I Don't Know About That - Austria

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Jim may know Australia but does he know Austria? Thank goodness historian Stephen Beller is on the podcast to tell us everything Jim doesn't know. ADS: BETTERHELP: Visit BetterHelp.com/IDK today to get 10% off your first month. GUEST BIO: Steven Beller was born in London, England and educated at Cambridge University; since 1989 he has lived in the USA. He has written widely on Austrian, Jewish and Central European history. His books include A Concise History of Austria (Cambridge, 2006), Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History (Cambridge University Press, 1989); Herzl (Halban, 1991); Francis Joseph (Longman, 1996); ; Antisemitism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008, 2015); Democracy: All That Matters (Hodder, 2013). He also edited and introduced the anthology Rethinking Vienna 1900 (Berghahn, 2001). His latest book is The Habsburg Monarchy 1815-1918 (Cambridge, 2018). He is currently an independent scholar resident in Washington DC.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. A lot of us spend our lives wishing we had more time. The question is, time for what? If time is unlimited, how would you use it? The best way to squeeze the special things into your schedules is to know what's important to you and make it a priority. Therapy can help you find what matters for you so you can do more of it. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash idk today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash idk. Horse racing, basketball, tennis. Which one involves a racket wow

you might find out but I don't know about that with tennis hello everyone it's me Jim Jofreys or as I'm now called by my professional name tennis

I'm here with Jack and Forrest we've already recorded the podcast we've come back to do the intro so I already know what's about to happen I'm here with Jack and Forrest. That made me laugh. Yeah, we've already recorded the podcast. We've come back to do the intro. So I already know what's about to happen. Too excited. Too excited. I'm excited.

Everybody knows. We label the episodes. You already label it. So I can tell you right now, because we're recording this before, it's the country of Vienna. But in a second, I'm going to guess. Wait, the country of Vienna? Of Austria.

He clearly did not learn. I learned nothing nothing Croissants Don't spoil the war Stop it Anyway it turns out They were on the wrong side of the war Which war I'm not gonna tell you There were a lot of wars to be fair

Oh you got some jokes coming. You're going to be in South Africa next week. I am going to be in South Africa, or they call it the Vienna of Africa. Did you say that? Probably. I mean, historical similarities. I'll be in South Africa. I'm going to be in South Africa.

I'll be telling jokes to the South Africans. One of the shows, I believe, is very close to sold out, and the other one we're adding seats to. So one of them was sold out. We just added some seats. So come along. Not many. Not many.

Low ticket alert. Low ticket warning. Low ticket warning. May 2nd, you're going to be in Spokane. May 3rd, Denver, Colorado. And May 4th, Denver, Colorado. That's your show. Two shows.

And May 17th, Charleston, South Carolina. Bring your tiki torches. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and May 30th, San Francisco, and so on. Bring your tiki torches. There's dates. There's dates on jimjeffries.com. If you go on there and Atlantic City and Westbury are still on there, do not buy tickets for those.

Those will be delayed to another time. What show is this? The ones that are still on there. Do not buy tickets for those because those will be delayed to another time. What show is this? The ones that there's on here. Atlantic City and Westbury in New York. You're going to be in Australia. They know those are supposed to be there.

They're being moved. They've got to fix your website here. But go to jimjeffries.com and get a ticket. Jack, get on to that. It's going to be fixed by the time this comes out.

When we wrap. Go to my website, 4shot.net. I have shows April 24th and April 26th at the Factory Theater in Sydney, Australia

please come out I'll be doing an hour I guess yeah I'm at Sydney Comedy Festival there and then May 1st or the 4th

I'm at the Comics Lounge in Melbourne and May 11th Netflix is a Joke Festival I'm co-headlining with our friend JJ Whitehead all tickets available

on my website or my instagram come out there idcat podcast on instagram um we i think we'll probably have merch by the time this comes out we have the designs who knows uh we should have the merch and we have new t-shirts and hats and stuff like that coming up um anything else you want to say? No. I want to get started on this podcast. Okay. Please welcome our guest, Stephen Beller. G'day, Stephen Beller. Now it's time to play. Yes, though.

Yes, though. Yes, though. Yes, though. Judging a book by its cover. Steve has a map of what I probably think is some made-up part of the world. I can't really tell what part of the world that is. Is that the top of Western Europe heading down into Italy? I don't know what that is.

What do you reckon that is, Jack? The video went away. I have no freaking idea. It's Mexico. You can't tell. It's Cancun. Should not decide. Is it? It's Mordor. It's Mexico. You can't tell? No, it's... Cancun, should not decide? That's...

Is it? It's Mordor. It's Middle Earth. Okay, but is it maps? Are we talking about maps? Steve? It's a map. Yeah.

It's a map. No, we're not talking about maps. You were talking about Middle Earth almost. Is your subject maps? That's a good one. No. Maps would be a good one. I love maps, but we'll get a map expert at some point.

But no, it's not maps today. Okay. Does your subject involve science? Not really. Not really. Is it the entertainment business? Go back to maps. Go back to maps.

Not really, no. He laughed at the entertainment business. Yeah, he isn't laughing at us. Do you want a hint? No. Okay. Go back to maps. Go back to maps. He laughed at the entertainment business. Yeah, he isn't laughing at us. Do you want a hint? No. Okay. You're on the right track with maps.

Does it involve the world? The world, yes. It is part of the real world. Think smaller. It's part of the real world. Yeah, yeah. He's going to the map. Actually, if you look over here very closely, there's the actual

It's too grainy. We can't tell what it reads. You're almost from here, Jim. You're almost from here. New Zealand. No, it's not New Zealand. It's a riddle that I'm saying. You're almost from here. That's true. I'm from Australia. So you're almost

from here. Say that name really fast. Austria.'s true. I'm from Australia. So you're almost from here. Say that name really fast. Austria. There you go. So we're doing the country of Austria? Yeah. Alright. Hell yeah. Alright. Are we doing the good, the bad, and the ugly of Austria? You do whatever you want. I didn't say that was a map of Western Europe.

I was right. Yeah, you were close at the beginning. Stephen Beller was born in London, England, and educated at Cambridge University. Since 1989, he has lived in the United States. He has written widely on Austrian, Jewish, and Central European history. His books include A Concise

History of Austria. There you go. Vienna and the Jews, A Cultural History. I love that band. Anti-Semitism, Vienna and the Jews, A Cultural History. I love that band. That'd be a good band name. Anti-Semitism, A Very Short Introduction. He's got a lot of books there.

Democracy and All That Matters. He's also edited and introduced the anthology Rethinking Vienna. His latest book is The Habsburg Monarchy, 1815-1818. He is currently an independent scholar residing in washington dc thanks for being here stephen all right austria you're very welcome i'm very happy to be here um and uh as you want to tell us how you got how do you got to know so much about austria why did you choose austria as your focus in? Well, when I was at college, I was very interested in Mahler and Vienna 1900 at the time, and so my tutor said, what would you like to study as your first essay? And I said, how about Vienna, the end of the century, kind of all the

cultural stuff and so on and so on forth. And I went on oh, how about Vienna, the end of the century, kind of all the cultural stuff and so on and so on. And I went on for about three minutes, and I'll go on now. Anyway, I'll stop. And my tutor said, well, yes, but what do you want to study? Well, I said, what was happening in Vienna around 1900? And so he said, okay, essay title. What was happening in Vienna around 1900? And it's gone on from there.

And the other thing is my mother is half Austrian. My mother is Austrian, was Austrian. So I'm half Austrian. I'm a big fan of Austria. I think, look, man, any place where they're selling me a sausage on every corner. Isn't that where he got sick? No, no, no.

That's in Holland. I ate many sausages in Viennaienna i did not get sick i eat so many of these things and they've got cheese infused through them and they just give you a fork and a bit of mayonnaise or they just hollow out a bit of bread and they shove the sausage in there so it's all in case the criner yeah the best the best i think about those sausages and why can't i have that sausage in america people go you gotta go down to this butcher and i've tried all these things. I've tried to buy this.

I don't know why, but I'm not a big fan of the boiled meat meal, which is like the national dish. Tougher. Yeah, they boil a steak. And you can see why some people are like, and then they have like noodle soup, but it's not noodles. It's just sliced up pancake in there. We wonder why there's a lot of fat fucks that come out of Austria.

Tafelspitz. Yeah. Tafelspitz, yes. It was good, though. It was good, but that's their cuisine. And it doesn't look... There's a reason that there's not one in LA. Okay.

Or America. I don't think there's one in all of America maybe in Cleveland where all the people went to reside afterwards but I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions. That's not quite true Jim

I've watched the guy the devil next door, the bloke who was meant to be the demon of out suits or whatever who went on trial in Israel, and he was found at the Ford company in Cleveland. Plus, when I'm in Cleveland, there's more bratwurst and pierogies than anywhere else in the country. There's German bars as far as I can see.

