The Empire Never Ended

Fritz expands the scope of Arc 4 for an episode to introduce the Gehlen Organization, a network of Nazis bankrolled by US Intelligence and America's main source of information on the Soviet Union after WW2 which set the pace for 'Cold War' anti-communist hysteria. This is part one of a multipart look at Christopher Simpson's 1988 book, Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

TENE wraps up their initial investigation into the Black Hand with three important and intriguing figures: Slobodan Jovanović, Božin Simić, and Milan Gavrilović, each with various trajectories across the political spectrum but all connected to the Black Hand. These three fellas allegedly all had important roles to play in the still-enigmatic coup of the 27th of March, 1941 against the pro-Axis regime in Belgrade, triggering the Nazi invasion and destruction of Yugoslavia. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

In this episode, Rey discusses how an offshoot of the original Serbia National Defense was founded in the US in 1914, and then re-founded in 1941 as an anti-communist organization that anticipated Cold War rhetoric. Even more interestingly, just like the SND of 1908 that gave birth to the Black Hand, the new US-based incarnation of the group also had a terrorist element developing inside of it. Closing song: Industrial Control Reports by The Knolls https://soundcloud.com/knollsnyc/industrial-control-reports Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

From the Black Hand to Red Army Intelligence, Rey explains why Mustafa Golubić is one of the most interesting people in modern Balkan history. His story passes through the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, communist stay-behind units in Germany and France, Stalinist Chetniks that never were, and so much more. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey takes Arc 4 back to the Old Country, unraveling the complex tangle of nationalist militants, Young Bosnia nihilists, assassinations, and empires that lead to the rise of a proto-deep state in Serbia at the start of the 20th century. Did the Black Hand live on in the United States? Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Boris and Fritz recount the remarkably parallel lives of George Wuchinich and George Musulin; the former was an American Slav Congress member and champion of the Partisan cause and US socialism while the latter was a Chetnik-loving nationalist and career CIA anti-communist. Both were Yugoslav Americans from Western PA, both were among the first US paratroopers for the Office of Strategic Services in Yugoslavia, yet these were two very different Georges. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Boris guides TENE into the McCarthy era of anti-communist hysteria in the US, and its disastrous effects on the Yugoslav diaspora as it paves the way for nationalists and fascists to rise to prominence. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

TENE explores the life and career of Slovenian-American snitch, Matt Cvetic, by watching his absurdly fantastical biopic from 1951 titled, "I Was a Communist for the FBI". The boyzies dissect this genre-defining example of HUAC-era propaganda and compare it to Cvetic's actual (terrible) experiences. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey introduces saint and stench wizard, Nikolaj Velimirović, one of Serbian Orthodoxy's most important bishops and the gray eminence of Serbian Fascism. Once a government emissary beloved by Serbian liberals, he took a turn towards the fashy in the 1920s, catching the eye of Adolf Hitler, whom Velimirović compares to none other than Saint Sava himself. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

TENE unpacks the 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee report on the massive American Slav Congress of the 1940s which organized millions of Slavs in the US under a banner of socialist anti-fascist resistance. Despite being almost entirely unknown today, the ASC was a profoundly influential institution that the post-FDR US Government saw as one of its greatest threats. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.