1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,083 (soldiers stomping) (speaking in foreign language) 2 00:00:02,083 --> 00:00:04,090 (crowd reciting) 3 00:00:04,090 --> 00:00:05,090 - [Narrator] Nuremberg, 4 00:00:05,090 --> 00:00:06,748 where the Nazi mass meetings were held. 5 00:00:06,748 --> 00:00:11,748 (crowd cheering) (speaking in foreign language) 6 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,780 - [Narrator] In 1945, in the city where Hitler 7 00:00:14,780 --> 00:00:17,240 gathered immense and fanatical crowds, 8 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:19,710 the court held the greatest trial in history. 9 00:00:19,710 --> 00:00:23,010 (gavel pounding) (speaking in foreign language) 10 00:00:23,010 --> 00:00:24,080 - [Narrator] The Allied victors 11 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:27,580 judged the Third Reich's leading figures and officials. 12 00:00:27,580 --> 00:00:30,823 - [Judge] Guilty of conspiracy and crimes against peace. 13 00:00:31,740 --> 00:00:32,840 - [Narrator] Among the accused 14 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,120 were the Fuhrer's closest surviving collaborators. 15 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,010 - [Judge] Crimes against peace. 16 00:00:38,010 --> 00:00:39,300 - [Narrator] But not only, 17 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:42,330 defendant number 27 wasn't a person. 18 00:00:42,330 --> 00:00:45,311 It was an entire organization, the SS. 19 00:00:45,311 --> 00:00:46,447 (dramatic music) - [Judge] War crimes 20 00:00:46,447 --> 00:00:47,730 and crimes against humanity. - [Narrator] A state 21 00:00:47,730 --> 00:00:49,670 within a state that reigned over 22 00:00:49,670 --> 00:00:52,020 all the Reich's police with it's own army, 23 00:00:52,020 --> 00:00:53,720 inside the Nazi regime. 24 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,120 - [Judge] Crimes against humanity. 25 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:56,850 - [Narrator] The judges found it guilty, 26 00:00:56,850 --> 00:01:01,134 guilty of being a criminal association of 800,000 members. 27 00:01:01,134 --> 00:01:01,967 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 28 00:01:01,967 --> 00:01:03,610 - [Interpreter For Johann] The SS represented 29 00:01:03,610 --> 00:01:08,280 the very worst of Nazism, criminal extremity, violence, 30 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,820 implacability, and the absence of compassional pity. 31 00:01:11,820 --> 00:01:12,900 (aircraft roaring) 32 00:01:12,900 --> 00:01:13,940 (bomb blasting) 33 00:01:13,940 --> 00:01:15,020 - [Narrator] War crimes, (ominous music) 34 00:01:15,020 --> 00:01:19,423 human breeding programs, racist theory, extermination camps. 35 00:01:20,290 --> 00:01:23,610 The SS was at the forefront every time. 36 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:26,160 How did it work, this monstrous organization 37 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,990 run by the shady Heinrich Himmler? 38 00:01:28,990 --> 00:01:31,770 How were these members that called themselves the SS, 39 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:33,513 trained, selected, recruited? 40 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,827 What was the logic behind their murderous project? 41 00:01:37,827 --> 00:01:38,660 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 42 00:01:38,660 --> 00:01:40,230 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] To do their worst, to kill Jews, 43 00:01:40,230 --> 00:01:43,600 kill children, carry out genocide, organized genocide 44 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,033 was to sacrifice themselves, in the name of other Germans. 45 00:01:48,380 --> 00:01:49,650 - [Narrator] From the oath of allegiance 46 00:01:49,650 --> 00:01:50,509 on Munich's Odeonsplatz-- 47 00:01:50,509 --> 00:01:52,460 - [Crowd] (reciting in foreign language) 48 00:01:52,460 --> 00:01:54,610 - [Narrator] To the prison cells at Dachau. 49 00:01:57,510 --> 00:01:59,953 From the celebrations at Quedlinburg Cathedral, 50 00:02:00,890 --> 00:02:02,683 to the death camp at Auschwitz. 51 00:02:07,270 --> 00:02:09,500 From Bad Tolz Military Academy, 52 00:02:09,500 --> 00:02:12,353 to the martyred village of Oradour-sur-Glane. 53 00:02:17,923 --> 00:02:20,840 What was the mechanism that enabled the SS to turn 54 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,891 hundreds of thousands of ordinary men into barbarians? 55 00:02:23,891 --> 00:02:28,891 (gun blasts) (ominous music) 56 00:02:35,350 --> 00:02:37,073 Munich, 1925. 