career as a professor in Melbourne. In 1999 he moved to Princeton to teach, and in 2011 to London to lecture at the New College of the Humanities.  Musings About Ourselves and Other Strangers is the podcast for the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save, and is hosted by co-founder Charlie Bresler. Please check out other episodes as well as our website for ideas on how you too can extend your impact for good in the world.

Stuart is off grid this week so Eamonn is joined by producer and commentator Paddy Duffy to chat over some of the week's media stories. Please note this show was recording pre Autumn Statement. At the end of the show a question from Kay Springham Recomendations: Eamonn Spymaster book by Helen Fry The dramatic story of a man who stood at the centre of British intelligence operations, the ultimate spymaster of World War II: Thomas Kendrick “A remarkable piece of historical detective work. . . . Now, thanks to this groundbreaking book, the result of years of meticulous research and expert analysis, Kendrick's role as one of the great spymasters of the twentieth century can be revealed.”—Saul David, Daily Telegraph Thomas Kendrick (1881–1972) was central to the British Secret Service from its beginnings through to the Second World War. Under the guise of “British Passport Officer,” he ran spy networks across Europe, facilitated the escape of Austrian Jews, and later went on to set up the “M Room,” a listening operation which elicited information of the same significance and scope as Bletchley Park. Yet the work of Kendrick, and its full significance, remained largely unknown. Helen Fry draws on extensive original research to tell the story of this remarkable British intelligence officer. Kendrick's life sheds light on the development of MI6 itself—he was one of the few men to serve Britain across three wars, two of which while working for the British Secret Service. Fry explores the private and public sides of Kendrick, revealing him to be the epitome of the “English gent”—easily able to charm those around him and scrupulously secretive. https://www.waterstones.com/book/spymaster/helen-fry/9780300266979  Paddy Documentaries by Norma Percy Israel and the Arabs  Award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her acclaimed 1998 documentary series The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs.  Through interviews and analysis from key players of the time, the series forensically detailed the conflict's origins and key moments, and here Norma shares how the programme came to life, how she gained the trust of some of the most significant figures of the day and what the lessons from history might be. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001sfvq/the-fifty-years-war-israel-and-the-arabs-eyewitness-to-history-norma-percy-on-the-fifty-years-war  The Elusive Peace - Monday 27th Nov BBC4 22.00 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001swsb 

Hey everybody, thanks for coming back to the TCP. Tonight I get to talk to Bestselling author Steve Hartov. Steven Hartov was born in New London, Connecticut, attended public schools in New England and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University. In 1973, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine Military Sealift Command, beginning a series of adventures that would later appear in his non-fiction pieces and fictional works. In 1977, he volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces Airborne Corps, serving first as a paratrooper and later in a Special Operations branch of Israeli Military Intelligence. He subsequently spent 13 more years as a reservist in the IDF, and later as a Task Force commander, rank of major, in the New York Guard. In the mid-1980s, he began writing a series of espionage novels based in the Middle East. His trilogy, “The Heat of Ramadan,” “The Nylon Hand of God” and “The Devil's Shepherd,” earned nominations for the National Book Award, top ten placements in the Book of the Month Club and translations into six foreign languages. In 2003, he co-authored the New York Times non-fiction best seller, “In the Company of Heroes,” followed by “The Night Stalkers” and "Afghanistan on the Bounce." His newest novel, "The Last of the Seven" (August 2022) is the second part of a thrilling WWII trilogy that began with "The Soul of a Thief" (May 2018), also from Hanover Square. He is the former Editor-In-Chief of Special Operations Report, a professional journal on military and law enforcement special tactics. His works are recommended readings by the U.S. Army War College. Find Steve at on facebook at: Steven Hartov Author The Last of the Seven: A Novel of World War II A spellbinding novel of World War II based on the little-known history of the X Troop—a team of European Jews who escaped the Continent only to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler's military. A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert with an incredible story to tell. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers' perfect fluency in German. However, this man is not British-born but instead a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin. As the Allies advance into Europe, the young lieutenant is brought to recover in Sicily. There he is recruited by a British major to join the newly formed X Troop, a commando unit composed of German and Austrian Jews training for a top secret mission at a nearby camp in the Sicilian hills. They are all “lost boys,” driven not by patriotism but by vengeance. Don't forget to check out Blood Red Ivory on amazon or where ever books are sold. Ty Benhoff two coming soon. Thanks to Crush Limbo for the music. Tripecoh Media LLC. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thatscriminaljs/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thatscriminaljs/support

