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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities,

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a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and

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Mild. Our

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world is full of the unexplainable,

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and if history is an open book, all

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of these amazing tales are right

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there on display, just waiting

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for us to explore. Welcome

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to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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Everybody remembers the first time they learned

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to ride a bike. They have memories

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of spending their childhood in the saddle,

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holding those handlebars and cruising

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around the neighborhood. The bicycle, though,

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wasn't always an instrument of glory for

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Gino Bartali. In fact, it was

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just a way to get to school. Gino

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was born in nineteen fourteen to a

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working class family in a small village

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in Tuscany, Italy. By the time he

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was eleven, he needed to find a way to get

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to Florence every day for school. A

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car was out of the question, so Gino

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saved his money to buy his first bike.

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He quickly fell in love with racing through

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the Tuscan countryside. He started

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taking cycling seriously, and at the

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age of seventeen, in nineteen thirty one,

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he won his very first bike race. By

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his twenties, all those long bike rides across

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Tuscany began to pay off. In

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nineteen thirty six, at the age of twenty two,

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he biked twenty one days and over

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two thousand miles to win the Giro

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Detelia, the biggest bike race in

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Italy. His fame was immediate.

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Tuscans loved that they could see their champion

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training most days on the same country

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roads that they drove. He

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cemented his hometown hero status when

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he won the race again in nineteen thirty seven,

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and his fame grew to a fever pitch in nineteen

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thirty eight when he won the biggest bike

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race in the world, the Tour de Frontce. But

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despite those fans, Gino's achievement

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was not met with national pride. There

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was no hero's welcome when he came home to

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Italy, no ceremony or gala

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in his honor, Because on the national

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stage right as he proved the athletic

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might of Italians, Gino refused

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to dedicate his win to Benito

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Mussolini. Fascist dictator.

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Mussolini had ruled Italy for sixteen

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years. He had modeled his government on

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the Nazi Party in nearby Germany, and

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in nineteen thirty eight, the same year

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as Gino's win, he signed Italy's

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version of the Nuremberg Laws. The

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freedoms of Italian Jews were severely

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limited, and these laws would eventually let

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Italy deport them to Nazi concentration

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camps. By refusing to dedicate

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his Tour de France medal to Mussolini,

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Gino was publicly indicating his

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disapproval. Over the next few years,

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his distaste for the fascists drove him

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to action. Italy entered World War

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II in nineteen forty, joining the Nazis

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against the Allies. By nineteen forty

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three, Mussolini had been overthrown

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and Germany invaded North Italy, including

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Gino's home province of Tuscany, and

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as a result, the deportation and imprisonment

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of Jewish people was becoming more widespread.

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Yet at the same time, a resistance

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movement was growing. A network

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of religious leaders, including undercover

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rabbis, monks, and Catholic archbishops,

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were looking for ways to protect Italian

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Jewish families from the Nazis, and

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it was one of these resistance members, Florentine

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Cardinal Elia de la Costa, who asked

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Bartali for help with his cover story.

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As a cycling champion taking cross

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country training rides, he was the perfect

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spy For the next year. Bartali

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rode back and forth across the countryside,

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transporting photographs of Jewish people

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to forgers, then bringing fake

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IDs and travel visas back to the families.

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He distributed funds to people in hiding,

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and even brought one group of refugees

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to the Swiss border hidden in a cart

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attached to his bike. At the same time,

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he hid a Florentine Jewish family in

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his basement. At first,

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travels weren't questioned. Even when

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he was stopped by Fascist police and German

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soldiers, he would insist that they not touch

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his bike, as it was perfectly calibrated

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for him. They agreed, and the documents

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hidden in his bike frame and handlebars

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remained undiscovered. As time

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went on. However, even famous cyclist

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Gino Bartali fell under suspicion.

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He was questioned in the La Villa Triste,

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a government building in Florence where Fascist

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officials tortured prisoners. Florence

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was finally freed of Nazi occupation on August

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eleventh of nineteen forty four. As

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the war came to an end, Gino never

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told anyone about what he had done for the Jewish

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families of Italy. Instead, he

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focused on training, overcoming the malnourishment

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he suffered during the war to win the Tour

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de France one last time in nineteen

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forty eight. After Gino died

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in twenty ten, his story finally

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came to light. In twenty thirteen,

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the World Holocaust Remembrance Center awarded

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him the title Righteous among the Nations,

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an honor he shares with Oscar Schindler

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and others who risked their lives to save Jewish

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people during the war. After

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his death, Gino's son told a newspaper

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what his father said in those rare moments

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that he mentioned the war. Real

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heroes, he said, are those who have suffered

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in their soul, in their heart, in their

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spirits, in their mind for their loved

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ones. Those are the real heroes.

