Conversations

Catrine Clay with the story of the children of Nazi perpetrators and Holocaust survivors came together under extraordinary circumstances to come to terms with their dark past.
In the early 1990s, historian and author Catrine Clay was working at the BBC, making a documentary about a woman named Renate.
Renate had been born in Germany in 1941, and grew up in the postwar years as the sole child of a single mother.
When Renate asked her mother about her missing father, she was told he had been an important general in the German forces, who had been imprisoned by the Russians.
But that wasn't the truth.
Renate's father was actually a Nazi war criminal of the highest rank, and she had been conceived as part of an experiment to produce Aryan children for the German fatherland.
Catrine and Renate travelled through Germany and Eastern Europe to find the truth about her father and the home she'd been born into.
Eventually, they go to Israel, where Renate comes face to face with the children of Holocaust survivors. 
There, they bond over their shared attempts to find a way forward, out of the silences and hidden fears of their parents' dark pasts.
Children of the Third Reich: Three pasts three futures is published by Hachette.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison
It explores World War II, history, family trauma, intergenerational trauma, holocaust survivors, Aryan super-race, experiments on humans, genetic experiments, SS soldiers, the body keeps the score, Epigenetics, psychology, suicide, mental health, mental illness, healing, Jewish history, reconciliation, German history, Nazis, reckoning with the past, family secrets, absent fathers, Israel, Palestine, forgiveness, humanity, Hitler, war criminal, war crimes.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Urzila Carlson grew up in South Africa. Her father threatened the family with a gun when she was 6, and he walked out on the family soon afterwards.
Urzila's mum, who she describes as a 'warrior woman', raised Urzila and her sister.
When she was in primary school, one of Urzila's teachers taught her a big lesson about regret, which has stayed with her for life.
Urzila moved to New Zealand in 2006 to begin working in advertising.
One day a group of her co-workers persuaded her to perform at a local open mic night.
Within a year she had become a professional comedian in Australia and New Zealand.
Further information
Watch Urzila's latest comedy special 
Watch Urzila's TV sketch show on ABC TV
This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien.
It explores South Africa, comedy, family, domestic violence, alcoholism, Afrikaans, racism, violence, home invasion, stand up comedy, confidence, body image, migration, New Zealand, Australia, memoir, siblings.

The singer-songwriter on her early introduction to musicals in Port Moresby, how singing became a form of speech therapy for her stutter and also a path into her life’s work.
Meg Washington was born in a musical home in Port Moresby, where her parents had met as Australian expats.
Meg and her sister spent a lot of their time watching classic Hollywood musicals and also down at the local yacht club where their dad DJ'd every Saturday night.
Singing became something Meg was encouraged to do herself after she developed a stutter as a little girl.
And eventually it grew from a therapy into a thrill.
Meg's stutter was something she did her best to disguise while building her career as a singer and songwriter in Australia.
But after going public about her speech impediment in a TedX Talk, Meg realised she no longer cared about hiding who she was.
This honesty led to a whole host of exciting new opportunities – including becoming the voice of Calypso in Bluey, and making a film with her husband based on the iconic Paul Kelly song, “How To Make Gravy”.
More information
This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. The Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.
It explores Papua New Guinea, DJ, filmmaker, being expelled from high school, creative arts, performance camps, eisteddfods, Rodgers and Hammerstein, love at first sight, quick wedding, spirituality, Christianity, Brisbane.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Louise Adler has been one of the biggest and most controversial names in Australian publishing for decades. This is the story of how she fell in love with the world of books.⁠An asthmatic child, she spent most of Melbourne’s winters in bed with nothing else to do but read novels.
But it wasn't until her parents intervened in Louise's obsession with Enid Blyton’s boarding school series that her deep pleasure in the world of books began in earnest.⁠Shaped by her family's story of surviving World War Two, Louise grew up in questioning everything.
She was 15 years old when she went to her first Vietnam moratorium and was locked up for her role in the protests.⁠
She travelled to Israel at the age of 17, which was a transformative experience for her.⁠⁠Back in Australia, Louise began her career in publishing, backing some unconventional and headline-grabbing authors from Tony Abbott and Mark Latham to Louise Milligan and Mick Gatto.⁠Louise was Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week from 2023, until the dramatic collapse of the 2026 festival.⁠
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It was recorded live at the Byron Writers Festival.
It explores writing, writers, books, Australian literature, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Israel, Palestine, Anti-Semitism commission, Judaism, WWII, Holocaust survivors, Adelaide Writers Festival, Byron Writers Festival, freedom of speech, Australian literary scene, origin story, Auspol, politics, big ideas, memoir, love, marriage, safe spaces, Grace Tame.

Acclaimed poet and philosopher David Whyte has come to believe a single line of poetry is enough to change your life. 
David grew up amongst the moors and fields of West Yorkshire, with an English father and an Irish mother who had a gift for lyricism and language.
He started writing poems at just seven years old, but it wasn't until he was working as a guide in the Galapagos Islands that David truly understood what poetry was and what it could do for us.
A near-death experience there prepared him for life as a poet by teaching him to pay attention to what lay right in front of him at any given time.
For David, the power of poetry lies in its unmatched ability to meditate and focus on what's right in front of us, whether it's a mountain, a loved one, or our own reflection.
First broadcast in 2025
Further information
David's latest collection of poems and essays is Consolations II, published by Canongate.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.
It explores, poetry, poems, near death experiences, mothers, sons, family, Ireland, meditation, Zen, love, heartbreak, anxiety, time, happiness, the Galapagos Islands, family, grief, memory, spirituality, Christianity, language, England.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.