Crossing Continents

BBC

Series focusing on foreign affairs issues

  • 30 minutes 50 seconds
    Death Marches: uncovering the truth beneath the soil

    How a town in Poland – once in Germany - is discovering its troubling past. 80 years ago Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi extermination camp. Over 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were murdered there. However, there is an aspect of those terrible days which is less well known and which 80 years later is still being uncovered and still resonating: the death marches. As Soviet troops approached, in January 1945, SS soldiers at Auschwitz-Birkenau forced some 60,000 prisoners to march west, in freezing temperatures. Weak with hunger and disease, those who fell behind were shot. This is the story of how eight decades on the search for the truth behind one of those death marches is being uncovered. For years the history of a death march passing through the once proud German community of Schönwald was hidden. It is also the story of how descendants of the original inhabitants of Schönwald are having to confront the role some of their relatives may have played in the Nazi project, and how today’s Polish inhabitants of the town, which is now called Bojków, are grappling with what happened on their streets. Amie Liebowitz’s own great-grandmother was murdered Auschwitz-Birkenau, while her great-aunt was rescued by the Soviet forces. She speaks to those on both sides – German and Polish – who are uncovering this history.

    Presenter: Amie Liebowitz Producer: John Murphy Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

    Archive of Gita Stein from USC Shoah Foundation (1995)

    21 January 2025, 1:30 am
  • 28 minutes 51 seconds
    The Gambia: When migrants are forced to go home

    Each year young people from the tiny West African nation of The Gambia try to reach Europe through “The Backway” - a costly, perilous journey over land and sea.

    Many do not make it. In recent years, the EU has done deals with several North African nations to clamp down on irregular migration. Though human rights groups say the treatment of migrants can be brutal - allegations the authorities deny. But each year thousands of African migrants say they have no choice but to return home.

    It can be a struggle to return. Some are traumatised by their experience and face stigma for having failed to reach Europe. Others are already planning to try again.

    For Crossing Continents, Alex Last travels to The Gambia to find out what happens to migrants who've risked everything to get to Europe, but end up back home.

    Reporter: Alex Last Producer: Ellie House Local producer: Frederic Tendeng Sound mix: David Crackles Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

    14 January 2025, 1:30 am
  • 30 minutes 43 seconds
    South Korea: The Feminist Hunters

    Why feminism has become a dirty word in South Korea. Being a feminist is now something that can only be admitted in private, thanks to a fierce backlash against feminism. Anti-feminists accuse South Korean women who advocate for equality as being man-haters, worthy of punishment. Online witch-hunts - spearheaded by young male gamers - target women suspected of harbouring feminist views, bombarding them with abuse and demanding they be fired from their jobs. Jean Mackenzie investigates how these witch-hunts have silenced women, and asks what this means for the future of women's rights in a country where gender discrimination is still deeply entrenched.

    Presenter: Jean Mackenzie Producers: John Murphy, Jake Kwon, Hosu Lee and Leehyun Choi Mixed by: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

    7 January 2025, 9:00 pm
  • 28 minutes 14 seconds
    The human cost of developing Cambodia's Angkor wonder

    Tourists are flooding to Cambodia's "8th wonder of the world", the ancient temple complex at Angkor. But the rapid expansion of the site comes at a terrible cost, as tens of thousands of people are ousted. The authorities call some "illegal squatters" and claim others volunteered to leave. But human rights groups say the evictions are forced, illegal and target families who've worked the land for generations. Many say they're now debt-ridden and struggling to survive. Jill McGivering travelled to Angkor to meet those at the heart of the crisis.

    Produced by Caroline Finnigan Mixed by David Smith Production Coordinator Gemma Ashman Editor Penny Murphy

    31 December 2024, 1:30 am
  • 31 minutes 40 seconds
    Poland's Ghosts, Ukraine's Heroes

    Ukraine and Poland are neighbours and close allies in today’s conflict with Russia. But the ghosts of victims of an earlier war have returned to divide them. Tens of thousands of Poles were murdered by Ukrainians in Volhynia, in what's now western Ukraine, in 1943. Most of the victims still lie in unmarked graves, and Ukraine has only just lifted a ban on exhuming the bodies.

    That followed heavy diplomatic pressure by Poland, which threatened to block moves towards Ukrainian integration with the EU unless the ban were lifted.

    But Poland’s demand has stirred a controversy inside Ukraine about one of the darkest periods of its history. Ukrainian nationalists who were involved in the massacre - and their leader Stepan Bandera - are regarded by many Ukrainians as heroes.

    Reporter Tim Whewell travels through Poland and western Ukraine to try to find out what really happened in 1943, and ask whether Poland and Ukraine can ever lay a fiercely-contested history to rest. And can the record of Ukraine's Second World War nationalists be openly discussed without giving a propaganda victory to Russia, which has tried to use the subject to vilify Ukraine? Produced and presented by Tim Whewell Sound mix: Rod Farquhar Research by Grzegorz Sokół, Taras Shumeiko and Serhiy Solodko Translation by Eugenia Maresch, Grzegorz Sokół and Serhiy Solodko Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

    Wild bird recordings by Izabela Dłużyk "Lecieli Żurawie" (Cranes Were Flying) sung by Franciszka Bydychaj "Ave Maria" from "Kres Kresów" oratorium, composer Krzesimir Dębski "Siadła Hanula Na Posażeńku" (Hanula Sat on her Dowry) sung by Olga Kozieł and Anna Jurkiewicz, of the "Wołyń w Pieśniach" ("Volhynia in Song") project

    24 December 2024, 1:30 am
  • 28 minutes 38 seconds
    Argentina - Milei's Chainsaw

    It has been a year since chainsaw-wielding Javier Milei won the Presidency in Argentina. During his campaign, his chainsaw became a symbol of how quickly and drastically he wanted to cut the Argentine state. And he has slashed government budgets and sliced subsidies on power, food and transport. He stopped printing money to try and halt inflation which was running at 211.4% annually when he was sworn in.