That's West Cleveland. That's the East Cleveland. Get it right, Jim. All Cleveland's Cleveland. There's a restaurant. Is there a good bit and a bad bit I thought there was just Cleveland I don't know Did you know my background

Because my father was from Cleveland Of course he was But he married an Austrian It was a little taste of home Why do you think I live in America And I date a British woman? Bit of familiarity. There's just a thing on Google that says,

is Toffle Spitz nice? I like it. I thought it was good. But yeah, I know what you're saying. It can be with horse. You have to have horseradish with it. Oh, no, we had it. It was good.

We had one of the elite restaurants of it. We had the best version of it. We were taken out by a local, a person from Austria, and we went to a high-end restaurant. It was an excellent dinner. It was a really good dinner. I have a lot of opinions on Austria. They're mostly good.

Mostly good. I'm a big fan of Austria. All right. Well, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to ask Jim a series of questions about Austria. At the end of him answering those, Stephen Beller, you're going to grade him on his accuracy questions about Austria. At the end of him answering those, Stephen Beller, you're going to grade him on his accuracy, 0 through 10.

10's the best. Jack's going to grade him on confidence. I'm going to grade him on how hungry I am. And at the end of this 0 through 10, if you only score 0 through 10 total, Dr. Oz Tria. Get it? Oz. Dr. Oz Tria. Yeah. Big bloody leap, that one.

Yeah, I know. Well, get ready for the next two. Yeah, yeah. 11 through 20, The Wizard of Austria. Good, good. 21 through 30. This one I really had to stretch. Australia. Now, Oz, Tria, Osborne.

Right. That one wasn't good. That should have been the't good the Austrians because Australia gets called Oz because of Australia we get called Oz yeah and then Australians

get called Aussies A-U-S-S-I-E comma S I imagine they could be called Aussies as well there's a lot of like there's a lot of

fun punny stuff around Vienna where it's just like- It's not a question. You can ask them. No, but they have a T-shirt with koalas crossed out. You're in the wrong place. And there's an Australian bar in the middle. Nice. You know, I went to it.

Is there a nickname? Because that's not a question. Is there a nickname for Austrians? Aussies? That's a good question. Is there a nickname for Austrians? Aussies? That's a good question. Not really. So if British people are called Brits and Aussies are called Aussies and Americans are called Yanks.

Austrians. Austrians, that's their actual Australian. An Austrian. It's Oesterheiker. So it's difficult to kind of shorten that. Fisterheiker? Sausage people. Yeah, that sounds like the beginning of a porn movie.

Or the end, actually. Actually, Night Porter was filmed in, not sure you'd call that a porn movie, but that was filmed in Vienna. Okay. Anyway. Okay, first question. By the way, by the way,

you know the old, there was a T-shirt, you talked about T-shirts? Yeah. There was a T-shirt back when it says, there are no kangaroos in Austria? Yeah, yeah. That was the T-shirt. They're still selling that T-shirt.

It's not true. There are a few in the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna. Oh, I assume you'd have some and you'd boil them up in water and eat them. That's probably what they serve you for tofu. Look, I've eaten kangaroo plenty of times, so I'm not one to talk. Actually, I am one to talk. That's my whole thing. All right, first question.

When was Austria founded as a country? Oh, fuck off. All right, so how long has it been a country? Yeah. Found it as a country. It's not helping the confidence. Yeah, and so Mozart was Austrian. I'm going to say 500 years ago.

Okay. 500 years ago? 500 years ago. What does Austria's flag look like? like bloody that's a good one as well yeah uh austria's flag austria's flag i feel like i know i think it's i believe it's red and white with like a shit oh no it's poland uh so Germany, it has like an eagle in the middle of it. And I'm going to say black, white, and yellow. And what's the significance of the design?

Love eagles, man. Love eagles. If I didn't get the first bit right, I'm not going to get the second bit right. No, you didn't. I just looked it up. Who was the first ruler slash leader of Austria? What was their title? Come on.

Dig deep. I'm going to go Fuhrer. Okay. I'm going to go with the title. It would have been a king or queen, Austrian. They had royal families. Yeah. So I'm going to say king, and it was a guy called Frank.

Who are some notable figures from Austrian history? Mozart. Mm-hmm. The von Trapp family. Yep. Crocodile Dundee. You're missing a big guy. I feel like there's a big one.

There's a really big one you're missing. Oh, Hitler. Yeah, Hitler's Austrian. Yeah, Hitler was from... There's another big one. There's a really big one you're missing. Oh, Hitler. Yeah, Hitler's Austrian. Yeah, Hitler was from... There's another big one. He's not a politician. But they don't have any statues, so I can't remember him. Crocodile Dundee, Hitler.

Crocodile Dundee, Hitler. Anywhere? Lie down on the couch, Jim, then think about it. Oh, Sigmund Freud. There you go. No head, Stephen. Zygmunt Freud and the Von Trapp family. And if we look at Maria Von Trapp, right, because she got married in the end.

Bloody homely woman. She's no Julie Andrews. Who's the Von Trapps? Sound of Music. Now, the Sound of Music is set in Salzzburg which is in in austria and i have it on fairly good authority that austrians yeah out of pure defiance and being shitty none of them have seen the film that's what we were told there and i asked a few people afterwards and i referenced it on stage none of them have fucking seen the sound Music, one of the greatest movies of all time. And it also does so much for their tourism, right?

People from all over the world come to spin around on that fucking, on that mountain and then skip around fountains and shit. But none of the Austrians have seen it. Well, I told you I used to watch that movie in school all the time, but class was never long enough to see the full movie. So I just saw the beginning and it was all really nice. I never got to the Nazi part. Oh, I know.

It was on this podcast. You said, oh, there's Nazis. I'm like, what? You didn't know there was Nazis? No. That's what I'm saying. I didn't see the second half where the Nazis were. I only saw the first half.

What are some famous landmarks in Austria? The Van Tromp family house. Okay. The Salzburg salt mines, which is where you get the best salt in the world is from the salt mines in Salzburg I bought it at the airport

it is delicious okay I'm gonna say the Vienna the Vienna has like one of the great concert halls of all time

in Vienna yeah one of the great like sort of opera houses of all time we were across the street from it yeah yeah where do I perform yeah when you were performing in Austria what theater was that Yeah. One of the great like sort of opera houses of all time. We were across the street from it.

Yeah, yeah. Where do I perform? Yeah. When you were performing in Austria, what theater was that? Theater. What is the significance? Did you do a theater? We were in a theater, yeah. What is the significance?

Was it where Jesus died? What is the significance of the Habsburg dynasty in Austrian history? Because they have the Habs and the Habs not. Yeah. And that was the Habs. They were the people who did have. So they had a lot of money. That's where the term, the Habs and the Habsnot.

Okay. Right? And so the dynasty was a popular TV show. Okay. Who killed Ludwig? It kept them all fucking hung up all summer. All summer, everyone was talking about, I don't know, he got shot.

Donald Schwarzenegger, give me another point. Yeah, we all forgot him. What was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and how did it come into existence? The Austro-Hungarian Empire? Well, I'll tell you what. Austro-Hungarian Empire. I'll tell you what i'll tell you what austria should have taken most of the credit i've been to hungary austria austria far superior country to hungary

budapest is a nice castle it's a nice castle but i judge places by what i what food i can buy on the streets and i'm with you and we have one of the worst dinners on the tour you can't buy a good meal in hungary it's fucking impossible i've tried spending money i've tried where the locals tell me it's all shit i'll never forget the airport story you told it's shit that's romania that's romania romania were you going to budapest we were on the way to budapest the airport romania is as basic a place that I've ever been. Yeah. And I've been in buildings that have been shut down. Can you explain?

I don't think you need to answer that question. I don't think you know. People on the floor slicing ham on a blanket. In the middle of the airport. Can you explain the significance of the Battle of Vienna in 1683? I don't know why I'm asking this. The significance of what year? 1683 in 1683 i don't know i'm asking this uh why the significance of what year 1683 in vienna 1680 vienna 1683 it was the year that hitler was born

it gave him the idea and what about the treaty of vienna in 1815 ah the treaty it was a trifle type thing here's a good question how did austria fare during world war ii ah yeah uh very well for the first bit okay and then it petered off right at the end uh they were they were they were they were with hitler pretty quick on right now pretty early on they were they were with the nazis but if the sound of music taught me anything there was a few people because that was the thing the dad, Christopher Plummer, comes in, and he sees the fucking, he's been away on his honeymoon, right? He's been off shagging Julie Andrews high on a hill somewhere, right? And he comes back, and the fucking, some cunt fucking put a Nazi flag

up in his house. Yep. And he gets there, and he fucking tears it down, and then he rips it in half like this. Fuck the Nazis. I like that all of your knowledge is based on the sound of music. It's than nothing it's true what role did austria play in the cold war i don't think that was in the sound of music the cold war uh the cold war um i know i know i know they they kept captain america frozen no no during the cold war, so the Cold War, maybe they were a refuge

or something for people from East Germany to escape into. And how did they rebuild and recover after World War II? Yeah, that's so nice. It looks like it's kind of preserved. Yeah, whatever they did, bravo to the construction people. It's one of the coolest cities ever. Because if you go to Berlin, Berlin, like they did, bravo to the construction people. It's one of the coolest cities ever. Because if you go to Berlin, Berlin, like people go, oh, it's crazy good Berlin.

