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In this week’s episode we welcome back Waitman Wade Beorn, this time not wearing a historian’s hat, but instead a very natty stetson reflecting his time as a US Army Cavalry officer, commanding an M1 Abraham main battle tank. We explore with him the complexities of commanding a small team whilst also having to manage a much broader and fast-paced battle space outside of his small metal box with tracks.

We also investigate the challenges that an officer fresh from training faces, when stepping into his tank with his new team for the first time. We also discuss what makes a small team truly effective, and how Waitman adjusted and developed his leadership style in this confined world.

As always, we delve into the surprising and unsurprising cross-over between the civilian and military world and explore how commanding a tank crew isn’t a different as one might imagine from leading teams in any kind of business.

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In this episode, Dr. Waitman Beorn shares his expertise on what he refers to as "the Nazi genocidal project" which includes not only the mass murder of European Jews in the Holocaust but also the systematic murder of other populations with a focus on Eastern Europe. As Dr. Beorn notes, many have suggested that the unimaginably violent fighting in Eastern Europe was the exception, compared to the fighting in Western Europe, but historic evidence suggests the reverse is more accurate

This is a new type of show for the channel. Our guest historian will examine a popular claim made about the Second World War and either confirm or debunk it. There probably won't be time for questions from viewers but we hope the shorter length will be popular.

In the second segment of the show, Dr. Waitman W. Beorn joins the show to discuss how British writer Douglas Murray, fashion model Fabio, and others are distorting Holocaust history by making defenses of the Third Reich in light of the Oct. 7th Hamas attack. These commentators are making the case that the Nazis were "ashamed" of the Holocaust, concealed their crimes as a result, and were remorseful for their action. Dr. Beorn begs to differ and believes this Nazi apology, like the clean Wehrmacht myth, could lead down dangerous paths.

In this episode, we are privileged to be joined by Dr. Waitman Wade Beorn. He is an author and historian and one of the preeminent academic experts on the Holocaust and the events that led up to the most heinous and barbaric episodes in human history. He is also a previous Tank Commander from the US Cavalry and as such has a tactical appreciation of small team management. In this facinating discussion, we explore the combinatorial factors of bad individuals, bad organizations, and bad systems. Why do good people stand by when bad things happen? What is the role of leadership in preventing or propagating ethical drift? Recognizing that this is a deeply sensitive and distressing topic, Gareth and Chris try to explore the analogies and the potential lessons for today without trivialising or over generalising.

A Philosopher Goes To War
We Have Ways of Making You Talk
History
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Al Murray chats to Dr Waitman Wade Beorn about one of the most fascinating ruminations on fighting during the Second World War - Warriors by J. Glenn Gary.

J. Glenn Gray entered the army as a private in May 1941, having been drafted on the same day he was informed of his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University, years after the end of war - the philosopher reread his war diaries and began to write eloquently on warfare does to soldiers, especially our understanding of cruelty in war.

Every now and then we get the chance to talk to a scholar with a little extra knowledge on a particular subject. In this case, Dr. Waitman Beorn drops in to talk about Brad Pitt's tank film, Fury. Waitman knows the film well, especially since he commanded a tank prior to becoming a historian. Listen in now to hear him talk not only about WWII, but his experiences serving in the Tank Corps and how the lessons learned transcended his time there. It's a fun and fascinating talk.

I am very excited to again be speaking at the We Have Ways Fest II history festival in July. This is such a great event and I am looking forward to presenting with Alex Ritchie and Bastiaan Willem about the end of the war in Europe. I will likely be talking about the end phase of the Holocaust and liberation of the camps. Hope to see you all there!

I am very excited to annnounce that I have signed with Joelle Delbourgo Associates to represent me for my Janowska book project. I'm looking forward to the next steps.

Dr Waitman Beorn, Senior Lecturer in History at Northumbria University, talks about the Wehrmacht and motivation to participate in the Holocaust on the Eastern Front in WW2. In the interview, he talks about the extent and nature of Wehrmacht involvement in the Holocaust on the Eastern Front. He points out that while Nazi death squads routinely carried out mass executions on the Eastern Front, many units of the regular German army conducted and participated in such actions. Waitman explains what motivated them to carry out such actions which they frequently did on their own initiative. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served with the US Army as a tank commander in Iraq during 2003-2004. After leaving the Army, he attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, earning his PhD in history in 2011.

Governments are extremely reluctant to label conflicts as genocides since it’s a legal term that invokes consequences. Genocide historian Waitman Wade Boern joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the past reluctancy and Zelenskyy’s current claims that the Russian invasion is, in fact, a genocide.

Social Psychology and the Holocaust Conference

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What common mistakes do people make about the Nazis and the Red Army? Alex Richie, Katja Hoyer and Waitman Wade Beorn talk about the atrocities that happened on the Eastern Front during the Second World War

How can we apply digital spatial methods and theory to the Holocaust? This presentation seeks to showcase some ways in which mapping and visualization have been used in the study of one concentration camp but also to highlight some (unanswered) questions that inform the use of digital techniques in analysis and presentation. Some of these questions are centered around ethics, ambiguity, sources, and the strengths/weaknesses of various approaches.

T-34 Episode

Dr Beorn will offer 10 facts about the Holocaust, challenging some commonly believed notions. For example as many as one-third of the victims were killed by a bullet rather than gas and many of the worst perpetrators of the murders were never brought to justice.