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I am just a cyclist.

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Bertha was at her wits end. It

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wasn't that she didn't love her husband, or

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even that she didn't believe him. The problem

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was that Karl had lost faith in himself,

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and after everything that Bertha had sacrificed

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that was just unacceptable. For

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the previous fifteen years, she had devoted

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every ounce of energy to Carl's

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dreams, from using her dowry

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to save him from bankruptcy and managing

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his business to raising their children

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while he tinkered in his lab. She had

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done it all. She even served as his

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assistant and partner, pouring countless

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hours into his invention. Two

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years prior they had finally unveiled

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it to the public. Bertha had stood proudly

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by Carl's side during the demonstration. Now,

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as a married woman, her name could not legally

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appear on the patent application, but she

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still felt that this was her greatest accomplishment.

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Unfortunately, the public didn't agree.

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The unveiling received a tepid response.

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Carl was crushed and now believed that the

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business would never be profitable.

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Bertha had tried to lift his spirits to

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no avail, and she finally had enough.

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So one morning in early August,

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she woke before dawn and roused her two

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teenage sons the trio. Quietly

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opened the garage and pushed the car to the

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road where Carl wouldn't hear the engine

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start, and then they set off on their journey.

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A short while later, Carl woke to find the house

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quiet and empty. A note on the

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dining room table explained that Bertha had

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taken the boys and the car to visit

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her parents in Forsheim, roughly sixty

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five miles away, and when Carl read

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that, his blood ran cold. Because the

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year was eighteen eighty eight. Carl

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was Carl Ben's, creator of the world's first

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true automobile, and the car Bertha had

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just driven often was his prototype.

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Carl immediately flew into a panic.

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His invention had never been subjected to

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this kind of test, no gas powered vehicle

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ever had. The unpaved roads between

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Mannheim and Forsheim were designed

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for sturdy horses and carriages, not

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the flimsy tires of his three wheeled

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prototype, and with all the hills

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and uneven terrain they'd be facing, there

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were countless things that could go wrong. But

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it was too late to dissuade Bertha, and

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with no way of getting in touch with her, Carl

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was forced to wait for news. He soon

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learned the details of his wife's journey from

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the local papers, which followed the

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test ride with eager interest. The

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journey had not gone smoothly. Of course,

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the engine had to be doused with water every

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few miles to keep it from overheating, and

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just as Carl feared, the car kept breaking

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down, forcing Bertha to find increasingly

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inventive solutions to get it started again.

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When the fuel line cogged, she cleared it with

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her hat pin. When the brakes failed, she

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hired a cobbler to add leather to the pads.

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She bought fuel from a skeptical pharmacist,

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and enlisted locals to help her push the

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car up a steep hill. The most

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exciting moment, though at least as far as

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the male journalists were concerned, came when

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the vehicle's ignition cable shorted out. Bertha

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stripped off her garter and used the fabric

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to insulate the exposed wire, and

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despite all the obstacles, she reached

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foresim late that evening and telegraphed

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to tell Carl that she and the boys were safe.

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By the time she made the return trip a few days

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later, word of the test drive had spread

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around the globe. No one cared

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that the car had broken down several times along

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the way. The image of a young mother taking

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her children for a drive through the countryside,

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had captured the public consciousness, and

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it wasn't letting go anytime. Soon

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heard this plan had worked perfectly.

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She had proven that there was demand for her husband's

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invention while bringing their company

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all the publicity they would ever need. And

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she came back with something else too, a

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list of potential improvements inspired

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by her time on the road, and Carl,

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well, he got straight to work. I

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hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of

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the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

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for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

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more about the show by visiting Curiosities

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podcast dot com.

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The show was created by me Aaron

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Mankey in partnership with how Stuff

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Works. I make another award winning

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show called Lore, which is a podcast,

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book series, and television show, and

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you can learn all about it over at the Worldolore

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dot com. And until next

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time, stay curious.