You know, you come here, you have, you can do anything you want at any hour of day. It's a fucking dump. You can tell. It's all new. It's like new. It's all been rebuilt in the 70s, right? The worst architectural time in history.

And it fucking looks... Because you go to Hamburg and all this type of stuff, and it's still beautiful. Vienna to me is like one of the prettiest cities ever. Munich is a beautiful city. Munich still... But Berlin is... And so whatever they've done in Vienna,

they rebuilt it pretty quick. I would have say... Wouldn't put it past a bit of slavery would probably help them out or something okay how did austria contribute to the cultural and intellectual developments of europe what was there um well with mozart they were at the forefront of music uh they also invented the mozart chocolate which is an overrated truffle if ever I've had one. Yeah, I don't like those. We had those.

Sausages are great. The chocolate's whatever. Yeah, the chocolate, leave it up to the Swiss. Yeah, you're really close to Switzerland. I know what you're trying to do. The store's full on there, though. Yeah, yeah. I reckon they probably also invented those boxes where you wind it, it plays one song over and over again.

That would be a Vienna thing. Ding, ding, ding. The music box. Also, Vienna, sort out your weed stores, right? Because you go in there and they're like, we can't see anything. Cultural and intellectual. We can't see anything with THC in it, right? And you're like, but I want to get high.

And I go, what do you do? And they go, oh, this just has like CBD, but doesn doesn't have thc and i'm like who comes in here and the guy's like just wait there and then he like handed me weed over the counter he's like this will get you high it was good yeah it was fine yeah we did an escape room i couldn't get out of it yeah it worked it was just your hotel room it was a knockoff harry potter a Nazi bunker. Let me skip that question. We'll just do the last two then. One of the greatest films ever made was set in post-second World War Vienna. What is its name?

Sound of Music. Yeah. Post? Yeah, yeah. This is according to Steven. He thinks this is one of the greatest films ever made. It's pre-World War. I didn't say this.

It's not Post. It's not Post. I know, but it's a different movie. Rolf. It's not the. It's not Post. I know, but... Because Rolf... It's a different movie. Rolf. It's not The Sound of Music. Yeah, but The Sound of Music is one of the greatest movies of all time. This is our guest opinion. Well, this is the other one. All right, this fucking...

Steve, this movie better have fucking songs. It better have songs that I can fucking rattle away like this, like a few of my favorite fucking things. Because I... Okay, what is it? Post, that means after. Yeah. And is it not just set in Austria,

but it's also like Austrian driven? Set in post Second World War Vienna. Billy Joel had a song called Vienna. Vienna where it's for you. Put that in, give me a point. Blue. It stars Orson Welles. Oh, Orson Welles

That would be the name of my world company Orson Welles You've got a lot of companies Yeah, I'm mostly I don't think he's going to get it It stars Orson Welles We'll answer that one first Orson Welles was

War of the Worlds Yeah, it was War of the Worlds or it's Citizen Kane Touch of Evil Citizen Kane isn't set in Vienna but I'm going to say Citizen Kane last question how has Austria's position in Europe evolved over time what do you mean like where it's actually

located? you know it's reputation or it's politically. It's gotten away with a bit of murder. That's what I reckon about Austria. There's a few countries. There's a few countries that are just like this. Crazy what those Germans did, huh? What country are you talking about?

I'm looking at you, Netherlands. Yeah, the Dutch get away with a lot of this. Yeah, the Dutch really have gotten away with a lot. Oh, the Dutch are like, we are wooden shoes and weed. That is what we do. You know what I mean? And they're like, they conquered. They're fucking, what's wrong with South Africa?

That was the Dutch. Forget South Africa. When we were inrica when we were in singapore i've like i'm we're in singapore and i was just reading something and it was like the dutch got here i'm like the dutch have been everywhere fucking around the dutch and the the french as well the french is just smoking cigarettes colonizing faces like all right what are you talking about mauritius? Yes, there are no more people there. Sometimes questions.

How did Jim do on his knowledge of Austria, 0 through 10, Stephen? 10's the best. Well, it's up and down, I think. Like the Austrian economy in the 1940s. Nice. Should I go through by question? Well, we're going to go back and answer them. Like the Austrian economy in the 1940s Nice That should make it a 10 Should I go through question by question? Well we're going to go back and answer

For right now just give me a score And then we'll go question by question I'll lead us I'd say about 5 How do you do a confidence check? 4, he keeps saying he doesn't know what any of this is And he got really mad about the sound of music I'm pretty hungry

I'm right about the sound of music I'm going to give you a 19, Wizard of Austria There's a really mad About the sound of music Pretty hungry though Well I'm right I'm right about the sound of music I'm gonna give you a 19 Wizard of Austria There's a better movie Than the sound of music Let's skip Let's go straight to that film Let's skip ahead to this question

Don't say that Because I bet you Whatever film that Forrest Is about to say Doesn't have fucking bus tours With people singing I'll tell you that right now Well Stephen's gonna tell us

One of the greatest films Ever made Was set in post second World War Vienna What is its name? The Third Man. Never heard of it. Never heard of it.

I haven't even watched the first two movies. Kind of more popular, almost as popular it is, it's more popular in Vienna than The Sound of Music. They actually have tours through the sewers and so on and so forth where you can see where Orson Welles. That's a thriller.

The Venetians, right? The Venetians. Or are that people from Venice? That's people from Venice. That's from Venice. Yeah, people from Venice. People from Venice don't understand the music? No, Venetians.

I said Venetians. I remember there was a goalkeeper who was from Venice and he kept on letting goals in for Manchester United. He was only there for a small time, and they called him the Venetian blind. I will say this. On Rotten Tomatoes, the third man has 99%. That's pretty good.

I'm not saying it's a good film. Metacritic, 97%. I'm just saying. Well, that movie came out before those are even things I think it's but culturally look it's not legit legit's better than the third man and we don't do bus tours yeah I'm telling you people go just to Graham Greene wrote it he's good so I've a great film Jim I think you should see it it's got some couple of good jokes too how about the viennese can they get called the viennese yeah what about the viennese

is that the people from uh viennese or the or the uh vienna kong Vienna Kong. God. No. All right, let's get to the questions. Not in the Austrian style, I think. Okay, first question here. When was Austria founded? They hide in the sewers, I've been told.

When was Austria founded as a country? Jim said 500 years ago. Is that correct? Well, I gave Jim 10 for that because it's an impossible question. Because Austria, the Margraviate of Austria was founded in 976. The Duke Duchy of Austria, 1156. The Archduchy in 1358.

Then they had the Habsburgs kind of created what's now Austria. Oh, I know about the Habsburgs. Austria Empire of 1526. Yeah. Then 1713, 1804 is the Empire of Austria, 1867 is Austria-Hungary, 1918 is the Austrian Republic that we have now.

Yeah, it's a trick question, I guess. So it's a trick question, basically. I'm going to give Jim 10 for that. All right, so 500 years is right. Yeah, well, 1918... I think it's actually to the day. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I've talked about it before. I'll talk about it again.

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It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched up to a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Learn to make time for the things that make you happy with better help visit betterhelp.com slash idk today to get 10 off your first month that's better help help.com slash idk uh what does austria's flag look like what is the significance of his dying is it red and white yeah red and white it is red and white? Yeah. Red and white? It is red and white, but it... Damn, what's that?

But it's not quite... I'll give you five for that, Jim. Yeah, red and white, red and white. You're not scoring him any more. I did know red and white, but then I changed. Yeah, it's two red stripes with a white stripe in the middle. Like, so, yeah. Yes, indeed.

And it does have an eagle on it, it's a an official flag it does have an eagle on it oh yeah there you go yeah that's the eagle that's the one i was thinking of yeah yeah okay my bad my bad i just looked it up real quick what is the significance of this design is there the color is there a significance of it yes there, there is. It was the coat of arms of the original dynasty that ruled Austria, which is the Babenbergs. And there was a claim, at least a legend, that it represents the fact that I looked at this up just to make sure. Leopold V in 1190 at the Siege of Acre was wearing a white tunic as a crusader, and he was so drenched in blood

that when he took his belt off in the middle, his sword belt in the middle, it was red, white, and red. Oh, yeah, the belt was white. Do you reckon eagles... Oh, is Battenberg the cake? No, that's the Battenbergs. These are the

Babenbags. Oh, so they're the bread rolls, the bats. They're all Germans, but yeah. But yeah. All right. What were you saying? Nothing. I was about to say about eagles. You know who are the Battenbergs? Who?