57 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:40,410 The extremist, Adolph Hitler 58 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:43,540 gathered a dozen of his supporters in a beer hall. 59 00:02:43,540 --> 00:02:45,060 He had just been released from prison, 60 00:02:45,060 --> 00:02:46,640 after a failed coup attempt. 61 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:49,110 He decided to create a guard unit. 62 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:50,910 It was a protection squadron. 63 00:02:50,910 --> 00:02:55,343 In German, the Schutzstaffel represented by initials SS. 64 00:02:56,706 --> 00:02:57,539 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 65 00:02:57,539 --> 00:02:59,280 - [Interpreter For Johann] The SS was a praetorian guard, 66 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,230 a political militia, a militia made up of activists 67 00:03:03,230 --> 00:03:06,790 ready to risk their bodies, even their lives, 68 00:03:06,790 --> 00:03:08,470 to protect the chief, 69 00:03:08,470 --> 00:03:11,023 to protect the leader of the party, the Fuhrer. 70 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,990 - [Narrator] A militia for the leader, nothing more. 71 00:03:17,990 --> 00:03:21,380 In the 1920's, the SS didn't amount to much. 72 00:03:21,380 --> 00:03:23,600 The organization that counted was the SA, 73 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:25,500 the party's strike platoon. 74 00:03:25,500 --> 00:03:27,420 They were called the brown shirts. 75 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:29,420 They were troops from the working classes 76 00:03:29,420 --> 00:03:31,640 who fought in the streets against the communists 77 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:33,640 and who wanted to sweep Hitler to power. 78 00:03:35,980 --> 00:03:38,800 The SA were battalions several thousand strong. 79 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,083 The SS was a militia of just a few dozen. 80 00:03:42,210 --> 00:03:44,380 They stood out thanks to their black uniforms 81 00:03:44,380 --> 00:03:45,600 and the death's head insignia, 82 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,723 in memory of a Cossack regiment in the First World War. 83 00:03:51,370 --> 00:03:55,333 But in 1929, one man changed the destiny of the SS. 84 00:03:56,300 --> 00:03:59,830 It's new leader, an agronomist named Heinrich Himmler, 85 00:03:59,830 --> 00:04:03,600 bit by bit he would turn them into a state within the state. 86 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,780 When he took over, there were 280 SS. 87 00:04:06,780 --> 00:04:10,664 Two years later, there were already over 15,000. 88 00:04:10,664 --> 00:04:11,599 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 89 00:04:11,599 --> 00:04:13,000 - [Interpreter For Johann] Himmler was someone who had 90 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,073 very precise ideas and plans for this unit 91 00:04:16,073 --> 00:04:18,440 that he saw as an elite, 92 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,163 a racial and intellectual elite, a vanguard. 93 00:04:24,070 --> 00:04:26,770 - [Narrator] Himmler sought to transform this modest militia 94 00:04:26,770 --> 00:04:29,250 into the elite of the German people. 95 00:04:29,250 --> 00:04:32,483 His first objective was to attract a new type of recruit. 96 00:04:33,350 --> 00:04:36,763 To achieve this aim, he gave the SS a new mission. 97 00:04:38,142 --> 00:04:39,035 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 98 00:04:39,035 --> 00:04:40,670 - [Interpreter For Johann] Very rapidly, he created 99 00:04:40,670 --> 00:04:43,380 what was called the Intelligence Service, the SD, 100 00:04:43,380 --> 00:04:45,430 the SS's Intelligence Service, 101 00:04:45,430 --> 00:04:49,060 which was to build up dossiers, files first of all, 102 00:04:49,060 --> 00:04:51,920 on party members but also the party's enemies, 103 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:53,383 so as to control everyone. 104 00:04:55,060 --> 00:04:57,403 And the creation of this SD at the heart of the SS, 105 00:04:57,403 --> 00:05:00,640 of this Intelligence Service, totally changed the nature 106 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,090 of this militia because now they would recruit 107 00:05:03,090 --> 00:05:05,100 intellectuals, young intellectuals, 108 00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:07,153 young university graduates. 