Fatherland (feat. Sam Goldman)
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2023
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Jamelle and John were joined by scholar and author Sam Goldman to watch and discuss the1994 alt-history thriller “Fatherland,” a made-for-HBO adaptation of Robert Harris’ 1992 novel of the same name.
Both the novel and the film take place in a 1964 where Nazi Germany won the war in Europe. In the week leading up to the 75th birthday of Adolf Hitler, and the opening up of diplomatic relations with the United States, an investigator in the SS looks into the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi official. He soon discovers that a cadre of senior Nazis are being murdered under unusual circumstances to cover up something of great importance. Our detective, along with an American journalist, eventually discover the “something” in question: evidence of the Holocaust.
“Fatherland” is not available for streaming on HBO Max, but you can find a free copy of decent quality on YouTube.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The war's over. |
| 0:01.0 | We're allies now. |
| 0:02.0 | Sure, but we know how many people died. |
| 0:05.0 | It is 1964. |
| 0:07.0 | Hitler rules all of Europe. |
| 0:09.0 | I'll Hitler. |
| 0:10.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:11.0 | And is on the verge of a treaty with America. |
| 0:14.0 | You need the Americans. |
| 0:16.0 | Without that cooperation, the war in Russia could go for years. |
| 0:20.0 | But the horrifying secret of the Holocaust could destroy the Fuhrer's empire. |
| 0:25.0 | I don't know for what happened. |
| 0:26.5 | There was no resettlement. |
| 0:28.4 | A German cop with a conscience. |
| 0:30.3 | He fell and broke his neck. |
| 0:32.2 | No witnesses. |
| 0:33.4 | An American reporter with the truth. |
| 0:35.7 | We kill him with gas. |
| 0:36.7 | A race against time and the Gestapo to reveal Hitler's monstrous lie. You're out of your death, Marge. Hi, little. Fatherland. Welcome to Unclear and Present Danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade. |
| 1:22.0 | I'm Jamal Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section. |
| 1:25.4 | I'm John Gans. I'm finishing my book on American politics in the early 1990s, and I write a |
| 1:33.4 | substack newsletter called Unpopular Front. |
... |
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