Unburied S1E4: The Return

As Rudolf Pöch prepared to leave Southern Africa in 1910, he left behind a legacy of exhumed graves, stolen bones, and silenced voices. But he also left behind a trail — one that leads, unexpectedly, to a small cemetery in Kuruman and a moment of reckoning. In this final episode, Unburied follows the remains of Klaas and Trooi Pienaar, two ordinary people caught in an extraordinary story. Thanks to the disturbing decisions of Pöch’s assistant Mr. Mehnarto, their bodies — packed in barrels of salt — were preserved and labeled. Unlike the hundreds of others, their names survived. We follow the global effort to return their remains: from a conference in Vienna that turned into a reckoning, to a ceremonial reburial we are reminded why this matters: “As long as they don’t rest, we can’t rest.” Unburied is a production by ARC in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa. Written, produced and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell. ARC Angel Facebook Instagram Tiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Unburied S1E4: The Return online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Unburied S1E4: The Return is an episode from Sound Africa by ARC.

This episode is 31:47 long.

This episode was published on Jul 2, 2025.

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