In 1947 a Norwegian became curious if it was possible for the natives of South America to have drifted on a raft 4,300 miles across the Pacific ocean to populate the islands of Polynesia.The question of who populated Polynesia wasn't really important to anyone but Thor Heyerdahl.He opened his bestselling book in 1950 with these words,“Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation. You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about. If, for example, you put to sea on a wooden raft with a parrot and five companions, it is inevitable that sooner or later you will wake up one morning out at sea, perhaps a little better rested than ordinarily, and begin to think about it. On one such morning I sat writing in a dew-drenched logbook…”DNA evidence later proved Heyerdahl's theory to be incorrect. Today we know for certain that Polynesia was not populated by South Americans, but by Asians.But I still like Thor Heyerdahl. He wanted to know if South Americans could have made that journey, so he built a raft using only the tools and materials available in prehistoric times, pushed away from the soft safety of the shore, and had himself a wonderful adventure.We don't do that sort of thing anymore, but I wish we did.We no longer set out to experience – with an open mind – the lives of persons who are different than us. We are no longer willing “to walk a mile in their shoes” so that we might better understand them. What we do instead is look for evidence that our own perspective is correct and that all the others are wrong. We are assisted in this unholy endeavor by algorithms on the internet and one-sided news organizations that tell us exactly what we want to hear.I like Thor Heyerdahl and I like John Howard Griffin.Like me, John Howard Griffin was born in Dallas, Texas, but he got there 38 years before I arrived.Two years before America entered World War II, 19-year-old John Howard Griffin joined the French Resistance as a medic and helped smuggle Austrian Jews to safety and freedom in England. When America officially entered that war, Griffin served the United States Army in the South Pacific where he was decorated for bravery.Keep that characteristic in mind: bravery.While serving in the Solomon islands, Griffin contracted spinal malaria that left him temporarily paraplegic. And then the concussion of a Japanese bomb caused him to become blind. Eleven years later, in 1957, his eyesight inexplicably returned and that's when the real adventure began.America was now at war with itself. The battle over civil rights was a whistling teapot on a fiery stove, so John Howard Griffin shaved his head in order to hide his straight hair, took large doses of Oxsoralen in 1959 to darken his skin, then spent six weeks traveling as a black man in the Deep South. He started in new New Orleans, then visited Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia, getting around mainly by hitchhiking.When I was young, I read John Howard Griffin's book about his experiences as a black man, and it felt to me like an honest and straightforward diary. A lot of other people felt differently, of course, so the Ku Klux Klan beat him nearly to death in 1975.And so it goes.*Evidently, it is safer to drift 4,300 miles across the Pacific in a prehistoric raft than it is to talk about race in America.Roy H. Williams*I wrote those 4 words – Kurt Vonnegut's signature line – because I heard him say it in my mind after I wrote the preceding sentence.Clay Stafford produces an annual conference that brings together authors, agents, exhibitors, and fans of crime and thriller literature. And he's been doing it for 17 years. To pull off a large meeting, workshop, or other live event in the post-COVID-19 era requires...

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp (Scribner, 2022 is the “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies. Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas.train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator). AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spofity here. War Books in on YouTube and on Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

ISABEL VINCENT is an award-winning writer and investigative journalist and the author of the new  book "Overture of Hope: Two Sisters' Daring Plan That Saved Opera's Jewish Stars from the Third Reich."  The book uncovers the amazingly true story of Ida and Louise Cook -- two British opera fans who masterminded their own plan to rescue dozens of German and Austrian Jews from a terrible fate.Vincent began her career in the 1990's as a foreign correspondent for the  Globe and Mail, covering the conflicts that led to the Kosovo War.  Since 2008, she has worked as an investigative reporter for the New York Post with a focus on exposing corruption, fearlessly pursuing the truth in an age where truth is under attack. Some of Vincent's other books include "See No Evil: The Strange Case of Christine Lamont and David Spencer"; "Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas"; "Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making of One of the World's Wealthiest Widows" and her moving culinary memoir "Dinner with Edward",  which along with “Overture of Hope”  have been adapted for the big screen. Vincent's writings have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Independent, and many other international publications.  She is also the recipient of numerous prestigious honors, including the Canadian Association of Journalist's Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism and the National Jewish Book Award.

