Kultur & Gesellschaft
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Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
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Folge vom 03.04.2023Escaping national service in EritreaIn 2002, the Eritrean government extended its programme of compulsory national service to make it open-ended. Instead of serving 18 months as the government had originally decreed, most students finishing secondary school would be conscripted and forced to remain in government service indefinitely - either serving in the army or in civilian jobs. The Eritrean government said conscription was necessary because the recently ended war with neighbouring Ethiopia could break out again. But the prospect of working for the state for an indefinite period, without a proper salary, prompted many young Eritreans to begin trying to escape to neighbouring countries and to Europe. Over the past 20 years hundreds of thousands have left. It’s an exodus that continues to this day. Rob Walker speaks to Semhar Ghebreslassie who began her national service working as a teacher in 2008. This programme contains descriptions of sexual violence. (Picture: Eritrean migrants. Credit: Getty Images)
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Folge vom 31.03.2023A Brief History of TimeA Brief History of Time, the best-selling book written by the renowned theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking, was published in March 1988.In this programme first broadcast in 2018, Louise Hidalgo talks about physics, existence and the universe that made the book so popular. The editor who published it, Peter Guzzardi, is her guest. (Picture: Prof Stephen Hawking. Credit: Getty Images)
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Folge vom 30.03.2023The first photo sent from a phoneOn 11 June 1997, French software engineer Philippe Kahn shared the first ever photo from a mobile phone. It was of his newborn daughter, Sophie. He created a prototype of a camera phone by connecting his digital camera to his flip phone and his laptop. He speaks to Rachel Naylor.(Photo: Baby Sophie. Credit: Philippe Kahn)
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Folge vom 29.03.2023Godfather of manicuresIn November 1975, Vietnamese Navy commander Minh Nguyen, left behind his macho military life and retrained as a manicurist. He migrated from Vietnam to the United States during the fall of Saigon. He went on to open a beauty school in Little Saigon, California and encouraged thousands of Vietnamese refugees to become nail technicians. Today, more than 40,000 students have graduated from Minh’s beauty schools and they have helped establish Vietnamese-Americans as the mainstay of the nail salon industry. Minh’s wife Kien talks to Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty. (Photo: Minh Nguyen. Credit: Minh Nguyen)