The Mount Batten. And where are they from? You remember Prince Charles, now King Charles' godfather, I think, or his relative. And I think Prince Philip was a Mount Batten too. They were all Nazis, the royal family knew no one. No, no, no, James. Bloody they were.

He was off hanging out with Hitler. I'm telling you, before old Stutter McGee came in, the bloke before was hanging out with Hitler. I've seen The Crown. And it's all wrong, but yeah, never mind. As a historian, The Crown is a nightmare because you never know what's true and what's not true. What, did Diana die in Spain or something?

She didn't die at all. Who was the first ruler leader of Austria? What was their title? I guess we're going by the 1918. Is that what we're going to do or is it still? Yeah. I don't know. Well, again, that's impossible because

Austria's had so many versions, but I guess the best answer would be Carl Renner, who was the first... Love his movies. Chancellor of Austria 1918. Chancellor. Chancellor is a word. Chancellor, yeah, the Chancellor.

Would you say love his movies, Carl Renner? Yeah, Carl Renner. What happened? There's Cave 1 and Cave 2. It's very good. And then notable figures from Austrian history, Jimson Mozart, von Trapp family, Crocodile Dundee, Hitler, Freud.

And then Donald Schwarzenegger? I'm not sure about Crocodile Dundee. That's a bit of a... And Arnold. And Arnold. Yeah. There's Arnie. Yes, Arnold's name.

Where is he from? Is he from the Holocaust? There are lots of them. There's Gustav Arnie. Yes, Arnold's name. Yeah. Where is he? Is he from the Holocaust? There are lots of them. There's Gustav Mahler. There's Arnold Schoenberg. There's Friedrich von Hayek. Oh, yeah. There are lots.

There's Billy Wilder was Austrian. Oh. Oh. Wait, who's Billy Wilder? He was a rock star. Was he? No, great director. Oh, Billy Wilder? He was a rock star. Was he? No, great director. Oh, Billy Wilder.

Something Like It Hot is a Billy Wilder movie. Oh, I like Something Like It Hot. The apartment. Pretty good movie. That bloody shoot. Pretty good director. If you like a thick girl, Marilyn Monroe was at a peak in that movie. When she walks down the train, that was bloody good. Famous landmarks in Austria, Jim said the Von Trapp family house.

It is. The Salzburg salt mines and the concert hall. Yeah. It's all true. You're going to have things that are bigger, but everything I said was right. They just have concert hall. I would say that it's an interesting story about not the actual Von Trapp family house, but the house that was used in the film to symbolize that the von Trapp's family house is Schloss Leopoldskron, which is in Salzburg and was the seat of one of the Salzburg bishops. bishops but in from the 1920s it was owned by Max Reinhardt

the famous film theatre director and anyway and it's now the seat of the Salzburg seminar I'm being a bit of a historian sorry

whatever it is it's a banging location. It's right there in the water. Oh, it's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful. And that's in Salzburg? Yeah, Salzburg. Yes, that's just down the road from the castle, as it were.

What's the concert? It has its own lake. The concert hall you were talking about was the Philharmonic, right? Yeah, the Opera House there. Okay. Any other famous landmarks in Austria we should know about What's the con? He had his own lake. The concert hall you were talking about was the Philharmonic, right? The Opel Konze. The Opel Konze. And, okay, any other famous landmarks in Austria we should know about besides the salt mines? Well, there's Schönbrunn. There's the Hofburg in the center of Vienna.

It's full of them. Yeah, yeah. We talked about it. What is that? I mean, there are other ones like Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Good one. Yeah, but not as fun as the Santa music tour, is it? There are lots of mountains in the Alps and so on.

Yeah, we were in Mayerhofen. Salzburg Castle. For that one. It's very picturesque, Vienna. Did we go for a big dinner there somewhere that was on the water or was that somewhere else? Where did we go? That was in Zurich.

Oh, Zurich. But Vienna is like one of the – yeah, like you said, there's so many. You walk through the city forever and everything is old. The buildings are really beautiful and there's just building after building. It never ends compared to the other cities I feel like right that's a nice place Vienna

I got a lot of time for Vienna all you need to make me happy is a hot dog at every corner it keeps getting top marks

nicest place to live in the world at the moment which is ironic given certain things what was that horse we talked about we saw horses

remember those horses I've seen horses in other countries no no no but it was a glassed in area with horses in the middle of the city. Well, again, that's very much a landmark. That's the Spanish riding school.

The Spanish riding school. You don't remember that? I saw a picture recently where the riders were leading the horses out, and the horses were grazing in the park next door, which is quite sweet. Yeah. Anyway. What is the significance of the Habsburg dynasty in Austrian history?

Jim said you have the Habs and Habsnauts. Dynasty was a popular TV show. Who killed Ludwig? I think that's wrong. Yeah, I think that's a zero, Jim. The way Forrest said it was a master Habitsburg's were a dynasty ironically they're a Swiss dynasty that also on territory before there was a Switzerland and they and they were they had

territory also in Alsace which is now in France and somehow or other in the Middle Ages they ended up in in Austria in what's now Austria and then and then they went on to be rulers of Austria, then of Spain, then of the Netherlands, then of Burgundy, and then most of Poland, most of Hungary, large parts of Southeast Europe. They had quite a career. Habsburgs. And South America as well. I never even met anyone in Habsburg, but they would assume have money just based on that last answer. You know Habsburgs. And South America as well. I assume they have money, just based on that

last answer. You know Habsburg? No, they made the small gummy bears, yes. Yes. Hasbro. Haribo. Haribo dynasty.

Not quite. They're not the toy makers either, as far as I know. What was the Austro-Hungarian Empire and how did it come into existence? Haribo dynasty. Not quite. They're not the toy makers either, as far as I know. What was the Austro-Hungarian Empire and how did it come into existence? Austria should take all the credit. Austro-Hungarian Empire. Jim said Hungary hasn't done anything. Jim got six on that, I think. Because I shat on Hungary.

He prioritized Austria over Hungary. Way more important. There's nothing goingat on Hungary. He prioritised Austria over Hungary. Way more important. There's nothing going on in Hungary. Like just burger joints with frozen patties. It's not very good. What place was that? The whole place. There isn't a good meal to be had in Hungary.

It's the reason everyone's so fucking hungry. All the food's shit. Well, they're Hungarians, so they have to be hungry. Anyway, the Austro-Hungarian Empire happened in

1867 when the Austrian Empire had to be divided in two because the Hungarians had demanded it and wouldn't pay their taxes and wouldn't wouldn't uh wouldn't i kept resisting austrian rule so the austrian emperor basically allowed hungary to go half of half independent like goulash get the fuck out of here you gotta lash yeah you gotta come to the table with something better than fucking goulash. Goulash?

Yeah. Oh, so that's... That looks like... Debrecina sausages quite good. Beefy Mac. Debrecina sausages quite good. We didn't have those when we were there. That was like the worst meal we had on tour.

Yeah, it's not. The worst ones. People are like... They shoot a lot of films there, though, now, in Budapest. My house in Budapest. Yeah. The nice thing about Budapest is that the Danube actually goes through the middle of town. Whereas in Vienna, which has the beautiful Blue Danube,

the Blue Danube is a brown river on the side. So that's the kind of thing. That area is nice, by the castle and the river. That's the best part of Budapest. It's pretty enough, but the food's crap. Views are lost on Jim. I don't care for views. in the river that's the best part of budapest pretty enough but the food's crap yeah views are lost on jim we know yeah i i don't care for views and his prime minister is pretty pretty nasty i must say yes but then oh we don't get political on this show

i might be a big fan of that man slash woman what uh what um what do you what do you say about views again i forgot views are lost now but if it comes into your oh if it comes in front of you you'll see yeah if if i just walk around the corner and there's one i'll go yeah it's a good one but i won't i won't search it out yeah it's like i saw one the other day i drove from i drove from uh big bear to palm springs and i went over the mountain rather than around the mountain which made and i went over that and and that was took me took my breath away because of the altitude you didn't stop though but uh no i didn't stop you never see it out the window

you never stopped like no i've never i've never stopped i've never put a i've never put a nickel I can see it out the window. You never stop. No, I've never put a nickel in one of those machines to look at something. When we went to Milan, there was a day where you're like, I'm going out today. We went on the train. We went to Lake Como. We did a couple of things in Milan, actually, to be fair. But we went to Lake Como on a train. We ate.

We walked to the bottom of the lake. And then he goes, I've seen Lake Como now. But the lake is massive. It goes so much further. And there's all these castle-y type things. He's right. He did see the lake. I've seen it now.

