A New Podcast from the National WWII Museum Revisits the 'Most Consequential Year in Modern History'

The Battle of the Bulge finally ends. President Franklin Roosevelt dies after an unprecedented 12 years in office. Adolf Hitler kills himself in a Berlin bunker. The United States drops atomic bombs on Japan. The Dachau concentration camp is liberated, bringing the horror of the Holocaust home to the people of the United States. World War II finally ends on both fronts, but the cleanup is just beginning.

It all happened in 1945, a year the National World War II Museum in New Orleans calls "the most consequential year in modern history." To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, the museum is launching the new six-part podcast series "1945" to revisit the monumental events that changed the world that year. New episodes will be available for streaming every week, beginning on April 17, 2025.

There was, of course, still much to be accomplished between the end of 1944 and the end of the Second World War. The Bulge was still being fought around the turn of the new year, and the battles at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Berlin were still to come. The Allies were already planning for the postwar world, but two of the leaders of the "Big Three" who worked so closely during the war would be replaced in 1945. The alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union would take a turn.

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"1945" is hosted by Donald Miller, The New York Times best-selling author of "Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany." Joining Miller is Playtone producer Kirk Saduski, who was the executive in charge for HBO's "Band of Brothers," co-producer of "The Pacific" and co-producer of Apple TV+'s "Masters of the Air."

The first episode of the series covers January-March 1945, which includes the battles of Iwo Jima and Manila, the firebombing of Tokyo, the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Yalta Conference between Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Joining the discussion are celebrated historians Richard Frank ("MacArthur"), Rebecca Erbelding ("Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America's Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe") and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin ("Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln").

A very special part of the episode features actor Gary Sinise reading an excerpt from author's E.B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" -- the book that formed part of the basis for the HBO project "The Pacific." Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Clarkson ("Sharp Objects") also appears in the series.

The six-part series "1945" can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube beginning April 17, 2025. The first episode is available for preview now.

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