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Crimes of the Centuries

S5 Ep20: The Fox in the Henhouse: Klaus Fuchs and the Secret That Changed the World

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.63.8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You’d think the guy helping build the deadliest weapon in history would be someone the Allies vetted carefully. You’d be wrong. Klaus Fuchs was a physicist, a refugee, and a trusted member of the Manhattan Project. He was also a Soviet spy. His quiet betrayal helped the USSR test its first atomic bomb years ahead of schedule—ending America’s monopoly on nuclear weapons and setting the stage for the Cold War. All in the name of “peace.”

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes on the Grab Bag Patreon page. 

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CRIMES OF THE CENTURIES BOOK!  Order today at www.centuriespod.com/book (https://www.centuriespod.com/book)!

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @centuriespod

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, I'm Joe Wiley. And I'm Soie Ball. And we're here to tell you about a brand new podcast, Digit.

0:06.3

Digit is all about the things that Joe and I love. From the kids to the parents and all the stuff in between.

0:13.5

There's a lot going on when you get to this age. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch every episode on Spotify. Dig it.

0:21.6

Every week.

0:22.6

Every week.

0:23.6

For the rest of time.

0:24.6

Yes.

0:25.6

Okay, good.

0:26.6

Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking.

0:37.9

They change laws, change society, or even earn the label, Crime of the Century.

0:45.4

But the stories that made headlines and decades past aren't necessarily remembered today.

0:51.9

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author, and in each episode of this show, I'll examine

0:56.7

a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened. This is Crimes of the

1:05.0

centuries. By now, most of us have seen the Oscar-winning movie Oppenheimer,

1:27.4

the riveting Christopher

1:28.6

Nolan film that tells the story of American Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the

1:34.9

scientific team that made the first atomic bomb, a complex man in a complex time.

1:41.8

But he was not the only complex genius at Los Alamos in 1944. He was surrounded by them.

1:49.3

The movie is based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. Prometheus,

1:55.8

for the Greek mythology challenged, was a god whose most noteworthy feat was stealing fire from Olympus

2:02.6

and handing it to a human so they could thrive. In other words, he handed over the fire and waited

2:08.9

for the fireworks, and they came. Oppenheimer met fellow physicist Klaus Fuchs when the British

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