The Fellowship's C. J. Burroughs shares one of our “Heroes of the Holocaust” stories about Waitstill and Martha Sharp, two Americans, who began assisting German and Austrian Jews who had fled to Prague to escape the growing threat of the Nazis.

Thomas Kendrick was at the very centre of British Intelligence operations throughout the first half of the twentieth century. He combined a public face of an English gentleman whilst privately masterminding MI6's spy networks throughout Europe. Perhaps his finest hour came in the run-up to the Second World War when stationed in Vienna as a British passport officer he issued thousands of visas and passports to Austrian Jews enabling an estimated 10,000 people to escape the coming Holocaust. Betrayed by a double agent in 1938 he survived an assassination attempt and was arrested by the Gestapo and interrogated before being expelled from Austria and returning to Britain. Once the Second World War broke out headed one of the most important intelligence operations of the war. Senior Nazi generals who had become POWs were installed in luxurious accommodation and allowed to speak freely whilst all the while being monitored on hidden microphones. The information they unwittingly revealed undoubtedly shortened the war and saved many thousands of lives. Historian Helen Fry returns to the podcast to tell Dan all about this extraordinary story that she has been researching for her new book Spymaster: The Man Who Saved MI6. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thomas Kendrick was at the very centre of British Intelligence operations throughout the first half of the twentieth century. He combined a public face of an English gentleman whilst privately masterminding MI6's spy networks throughout Europe. Perhaps his finest hour came in the run-up to the Second World War when stationed in Vienna as a British passport officer he issued thousands of visas and passports to Austrian Jews enabling an estimated 10,000 people to escape the coming Holocaust. Betrayed by a double agent in 1938 he survived an assassination attempt and was arrested by the Gestapo and interrogated before being expelled from Austria and returning to Britain. Once the Second World War broke out headed one of the most important intelligence operations of the war. Senior Nazi generals who had become POWs were installed in luxurious accommodation and allowed to speak freely whilst all the while being monitored on hidden microphones. The information they unwittingly revealed undoubtedly shortened the war and saved many thousands of lives. Historian Helen Fry returns to the podcast to tell Dan all about this extraordinary story that she has been researching for her new book Spymaster: The Man Who Saved MI6. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Leah Garrett tells the story of X-troop, a group of Jewish commandos who became one of Britain’s most potent weapons against the Nazis X-troop was a World War Two commando unit with a difference ­– it was made up of German and Austrian Jews who’d fled to Britain and were desperate to take the fight to the Nazis. Historian Leah Garrett tells the story of how X-troop became one of Britain’s most potent weapons in the drive to liberate western Europe. (Ad) Leah Garrett is the author of X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis (Vintage, 2021). Buy it now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Troop-Secret-Jewish-Commandos-Helped/dp/1784743119/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-hexpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

SBS Yiddish report with Alex Dafner, 2.5.2021Australian Jewish leaders and leading organisations have called for the Australian and Israeli governments to recognise the Armenian genocide as such, following the recognition of the genocide by US President Joe Biden last week.Israeli media are reporting that imminent charges will be lodged against the former Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who two years ago was accused of pressuring psychiatrists giving evidence in the hearings into the mental fitness of Malka Leifer to be extradited to Australia.Several Jewish Australians accepted the offer of dual citizenship with Austria, granted by that state to the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Austrian Jews murdered or exiled by the Nazis following the tragic events of 1938.

In the spring of 1938, a month after the annexation of Austria to Germany, the Anschluss, Austrian Jews were deported to Dachau and Buchenwald Concentration Camps. At the time, there were about 185,000 Jews in Austria, and they had two choices, either flee the country or be deported to the Camps. However, it was not an easy task for most as the Nazis required Jews exiting the country to hold an entry visa to the country. ​Ho Feng-Shan was the consul-general in Vienna during this dark period. He went against his superior's order and issued visas for the Jews looking to escape. Book Battle of Shanghai: ​The Prequel to the Rape of Nanking References https://archives.jdc.org/topic-guides/refuge-in-shanghai-1938-1953/ https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1111&context=phr https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-shanghai-saved-20000-jews-from-the-nazis https://books.google.com/books?id=u4I2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA295&dq=%22June+1938%22+%221906%22+%22Feng-Shan%22#v=onepage&q=%22June%201938%22%20%221906%22%20%22Feng-Shan%22&f=false https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Feng-Shan#cite_note-:0-4 https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/ho.html http://il.china-embassy.org/eng/xwdt/t451331.htm http://en.people.cn/200511/11/eng20051111_220515.html https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/a-brief-history-of-hongkou-district-in-shanghai/ https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/feng-shan-ho/ https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-shanghai-jews-20171120-story.html https://www.military-history.org/articles/war-zone-city-of-terror-the-japanese-takeover-of-shanghai.htm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pacific-atrocities-education/support

