Déjà Vu All Over Again: Zoom-Bombing 1930’s Style
Like most of us, I had not heard about “Zoom bombing” until the Covid pandemic caused many of us to take our social and work lives to the internet. As the use of Zoom and its fellows grew, so did the intrusion of internet trolls into online video conference spaces. Disruptions have ranged from the mildly annoying to the truly horrific.
Turns out Zoom-bombing had its counterpart back in the days when radio was (relatively) new.
On December 31 1931, General Paul von Hindenburg,* president of the Weimar Republic of Germany, gave a radio address to the nation. Or at least he attempted to. Shortly after he began, he was interrupted by an unidentified voice saying “Hello, hello, the sign of the red front is over Germany.” To the modern reader, the interruption seems mild compared to the often disturbing and hate-laden images and messages that Zoom-bombers have inserted into hijacked video-calls in recent months. From the perspective of Weimar Germany, when Red and Fascist agitators called for the government to be overthrown and indulged in violent street fighting on a regular basis, it was a threatening message.
The following day, Berlin police found that communist technicians** had attached a microphone to a cable leading to a German radio station and patched through to the president’s speech.
Apparently getting your communication technology hacked is nothing new. Alas.
* For the detail-minded among you: His full name was Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg and he rose to the rank of field marshal in the Imperial German army in World War I. I would argue that he was the political equivalent of President Dwight D. Eisenhower: an admired military leader who became a moderate—and admired—national political leader. But that’s a discussion for different day.
**Home-grown German communists, not Russian provocateurs
Looking Forward to Another Year of History Nerdery*
It has become a tradition here on the Margins that I share the historical topics that I expect to read/write/think about over the coming year in my first blog post of the year. It’s a useful habit as far as I’m concerned; you can think of it as the coming attractions before the year’s feature starts rolling.** (Feel free to step out for popcorn and come back later.)
This year the big plan is set. Despite all the limitations imposed by the current troubles, I’m deep into research for the New Book, and getting ready to go deeper. I’m grappling with big events and big ideas:
• Weimar Germany
• Nazi Germany
• World War II
• The Nuremberg trials
• The lives of foreign correspondents and their flashier younger siblings, war correspondents,
• The New Woman (also known as the Neue Frau if you’re hanging out in Berlin)
• American isolationism,
• Economic depression and hyper-inflation
• Raising bunnies for profit.
That should be enough to keep anyone busy. I look forward to having you keep me company on the journey.
At the moment, I’m working with the thousands of pages of material I scanned at the Wisconsin Historical Society in the fall.*** I’m building a timeline and a Hot Mess draft and identifying the holes I need to fill. When research archives and libraries open up again, I will be ready.***
I have no doubt that there will be detours—there always are. And I do love a good detour. You never know what you’ll discover when you leave the main road.
Stayed tuned. Stories to follow.
*I initially typed history bugg-ery, then realized that would be an unfortunate choice.
**And speaking of coming attractions: I’m doing a second round of mini-interviews with people doing exciting work in the field for Women’s History Month. It’s going to be Big Fun. If you are such a person and would like to be included, let me know.
***Actually, at the moment I’m writing a blog post, but you know what I mean.
***Without the Chicago Public Library and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library I would have been dead in the water.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
I’ve always loved the song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” but this year it takes on a bittersweet twist. Like most people, I am staying home rather than going home.
Even though My Own True Love and I are not heading out on a holiday adventure this year, I plan to give myself a brief holiday from blogging for the rest of the year.* Unless I stumble across something that I feel I absolutely need to tell you RIGHT NOW, I’ll be back in January with some great stories from the corners of history, some books you ought to read, and some things I’ve been mulling over. In other words, business as usual.
In the meantime, have a merry/jolly/happy/blessed time as you celebrate the victory of light over the darkness in the tradition of your choice.
*Maybe even from work in general. **
**I hear the people who know me In Real Life snickering all over the internet, but it could happen.