109 00:05:09,089 --> 00:05:10,455 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 110 00:05:10,455 --> 00:05:11,947 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] By the beginning of 1933, 111 00:05:11,947 --> 00:05:16,280 17% of the SS's members had a PhD, and that, if you like, 112 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:19,440 acted as a magnet, made it desirable for a certain number of 113 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,263 better educated Germans to join the SS. 114 00:05:24,830 --> 00:05:27,460 In other words, broadly speaking, you had on the one hand 115 00:05:27,460 --> 00:05:31,050 the SA commandos, the brown shirts, who were there to 116 00:05:31,050 --> 00:05:35,100 punch communists in the street, and on the other, the SS 117 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:38,443 in their close fitting black uniforms, elitist and refined. 118 00:05:40,297 --> 00:05:41,870 (dramatic music) 119 00:05:41,870 --> 00:05:43,480 - [Narrator] Officially, to join this elite, 120 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,440 you had to satisfy draconian selection criteria. 121 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,070 The SS were to converge towards the ideal German 122 00:05:49,070 --> 00:05:50,720 as defined by Hitler. 123 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,240 Between 25 and 35 years old, 124 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,450 at least five foot seven inches tall, long cranium, 125 00:05:56,450 --> 00:05:59,120 blonde with blue eyes, no physical defects. 126 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,860 Lastly, and most importantly, you had to prove you were of 127 00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:03,960 so-called pure race with a family tree 128 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,593 traceable at least as far back as 1750. 129 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:11,970 In fact, joining the SS was much easier than they made out. 130 00:06:11,970 --> 00:06:14,970 What really counted was being a Nazi activist. 131 00:06:14,970 --> 00:06:17,673 The inflexible selection criteria was propaganda. 132 00:06:19,178 --> 00:06:20,222 - [David] (speaking in foreign language) 133 00:06:20,222 --> 00:06:21,880 - [Interpreter For David] The organization's membership 134 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:23,740 grew very quickly. 135 00:06:23,740 --> 00:06:25,740 Of course, there was not, at that moment, 136 00:06:25,740 --> 00:06:28,380 any army of doctor racialologists ready 137 00:06:28,380 --> 00:06:31,180 with their double decimeter rulers to measure the skulls 138 00:06:31,180 --> 00:06:34,053 of party activists who wanted to join the SS. 139 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,010 What mattered was not so much the reality of this 140 00:06:38,010 --> 00:06:40,670 aberrant racial selection but rather the idea 141 00:06:40,670 --> 00:06:43,720 that allowed the SS to present themselves as an elite, 142 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:45,930 to affirm within the Nazi party 143 00:06:45,930 --> 00:06:48,530 that here was the racial elite of the German people. 144 00:06:49,559 --> 00:06:52,980 - (speaking in foreign language) 145 00:06:52,980 --> 00:06:55,650 - [Narrator] In January 1933, Adolph Hitler, 146 00:06:55,650 --> 00:06:58,550 head of the Nazi party, was named chancellor of the Reich. 147 00:07:01,010 --> 00:07:04,560 For his first speech, he put the SS, his new elite unit, 148 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:05,980 in front of the rostrum. 149 00:07:05,980 --> 00:07:08,270 They were now a force of 50,000 men 150 00:07:08,270 --> 00:07:09,870 totally devoted to their leader. 151 00:07:11,964 --> 00:07:14,714 (crowd cheering) 152 00:07:17,628 --> 00:07:20,295 (ominous music) 153 00:07:21,610 --> 00:07:23,193 Munich's Odeonsplatz, 154 00:07:26,690 --> 00:07:28,723 a symbolic place for the SS. 155 00:07:31,216 --> 00:07:33,003 - [Hitler] (speaking in foreign language) 156 00:07:33,003 --> 00:07:35,880 (crowd reciting) 157 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,740 - [Narrator] November 1933, 10 months after his nomination, 158 00:07:39,740 --> 00:07:41,783 the Fuhrer initiated a new ritual. 159 00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:44,810 Every 8th of November, on this square, 160 00:07:44,810 --> 00:07:47,449 the SS would gather to swear an oath of allegiance. 161 00:07:47,449 --> 00:07:49,989 - (speaking in foreign language) 162 00:07:49,989 --> 00:07:53,000 (crowd reciting) 163 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,512 - [Narrator] A crucial stage in the indoctrination. 