History Extra I recently saw the movie ‘Zone of Interest’ and so I was interested in the episode The Man who ran Auschwitz: the real story of the Zone of Interest, featuring acclaimed history of Nazi Germany Richard J. Evans. He had acted as historical consultant on Martin Amis’ novel on which the film is loosely based, and he approved of the film even though he felt that it smoothed out the sexual dysfunction in Hoss’ family. Hoss was born in 1901 and joined the German Army in WWI as a 14 year old. He was jailed during the Weimer Republic as a right wing fanatic, and once the Nazis achieved power, he became a member of the SS. Along with his colleagues, he believed that the Jews had to be eliminated as enemies of the Government. Auschwitz was originally a labour camp then expanded into an extermination camp- actually it was three separate camps. Hoss came up with the idea of gassing, and his career was seen as a success. He married young and his wife was a strong Nazi. After the war, many Nazis suicided or fled the country and took up false identities. It was the practice for arrested Nazis to be committed, tried and hanged in the country where the crimes were committed. He did admit his crimes (he had become a Catholic), which was unusual, and he was forced to write his memoirs prior to his execution. Evans says that you can’t expect films to be historically accurate and he was more critical of the films of the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Schindler’s List (the film) for their distortions.
Nichey History. I’m off to Phnom Penh again, so I thought I’d revisit some Cambodian history podcasts again. I thought that this podcast sounded pretty undergraduate, and it is- the presenter Jessa Briggs is currently an undergraduate studying English with creative writing, History and Global Studies. Listening to her murdering pronunciation of Cambodian names, and presenting in effect an overview of other people’s writing, this is not high-tech or particularly original work. But it was a good refresher for me. Episode 9. Cambodia’s Khmer Empire (aka the civilization that created Angkor Wat, et. al) starts by pointing out that the Khmer Empire was bigger than the Byzantine Empire, reaching its peak between the 11th and 13th centuries. In started in the 8th century, from the east, and reached its apogee with Jayavarman VIIth, their greatest king. Greatest because of his military prowess; his ability to unify Buddhist and Hindu believers and his building program, some of which still stands today. He was followed by Jayavarman VIIIth who followed the Hindu god Shiva, and who destroyed many Buddhist temples. In 1295 the new King took them back to Buddhism. All this back and forth was a big shift, and Kings were no longer deities. She is at pains to point out that the Khymer culture went into decline, but not collapse. Some theories for why: first, the shift from Buddhism to Hinduism and back again; second, foreign invasion especially from Thailand fuelled internal conflict, and third environmental factors. Angkor was a hydraulic city, and once the elites could no longer guarantee two rice harvests a year (and all the wealth that conferred), then they lost power. She suggests that it was a combination of all three factors.
Episode 10. Recovered from the Jungle: Angkor Wat (or the temple that is a city) takes up the story, looking at Angkor Wat itself. It was recovered from the jungle, and as the only Khmer temple that is oriented to the West it is suggested that it was a final resting place for Jayavarman’s ancestors, but there is no evidence for that. It contains 1200 kms of waterways, and water was necessary to make the ground strong enough to withstand all this building.
Global Story People Will Keep Dying: the spread of Fentanyl across the US/Mexican border Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin, and it kills 200 people a day in the US. However, although all the talk is of the effect in America, despite the President of Mexico’s denial, it’s affecting Mexico as well. Ironically a shortage of the ‘wake up’ drug Narcan in Mexico means that Narcan is being smuggled back across the border into Mexico! Drug cartels are behind it, and unlike cocaine or marijuana, it is a completely synthetic drug, so there’s no dependence on growers and crops. It’s portable and is even being smuggled in through tunnels. The cartels and the mafia have tentacles deep into the US.
Things Fell Apart Episode 5, Series 2 Things Weren’t Going Back to Normal starts off with the gay-hate crime Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 then jumps ahead to 2020 in Tallahassee where the mother of a 13 year old girl was worried when her daughter told her that she didn’t feel like a girl. The mother, January Littlejohn, told the school that she would let her daughter take the lead on this. However, when she found that the school had written up a plan, aided by a group which emerged as a response to the Pulse Nightclub shooting four years earlier, she contacted Ron de Santis, who used her example as a rallying call for his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. Despite the moral panic, from 33,000 students, only 10 plans had been written, and the panic about young people identifying as cats i.e. ‘furries’ is unfounded. Yes, there are buckets of kitty litter in classrooms, but that’s in case the students are locked in because a school shooter is on the loose. Fix that up, de Santis.
The Rest is History Episode 1 The Tragedy Begins. Dominic and Tom are embarking on a series on the Titanic which they claim encapsulates bigger themes than just a movie. The sinking of the Titanic is now seen as a metaphor for the coming of the War. They concentrate in this first episode on three men: J.P. Morgan the ‘King of the Trusts’ (whose uncle wrote Jingle Bells no less). Morgan formed a conglomerate with the White Star line, emphasizing speed. The second man is Thomas Ismay, a rough hewn entrepreneur who made money shipping goldseekers to the Australian goldfields, and who owned the parent company. The third man is William Pirrie, who worked his way up at Harland and Wolfe in Belfast, who had dreams of being a politician, but was a supporter of Home Rule. At the end of the Gilded Age, there is competition between US and UK, now joined by Germany, and an emphasis on speed, luxury and modernity.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 