A House Through Time review: David Olusoga's fascinating series is angry, uncomfortable - and vital

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David Olusoga has returned with a new series of his brilliant social history series A House Through Time (BBC2, Thurs, 9pm). And this time he's angry.

Recounting the histories of two similar apartment blocks – one in London, the other in Berlin – in the run-up and into the Second World War, barely compressed fury and outrage seethe from every pore.

Anger at the devastation wrought on a generation put through the horrors of the First World War – the 'Great War', the 'War to End All Wars'.

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Anger at the rise of the Nazis, and their manipulation of ordinary people, left at the mercy of those wanting to maintain power, and those seeking to seize it.

David Olusoga in Montagu Mansions, Marylebone, London, for his new series of A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)David Olusoga in Montagu Mansions, Marylebone, London, for his new series of A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)
David Olusoga in Montagu Mansions, Marylebone, London, for his new series of A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)

Anger at the appalling treatment visited on the Jews in Germany – their rights gradually eroded as Hitler rises to absolute power, living in fear, living literally next door to their Nazi persecutors.

And at the British treatment of Italian 'enemy aliens', feared as a security threat after Mussolini declares war in 1940 – even after decades in the country, building lives and families – and deported across the U-boat infested Atlantic to Canada, with no guarantee of safety.

All of this comes from behind the art nouveau doors of the two apartment blocks – Montagu Mansions in Marylebone, and Pfalzburger Strasse, in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf area of Berlin.

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Olusoga's particular skill is looking at the huge sweep of history through the personal stories of the people living in these buildings, and some of these stories – as you might expect of such turbulent times – are extraordinary, and troubling.

Prof Deborah Sugg Ryan lends her expertise on design and fashion in the pre-Second World War period to A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)Prof Deborah Sugg Ryan lends her expertise on design and fashion in the pre-Second World War period to A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)
Prof Deborah Sugg Ryan lends her expertise on design and fashion in the pre-Second World War period to A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty)

There's Bonifatius Folli, who arrives in Germany from Togo. He had been the chef to the governor of the German colony there, the Duke of Mecklenburg, and follows the Duke to Berlin when Germany is stripped of its colonies by the Treaty of Versailles.

There he becomes a language lecturer at the University of Berlin, teaching German students the West African languages they would need to know when they regained their overseas terrritories.

All the time, he is the subject of barely-concealed racism, which becomes outright hostility when the Nazis and their Nuremberg Laws arrive – pressure is put on 'Boni' and his white German wife to divorce, for fear they would contaminate the Nazis laughable ideas of Aryan purity.

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Or Blanche Taylor, who builds a hugely successful millinery business in a fancy part of London after being widowed, marrying a handsome soldier 14 years her junior – only to see him head for France and the chaos of the frontline mere months later.

David Olusoga looks at the stories of people living in two apartment blocks - one in London and one in Berlin - during the run-up and into the Second World War in his new series A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty/Steve Bell)David Olusoga looks at the stories of people living in two apartment blocks - one in London and one in Berlin - during the run-up and into the Second World War in his new series A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty/Steve Bell)
David Olusoga looks at the stories of people living in two apartment blocks - one in London and one in Berlin - during the run-up and into the Second World War in his new series A House Through Time: Two Cities At War (Picture: BBC/Twenty Twenty/Steve Bell)

And then there is the Sallisohn family, who move into a lovely flat on Pfalzburger Strasse and are a part of a “prosperous, well-integrated Jewish community” of 170,000.

Before long, they are subject to 'Jew-baiting' – which makes it to the front pages of the Manchester |Guardian – and the family gradually fractures as they attempt to flee Germany.

These tales are told through fascinating documents, photographs – and in Boni's case a shellac record, his voice spilling through the speakers as he's speaking to us on a crackly mobile phone line, direct from the past.

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In previous series, the inevitable tragedies of life are leavened by the joys. But in this series, our families' lives are shrouded by the dark clouds of war, and there is very little happiness here.

What small victories they have, seem swiftly taken away, which makes A House Through Time a tough watch.

However, it is also an important series to take in, with its tale of demagoguery, dictatorship and despots, and the warning that even seemingly ordinary people can be drawn towards evil.

It’s a remarkable piece of TV, and something that you will carry with you through the rest of the week. Just try to calm down by the next episode.

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