Synopses: This week's JW3 lectures on Thurs 4th June

Morning; Environment and History. We shall be looking this week at our relationship with animals. We begin with a short overall point, before moving on to the lessons to be learnt from the current corona pandemic. We shall then look at the history of two specific species: European Wolves (with particular reference to England) and North American Bison. All this will be rounded off with a short conclusion.

Some further references:

The Conquest of Nature by David Blackbourn

Homo Tyrannicus by Peter Verney

Howls of Imagination by Paul Williams

The Last Wolf by Robert Winder

Afternoon: Nazi Germany 1933-39. We shall not venture into the War and its attendant horrors, most notably The Holocaust, but restrict ourselves to the six preceding years. We start our talk by reminding ourselves of Hitler's route to power in 1933. In the second part we shall examine the early career of architect Albert Speer, then moving on to Hitler's dream of rebuilding Berlin into the mega city of Germania. Next we turn to the Heck family, father and son, and directors of the Berlin Zoo, together with their connections with Nazism and the Nazi elite. We finish with a brief and chilling report from the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games which foreshadows the coming of war three years later.

Some further references:

War Zone Zoo by Kevin Prenger

Adolf Hitler by Laurence Rees

The Shortest History of Germany by James Hawes