Laya’s Way
Home
A podcast about survival, love and reconciliation 80 years in the making.
In 1945, Laya Semler became the last known Jew deported to a Nazi concentration camp from Wennigsen, Germany. Her non-Jewish husband Adolf chose slave labour rather than abandon her. They both survived.
In 2022, the village of Wennigsen invited their Australian family back to commemorate Laya and Adolf’s bravery. Told by their great-grandchildren, Laya and Adolf’s story is testament to the extraordinary power love has to bridge even the greatest differences.
Listen to Part 1
Listen to Part 2
More ways to listen
What people are saying
about Laya’s Way Home
“Brilliantly done, hugely moving and a wonderful tribute to our family histories.”
Emile Sherman
Academy Award-winning producer - The King’s Speech, Power of The Dog, Lion, co-host - Principle of Charity podcast.
“Laya’s Way Home is a brilliant, powerful and utterly unique story of multigenerational trauma, loss, reparation and love. I listened while walking and gasped, felt winded, laughed out loud and sobbed. This rich, difficult history and the generosity and dignity of all involved in its living and telling will move you and live on in you in myriad ways.”
Dr Bernadette Brennan
Author and critic, Judge of the Miles Franklin Literary Award
"A beautifully produced story - of horror but also hope. Kudos to The Kalowskis!"
Phil Craig
Award-winning filmmaker, bestselling author of Finest Hour, co-host - The Scandal Mongers podcast.
"I was utterly swept away by this extraordinary and deeply moving intergenerational family story, so poignantly told with intrigue, humour and tenderness.”
Jennifer Perrott
Award-winning director - Doctor Who (BBC), Gentleman Jack (HBO/BBC), The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky UK), Rain Dogs (BBC/HBO)
Meet the hosts
Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator and curator for writers & ideas festivals and for radio.
Rick Kalowski is an award-winning screenwriter, and former Head of Comedy at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Gallery
News
Laya’s Way Home shortlisted in the New York Festivals Radio Awards
Thu 21 March 2024
Laya’s Way Home has been shortlisted in the 2024 New York Festivals Radio Awards, in the category of Best Podcast - Narrative Documentary.
We're incredibly honoured our story has been recognized by perhaps the world’s pre-eminent radio awards, and we're thrilled to be to be shortlisted alongside outstanding storytellers from all the world.
Our thanks to the 2024 New York Festivals Radio Awards, ABC Radio National (especially our producer Claudia Taranto, Michelle Rayner and Cath Dwyer) for unwavering support, and to our mum Joanna for her letting us be part of this incredible experience with her.
Winners and Finalists will be announced at an awards ceremony in New York on April 16, 2024.
Laya’s Way Home nominated for an Australian Podcast Award
Fri 6 October 2023
We’re honoured that our two-part tale of Laya and Adolf has been nominated for Best History Podcast in the 2023 Australian Podcast Awards, to be held November 21 in Sydney.
'Stumbling stones' acknowledge genocide and commemorate Jewish lives in a small but powerful way
Sat 19 Aug 2023
On a bright, warm afternoon in the fashionable German spa town of Baden-Baden, I stumbled upon a black and white photograph, fixed to a stand in an open-air car park.
It stopped me in my tracks.