Fresh Hell Podcast

E319: Friedrich Zawrel (part I)

Friedrich Zawrel grew up in Vienna during the Third Reich. As a child, he was labeled “difficult” and “unmanageable” by the authorities. That was enough to place him inside the Nazi welfare and psychiatric system...a system that decided which children were worth keeping alive. In this episode, we look at Friedrich’s early life and how he ended up at Spiegelgrund, the children’s ward in Vienna where hundreds of young patients were imprisoned, abused, and murdered as part of the Nazi “child euthanasia program". Friedrich was one of the few who survived. This is his story! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

E318: The Children of Spiegelgrund

Vienna, 1940. On the hills above the city stood a children’s psychiatric institution called Am Spiegelgrund. Officially it was a place for treatment, observation, and care. In reality though, it became part of the Nazi system that classified vulnerable children as “unfit,” subjected them to medical abuse, and in hundreds of cases sent them to their deaths. This episode focuses on the historical background: how a modern medical system was abused as mechanism for sorting, controlling, and ultimately killing the most vulnerable children in society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

E317: The Campden Wonder

In 1660, a respected estate steward left the English market town of Chipping Campden to collect rent and never came home. His bloodstained belongings were soon found by the roadside, and suspicion quickly fell on his servant, John Perry. What followed was a chain of confessions, accusations, arrests, and a trial that ended in execution. There was only one problem....Nearly two years later, the supposedly murdered man walked back into town alive. BUT...where had he been?! ampden Wonder, William Harrison disappearance, John Perry Campden, Chipping Campden murder case, 1660 England true crime, historical miscarriage of justice, Nicholas Overbury account, early modern English crime, false confession history, 17th century criminal trial, murder without a body case, English Assizes trial history, Restoration England crime, man executed for murder victim returned alive, famous historical wrongful execution case, strangest true crime cases in English history Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

E316: MACABRE - Say What?!

Why do we casually reference pillories, hunger, or medieval tally sticks while talking about our week? In this episode, we’re digging into the origins of everyday German and English sayings, specifically the ones we use without thinking about what we’re actually saying. From “spill the beans” to „die Katze im Sack kaufen“... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

E315: Friedrich II. - The Great Escape (part III)

In Part 3, we follow Friedrich after Küstrin. This episode looks at what Friedrich became once he held absolute power: the military strategist, the administrator, the enlightened absolutist who read philosophy while sending tens of thousands to their deaths. We talk about Sanssouci as a deliberate retreat, his devotion to animals over people, his refusal of intimacy, and the contradictions that defined his reign. It’s the story of a man who learned how to rule by never again allowing himself to be vulnerable. Friedrich der Große, Frederick the Great, Frederick II of Prussia, Sanssouci, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam Sanssouci, Prussian monarchy, Prussian king, Enlightened absolutism, Seven Years’ War, Prussian military history, Prussian expansion, Frederick the Great personality, Frederick the Great psychology, Frederick the Great trauma, Frederick the Great animals, Frederick the Great dogs, Frederick the Great Sanssouci philosophy, 18th century Prussia, European monarchs history, absolutist rulers Europe, Frederick the Great later life, Frederick the Great legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]