The Thalidomide Disaster and the Doctors Who Uncovered the Truth
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
December 18, 1970. Decades after the end of WWII, a Nazi doctor is on trial. Today is judgment day in a long, difficult legal battle, but this case isn’t about war crimes. The German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal is charged with the worst medical disaster in history: the Thalidomide scandal. The shoddily tested and hastily approved drug made its way into medicine cabinets around the world, and a decade after its release, the reality is becoming clear: Thalidomide is killing babies. Who are the heroes who brought down Thalidomide? And how did this disaster change pharmaceutical regulations forever?
Special thanks to our guest, Michael Magazanik, author of Silent Shock.
** This episode originally aired December 14, 2020.
--
Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com
Follow on Instagram: @historythisweek
Follow on Facebook: HISTORY This Week Podcast
To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, History This Week listeners. It's Sally here. As we are heading to the end of the year, |
| 0:05.7 | I just wanted to thank you all for sticking with us these last five years. We really do love |
| 0:12.6 | bringing these stories to you every week, and we cannot wait to keep it going in 2026. If you |
| 0:18.4 | like what you have been hearing, you can always support our work by subscribing |
| 0:21.7 | to History This Week Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. You can also get email notifications |
| 0:27.6 | and bonus content by signing up at History This Weekpodcast.com. And of course, you can follow us on |
| 0:34.1 | Instagram or Facebook. Thank you so much for listening. We could not make this show |
| 0:38.7 | without you. Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for |
| 0:45.9 | entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business |
| 0:50.8 | with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, |
| 0:54.4 | marketing tools that get your products out there. |
| 0:56.7 | Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time. |
| 0:59.4 | From startups to scaleups, online, in person, and on the go. |
| 1:03.9 | Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. |
| 1:06.4 | Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. |
| 1:13.0 | History this week, December 18th, 1970. |
| 1:18.6 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 1:22.2 | The courtroom isn't your typical courtroom. |
| 1:25.5 | It's a converted casino on the premises of a mining company |
| 1:29.3 | in the coal town of Alsdorf, Germany. It has the look of a big hotel conference room, |
| 1:36.2 | fluorescent lights, patterned wallpaper, and, crucially, space enough for hundreds of people. |
| 1:43.5 | This trial should have happened in the district capital, Aachen, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.