Nazi Colonial Precedents - The Chrissertation Part 1

The Third Reich History Podcast

How did an oppressive system become a murderous one? How was the Nazi foreign worker program built upon colonial precedents? In our latest episode, Ryan interviews Chris about his freshly defended dissertation on forced labour under Nazism. In part one, Chris tells us why he became a historian before outlining his main arguments and explaining their significance. A lively digression about the difficulties of working with court records and oral sources ensues. Then, Chris outlines the German theory and practice of forced labour over the long term from Southwest Africa up to the fall of the Nazis.