E286: Oberst Redl

Fresh Hell Podcast

freshhellpodcast

True Crime

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s episode, Johanna takes us deep into the shadows of pre-WWI Austria-Hungary to tell the true story of Colonel Alfred Redl, once one of the most trusted man in the Austro-Hungarian military....and also its most infamous traitor.

From his modest beginnings in Lemberg to the very top of the empire’s intelligence apparatus, Redl’s rise was as improbable as his betrayal was devastating. But was he really blackmailed for being gay, or was he simply a man who liked money and knew how to lie? We’ll follow his double life of espionage, lavish spending, and secret lovers, right up to the moment the trap was set, and he walked straight into it.

Alfred Redl, Oberst Redl, Colonel Redl, Austro-Hungarian Empire, WWI, espionage, military intelligence, Evidenzbureau, Vienna history, Lemberg, high treason, Redl scandal, Austrian history, Franz Joseph, Kaiser Franz Joseph, Russian spies, pre-WWI Europe, Redl suicide, Redl Prague, homosexual blackmail, Maximilian Ronge, Manfried Rauchensteiner, Redl betrayal, Redl affair, early 20th century espionage, Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austrian military history, Redl Vienna, Redl Lviv, Cold War before the Cold War, Egon Erwin Kisch

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the Fresh Hell podcast.
0:14.6	Fresh Hell contains stories of a disturbing and often graphic nature and is intended for a mature audience.
0:20.6	Please don't let your kids listen to this, or they might turn out like us.
0:29.1	Hi, I'm Annie from the U.S.
0:31.8	And I'm Johanna from Austria, and you're listening to your favorite international podcast.
0:38.1	The podcast hosted by two women who never met in real life,
0:42.0	and that's probably the only thing keeping us out of real trouble.
0:46.6	Can you imagine?
0:48.3	Before we get into this week's story,
0:51.1	we of course want to send a massive thank you to all of our patrons. You are the reason
0:57.5	that this podcast keeps going and we are so grateful for your support. If you want to help us
1:04.9	keep telling the darkest, strangest stories from history, you can also join us on Patreon. You'll get early access,
1:13.0	bonus content, live get-togethers, and the occasional blooper reel. Head over to patreon.com
1:20.5	backslash Fresh Hell podcast to join the rest of the Hellions over on Patreon. We also have a new patron who just joined before we recorded this episode,
1:31.6	and that's Lindsay Fix.
1:33.2	Welcome, and thank you so much.
1:35.2	Thanks, Lindsay.
1:36.8	And if you out there listening want to know more about all the other ways
1:41.1	you can support our weird little podcast,
1:45.9	please listen until the end,
1:53.6	because that's when we'll tell you more. Now it's time for today's story, and I'm very excited.
2:04.7	It's a historical crime from Austria. That's right. Very history heavy today. And it's a kind of crime we haven't covered yet,
	...

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