An intriguing and moving exhibition came to Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue last week to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Aron Grünhut: Rescuer of the Jews and Human Rights Defender told the extraordinary, and until now little-known, story of this Slovakian Jew who managed to use his business acumen, considerable influence and sheer chutzpah to negotiate with the Nazis to allow over 1,300 Slovakian and Austrian Jews to escape to places of safety, including Palestine and – in the case of 10 children, in collaboration with Sir Nicholas Winton – England. Routes to Palestine by boat involved danger negotiating Europe’s rivers and towards the end of the war, Grünhut’s own luck almost ran out, his life saved only by the courage of a Slovak fireman who hid him.In this podcast, which begins with an excerpt of an address from the Ambassador of Slovakia, Lubomir Rehak, Judi Herman speaks to Ambassador Rehak, Nicky Winton – son of Sir Nicholas – and Israel's Deputy Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li, about this extraordinary man and his story. Herman is a member of NPLS, a congregation with close links to both Slovakia and the Czech Republic as guardian of Torah scrolls from some of the Jewish communities in those countries that did not survive the Shoah.

Dr. Feng Ho single-handedly saved thousands of Austrian Jews during the Holocaust...

Today marks a new month, and you know what that means -- it's time for a new episode! This time we have an overview of what life was like for those in Southeast Asia, during the years when Japan ruled the region (hint: most of it is bad.) A Ten Peso bill, printed by the Japanese for use in the Philippines. Inflation soon made them nearly worthless, and because the Filipinos had been exposed to Hollywood movies, they scornfully called this "Mickey Mouse money." The Axis leaders in Asia only met once, at the Greater East Asia Conference, held in Tokyo on November 5-6, 1943. No big announcements or decisions were made, the conference just presented an image of solidarity among the participants. Shown here from left to right are Ba Maw (Burma), Zhang Jinghui (Manchukuo prime minister), Wang Jingwei (China Proper), Hideki Tojo (Japan), Wan Waithayakon (Thailand prime minister), José P. Laurel (Philippines), Subhas Chandra Bose (India). Not attending: Prince Teh (Demchugdongrub) of Inner Mongolia. Between 1,200 and 1,300 German and Austrian Jews escaped the Holocaust in Europe by going to the Philippines. Here is a crowd of them at the house of Alex Frieder, the most prominent Jew in Manila. This photo was taken on April 30, 1940. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Rachel Whiteread.She came to public prominence in 1993 with the life-size concrete cast of a Victorian house in East London. The sculpture prompted a public debate about what conceptual art is - the house was destroyed shortly afterwards. At the same time, Whiteread was named winner of the Turner Prize at the age of 30. She had studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and became one of the generation of Young British Artists, with her work displayed alongside that of Damien Hirst. Her most controversial work - a memorial to 65,000 Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust - was unveiled in Vienna in 2000 amid heightened political tension. Much of her work focuses on casting hidden spaces, with the inside of a box as the inspiration for the 14,000 boxes which form her latest exhibit, Embankment, on display at Tate Modern, London, until the end of April.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: The Köln Concert Part 1 by Keith Jarrett Book: A reference book on the natural history of the island Luxury: Ink, pen, paper and correction fluid

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Rachel Whiteread. She came to public prominence in 1993 with the life-size concrete cast of a Victorian house in East London. The sculpture prompted a public debate about what conceptual art is - the house was destroyed shortly afterwards. At the same time, Whiteread was named winner of the Turner Prize at the age of 30. She had studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and became one of the generation of Young British Artists, with her work displayed alongside that of Damien Hirst. Her most controversial work - a memorial to 65,000 Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust - was unveiled in Vienna in 2000 amid heightened political tension. Much of her work focuses on casting hidden spaces, with the inside of a box as the inspiration for the 14,000 boxes which form her latest exhibit, Embankment, on display at Tate Modern, London, until the end of April. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Köln Concert Part 1 by Keith Jarrett Book: A reference book on the natural history of the island Luxury: Ink, pen, paper and correction fluid