He saw the lake. I don't need to go back to Lake Como. My father always does that. It's like, my brother rings up and goes, hey, Dad, why don't you come out and spend some time with us in Perth? My dad's like this, I've seen Per Perth I've been to Perth before yeah but your grandkids are here it's not really the town you're visiting it's the people um can you explain the significance of the battle of Vienna of 1683 they met me in Alice Springs I've never

been uh Jim said he was born in 1683 Hitler I? I don't think that's right. No, of course it's not. Battle of Vienna, 1683. What happened then? No, that was completely wrong, Jim, yes. Damn. 1683, the Austrians claim that they saved Christendom from the Turks. What, Christianity? It was the end of the siege of Vienna by the Turks. What did they save from the Turks?

Christendom. What's Christendom? I think I'm not really an expert on Christendom actually, but I think it's something to do with Christianity and the fact that there was, you know, the Turks who were not Christians, but who were Muslims, had conquered most of Southeast Europe and they were trying to conquer the rest of Europe. Oh, yeah. The Turks are a pain in the neck. And the Austrians stopped them with the help of the Poles. You've heard this.

You're going to hear this first right here. Turks, pain in the neck. Pain in the neck country. I don't think that's first, but yeah. Yeah, bloody pain in the ass, the Turks. Have you ever been to Glendale? They're not fans. Armenians are not fans of Turkey.

Yeah, Turkey. Turkey's always up. They're shit stirrers, the Turks. Weren't you talking about touring there? Yeah, come and see me. Istanbul, yeah. No, I'd like to go to Istanbul. I would like to go to Istanbul.

But World War I, they were no good to the Australians, the Turks. Okay. No good. We were shooting at them as well. No, that was rather nasty. Yeah, that one. The other thing that happened theoretically in 1683 is that the croissant was invented. Oh, what, in Austria?

Yeah. Not in France. What? Typical French. Why did they call it a French name then? Because it was originally a, let me think, it's a crescent. And it was, I'm trying to think what they were. It's meant to be like a moon.

A kipfel, which is, of course, the sign of the Turks, right? Of Islam. Kipfel, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the crescent. Yeah, this says, I take everything back I said about the Turks. An Austrian baker, to celebrate the defeat of the Turks, is supposed to have created a crescent-shaped pastry. Ah.

And the reason why it became the croissant later is because when Marie Antoinette, who was Austrian, became Queen of france she brought her viennese pastries with it with with her and to this day in fact the croissant and viennese and pastries in france are called viennoiserie or viennese pastry i i believe that chemicals in food help make you fat not type of stuff the fresher things are the less fat you are because i've been around europe and you canunts are eating fucking pastry. The Danish, Danish's.

Danish's and croissants. They're eating this shit all the fucking time. It's at all the breakfasts and they're all way thinner. Like I was a fat guy in Europe. I was walking around, people were staring at me. I hope you have a good dinner party fact because that one was really good. That one was very good.

No, no, no. You can't beat that one. Because I looked it up, yeah, Kipferl. Austria, it's all there. The Austrians invented the croissant. Yeah, there you go. Who invented the chocolate filled one? That's against the real credit. I think that's probably the French. Yeah, there you go. Who invented the chocolate-filled one? That's against the real credit.

I think that's probably the French. That's decadence. Yeah, they did the versions. We did the chocolate-filled. We make it square. The one filled with the cigarettes.

We warm it up, we have it melt. Yeah. What's the significance of the Treaty of Vienna in 1815? I said it was a truffle like dessert. Yeah, it's a Jackrow trifle.

You were wrong. You don't know what a trifle is. A trifle is an English dessert with jelly and custard and all that type of stuff. It's layered. Don't you remember that episode of Friends where Rachel is going to make a real English trifle, but the pages are stuck together, and she makes half a shepherd's pie and half a trifle,

and it's got minced meat through it and they have to end like Joey and Ross. This sounds like a really lame episode. It's a very good episode. Joey and Ross want to hang out with Elle McPherson and her friends because they're having like a hot dance at Thanksgiving. So they have to eat the trifle and Joey

pounds it away and he's like this, I liked it. Custard good. Jelly good. good jam good meat good it's a good episode it's a treaty of vienna 1815 what happened there uh that was the end of the french revolutionary napoleonic wars and it and it basically uh was the peace treaty that that held through most of the 19th century until the First World War in effect. And it's up there with the kind of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the post the post Second World War settlement. So it was it was a major diplomatic settlement.

Is Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent a legitimate Viennese accent? Because I met a guy from Vienna and he was like, oh, no one. He goes, no one speaks like that. I didn't think he was from Vienna. No, he was from Vienna. And he said that

Arnold Schwarzenegger bunged it on a bit. He was like bunging on that accent. Or is that like how the Beatles have like an old Liverpool accent and that doesn't exist anymore? Or is that a real Vienna accent? Is he there? Sorry, chaps.

There was a phone call. Okay, no problem. All I said was, does schwarzenegger sound like bullshit or not is that how people sound is his accent real like is it in austria yeah is he laying it on thick that's what jim asked because i think he's laying it on thick but yeah everyone thinks he's laying it on fun there are i mean he's certainly not a Viennese. The Viennese tend to, it depends what part of, what class.

He grew up in a small town in Austria, and his father was a Nazi who came back from the war and was very disillusioned. And then Arnold was like, I'm going to lift things in the woods, like that. And then he made several movies, including the film Twins. So to answer your question, yes, that accent is bung dong. It's your question.

There are elements that are Austrian, but the Viennese sound completely different from Schwarzenegger. Is Schwarzenegger a popular name? There are lots of Schwarzenegger yeah is schwarzenegger a popular popular name there are lots of schwarzeneggers well i mean they're not that they're not that many schwarzeneggers around i would say yes kind of more schmidt or i mean a popular name in vienna for instance is is novotny which you'd think would be a czech name but there were so many czechs came to vienna uh during the time of the empire that uh but that you know about a third of the population was had czech origin at one point how many people are now named adolf

not many strangely enough but there was there was tons wasn't there and there were there were quite a few yeah but it for some reason it it went out of popularity yeah nobody knows um how did austria fare during world war ii jim said why i didn't call my son jeffrey dharma yeah jeffries how did austria fare during world war ii jim said very well actually jim you you got about 10 out of 10 on this song because because you you said that they started really well and they kind of peed it off at the end. Which I think is about right.

That would get your marks in a high school exam. I don't know if it would. Peed it off at the end? I will say this. Although they escaped the full consequences of the war. Yeah. They were with these holy... It's always Germany and then Italy and Japan.

Germany, Italy and Japan. They all get fucking told off, right, as being the nasty pasties of the war. And then like Holland and Austria and the French to a degree, and I always sort of walk away like this. What are you going to do, eh? What are you going to do? Fucking hate it like war.

What was he like well someone wants someone's once put it this way it says from 1938 to 1943 the austrians actually had become more or less germans but in 1943 uh around the time of stalingrad they started becoming austrians again it's like if australia's if australia started causing a lot of genocides like not like we've already done a couple but i mean like well we're done one but like if we had a new one a recent one a good one yeah right if we had if we had like no like a little doozy of a like what are you people gonna remember what are you up to yeah i would i i'd be less critical of new zealand than I am these days yeah

I'd be like New Zealand bro it's like the Mel Gibson joke he used to do what was that? it was like it was like Mel Gibson America's like

American actor Mel Gibson whatever and then when he said all this shit he goes Australian actor Mel Gibson

so it was like when I moved over yeah years ago it used to be like this used to be American actor Mel Gibson blah da da da da and his new to be like this used to be American actor Mel Gibson blah blah blah

and his new movie Lethal Weapon Braveheart American actor American actor because he was born American he moved over to

Australia when he was six and then as soon as he said the N word I was watching American news and I went Australian actor Mel Gibson

has got himself in some hot water and I'm like fuck off was it the N word yeah he did a lot he said those things about the Jews and he said but he said the n-word was in

his repertoire I assume yeah I mean that makes sense the Austrians after the second world war the Austrians were the way the Austrians did it was they persuaded the allies that Hitler was a German and Beethoven was an Austrian.

So Beethoven wasn't an Austrian? Not really, no. When did he move to Salzburg? We're talking Beethoven here, not Mozart. Oh, I was talking Mozart. Salzburg wasn't part of Austria at the time, which is rather complicated. we're talking Beethoven here, not Mozart. Oh, I was talking Mozart, okay. Because he was, because Salzburg wasn't part of Austria at the time, which is rather complicated.

Really? Where was Salzburg from? Where was Salzburg part of? But anyway, yes. Oh, Jim was asking, what part was Salzburg? Salzburg was part of the Holy Roman Empire. So Prussia and Austria? But it was its own archbishopric. So it wasn't actually part of the Austrian lands,

which were at that time defined as what the Habsburgs ruled over. I skipped that question. I'm sorry. What role did Austria play in the Holy Roman Empire? Was Hitler a proud Austrian? Because he always used to say German this, Germany that, right? No, he was born in Austria, but he did become a German citizen. He escaped to Munich and I think became a German citizen during the First World War.

