Memory Wars is a six-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.

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.

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?