Secrets of the Nazis

In 1930s Germany, the Nazi Party created the Hitler Youth to indoctrinate children and adolescents with Nazi ideology and prepare them to become a child army for Hitler. This episode traces the rise of the movement, from early everyday life indoctrination, through to the war.

In 1930s Germany, the Nazi Party created the Hitler Youth to indoctrinate children and adolescents with Nazi ideology and prepare them to become a child army for Hitler. This second episode starts at the height of WW2 and traces the story of the Hitler Youth as they face defeat.

In 2016, over 200 unseen photos of Nazi officials surfaced, revealing the rise of a young Hitlerite group in concentration camps between 1928-1943. Dr. Stefan Hördler spent 5 years analyzing the images, uncovering how these men became perpetrators of horrific crimes. This investigation exposes a little-known chapter of the camps and challenges assumptions about their origins.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland in a blitzkrieg fueled not only by tactics and technology, but also by Pervitin-crystal meth. Developed in 1938, this 'miracle pill' boosted soldiers' endurance and morale, becoming a weapon of war. Declassified files, including Hitler's medical records, uncover Project D-IX and reveal how meth shaped Nazi power and altered the course of history.

Hitler, Göring, and Himmler shared a strange obsession with animals, using them as propaganda tools, symbols of ideology, and even weapons of war. Far beyond affection, their fascination fueled pseudo-scientific projects and genetic manipulation. Through archives, expert insight, and re-enactments, this documentary uncovers how the Nazis exploited nature to serve their brutal vision.

On 30 January 1933, Hitler became chancellor and the Nazis quickly seized state power. Foreign diplomats in Berlin, turned into spies and whistleblowers, witnessed both Nazi infiltration of high society and the exclusion of Jews. Drawing on rare archives, this documentary reveals their warnings about the rise of National Socialism-and how the world ignored them.

In 1945, the U.S. ended WWII with atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 180,000. But the bomb's story began in Nazi Germany, prompting Roosevelt's $26B Manhattan Project to beat Hitler-and the Soviets-in a race for the A-bomb. Through archives and eyewitnesses, this film reveals the fierce arms race that shaped the fate of the world.

While the British army puts the Italian forces to rout, Hitler sends the Afrika Korps led by the general Rommel for help. The Desert fox keeps on winning battles until Montgomery, the British commander, sets up a plan to crush his opponent. After the American landing in North Africa the Axis armies have no choice but to surrender and put an end to the Desert War on May the 13rd of 1943.

June 22, 1941. Under the code name 'Barbarossa', Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In the first hours of the attack, bombs rained down on Soviet airfields on the frontier, opening the way for the Panzer division and definitely breaking the German-Soviet non-aggression Pact, signed two years earlier. For the Soviets, it was a complete surprise…

Since September 1941, the Wehrmacht had been advancing on all fronts. Kyiv had been conquered, Leningrad was under siege and Smolensk had given way, clearing the path to Moscow… Determined to seize the Russian capital before winter, Hitler launched Operation 'Typhoon'. It was to be 'the last great decisive battle of the year', and one that would seal the fate of Eastern Europe.

On 27 November 1942, the French fleet scuttled itself in Toulon, sending over 85 warships to the seabed to avoid German capture. This tragic act, born of defeat and collaboration, crippled the French Navy. Using archives, survivor accounts, and vivid reconstructions, the film revisits this dramatic and rarely explored chapter of World War II history.

Legend holds that Nazi Germany pillaged France's vineyards, but historians reveal a more complex truth. Through archives, expert voices, and winemakers, this film uncovers profiteering, collaboration, and even wine alcohol sold for V2 rockets, while also highlighting those who resisted in the name of solidarity.

On 18 May 1939, the Nazis opened Ravensbrück, the largest women's concentration camp. Of the 130,000 women and children deported, 90,000 died. Through survivor testimonies, expert insights, 3D models, and reconstructions, this film reveals the camp's brutal conditions and the remarkable resilience of those who endured its horrors.

As the Allies land in Normandy, Hitler unleashes Das Reich, the brutal Panzer division infamous for massacres in Ukraine and Belarus. With 15,000 men and 200 tanks, it marches north through France, crushing Resistance attacks and committing atrocities in Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane, leaving a trail of terror and blood in its path.

With recolorized archives, this episode explores the final year of Hitler's infamous division. From recruitment and indoctrination to their last missions, we uncover who these men were-and how they became perpetrators of mass murder. Following their brutal combat and crimes against humanity, we confront the chaos, ideology, and horror that defined the Das Reich's final descent.

Thanks to the American landing in June 1944, the Allies were certain to end the war before Christmas. This optimism led them to make strategic mistakes, and sometimes to retreat in the face of the Wehrmacht's fierce resistance. When winter came, the enemy may have been weakened, it was far from being dead.

In January 1945, the Soviet army discovered the existence of Auschwitz and then of more than a hundred concentration camps. The Allies progressed through Europe, leaving many victims of rape and summary executions behind, and finally conquered Berlin. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide: The war was finally over. But who won it?

At Nuremberg, Hitler's closest allies faced judgment for crimes against humanity. Yet under Nazi law, these acts were legal. This episode examines how Hitler reshaped the justice system, exposing the pivotal role jurists played in transforming law into an instrument of terror.

Through the stories of a jurist, an executioner, and a regime opponent, this investigation reveals how Nazi law justified extermination. Expert voices and archives show how Germany's intellectual elite enabled a murderous totalitarian state.

Amateur filmmakers in Normandy secretly documented daily life between 1939-1945, risking arrest under Nazi rule. Preserved for decades, their footage reveals war's darkest hours-shortages, fear, and ruins-yet also family bonds, joy, and hope. This documentary offers an extraordinary civilian perspective, intertwining anonymous lives with the unfolding tragedy and liberation of WWII.