this episode's pretty heavy on both economics, and (as a treat) some of that spooky shit, with a mass ritual held near Germany's most haunted mountain, discussed at the end of the episode
Hoover, Smuts, and Keynes all nightwalking in Paris, worried about how fucked up the Versailles Treaty was, back in 1919
Bernard Baruch and John Foster Dulles were sleeping just fine
longish discussion of heavy and light industry
Walther Rathenau comes up again - it's likely that he was killed, among other reasons, as German heavy industry reasserted its interests over light industry
oh, and we talk about myths about Reichsbank hyperinflation - it wasn't so accidental, after all. hyperinflation served heavy industry
Hugo Stinnes more or less said as much, lol
General von Seeckt carried out the secret rearmament program
the Ruhrlade, German heavy industry's secret political slush fund, had Paul Reusch, Gustav Krupp, Fritz Thyssen, Paul Silverberg,
Albert Vogler, and a few other guys. they'd meet under cover of hunting parties at their estates and castles, lol
the Young Plan to renegotiate war debts
Franz Xaver Schwarz, the Nazi party accountant. very, very interesting story with this guy.
we talk about Ernst Rohm again, mainly to note him going to Bolivia to train their military 👀and how Hermann Goering outed him in the press to solidify his own position in the Nazi party
we cover the Hawley-Smoot tariff, crucial to understanding how poorly German exports were fairing at the time.
Reed Smoot was the senator from Utah, and a polygamist, lol. he was blocked from entering Congress for years, and was not popular.
the Ruhrlade gave their funds to Walther Funk, the Nazi party's economist, to strengthen his position in the party.
then the entire political right held a massive rally in the Harz Mountains
near the Brocken, which is a very interesting place
for one thing, there's the Brocken Spectre, an optical illusion that takes place there
what's more, it's always been a key site for Walpurgisnacht/Hexennacht, and the image on the right is known as 'Hexentanzplatz' in the Harz Mountains
Faust specifically mentions the Brocken as a site for witch sabbaths
it doesn't stop, either. the Brocken was an inspiration for Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, which was itself a scene in Fantasia, which...you know...
Night on Bald Mountain was also used in the Tower scene in the Wizard of Oz, which...you know...
the Brocken also had the world's first tv station, which broadcast the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, as well as tons of radio stations - art thanks to Suzanne Treister and her work, Hexen 2039
during the Cold War, the DDR ran the Brocken
the Brocken section of Treister's schizophrenia poster
oh, and how could I forget? Slothrop visits the Brocken and experiences the Brocken Spectre in Gravity's Rainbow
the entire political right held a mass rally, but the climax was Dr. Hjalmar Schacht making a speech calling into question the Weimar Republic's monetary policy, which I submit, was done in a ritual fashion
President Hindenburg suffered a mental breakdown and had to be briefly institutionalized upon hearing about Schacht's speech. his breakdown was itself covered up as a state secret.
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how about one last thread for the road? maybe the second to last?
I’m a fan of Cuba and the Cuban people. Politically, I support ending the embargo and the repeal of the Helms-Burton act. I think Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were some of the most interesting figures of the 20th century. There is much to admire in the Cuban project.
I’m always a fan of subterranean histories, especially when they intersect with insurrectionary and/or revolutionary history. What’s the parapolitics take on Cuba? What still remains to be studied with the Cuban Revolution?
a thread: a couple days ago, Daniela Klette, age 65, of the Red Army Faction’s third generation was arrested.
a lot of people are saying Bellingcat and/or podcasters found her. it's not entirely clear which, but it looks like some German podcasters for like a Most Wanted type podcast found her using AI tools, and then either they or a Bellingcat guy sent it to the cops
via the NYT article, the Bellingcat guy said “Somebody like me, who does not speak German, who does not know much beyond the basic background of Daniela Klette — Why was I able to find such a lead in like literally 30 minutes?”
for various reasons I’m obsessed with the baleada. it’s become one of my all-time favorite dishes.
the baleada is in some ways THE national dish of Honduras. what’s known for sure is that the baleada was invented in La Ceiba on the beautiful northern coast of Honduras. some claim that it was originally a Mayan dish (which I'll discuss later)