An epic journey to uncover a Holocaust inheritance leads relentlessly to discovering a Nakba inheritance: two catastrophes that are very different, but very connected. Can they both be heard and understood? With personal testimony, letters and memories by those who survived and those who did not, this challenging audio series is dramatised and narrated by broadcaster Mike Joseph.
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In this first episode of Keys, by remembering his family lost in the Holocaust, Mike Joseph encounters the Palestinian Nakba. How do radically different histories connect? This journey uncovers many connections. But does it break too many taboos?
Episode 1 of KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance released on 6 September 2023, and now available on all platforms.
KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance, Episode 1
One day in 2006, in a noisy café in Ukraine, Mike thought he had just met a survivor of the Holocaust massacre that destroyed his mother’s family. He turned out also to be a veteran of Israel’s War of Independence, now bitterly rejecting Israel’s occupation of Palestine, telling his family there was no hope and they should leave.
This incident, captured in sound, sums up the contradictions Mike discovers in this epic journey. Working to uncover his Holocaust inheritance, he is led relentlessly to discovering his Nakba inheritance. It turns out the two different catastrophes are very connected. But can they both be heard and understood?
With unique personal testimony, recordings, letters and memories by those who survived and those who did not, this challenging audio series is devised, dramatised and narrated by broadcaster Mike Joseph.
Hear all episodes at https://balfourproject.org/keys or wherever you get your podcasts. Read more at https://mikejoseph.wales/keys
PLACE NAMES
When the place names in Keys get confusing, these notes will help.
Mike’s grandparents came from Galicia, a part of eastern Europe on no modern map. Today some of Galicia is southeast Poland, another part is western Ukraine. Galicia no longer exists.
In the last century, many of Galicia’s Jews, Ukrainians and Poles also ceased to exist, violently, as their province was repeatedly ruptured by the front lines of two World Wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Before 1918, Galicia was the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s most eastern province. Its capital was Lemberg (German) = Lwów (Polish) = Lviv (Ukrainian).
Three names, but one city.
Further south, Mike’s grandfather grew up in Stanislau (German); left Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1918 for a better life in Germany; deported back to Stanisławów (Polish) in 1938, which became Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1939; killed in Stanislau (German) in 1941.
Before Mike first visited that city in 1999, the Soviet Union renamed it Ivano-Frankovsk (Russian). Today the place where he found his grandfather’s surviving colleagues and allies is called Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian).
Five names, but one city.
Fatima Abu Salem grew up in the thriving Palestinian village of Burayr, at crossroads leading to Gaza, Hebron and Beersheba. Today a few ruins of Burayr are surrounded by the fields of kibbutz Bro’r Hayyil.
Two names, but one place.
Place names matter. How we name places reveals our own histories, identities and yearnings.
CREDITS for this episode
Testimony
Testimony and commentary by Mike Joseph, Amnon Neumann, Fatima Abu Salem, Sami Abu Salem, Lilli Gold, Rose Gold, Henryk Luft, Moshe Kolesnik, Yehudah ben Baruch, Itamar Shapira, Asha Phillips.
Interpreters and Translators
Dina Brandt
Alex Dunai
Markus Hartmann
Burkhardt Kolbmuller
Svitlana Kovalyk
Itamar Shapira
Nadia Slobodyan
Video sources
Lilli Gold, © 1998 USC Shoah Foundation. From the archive of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education http://sfi.usc.edu/
Israel and West Bank locations by agreement with Boom Cymru TV Cyf.
Batorego Cemetery, Ivano-Frankivsk; Henryk Luft; Yad Vashem viewing platform; handmade Israeli flag © Mike Joseph
Zochrot Truth Commission session with Amnon Neumann by agreement with Zochrot
Images
Lilli Gold
Mike Joseph
Sami Abu Salem
PRODUCTION
Mike Joseph Producer
Zac Ware Sound Editor
Jesse Lawrence Video Editor
Micha Wink Keys Theme & Variations on a Bach Prelude in B minor
Pamela Koehne-Drube Audience and Web Advisor
Michelle Alderson Graphic Designer
PRESENTERS
Mike Joseph
Asha Phillips
CAST in programme order
Peter Kirsten as Leipzig Policeman
Werner Bauer as Ralph Dippmann
George May as Israel Gold
Andrea Brondino as Henryk Luft
In the second episode of Keys, as the Second World War ends, people long for better times, and the United Nations does something about it, declaring genocide a crime against humanity, declaring slavery an abuse of human rights, declaring asylum and freedom of thought to be human rights, as well as the right to own property and not have it stolen. But two states immediately deny that right to refugees from their terror. Mike’s mother is one of many thousands, denied that right.
Episode 2 of KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance released on 13 September 2023, and now available on all platforms.
KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance, Episode 2
In this epic journey, Mike works to uncover his Holocaust inheritance, but is led relentlessly to discovering his Nakba inheritance. It turns out that the two different catastrophes are very connected. But can they both be heard and understood?
With unique personal testimony, recordings, letters and memories by those who survived and those who did not, this challenging audio series is devised, dramatised and narrated by broadcaster Mike Joseph.