Well, he was a soldier in the First World War for the German army, so you think he'd probably even done it before then, yeah? Yes, yes. I mean, the trouble was that there were many Austrians who regarded themselves as German, even if they were Austrian citizens. They were still culturally German. Oh, no, I've seen that bit in The Sound of Music, where all of the von Trapp mates...

So he escaped from Austria to Germany, but then when the war came, he was part of the German army. Now, can we quickly get up Maria von Trapp, right? The real Maria von Trapp, just? The real Maria von Trapp, just so we can have a look at what she looks like. I honestly didn't know that The Sound of Music was a real story until this podcast. No, it's a real thing.

I've seen the movie many times. They emigrated. They emigrated to America. They were like a traveling... They did like the Edinburgh Festival type gigs, that type of stuff, and they emigrated to America. I did not know this. And the kids, I think they're still even...

There she is. Oh, boy. She was bloody... If you saw that thing skipping down the road with a guitar case, I have confidence it's the girl. She wouldn't have done too well. I don't know how she got a billionaire. I guess it's because he had six fucking kids.

How old was she at the time? I don't know. Jack was just showing it. She looks... Oh, no, she's a homely girl. homely girl 40s there yeah she was nothing to write home about maybe when she was 18 yeah you never know don't start googling maria von trap 18 try maria von trap nude try maria von trap xxx no no no no no yeah you'll get some you'll get some uh cosplay by the way um jim you were right about the sound of music and not being that popular in austria partly because if you look

at if you look at the film and the narrative of the film um the von traps are okay and and and the and the and the the sisters and the nuns are okay But by the end of the film, all the other Austrians are basically Nazis. Are there Edelweiss flowers everywhere? Are they everywhere? Hmm? Edelweiss, the flower. Are they all over the place? No, they're up in the mountains.

Oh, and by the way, Americans for the longest time thought that Edelweiss was the Austrian national anthem. It has nothing to do with the Austrian national anthem. It was a song created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which is ironic, even that Rodgers and Hammerstein were the great American musical pair and both Jewish. Yeah, I don't know about Rodgers and Hammerstein. Yeah, that doesn't make sense. So they are, it does, I didn't really think about that too much when we were asking about,

why don't you like sound of music? But it does not portray most of Austria in a good light. That's what Stephen was saying. It makes it look pretty. The whole thing looks like a Bob Ross painting. That looks great. But like Stephen was saying, at the end of the movie,

they're all Nazis. It's the Kantan of it. Yeah, they're all Nazis. That bit where he just, he comes out and he goes, we're going to travel, we're going to sing songs, but I want to finish with this last song. Edelweiss. Yeah, yeah, they're all Nazis. That bit where he comes out and he goes, we're going to travel, we're going to sing songs, but I want to finish with this last song.

Edelweiss. Yeah, exactly. And then all the people in the audience, you all sing it together, they all sing Edelweiss. There's not a fucking dry eye in the house. And then the kids go, good. The way they decide to escape is by singing a little bit too long. Right?

Rather than escaping at the beginning of the concert, the end of the concert, what we'll do is, right, kids? And we're going to do this with a six-year-old. We're going to get on stage. This is another dinner table conversation, Jim. What? There is a story where the producers wanted to film the German troops

coming into the residence in Vienna the best part in the center of Vienna where the Archbishop's Palace is the center of Vienna they wanted to film the German troops

coming in in trucks with swastikas all around of course and for some reason the Austrian the Salzburg authorities

didn't like that well I believe the film was in the 1960s, right? All Austrians were against the Nazis. Yeah, but being the 1960s, it's only been 20 years removed from the war. I reckon if they knocked on enough doors, they could have got the outfits.

Grandad! You jest. Someone's here to see you! They want your outfit! Yes again! Sorry, go on. Then what happened was that the producers said, well, if we can't film... They said they couldn't film that with the Germans and so on

in the residence. So they said, well, OK, well, that's unfortunate. Because if we can't film the troops coming through, I guess we'll have to use the old newsreels. And the old newsreels showed all the people lining in the streets, Heil Hitler, Heil Hitler, throwing roses at the Germans coming in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so for some reason, the government of Salzburg allowed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Dutch are the same. Filming in the square. Except with one condition. No sound. Oh, no sound? Yeah.

So they didn't want anyone, you know. The only sound in the scene in the movie is of the engines of the trucks going through. Wow, that is a good one. There's no Heil Hitler, you know, no cheering crowds. Yeah, because there's nothing worse than, oh, I remember when we were invaded. Oh, that was a lovely day. Yeah, yeah.

Remember that? We all got the day off school. Role in the Cold War, Jim said they kept Captain America frozen. What's the real answer there? Well, if you'd seen The Third Man, you would have known, Jim. The movie, the popular movie. What was it? Well, Austria was the center of spies during the Cold War.

And also, Austria was divided between the between the four the four allied powers and vienna itself it was divided into into sectors uh and austria between 1945 and 1955 was a kind of a a kind of a kind of um a a uh fought over basically politically by the by the allies of the one the western allies on the one side and the Soviet Union on the other. And Austria only really gained its independence in 1955 with the promise that it will be neutral. So it did play a role in the Cold War, I think. And how did Austria rebuild and recover after World War II? Jim said a bit of slavery. That's always the answer for everything in it. too it jumps at a bit of slavery that's always the answer for everything in it well that that has that had come during the second world war as as you probably know right that the that the that

the the the the nazi authorities uh who were who were mostly german but the austrian austrians there too uh they used con they used slave labor and concentration camp labour to build things like, you know, to start building dams and so on. But the real reason why Austria... Oh, so I was right. I actually thought I was slightly right on that. I was slightly right on that answer then, yeah? But that was during the war. There were no...

I don't think there was any slavery after the war. You've got to push the first domino to make the bigger ones hit. After the war, yeah. After the war, I mean, Austria got a lot of investment during the war from the Nazis. So they created a huge steelworks in Linz, for instance. And then after the war, what happened was that the Americans, largely the Americans, the Soviet Union took lots of stuff out in their in their sector

and the um and the americans um put a lot of stuff in and in fact austria per capita was the country that got most out of the marshall plan when you're saying in their sector so okay, so when, okay, so we were allies with the Russians. The war ends, the Russians put a wall, East and West Germany. Why was there, was there a separation in Austria? What did the Russians get out of winning the war when it came to Austria? They got oil. There were oil wells in in eastern austria the the russian the russian sector or the soviet sector was was basically east eastern eastern uh austria um and there were quite a few there were quite a few uh there was an aircraft factory

which the nazis right was there a wall did they have a wall as well was it the same berlin wall or what was it there wasn't there wasn't ever a wall as well? Was it the same Berlin Wall or what was it? There wasn't ever a wall. Remember, the Berlin Wall only went up in 1961. I don't remember that, no. Between 1945 and 1961, there was no Berlin Wall. There were sectors, however. And in Austria as well, there were sectors. So there was an American sector, there was a you know, British sector, French sector, and Russian sector, and Vienna was divided between the four of them. But there were fences, and there were rivers and stuff, and there was control. You had to have your papers to get between sectors and so on.

I've got an important question. Who's the hottest chick ever in Austrian history who's the best looking woman and I'll google it and then I'll tell you whether you're right or wrong I thought you had an answer no no I don't know that's a difficult question google me hottest Austrian women of all time

one of the most amazing women of the 20th century was an Austrian that's Hedy Lamarr oh yeah Hedy Lamarr. Oh yeah, Hedy Lamarr. Who was pretty beautiful. I used to like her sister Handjob Lamarr. But she also invented Wi-Fi. Let me tell you something. What?

Hedy Lamarr invented Wi-Fi and she was hot? Look it up, look it up, Tim. Let's look up this hot Wi-Fi inventor. I just want to tell you real quick I put best-looking Austrian woman and it said did you mean Australian woman yeah yeah they just put up Margot Robbie and we go no we met Austria and they're like we heard you the first time we just we just thought you should look at Margot Robbie Hedy Lamar yeah she's she's

very pretty brief thing says, frequency hopping played a significant role in World War II was eventually used to develop Wi-Fi. Yeah. So she- Give me a look at Hedy Lamarr. She didn't literally create Wi-Fi. That goes to some Australian guy named-

Goes to Australian boffin, John O'Sullivan. Margot Robbie. Yeah, nothing wrong with Hedy Lamarr. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Her with the Wi-Fi good work Hedy Hedy I saw a meme

recently and it said it was it was all the social media like Zuckerberg does that and it said invented Wi-Fi and it was a woman

and I did not know who that was so it was Hedy Lamarr that was the whole meme I'm gonna learn all sorts of stuff and that was

it was Vienna 200 episodes get one through was Vienna not bombed is that why it's so like preserved by the was it was 200 episodes yeah get one through was vienna not bombed is that why it's so like preserved it was bombed towards the end of the war it was bombed heavily and and uh the the opera house for instance that you see today was uh was just was completely burnt out and bombed oh so they just rebuilt it with the saint stephen's cathedral was i think uh was was severely damaged too a lot a lot of vienna was damaged but so when they

rebuilt it they kept the sensibility of the old architecture and stuff and i guess they they they just rebuilt it the the saint stephen's cathedral which is a major landmark yeah one of them i forgot um that was um sorry uh my ears, my ears not retaining the earbuds. St. Stephen's Cathedral was completely reconstructed as it had been, more or less. And it was part of reestablishing Austria's identity, partly because they didn't like being seen as Germans anymore. Yeah. You went back to your Austrian roots.

