Radio IQ has launched a new podcast series called “Memory Wars,” exploring Germany’s history and how it applies to America’s own legacy.
Radio IQ recently premiered a new podcast series titled “Memory Wars.” The podcasts explore how Germany reckoned with the history of the Holocaust and lessons that can be learned as America grapples with our own legacy of slavery and racism.
The new series is the result of a Fulbright grant funded residency conducted across Germany in 2021 by Radio IQ’s Richmond bureau chief, Mallory Noe-Payne. Over her year-long stay she traveled across Germany from Munich and Berlin to Nuremberg and small country towns, listening to people’s personal stories. Returning to Virginia in early 2022, Mallory teamed with Richmond Times Dispatch Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams. Together they balanced her observations of how German citizens are coming to grips with their country’s recent Nazi past with Michael’s research of how Virginia – and America — have dealt with racism and continue our struggle with it.
The series of five 45 minute podcasts will be released on Thursdays – June 9 and 23, July 7 and 21 and August 4. In addition to streaming on Radio IQ, episodes will be available via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and other platforms. The premiere podcast, entitled “The Two Reconstructions,” begins in the aftermath of World War II, exploring how people began coping with the past just after the war.
The first episode lays the groundwork for the series as it looks at themes of education, memorialization and accountability. “Memory Wars” begins with conversations in Germany, asking residents: What is it like to be a descendant of a Holocaust victim and live in Germany today? To be a descendant of a German soldier, and ask: what did my grandfather do in the war?
Joining Ms. Noe-Payne, Michael Paul Williams then brings the conversation back to Virginia and the questions we face in America today. Series producer Mallory Noe-Payne continues this questioning and comparison throughout the arc of the five-episode series. Grounded in her reporting on tumultuous Virginia issues spanning from Confederate monuments to the teaching of racism in schools, Mallory notes “we live in a world where challenges are not unique to the United States and I think it’s important to look outside our borders to learn lessons.”
“Memory Wars” co-host, Michael Paul Williams, brings his own perspectives to the podcasts. Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for his columns exploring the relationship that Richmond’s Black residents have with that city’s Monument Avenue, Williams has written that “Richmond must stop waging war with the past and fight for its’ future.”
These new podcasts continue Radio IQ’s commitment to exploring and reporting on issues that encourage listeners to consider other perspectives. “Memory Wars” joins the station’s recently premiered “Tribal Truths” series and its civic engagement conversations. WVTF / Radio IQ provides public radio programming to 200,000 listeners weekly from transmitters in 25 communities across Virginia. A service of Virginia Tech, the station is licensed to the Virginia Tech Foundation.
Learn more about “Memory Wars” and tune in on NPR’s website here.