    How have his actions changed life for ordinary Argentines? Buenos Aires based reporter, Charlotte Pritchard, talks to Argentines about how they're feeling now. From the gauchos at the annual event to show off their herds of horses, to those taking advantage of a scheme to 'whiten' black-market money they have hidden under their mattress - is there hope or despair?

    Produced and presented by Charlotte Pritchard Studio Manager: Donald McDonald Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

    17 December 2024, 1:30 am
  • 28 minutes 27 seconds
    Mining the Pacific – future proofing or fool’s gold?

    Climate change is intensifying, sea levels are rising and the very existence of low-lying Pacific Islands is under threat. The Cook Islands, though, has a plan to assure their peoples’ future. Enter deep sea mining, harvesting metallic nodules on the bottom of the sea floor for use in things like electric car batteries and mobile phones. Its supporters say it’s a climate change ‘solution’- a better alternative to mining on land. And one that could make Cook Islanders very rich indeed. Its detractors worry we’re messing with its Moana - or ocean – with no real idea of the impacts. Katy Watson travels to Rarotonga to find out how islanders feel about searching for ‘gold’ on the sea floor.

    Producer: Lindle Markwell Presenter: Katy Watson Studio Manager: James Beard Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

    10 December 2024, 1:30 am
  • 32 minutes 26 seconds
    France: trouble on the vine

    Low harvests, economic and climate batterings, changing tastes - is French wine in crisis? The French wine harvest has dropped 18% in one year. For some famous French wine-making regions the reduction has been much more. A combination of factors, including climate, finances and changing drinking habits has brought some wine-makers to the brink. Thousands of hectares of vineyards are being pulled up. Others are struggling to survive. For Crossing Continents John Murphy travels to Bordeaux and Languedoc - the world’s biggest wine-making region - to find out what is going on with wine, France’s most symbolic of products.

    Producer: Alex Last Studio Mix: Rod Farquhar Programme Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

    3 December 2024, 1:30 am
  • 28 minutes 30 seconds
    Our whole life is a secret

    The Taliban edict that women's voices should not be heard aloud renders women up and down Afghanistan inaudible as well as invisible in public. Women are already denied most forms of education and employment. They are not allowed to go outside without a male guardian, and have to be completely covered up, including their faces. Now the new rules say they should be quiet too. Women singing together, or even raising their voices in prayer, is forbidden.

    But there's more than one way to be heard.

    Our Whole Life is a Secret records the day to day life of 'Leila', a lively, energetic Afghan woman aged 23, doing everything she can to navigate the rules. From behind the walls of her home, Leila reveals her vivid interior world, and that of her female friends and relatives. She and her sisters are the first women in their family to read and write, and before the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she was a university student. Now she teaches in a secret school and is part of a dynamic online learning community. From reading Emily Bronte to working out to Zumba, Leila is determined to keep stay sane and busy.

    'Leila' is not her real name and all locations are omitted for safety reasons. Her words are read by Asal Latifi.

    Producer/Presenter Monica Whitlock Sound design and mix James Beard Editor Penny Murphy

    26 November 2024, 1:30 am
  • 29 minutes 7 seconds
    Ivory Coast's cocoa crisis

    The journey from cocoa to chocolate in Ivory Coast. The price of cocoa - the essential ingredient in chocolate - has more than quadrupled on the international market in the last two years. Yet many of those growing it have not benefitted. In fact, drought, disease and a lack of investment have led to catastrophic harvests and, therefore, a drop in income for many small producers of cocoa, especially in Ivory Coast. This West African country is the world’s largest producer of cocoa - up to 45% of the world’s total. Most of the growers are small-scale, poor farmers. There are now calls for these growers to get a bigger chunk of the chocolate bar and, in so doing, to help ensure future production. John Murphy travels to Ivory Coast to delve into the world of chocolate production.

    Presented and produced by John Murphy With additional production in Ivory Coast from Ebrin Brou Mixed by Andy Fell Production coordinator Gemma Ashman Series editor Penny Murphy

    10 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • 28 minutes 36 seconds
    The 'ghost city' of Cyprus

    The once glamorous Cypriot beach resort of Varosha has stood empty and frozen in time since war divided the island 50 years ago, but it is now partially open to tourists and there are hotly contested plans for its renewal.

    Maria Margaronis speaks to Varosha's former inhabitants - mostly Greek Cypriots - who fled in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island and have been unable to return ever since, after Turkey fenced off the town as a bargaining chip for future peace negotiations.

    Some of these Varoshians want to rebuild the resort together with the island's Turkish Cypriots - a potential model for diffusing hostilities across the whole island - and the UN says its original inhabitants must be allowed to return. But, following decades of failed peace talks, the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which controls Varosha, now says it intends to re-open and redevelop the entire town.

    Presenter: Maria Margaronis Producer: Simon Tulett Series editor: Penny Murphy Studio Manager: Gareth Jones Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman and Katie Morrison

    Music credit: Michalis Terlikkas

    3 September 2024, 12:30 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App
© MoonFM 2025. All rights reserved.