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Memory Wars: A podcast exploring how society confronts sin Memory Wars is a six-part series about how Germany has confronted its horrific past and whether America could ever do the same. Reported by Mallory Noe-Payne and featuring conversations with Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams.
Memory Wars: A podcast exploring how society confronts sin

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Memory Wars: A podcast exploring how society confronts sin

Memory Wars: A podcast exploring how society confronts sin

From RADIO IQ

Memory Wars is a six-part series about how Germany has confronted its horrific past and whether America could ever do the same. Reported by Mallory Noe-Payne and featuring conversations with Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams.

Most Recent Episodes

Feed Drop: A Critical Moment

Memory Wars brings you a special episode from Louisville Public Media. Many American teachers and students say it's time to learn about our country's legacy of racism. But some conservatives are calling these lessons indoctrination. They've co-opted a new label for those discussions: critical race theory. Now, Republican politicians in Kentucky and many other states are trying to reign in classroom conversations on race. At least nine states have already banned teachers from bringing up certain topics around race. Another five have state-level action around this issue. Even more have legislation in the works, including Kentucky. But the U.S. isn't the only country with an unsettling history to deal with. In Germany, students are required to learn about one of their nation's darkest chapters — the Holocaust. In WFPL's "A Critical Moment," Arts and Culture Reporter Stephanie Wolf explores how the Holocaust is covered in German schools, and Education and Learning Reporter Jess Clark looks at how race is covered in Kentucky classrooms. The result is an unflinching look at how two countries teach about their difficult histories, and why.

Live Event: Myths from Two Sides of the Atlantic

Join Fulbright Young Journalist Award winner, Mallory Noe-Payne and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Michael Paul Williams for a special live recording of this RadioIQ and PRX history podcast at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

Part 6: Volker's Story

How does a society create meaningful places of encounter? Spaces where you just can't look away from the past? On the final episode of Memory Wars, we go back to Germany one last time to explore the conflict and contestation over space. All with the story of a single cobblestone.

Part 5: Mallory's Story

Watching how Haley and Charlotte have explored and confronted their own histories made me think maybe it's time to face up to my own ancestry. Back home in Virginia, the search yields some shocking truths. Once we accept culpability for a sinful past, what does accountability look like? Even generations after?

Part 4: Charlotte's Story

When Charlotte was a teenager she asked her mother a question: was my grandfather a Nazi? It began a years-long quest to learn more about what her ancestor had done, at a time when an entire country was learning to change its perspective. How do do we rewrite the story of our history?

Part 3: Haley's Story

Haley's ancestors were Holocaust survivors. But she's chosen to return to Germany anyway. We follow her journey to reclaim the things stolen from her family — an identity and a homeland. Why would someone return to a place of unspeakable trauma and what does it take for them to feel welcomed?

S1E2: The Two Reconstructions

We start with three generations of German women, and go back in time from there. Through defeat, occupation, and rebuilding. How did two reconstructions, in two different countries, turn out so differently?

S1E1: A Prologue

If you're just starting on Memory Wars, try starting here. We'll tell you how this is going to work and what to expect as you listen along. A production of RADIO IQ, distributed by PRX. You can show your appreciation for innovative projects like this by donating to this Virginia-based public radio station. Donating through this link helps support the podcast.

Introducing: Memory Wars

Memory Wars is a 5-part series about how Germany has confronted its horrific past and whether America could ever do the same. Public radio reporter Mallory Noe-Payne spent years covering policy and politics in Richmond, Virginia — the former capital of the Confederacy. Then she went to Germany. Through a year of in-depth reporting featuring a wide range of characters, Noe-Payne reveals the struggles it takes for a society to change its narrative, face up to an uncomfortable past, and pave the way for atonement. Featuring conversations with Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams, Memory Wars explores the lessons in German history for American society today as we reckon with our own horrific past. A production of RADIO IQ, distributed by PRX. You can show your appreciation for innovative projects like this by donating to this Virginia-based public radio station. Donating through this link helps support the podcast.

Memory Wars: A podcast exploring how society confronts sin

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