The Documentary Podcast

Assignment: Death marches - uncovering the truth beneath the soil (Tue, 21 Jan 2025)
How a town in Poland – once in Germany - is discovering its troubling past. Eighty years ago Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi extermination camp. Over 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were murdered there. However, there is an aspect of those terrible days which is less well known and which 80 years later is still being uncovered and still resonating: the death marches. As Soviet troops approached, in January 1945, SS soldiers at Auschwitz-Birkenau forced some 60,000 prisoners to march west, in freezing temperatures. Weak with hunger and disease, those who fell behind were shot. This is the story of how eight decades on the search for the truth behind one of those death marches is being uncovered. For years the history of a death march passing through the once proud German community of Schönwald was hidden. It is also the story of how descendants of the original inhabitants of Schönwald are having to confront the role some of their relatives may have played in the Nazi project, and how today’s Polish inhabitants of the town, which is now called Bojków, are grappling with what happened on their streets. Amie Liebowitz’s own great-grandmother was murdered Auschwitz-Birkenau, while her great-aunt was rescued by the Soviet forces. She speaks to those on both sides – German and Polish – who are uncovering this history.
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In the Studio: Michael Visocchi (Mon, 20 Jan 2025)
In an old schoolroom in the Scottish Highlands, sculptor Michael Visocchi is working on Commensalis, a huge work that will be installed thousands of miles away, in Grytviken, an abandoned whaling station on the Antarctic island of South Georgia. Whaling ships and equipment were taken Grytviken and assembled there. Now it is an industrial scrapyard; ships rust on the shore, huge tanks decay and millions of left over rivets remain. Visocchi was struck by the similarity of shape of these rivets and the bumps of the barnacles on the bodies of living whales.Visocchi talks to presenter Julian May as he works on this project which is challenging in so many ways. South Georgia has no permanent population, so is a public artwork appropriate?
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BBC News

Trump vows to leave Paris climate agreement and 'drill, baby, drill' (Tue, 21 Jan 2025)
The White House announces a "national energy emergency" to reverse US climate regulations and boost oil and gas.
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'Dark oxygen' mission takes aim at other worlds (Sat, 18 Jan 2025)
Gas from the seafloor has scientists wondering if oxygen could be found in the oceans of other planets.
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'Once-in-a-century' discovery reveals spectacular luxury of Pompeii (Fri, 17 Jan 2025)
A huge private bathhouse is found after lying hidden for 2,000 years under volcanic rock and ash.
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BBC News

Fans rush for hotly anticipated 'romantasy' sequel (Tue, 21 Jan 2025)
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is billed as one of the biggest publishing releases since Harry Potter.
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Singer Ethel Cain defends #KillMoreCEOs post (Tue, 21 Jan 2025)
The US singer responds to criticism of comments in the wake of the murder of a health insurance boss.
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Actress Pauline Quirke reveals dementia diagnosis (Tue, 21 Jan 2025)
The Birds of a Feather star retires from acting and reveals she was diagnosed with dementia in 2021.
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