by BBC World Service
<p>A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.</p>
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8/15/2015
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April 19, 2025
<p>Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. </p><p>It’s 50 years since soldiers of the communist Khmer Rouge party stormed into the capital, Phnom Penh. It was the start of a four year reign of terror which resulted in up to two million people being killed. We hear two stories from people affected by the regime. </p><p>Our guest is journalist and author, Elizabeth Becker. She is one of the foremost authorities on the history of Cambodia, and one of the few westerners to have interviewed Pol Pot.</p><p>The scientist who invented the white LED lightbulb in 1993 tells his story.</p><p>Plus, the Bali Nine: young Australians facing the death penalty for drug smuggling and, Spain’s historic link to World Book Day.</p><p>Contributors:</p><p>Youk Chang – lived through the Khmer Rouge regime Aki Ra - child soldier of Cambodia Elizabeth Becker – journalist and author Professor Shuji Nakamura – inventor of the white LED lightbulb Bishop Tim Harris – friend of one of the Bali Nine families Pere Vicens - book publisher and one of the creators of World Book Day</p><p>(Photo: The fall of Phnom Penh in 1975. Credit: Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images)</p>
April 14, 2025
<p>8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.</p><p>Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone: for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army. </p><p>In this documentary, Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unfolds the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time, through their memoirs and diaries. Amongst others, we hear from:</p><p>Siegbert Stümpke, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war;</p><p>Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) who had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon;</p><p>Hans Rosenthal, who was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators;</p><p>Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists. </p><p>Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth Producer / Editor: Kristine Pommert Research: Katie Harris</p><p>A CTVC production for the BBC World Service.</p>
April 12, 2025
<p>Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Katrin Paehler, Professor of modern European history at Illinois State University.</p><p>First, a journalist describes how he accompanied Hitler through the embers of the Reichstag fire in 1933.</p><p>Then, the harrowing recollections of a doctor who saved survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.</p><p>Next, a woman describes how she was caught between her job and her clan during the UN's disastrous Somalia mission in the 1990s.</p><p>A Liberian woman explains how she helped end the country's civil war.</p><p>Finally, how Germany's 'death zone' became a natural paradise.</p><p>Contributors:</p><p>Sefton Delmer - British journalist at the Reichstag fire. Dr David Tuggle - surgeon at the Oklahoma City bombing. Halima Ismail Ibrahim - former UN worker in Somalia. Leymah Gbowee - Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Professor Kai Frobel - co-founder of Germany's 'Green Belt'.</p><p>(Photo: Reichstag building on fire. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)</p>
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