The Big Ponder – A Transatlantic Podcast

Series produced by Goethe-Institut

Caption: The Big Ponder, Credit: © Goethe-institut
Image by: © Goethe-institut 
The Big Ponder 

This transatlantic podcast explores abstract concepts and phenomena through personal radio essays. Every other week, one of our producers transforms a broad topic into a captivating story told from a US-German perspective.

In cooperation with radio stations and independent producers in the US and Germany, the Goethe-Institut has created the transatlantic podcast THE BIG PONDER. We invite listeners to reflect on abstract ideas and phenomena through hyper-local stories. Each topic will be explored from a transatlantic perspective: do the US and Germany share the same values? What divides us? What unites us?   

In addition to sharing our passion for great storytelling, THE BIG PONDER hopes to further strengthen the transatlantic network of journalists and podcasters through our close collaboration with radio stations and partners on both sides of the pond. We are especially thankful for the support from our friends at the Bertelsmann Foundation, RBB Kultur, and the RIAS Berlin Kommission. 


96 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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On June 24, 1948, the Soviet military administration officially cut off roads and rails into West Berlin in the Berlin Blockade, isolating it from ...

Bought by KWMR, KICI Iowa City, and Morton College Radio


  • Added: Jul 10, 2019
  • Length: 19:21
  • Purchases: 3
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German and American libraries have influenced each other’s development tremendously over the last few centuries. During this time, the library has ...

Bought by KICI Iowa City, WNYO, KICI Iowa City, and KUFM - Montana Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 02, 2019
  • Length: 28:02
  • Purchases: 4
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Producer Jakob Lewis was born in a military hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. At the time, his dad was stationed at a U.S. army base in Wölfersheim, ...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Jun 27, 2019
  • Length: 29:24
  • Purchases: 1
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America is a country of immigrants. Most people know that Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the US besides English, but there’s more th...

  • Added: Jun 18, 2019
  • Length: 42:29
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Although it’s not certain who first wrote the recipe, the Black Forest cake has been fully embraced by the Black Forest community as an essential a...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Jun 12, 2019
  • Length: 19:15
  • Purchases: 2
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Hop on board Berlin’s Ringbahn, a suburban train that carries over 400,000 passengers each day and circles some of the city’s most authentic and li...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Jun 05, 2019
  • Length: 23:41
  • Purchases: 1
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Milwaukee has been called the most German city in America – already in the 1840s, large numbers of Germans who were fleeing wars in Europe began se...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: May 29, 2019
  • Length: 17:28
  • Purchases: 2
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Dieter Kosslick is one of the film world’s best known festival directors. He’s put his stamp on the Berlin International Film Festival for the pas...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KWMR


  • Added: Jul 24, 2019
  • Length: 27:06
  • Purchases: 2
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Rents in San Francisco have exploded in recent years; by now, the metropolis in Northern California has overtaken New York as the most expensive ci...

  • Added: May 15, 2019
  • Length: 31:54
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Three women, two countries, one shared experience: Motherhood. From giving birth to receiving support – our producer Melissa Gerr looks at the role...

Bought by KICI Iowa City, KICI Iowa City, and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: May 09, 2019
  • Length: 24:46
  • Purchases: 3
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Over 200 years ago, German immigrant Henry Berger opened a bakery in East Baltimore – and since that day, Berger Cookies have been handmade in the ...

  • Added: May 01, 2019
  • Length: 17:02
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For some US students, escalating costs are putting college out of reach – whereas in Germany higher education is considered a right, tuition is nor...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Apr 24, 2019
  • Length: 19:24
  • Purchases: 1
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What is it like to be Muslim nowadays in the Midwest, the so-called Heartland of the US? And how does that reality connect to the one in Germany? O...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KRZA


  • Added: Apr 17, 2019
  • Length: 15:29
  • Purchases: 2
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Most of the Western world has a waste problem, and recycling has been pushed by policymakers as one of the best ways to combat it. In Baltimore and...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Apr 10, 2019
  • Length: 16:41
  • Purchases: 1
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The pretzel, known as a “Brezel” or “Brezn” in German, is not an ordinary pastry. It has a century-old history full of myths and stories. Where did...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Apr 03, 2019
  • Length: 33:17
  • Purchases: 2
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In the historic city of Magdeburg, Germany, there is a Johnny Cash themed country music festival called Nashville Days – complete with corndogs and...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Mar 27, 2019
  • Length: 28:01
  • Purchases: 2
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It is estimated that 30,000 Hessian soldiers fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Where did they come from and...

  • Added: Mar 25, 2019
  • Length: 23:47
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Germany is internationally renowned for its bread. With its diversity of more than 3,000 varieties the Germans are world champions of bread. Since ...

Bought by KICI Iowa City and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Mar 13, 2019
  • Length: 24:27
  • Purchases: 2
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Between 1820 and World War I, nearly six million Germans immigrated to the US – in 2017, only about 5,000 made the trip. If Germans aren’t coming t...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Mar 06, 2019
  • Length: 19:17
  • Purchases: 1
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Dimitri Hegemann, the mastermind behind the Berlin nightclub Tresor, has been nurturing an artistic connection between Berlin and Detroit since the...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Feb 27, 2019
  • Length: 24:38
  • Purchases: 1