Is there a bit of nationalism going on in Austria at the moment? I'll tell you where I get this from, because the whole world's going through this bit of, like, people just puffing their chest up at the moment. We went to get maybe our sixth or seventh sausage of the day. Right? And I was like, I'll have it without the bun, just where they give

you a little wooden fork and a bit of mayonnaise and mustard and ketchup on the side and you have it have a dip and there was yeah the bun is unnecessary after a while isn't it after a while after a while after your sixth one of the day yeah and um and and i was having a kaiser schatten whatever the one kaiser krang kaiser krang and there was a german bloke kieserkleiner there was oh that that fucking meatloafer Kleiner. Kieser Kleiner. Oh, that fucking meatloaf they sliced. It's just like- Bologna.

That's no good. It's like bologna. That's no good. Amos was having it and acting like he was enjoying it, but he wasn't. Anyway- Leberkies. Yeah, Leberkies.

Leberkies has its translation. Leberkies. Leberkies? Leberkies. Leberkies, yeah. Anyway, so there was a German bloke, an Austrian bloke, and he'd ordered his sausage, and he was sitting there just eating it on the little panel.

Oh, yeah, late at night. And he was talking to the bloke like this. Like this, right? And we're just like sitting there thinking. And what he was saying is, fucking Americans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amos was trying to talk to him because he knows some german and he thought he was like i'll be friendly with this guy was like there's good and dark

mine hyphen bug like that right and this guy was like i hate all of you fucking americans and he like amos is australian he's like fucking america and the guy who was like and the guy was serving the hot dog who i don't even think was Austrian born, but, you know, he knew the language, was like, oh, well, yeah, what are you going to do? And then the guy leaves and he's like, he did not like you. He didn't like anyone. He said, oh, fucking this, fucking that. Not big fan of you guys.

But he was just like a drunk, fat fuck. You know these people who who like hate tourism in their town yeah fucking tourists you want tourists we're in the middle of vienna you want people i get so proud when i see people taking photos in front of the opera house i think wonderful people have traveled well i get to see this every fucking day if i want and you've come and you look at... When I see people at the Chinese theatre putting their hands in the fucking concrete, I'm like, brilliant.

That's what it's meant to fucking do. Yeah. It's meant to bring people to come and look at this shit. Yeah. Taxes. Cultural... Yes, but yes, there is a lot of nationalism in Austria at the moment. Oh, yes.

Because they don't like... They like... Generally speaking, they like Western tourists who spend lots of money, that kind of foreigners, they don't mind. Except for the fat men you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't like there was a line for the dog.

You got to eat sausage right away. They really don't like Muslims. They don't like Muslims. Think back to 1683. And they don't like... They don't like what they... There's a really nasty word they used to have called Tushin

which is people from southeast Europe, i.e. anywhere to the south and east of where Austria is they were regarded as and if you think that Tushin sounds a bit like Juden you'd probably be right I don't know what Juden is

it does sound like Juden I don't know what Judden is. What does Uden mean? It does sound like Uden. I don't know what Uden means, but I know Jack's one. What's Uden? Have I just said the N-word? Okay. You assholes. What does Uden mean? I'm looking it up.

Forrest has just turned pale. Get your apology. His computer's just shooting steam out the side of him. um forest has just turned pale get your apology i didn't know there was such a bad word yeah this is just something in tibetan i don't think got it this is okay thank, Jim. Nothing wrong if you were. How did Austria contribute to the cultural and intellectual developments of Europe? Jim said Mozart, of course. Mozart chocolate sucks. Yeah. The Mozart chocolate sucks. The weed stores are fucking, just get over it.

Just get moving, Vienna. Like this facade. Clearly they're selling weed in there. It was good. The animals were good. It was good. We got fucked up in Vienna. Yeah, we got fucked up. I remember we were really high in Vienna. Like this facade. Clearly they're selling weed in there. It was good. The animals were good. It was good. We got fucked up in Vienna. I remember we were really high in Vienna. You want to know why they were good? Because we didn't know where it would work, so we took tons of them.

That's probably what it was. We were walking through the streets, going to the museums like... Fucking Americans. Trying to speak to fat Germans eating a sausage. Bonjour. That guy Germans eating a sausage. Bonjour. That guy gave you a hat? Ah!

What? Okay, so, okay, this is so weird, right? We're walking down the street. No, we came out of the escape room. We went to an escape. We were there for like three days, four days, and one day, just to pass a bit of time, we went to an escape room.

We come out of the escape room, and we're walking past a hat store and the guy in the hat store fucking runs out like oh my god gun control yeah yeah

you know what I mean he was from I forget where he was from he wasn't even Austrian he wasn't Austrian he was from I forget where he was from but anyways

so he sold us hats that were like real like if we were wearing leader hats he gave you hats yeah he gave us hats he goes I want to give you a hat to Jim yeah yeah and Amos you wanted to give me a war one the whole time and amos was there

just try can i have this one and the guy's like sure at the very end he goes oh yeah let me put this hat back i know what it was i didn't put a hat on at all but then amos had a hat on the whole time he goes oh wait i gotta put this back and the guy was like hey i guess you can have it like he was doing that thing i got one hat but, but it looks, whenever I wear it, it looks a bit like Bert Kreischer wears these type of hats. It's like a fedora kind of thing. Yeah, fedora type thing. You wore it for like three days.

I wore it for like three days. But if I, you know, I can't wear it without my shirt on. Yeah. It looks too much like Bert. But I looked at it, it had a little stitching in the thing, and it looked like a real oompa type of hat. Yeah. A real oompa type of hat. Yeah.

A real oompa type of hat. And... Oompa? Yeah, oompa music. Oompapa, oompapa, that's how it goes. From the movie Oliver, you dickhead. All right. Anyway, so...

But the oompa music, it's the beer hall music. Okay. And I wore it all... But me and Amos must have looked like the biggest cunts in the fucking country. I have pictures of you somewhere. Because it's not like we tried to learn the language. And we both have thick Australian accents. But we looked super.

Anyway, I got all the way home. And then I showed it to my wife. And I said, this is a traditional Austrian hat. And she pulls it off, looks at the tag, and goes, made in Austin. Austin? Yeah, it was Austin. Austin, Texas? Yeah, it was made in Austin, Texas. Oh, my God. And I got it in Vienna, and I thought I was a real Viennese.

Or a Viet Cong, as they might be called. We haven't figured this out yet. Yeah, I'll send you a picture of it. So what other people besides Mozart, or what was cultural and intellectual development of Europe, Stephen? What were some of the things that also... You can't have little moustache! Well, there's... Vienna around 1900,

as you would learn if you read my book on Vienna and the Jews, had all kinds of things going on. So there's Freud and psychoanalysis. There's, there's Mahler and Schoenberg and modern music. There, there is, there is,

there is the, there is the art, the secession art movement of Gustav Klimt. And then, then later on, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon, Egon Schiele kind of expressionist, expressionists.

There's, there's Max Reinhardt, the, the theater director. A lot director. Quite a few people who ended up in Hollywood came from Vienna around the turn of the century. Oskar Schindler? Was he Austrian? I think he may have been. I'm not sure. Because the other trouble is that there were lots of Austrians who were in the SS and so on and so forth. So sure because the other trouble is that there are lots of Austrians who are in the

SS and so on and so forth. So that's the other side of it. It is one of the things about Vienna at the turn of the century, as the title of my book would suggest, is it's remarkable how many of the main major figures in this intellectual and cultural kind of achievement were Jewish. It's a very strange kind of thing. It's a bit like New York to some extent. Go ahead. There were lots of Austrians who played a significant role in modern culture and thought. Ludwig Wittgenstein is maybe one of the most famous.

We didn't ask about Vienna's secession art movement, but is that important? I like Austrian and German porn. I've always been a big fan. My favourite actor is Wolfgang Munchen. Because Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele were famous for their nudes and their erotic droids. Do they have the shit shelf where you poo? They do in Austria. The Germans and the Austrians have this.

If you've never been... Oh, yeah, yeah, there's the picture. Yeah, send it to Jack. I can't see it it's too far away I'll hold it up over here there's

there's there's two more handsomer men in Vienna in the streets of Vienna look at that in the streets of Vienna wearing our hats

that were made in Austin, Texas excellent yeah good look but that guy I forgot his name but thanks for the hat man

I look quite handsome there. I should wear hats more often. All you have to do is go to Austin. Yeah, true. I still got that hat, though. Yeah. So sometimes I wear it shirtless and shag my wife when she calls me the machine. So Vienna Secession Art Movement, I think we were talking about that.