Hear all episodes at https://balfourproject.org/keys or wherever you get your podcasts. Read more at https://mikejoseph.wales/keys
PLACE NAMES
When the place names in Keys get confusing, these notes will help.
Mike’s grandparents came from Galicia, a part of eastern Europe on no modern map. Today some of Galicia is southeast Poland, another part is western Ukraine. Galicia no longer exists.
In the last century, many of Galicia’s Jews, Ukrainians and Poles also ceased to exist, violently, as their province was repeatedly ruptured by the front lines of two World Wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Before 1918, Galicia was the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s most eastern province. Its capital was Lemberg (German) = Lwów (Polish) = Lviv (Ukrainian).
Three names, but one city.
Further south, Mike’s grandfather grew up in Stanislau (German); left Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1918 for a better life in Germany; deported back to Stanisławów (Polish) in 1938, which became Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1939; killed in Stanislau (German) in 1941.
Before Mike first visited that city in 1999, the Soviet Union renamed it Ivano-Frankovsk (Russian). Today the place where he found his grandfather’s surviving colleagues and allies is called Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian).
Five names, but one city.
Fatima Abu Salem grew up in the thriving Palestinian village of Burayr, at crossroads leading to Gaza, Hebron and Beersheba. Today a few ruins of Burayr are surrounded by the fields of kibbutz Bro’r Hayyil.
Two names, but one place.
Place names matter. How we name places reveals our own histories, identities and yearnings.
CREDITS for this episode
Testimony
Testimony and commentary by Mike Joseph, Asha Phillips, Lilli Gold, Rose Gold.
Interpreters and Translators
Dina Brandt
Alex Dunai
Markus Hartmann
Burkhardt Kolbmuller
Svitlana Kovalyk
Itamar Shapira
Nadia Slobodyan
Audio sources
The Hundred Year House, BBC 1999
Images
Lilli Gold
Mike Joseph
Holger Jackisch
Sami Abu Salem
PRODUCTION
Mike Joseph Producer
Zac Ware Sound Editor
Micha Wink Keys Theme & Variations on a Bach Prelude in B minor
Pamela Koehne-Drube Audience and Web Advisor
PRESENTERS
Mike Joseph
Asha Phillips
CAST in programme order
Terry Dimmick as Car Park Attendant
Peter Kirsten as Leipzig Policeman
Young Asha Phillips as Dorothea Gold
Wera Hobhouse as Marie Nummer
Zac Ware as Fritz Grunsfeld
James Stewart as Ralph Dippmann [English]
Klaus Riekemann as Leipzig Property Administrator [German]
Richard Tebboth as Leipzig Property Administrator [English]
James Stewart as Wolfgang Vogel [German]
Patrick Thomas as Wolfgang Vogel [English]
In 1943, while Mike’s mother’s family were being killed, a Nazi journalist obtained Mike’s mother’s home, the Leipzig house from which the SS had expelled them a few years earlier.
In 1951, instead of returning the home to Mike’s mother, East Germany stole it again, and handed it back to the Nazi journalist.
Now it is 40 years later, 1991, and Mike arrives in newly reunited Germany to try finally to recover his mother’s house. But he encounters official obstruction and resistance.
And then he discovers the Nazi journalist is still alive, and still holding his wartime plunder.
PLACE NAMES
When the place names in Keys get confusing, these notes will help.
Mike’s grandparents came from Galicia, a part of eastern Europe on no modern map. Today some of Galicia is southeast Poland, another part is western Ukraine. Galicia no longer exists.
In the last century, many of Galicia’s Jews, Ukrainians and Poles also ceased to exist, violently, as their province was repeatedly ruptured by the front lines of two World Wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Before 1918, Galicia was the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s most eastern province. Its capital was Lemberg (German) = Lwów (Polish) = Lviv (Ukrainian).
Three names, but one city.
Further south, Mike’s grandfather grew up in Stanislau (German); left Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1918 for a better life in Germany; deported back to Stanisławów (Polish) in 1938, which became Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1939; killed in Stanislau (German) in 1941.
Before Mike first visited that city in 1999, the Soviet Union renamed it Ivano-Frankovsk (Russian). Today the place where he found his grandfather’s surviving colleagues and allies is called Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian).
Five names, but one city.
Fatima Abu Salem grew up in the thriving Palestinian village of Burayr, at crossroads leading to Gaza, Hebron and Beersheba. Today a few ruins of Burayr are surrounded by the fields of kibbutz Bro’r Hayyil.
Two names, but one place.
Place names matter. How we name places reveals our own histories, identities and yearnings.
CREDITS for this episode
Testimony
Testimony and commentary by Mike Joseph, Asha Phillips.