164 00:07:55,512 --> 00:07:57,335 - [Rally Presenter] (speaking in foreign language) 165 00:07:57,335 --> 00:07:59,515 (crowd reciting) 166 00:07:59,515 --> 00:08:00,358 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 167 00:08:00,358 --> 00:08:02,250 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] What did it mean to join the SS? 168 00:08:02,250 --> 00:08:04,070 Simply, first of all, this oath. 169 00:08:04,070 --> 00:08:07,103 We swear fidelity to you, Adolph Hitler, to the death. 170 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,710 And this, to the death, was very important 171 00:08:11,710 --> 00:08:13,830 because it founded, if you like, a sort of 172 00:08:13,830 --> 00:08:17,170 radicality about entering into this organization 173 00:08:17,170 --> 00:08:19,570 and an abandoning of your own individuality 174 00:08:19,570 --> 00:08:23,013 to the extreme point of self sacrifice. 175 00:08:23,013 --> 00:08:25,290 - [Rally Presenter] (speaking in foreign language) 176 00:08:25,290 --> 00:08:26,160 - [Narrator] After this oath-- 177 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,060 (crowd reciting) 178 00:08:28,060 --> 00:08:30,390 - [Narrator] the SS member was no longer an individual. 179 00:08:30,390 --> 00:08:31,850 He had to give way to the group 180 00:08:31,850 --> 00:08:34,103 and accomplish its tasks with fanaticism. 181 00:08:35,293 --> 00:08:36,126 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 182 00:08:36,126 --> 00:08:37,160 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] What, for us, 183 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,960 are the worst of human faults, fanaticism, anti-Semitism, 184 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,780 became for some Nazis, and obviously above all 185 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:46,503 for the elites that was the SS, qualities. 186 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,190 In the bureaucratic reports, the SS produced 187 00:08:50,190 --> 00:08:52,490 so regularly about their leaders, 188 00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:55,420 the first quality was, he's a true fanatic. 189 00:08:55,420 --> 00:08:56,748 It was a quality. 190 00:08:56,748 --> 00:08:59,040 (feet stomping) 191 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,580 - [Narrator] This fanaticism the SS would put to the test 192 00:09:01,580 --> 00:09:03,970 on the 30th of June 1934. 193 00:09:03,970 --> 00:09:06,720 Hitler had already turned Germany into a dictatorship, 194 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,188 but some of its former allies had become troublesome. 195 00:09:10,188 --> 00:09:12,000 Ernst Rohm, for example, 196 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,320 the head of the SA, the brown shirts. 197 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,230 He was extremely popular, 198 00:09:16,230 --> 00:09:20,340 a threat to the Fuhrer who wanted to get rid of him. 199 00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:21,870 On the night of June 30th, 200 00:09:21,870 --> 00:09:24,883 the SS assassinated Rohm and all the SA leaders. 201 00:09:26,350 --> 00:09:30,163 The Germans had been warned, the SS was capable of anything. 202 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,500 Himmler had been given free reign. 203 00:09:33,500 --> 00:09:36,390 With the SS, he was going to be able to dedicate himself 204 00:09:36,390 --> 00:09:39,333 to his obsession, giving Germany a new destiny. 205 00:09:42,939 --> 00:09:47,939 (dramatic music) (birds chirping) 206 00:09:48,310 --> 00:09:50,040 In the Saxon countryside, 207 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,738 the quiet little town of Quedlinburg. 208 00:09:52,738 --> 00:09:55,488 (birds chirping) 209 00:10:03,220 --> 00:10:06,530 On July 2, 1936, an important guest 210 00:10:06,530 --> 00:10:08,600 was welcomed at the cathedral. 211 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,103 Heinrich Himmler visited with SS officials. 212 00:10:15,296 --> 00:10:18,040 He'd come to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the 213 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:22,040 death of Henry I, otherwise known as the Henry the Fowler, 214 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,520 a glorious ancestor who resisted the invasions 215 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:25,423 from the East. 216 00:10:28,150 --> 00:10:30,420 By bowing down in front of the royal tomb, 217 00:10:30,420 --> 00:10:33,610 Himmler wanted to impose a new German history. 218 00:10:33,610 --> 00:10:35,850 The SS intended to prove that the German 219 00:10:35,850 --> 00:10:37,453 had always been superior. 