Yes, yes. Yeah yeah he talked about that all jewish people did good oh yeah sorry i i was obsessed you know there was that there was that big controversy about the the lady in the was the woman in gold lady in gold no that's that's different that's different jim oh she oh she was one of those statues where if you gave her a nickel, she moved slightly. Yeah. No. Some people thought she was gold.

Some people thought she was blue. Yeah. Those people who do that statue, I hope you all get some type of paint poisoning through your skin. What? Fucking get a job. I don't think you have to hope for it. I think they do.

Get a job. What's the lady in gold? I don't think you have to hope for it, I think they do. What's the lady in gold? This is a famous portrait by Gustav Klimt of a lady called Adele Blochbauer, who was the wife of a very, very, very rich Jewish industrialist and one of the secession's main patrons. When the Anschluss happened and the Jews were chucked out or killed, the Nazis actually liked Klimt. They liked the art of Klimt and they liked this portrait, but they couldn't have a portrait called Portrait of Adolf Bloch Bauer. So they called it Portrait of a Lady in Gold. And then after the war, the painting was still, the Nazis had gone, but the painting was still there.

And it was still called the Lady in Gold. Because the Austrians didn't really want to know about the Jewish side of their history. So it was Lady in Gold until basically the 1970s. off the topic but on the topic right has everyone seen the painting that was found in jeffrey epstein's house of bill clinton in a dress no what this is a real thing bill clinton and him were such good mates that there was an in-joke, right? Or it might have even been on the island. Put Bill Clinton dress Epstein. Yeah, got it. Right?

It won't take long to find. Oh, yeah. That's a painting? It looks like it's hyper-realistic. It's a really good painting. It's a really good painting. It's got nice calves. Good God.

And everyone's like, he's on the flight schedule. He's on worse than that. He's in a painting and a dress in Epstein's house. Like, if there was one painting of Forrest in a dress, you want to hope it's in my house, right? Not like in some random home. That would be sick. You'd have to be good friends. Yeah, yeah, true.

Boy, it gets weirder because there's a photo of Hiller in that same dress. Yeah, I think that was part of the gag. I'm just giving you more information. That was part of the gag. I don't know that dress. I don't know the dress either, but I'm just saying that was a bit of fun, isn't it? It is fun. Last question we have here.

I'd like that painting. I'd like to hang that painting up in your house. It'd be such a talking point. Put it right next to your Ken Doan. How'd you get it? I'm not going to tell you. You will never know. Last question.

How has Austria's position been? Very nice. There he is. And he's like, hey, hey, hey. What are you up to, Jeffrey? Hey, you over there. He's got his wedding ring on. You over there.

Tits aren't great. Anyway, yes. Tits aren't great. That was Forrest's takeaway. That was probably painted when he became vegan. And they deflated. Back in the day when he was a meat eater, he had a lovely set of gnocchi on him.

Some McDonald's. How has Austria's position in europe evolved over time uh jim said they got away with murder we've discussed that a little bit but how has it evolved over time yeah i gave him 10 on that yeah that's true yeah um but but i tell you i tell you austria is one of the most annoying countries to write a history of because you know if you write a history of america there hasn't i mean it's only been around for a couple of hundred years you can do a history of australia in a pamphlet yeah exactly and even then you have to stretch some of it austria it goes back over 500 years jim over 500 years it goes back and And it involved the Habsburgs and South America and Spain and most of Europe, et cetera, et cetera. The man who tried to invade England in 1588 with the Armada was a Habsburg, Philip II.

So all these kinds of things. And so it's got a huge history. And now it's a tiny little country in the middle of middle of europe and it and tries tries to kind of pretend not to be there half the time because it's not a member of nato and it and it tries to be neutral and you know so yeah it does stay out of trouble ever since the second world war that's been their whole plan is like ah don't worry about us yeah we're all right. You like Mozart? Cha-ching. Yeah, I think you're right.

Yeah. All right, this is a part of our show called Dinner Party Facts. Our expert gives us a fact, something obscure, interesting to impress people about this subject. You already gave us croissants, Hedy and Lamar. I mean, you're killing it. You got anything else? I think so.

I think so. I think so. These are pretty good ones. Okay. So, you know the German car, the Mercedes car, Mercedes-Benz? Mercedes-Benz, yes. You've heard of them. They're quite popular, right? The engine was invented by Carlsbens, and the Mercedes was named after the daughter of the first person to sell the vehicle.

Well done, Jim. Company comes out of the small town of Stuttgart, USA. Yeah, but do you know who the first person was to sell the car? Sell the car. The guy's daughter was called Mercedes. I don't know. Mercedes dad. That's a tautology, Jim.

Who was it? I tell you what, it's rather strange given the history of the Mercedes-Benz. The Mercedes is named after the granddaughter of the chief rabbi of Vienna. Because the salesman you mentioned was someone called Emil Jelinek. And the name was trademarked in 1902. And the reason why Emil Jelinek got to name the car after his daughter was because he'd gone around in the south of France. He was a dedicated car racer.

Or at least he had a car racing team and under the name of monsieur mercedes the car became known as the mercedes and was extremely successful and extremely popular so you know when did the name mercedes become a stripper's name was that before i think it was after uh that's a slightly different topic i think uh so that's interesting because they're associated with the naz Nazis initially and then the chief rabbit. They weren't as... Well, they're not... Yeah, they were...

Yeah, you can even see the Mercedes symbol on some of the Nazis' vehicles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the airplanes were made by BMW. Oh. The airplane... The BMW logo is propellers against the sky. Yeah.

Or Mercedes. No, BMW. Oh, yeah, the BMW. Yeah, the blue, white, blue. BMW, the circle, the blue and the white check is propellers against the sky. all right uh mercedes no bmw yeah the blue the circle the blue and the white check is propellers against the sky okay um and you had one more you said steven yes and one more one more so um just to show how complicated austrian history or austrian identity is urtzi the ice man uh was found in the urtthal Glacier in the Alps in 1991. And because German tourists who'd come from Innsbruck discovered it,

they notified the Austrian authorities first. And so this mummy, this frozen mummy, mummified corpse, was taken to Innsbruck. And they didn't know it was what had happened had some some guy just you know fallen into the glacier and frozen to death and so initially this then they found out that he was 3 000 years old right this this corpse anyway initially the corpse was was thought to have been found in an. So the Austrians made a big thing about how the oldest man ever found, more or less intact, was an Austrian. But then they discovered that he'd been found in a spot on the glacier, which was about a yard or so inside of Italy.

Because the glacier is a separation between Austria and Italy. So either way, that guy was a Nazi, right? Italian. The trouble was, actually, he was found right in the middle of Tyrol, between the main part of Tyrol, which is in Austria, and the southern part of Tyrol, which is South Tyrol, which is in Italy. Now, why is the South Tyrol in Italy? Well that's because after the First World War it was given by the Allies

to Italy in the Treaty of Versailles even though it was mainly German speaking and mainly therefore Austrian but the question is does that make Oetia a Tyrolean? Right? Because he's found in the middle of

Tyrol. Ah, so is he German or Austrian? I reckon it would be hard to tell because they might have thought he was a Nazi because he was doing the sleep, but he was just trying to climb out. Nazi or fascist, Jim. Nazi or fascist. Anyway, the idea that he was either, you know, he was Austrian or Italian or Tyrolean is insane. Because he was alive 3,000 years ago. Yeah, do that.

When there was neither in Italy nor in Austria and not even a Tyrol. Yeah, but he was from that area. He's from that area. He would have. No, he probably wasn't. He was probably from the Mediterranean sometimes. You reckon he was holidaying? He was on a trade route going over the mountains

are you thinking it was like a greek bloke how were his eyebrows they think he's a three thousand year old man but it turns out he's just 200 year old greek person we found the missing link no he's a 3,000-year-old man, but it turns out he's just a 200-year-old Greek person. We found the missing link. No, he's just Greek. Well, Stephen Beller, thank you for being here. Again, if you want to learn more about Austria,

check out his book, A Concise History of Austria. And he's got many other books. Vienna and the Jews, as Jim loves that one. Favorite band. Greatest hits. One of the classics. Anti-Semitism, a very short introduction. Democracy, All That Matters, and Rethinking Vienna,

which is an anthology in his latest book, The Habsburg Monarchy. Thanks so much for being here, Stephen. Steve. Thank you. It was a blast. Stephen, man, we had a real good laugh. I think that's the first time we've just done a country. Yeah, I think so. We could do more countries.

I enjoyed that. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. Very good. If you're ever at a party and someone comes up to you and goes, Hitler, he was a German. Go, I don't know about that, and walk away. Good night, Australia.