Dr Alfred Wiener, born in Germany in 1885, is best remembered as a leading figure in documenting Nazi and anti-Nazi literature, and as the founder of the world-renowned Wiener Holocaust Library. As early as 1918, as a de-mobbed soldier and passionate lover of his country, he realised that the Jews were being turned into the scapegoat for Germany’s humiliating defeat in WWI; he proceeded to record the alarming scale of post-war antisemitic propaganda, a toxic movement that, he saw, would shape Nazi ideology. The Fatherland and the Jews present two of his remarkable and chillingly prescient essays from 1919 and 1924, as this ‘Cassandra’ predicted the heart-breaking fate of Europe’s Jews. To discuss his life, work and enduring legacy broadcaster Matthew Stadlen is joined by: Daniel Finkelstein, Times columnist and Wiener’s grandson; Dr Christine Schmidt, deputy director and head of research at the Wiener Holocaust Library; and Harvard professor of the history of art and architecture Joseph Koerner.
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