Episodes

  • The Captain of Köpenick
    Oct 16 2026

    On 16 October 1906 a shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt, dressed in a secondhand captain's uniform, led a squad of soldiers into the Köpenick town hall, arrested the mayor and seized the town treasury. I tell how a man with no papers came to that afternoon, what the courts and the Kaiser made of him, and why Germany still laughs at the story. The episode is also about how a uniform can make ordinary people obey, and the town hall still has an exhibition on his life. To stand where it happened, go to Alt-Köpenick 21 and read the plaque to the right of the main entrance.

    Chapters:
    0:00 The man with no papers
    4:23 The captain's day
    7:50 Ten days of freedom
    11:19 The pardon and the fame
    14:30 The afterlife

    Sources:
    https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/11862766X.html
    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptmann_von_K%C3%B6penick
    https://www.lto.de/recht/hintergruende/h/rechtsgeschichte-historischer-kassenraub-hauptmann-von-koepenick
    https://www.berlin.de/museum-treptow-koepenick/gedenkorte/artikel.801627.php
    https://www.berlin.de/museum-treptow-koepenick/museen/hauptmannausstellung
    https://www.berlin.de/ba-treptow-koepenick/aktuelles/veranstaltungen/120-jahre-koepenickiade-koepenick-feiert-geschichte-1715913.php
    https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/hauptmann-von-kopenick-wird-kein-kulturerbe-3999544.html

    Narrated with an AI voice. The short breaks are read in Yusuf's own cloned voice. More at walkofberlin.com

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    22 mins