Latin America's longest plane hijacking and Kristallnacht

The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We start our programme in 1973, when two men claiming to be Colombian guerrillas hijacked a plane making it fly across Latin American for 60 hours.

Our expert guest is Brendan Koerner author of 'The skies belong to us: Love and terror in the golden age of hijacking.'

Then we take a look at the 2009 UN-backed war crime tribunals in Cambodia that aimed to hold the genocidal Khmer Rouge commanders to account.

Following that we hear about the striking speech that inspired the Law of the Sea.

Then we go back to 1989 and hear how South Africa became the first country to make and then dismantle nuclear weapons.

And finally we hear a first hand account of the 1938 Kristallnacht.

Contributors: Edilma Perez - former fight attendant for SAM airline. Brendan Koerner - Author of 'The skies belong to us: Love and terror in the golden age of hijacking.' Rob Hamill - Brother of Toul Sleng prisoner Kerry Hamill. Christina Pardo Menez - Arvid Pardo's daughter. David Attard - Arvid Pardo's friend. André Buys - Plant manager and systems engineer at Kentron Circle. Kurt Salomon Maier - Witnessed Kristallnacht.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: SAM airlines 1973 Latin American flight. Credit: Jamie Escobar)