History gets a brand new DW look on YouTube

Standing in an open car, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, drive through Berlin, waving to cheering crowds. Meanwhile, staff at Hotel Adlon are busily preparing for the royal visit. The year is 1965, and it is the first time since 1909 that a British monarch has visited Germany.

The footage is in black and white; it is jerky, and white stripes are visible, but, watching it even almost 60 years later, the mood and significance of the visit are evident. DW plans to show these and other historical moments on its new YouTube channel starting July 30.

"Histotainment," a combination of the words "history" and "entertainment," is the order of the day. These include such media formats as documentaries, history podcasts, historical novels and computer games with historical plots that aim to convey our past in an engaging way. In other words, this is where history becomes cool and more present than ever.

'History Stories' and 'Arts Unveiled'

"If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday," Pulitzer Prize winner and 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Pearl S. Buck wrote. With the help of the past, the new YouTube channel aims to help people better understand and classify the present.

DW History and Culture also presents previously unseen historical images and tells stories that everyone thinks they know, but that reveal so many previously unknown details that viewers are bound to be astonished.

The channel is intended as a platform where people interested in history can find information about various events, eras and individuals. To this end, old recordings, images and soundtracks are unearthed from the depths of the archives and retold in new media formats — putting events into perspective with utmost care in an entertaining way.

One of the new features uploaded weekly on the YouTube channel will be "History Stories," a retro format that uses archival footage to put past events into a new context. The channel features well-known and not-so-well-known episodes from culture, politics, business and science that date back years and still have an impact today.

Some programs are also produced in German for the "DW Deutsch" and "DW Deutsch+" TV channels. From the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to the beginning of the legendary Love Parade, the topics are diverse and explored in-depth.

The second format, which will appear together with "History Stories," is called "Arts Unveiled." Episodes are based on newly filmed material about historical topics, answering fascinating questions in the form of explainers. "Why will Stephen King probably never win the (literature) Nobel Prize" "Why does everyone actually love the pop band ABBA?" and "Why did Adolf Hitler idolize the music of Richard Wagner?"

Users will find the answers to these and other questions in the videos and can join in the discussion in the comment sections.

"It's no news that there is a great deal of audience interest in videos on historical topics. So it made sense for Deutsche Welle to develop a new product that focuses exclusively on this genre," said Rolf Rische, director of the Culture and Documentaries department at DW.

"This also makes sense because, as a public service broadcaster and member of the ARD broadcasting network (Germany's national broadcaster), we have large and magnificent film archives at our disposal," he said. "And there are still many treasures to be unearthed there."

Both formats officially launch on July 30. 

This article was originally written in German.