Interpreters and Translators
Dina Brandt
Alex Dunai
Markus Hartmann
Burkhardt Kolbmuller
Svitlana Kovalyk
Itamar Shapira
Nadia Slobodyan
Hannah Kleinfeld
Atef Alshaer
Images
Lilli Gold
Mike Joseph
Holger Jackisch
Sami Abu Salem
PRODUCTION
Mike Joseph Producer
Zac Ware Sound Editor
Micha Wink Keys Theme & Variations on a Bach Prelude in B minor
Pamela Koehne-Drube Audience and Web Advisor
PRESENTERS
Mike Joseph
Asha Phillips
CAST in programme order
Wera Hobhouse as Marie Nummer
Christel Stoecker-Danby as Leipzig Housing Manager
Kerstin Barthelmes as Frau Jordan, Leipzig Property Claims Officer
James Stewart as Ralph Dippmann
Klaus Riekemann as Aron Adlerstein
Melissa Pawelski as Suzannah Kucharski
Clemens Hofer as Peter Kirsten
Christel Stoecker-Danby voicing confiscation and conveyance to Dippmann
James Stewart voicing conveyance to Dippmann
What do you say to an old Nazi? With this question, Mike Joseph’s daughter Asha opens an episode in which we hear what Mike does say when suddenly, in 1991 he encounters the Nazi who stole his mother’s house fifty years earlier.
The old Nazi shouts him down. Then Mike finds that he is not the only voice in newly-reunited Germany refusing to return property stolen by the Nazis.
Episode 4 of KEYS: A Troubled Inheritance released on 27 September 2023, and now available on all platforms.
With unique personal testimony, recordings, letters and memories by those who survived and those who did not, this challenging audio series is devised, dramatised and narrated by broadcaster Mike Joseph.
Hear all episodes at https://balfourproject.org/keys or wherever you get your podcasts. View photographs with the audio episodes on You Tube. Read more at https://mikejoseph.wales/keys
PLACE NAMES
When the place names in Keys get confusing, these notes will help.
Mike’s grandparents came from Galicia, a part of eastern Europe on no modern map. Today some of Galicia is southeast Poland, another part is western Ukraine. Galicia no longer exists.
In the last century, many of Galicia’s Jews, Ukrainians and Poles also ceased to exist, violently, as their province was repeatedly ruptured by the front lines of two World Wars, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Before 1918, Galicia was the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s most eastern province. Its capital was Lemberg (German) = Lwów (Polish) = Lviv (Ukrainian).
Three names, but one city.
Further south, Mike’s grandfather grew up in Stanislau (German); left Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1918 for a better life in Germany; deported back to Stanisławów (Polish) in 1938, which became Stanislaviv (Ukrainian) in 1939; killed in Stanislau (German) in 1941.
Before Mike first visited that city in 1999, the Soviet Union renamed it Ivano-Frankovsk (Russian). Today the place where he found his grandfather’s surviving colleagues and allies is called Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrainian).
Five names, but one city.
Fatima Abu Salem grew up in the thriving Palestinian village of Burayr, at crossroads leading to Gaza, Hebron and Beersheba. Today a few ruins of Burayr are surrounded by the fields of kibbutz Bro’r Hayyil.
Two names, but one place.
Place names matter. How we name places reveals our own histories, identities and yearnings.
CREDITS for this episode
Testimony
Testimony and commentary by Mike Joseph, Asha Phillips, James Stewart
Interpreters and Translators
Dina Brandt
Alex Dunai
Markus Hartmann
Burkhardt Kolbmuller
Svitlana Kovalyk
Itamar Shapira
Nadia Slobodyan
Hannah Kleinfeld
Atef Alshaer
Images & music
Lilli Gold
Mike Joseph
Holger Jackisch
Sami Abu Salem
Lilli Gold, © 1998 USC Shoah Foundation. From the archive of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education http://sfi.usc.edu/
Dresden Bombing: Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-041-07, Dresden, zerstörtes Stadtzentrum.jpg Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-041-07 / Unknown author / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5483604
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.
Foreign & Commonwealth Office main building.jpg, created: circa 2014 QS:P,+2014-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
Public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.
Klaus Kinkel: Tohma, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Helmut Kohl: © European Communities, 1996 / EC, Photo: Christian Lambiotte
Otto Lambsdorff: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F046792-0029 / Wegmann, Ludwig / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons
Hinrich Lehmann-Grube: Axel Hindemith, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brahms, German Requiem, The Holden Consort Orchestra and Choir http://ml.cs.colorado.edu/~ben/Brahms/
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
PRODUCTION
Mike Joseph Producer
Zac Ware Sound Editor
Micha Wink Keys Theme & Variations on a Bach Prelude in B minor
Pamela Koehne-Drube Audience and Web Advisor
PRESENTERS
Mike Joseph
Asha Phillips
CAST in programme order
Daniel Ratthei as Burkhardt Kolbmuller [German]
Werner Bauer as Ralph Dippmann [German]
James Stewart as Ralph Dippmann [English]
Christel Stoecker-Danby voicing confiscation and conveyance to Dippmann [German], James Stewart [English]
James Stewart as Holger Jackisch and voices of UK Foreign Office, Leipzig City Council and Federal German Government, Daily Telegraph
Klaus Riekemann as Hinrich Lehmann-Grube and Christian Jacke
Bruno Bubna-Kasteliz as Klaus Kinkel and Otto Lambsdorff
Christine Willison as Lilli Gold
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