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A decade after the end of World War II, East German archivists began to sort through thousands of films stashed in a vault. One copy of an unedited film was found titled “the ghetto.” Another reel was discovered with outtakes of this film and showed that much of the scenes in original film were in fact staged. A new documentary called ‘A Film Unfinished” attempts to shed light on how the film was really shot. (Photo: Steven Davy) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus is famous for figuring out that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. For nearly five centuries the location of Copernicus’ earthly remains was a mystery. Now the case is cracked: Poland will officially honor the Renaissance astronomer with a reburial ceremony. We’re wondering if you know where… Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
President Obama and other world leaders are to pay last respects to Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria at their funeral on Sunday. Poland has witnessed an outpouring of grief since the first couple died in a plane crash last week. Karolina Lewestam (pictured) is a Polish doctoral candidate living in the US. She talks with Marco Werman about mourning the loss of her country’s leaders from abroad. Download MP3 (Picture: Andrea Crossan)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
On this episode of How We Got Here, historian John Connelly of the University of California at Berkeley tells us about the Stalin-era massacre of 20,000 Polish officers in a place called Katyn during World War Two. The Polish delegation killed in a plane crash in Russia last weekend was on its way to a 70th anniversary commemoration of that crime. The tragedy made Katyn seem doubly cursed and underscored its meaning in Polish history and also Polish-Russian relations. Download MP3
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Poland continues to mourn the loss of its president, Lech Kaczynski, and the many others who died when the presidential plane crashed in western Russia. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the BBC’s Adam Easton in Warsaw. Download MP3 (flickr image of Warsaw candle trail by Effervescing Elephant)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Geo Quiz takes us out to sea. If you travel clockwise around the Baltic Sea, you can visit any of the Baltic countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, and finally Denmark. Download MP3
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Even during the Communist days of the 1960s and 70s, Poles managed to get their hands on western pop music. A Donna Summer track, for example, would come in the form of a sound postcard (pictured), a small plastic rectangle covered in grooves, both literally and figuratively. We hear from Mat Schulz, a collector of Polish sound postcards. Download MP3 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
President Obama has shelved the Bush adminstration’s plan for an Eastern European missile defense system, saying a redesigned system would be more effective against any threat from Iranian missiles. Iran’s military says its Shahab-3 missiles have a range of 1,240 miles, this means that they could reach south-eastern Europe. Stanford University professor David Holloway recently authored a report on Iran’s nuclear and missile potential. We asked him for a reality check. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
President Barack Obama has shelved the Bush adminstration’s plan for an Eastern European missile defense system. The President said a redesigned defensive system would be cheaper, quicker and more effective against the threat from Iranian missiles. Jason Margolis reports.
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended ceremonies in Poland today marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II and rejected claims that Russia had a role in sparking the conflict. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Svetlana Savranskaya director of Russian programs at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. >>>BBC coverage
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On this week’s How We Got Here history podcast we look at Ted Kennedy’s contribution to the anti-apartheid movement, Tracy Kidder’s new book Strength in What Remains, and the construction of a new museum in Warsaw dedicated to the Jewish history of Poland. >>> Click here to join the “How We Got Here” Facebook Group Page.
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Construction has just started in Warsaw on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It will not simply be a museum about the Holocaust. The museum team wants to focus more broadly on centuries of Jewish life and achievements in Poland. Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska has our story. Her report was produced with the help of Feet in Two Worlds, a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.
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Download MP3There’s a new Jewish museum being built in Warsaw. It’s not a Holocaust remembrance musem. It’s dedicated to the centuries of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska has the story.