220 00:10:42,998 --> 00:10:43,831 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 221 00:10:43,831 --> 00:10:45,000 - [Interpreter For Johann] From their point of view, 222 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,800 the Germans had created everything 223 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,266 that comprised our civilization. 224 00:10:49,266 --> 00:10:51,260 Philosophy was thanks to them. 225 00:10:51,260 --> 00:10:53,560 Mathematics was thanks to them. 226 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:56,800 The music of Johann Sebastian Bach was thanks to them. 227 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,460 They even went as far as to say that Plato and the Greeks 228 00:10:59,460 --> 00:11:01,360 of the classical period were Germans 229 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,860 because they had created a marvelous civilization. 230 00:11:08,350 --> 00:11:10,970 This race that was the very essence of distinction 231 00:11:10,970 --> 00:11:13,420 was threatened by people who wanted to damage it. 232 00:11:15,070 --> 00:11:17,240 And first of all, there was that other people 233 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,190 or that other race that claimed itself to be 234 00:11:19,190 --> 00:11:22,150 the chosen people, which is to say the Jewish people, 235 00:11:22,150 --> 00:11:24,143 or as they put it, the Jewish race. 236 00:11:25,150 --> 00:11:26,370 And from their point of view, 237 00:11:26,370 --> 00:11:28,670 there was a sort of clash of the titans, 238 00:11:28,670 --> 00:11:31,550 a war of the giants that had structured the whole of history 239 00:11:31,550 --> 00:11:34,470 for thousands of years between, on the one hand 240 00:11:34,470 --> 00:11:37,450 the nasty, destructive, hate-filled Jews, 241 00:11:37,450 --> 00:11:40,400 and on the other, Germans who were good, gentle, 242 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,400 and culturally creative, so good indeed that they were naive 243 00:11:45,610 --> 00:11:48,694 and therefore victims of their own moral goodness. 244 00:11:48,694 --> 00:11:50,990 (gentle music) 245 00:11:50,990 --> 00:11:52,800 - [Narrator] All SS members were instructed 246 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:54,660 with this re-reading of history. 247 00:11:54,660 --> 00:11:56,543 They studied it in evening classes. 248 00:11:57,780 --> 00:11:59,510 This monthly leaflet, for example, 249 00:11:59,510 --> 00:12:01,620 was written for SS officers. 250 00:12:01,620 --> 00:12:04,060 It contained articles about glorious ancestors, 251 00:12:04,060 --> 00:12:07,080 such as Prince Eugene of Savoy and illustrious Germans, 252 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,260 such as Richard Wagner, but also instructions 253 00:12:09,260 --> 00:12:11,660 on how to be the perfect SS man. 254 00:12:11,660 --> 00:12:13,780 It also taught how to combat your enemies, 255 00:12:13,780 --> 00:12:15,940 and in particular, Christianity, 256 00:12:15,940 --> 00:12:19,325 which was considered a monstrous creation of the Jews. 257 00:12:19,325 --> 00:12:20,307 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 258 00:12:20,307 --> 00:12:21,620 - [Interpreter For Johann] Christianity, in their eyes, 259 00:12:21,620 --> 00:12:22,633 was Judaism. 260 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,750 You had, at the heart of the SS, 261 00:12:25,750 --> 00:12:29,310 a whole battery of courses on points of ideology, 262 00:12:29,310 --> 00:12:31,023 courses on history and biology, 263 00:12:32,670 --> 00:12:35,660 which taught you that the Evangelization of Germany 264 00:12:35,660 --> 00:12:38,170 was priests who were in fact rabbis 265 00:12:38,170 --> 00:12:40,630 who'd come to modify Germany's original culture 266 00:12:42,270 --> 00:12:47,270 to introduce the idea of sin and who came to promote values 267 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,284 that were totally inimical to life. 268 00:12:50,284 --> 00:12:51,541 - [David] (speaking in foreign language) 269 00:12:51,541 --> 00:12:54,150 - [Interpreter For David] Humanism, universalism, SS members 270 00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:57,300 learned during their training that that was all nonsense. 271 00:12:57,300 --> 00:12:59,220 According to the SS ideologs, 272 00:12:59,220 --> 00:13:01,123 that was nothing but sentimental pity. 273 00:13:03,224 --> 00:13:04,057 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 274 00:13:04,057 --> 00:13:04,940 - [Interpreter For Johann] Christianity, as a culture, 275 00:13:04,940 --> 00:13:08,330 which is to say Judeo-Christianity, had to disappear, 276 00:13:08,330 --> 00:13:11,310 had to eradicated and extracted from German culture 277 00:13:12,340 --> 00:13:14,680 so that the Germans could return to what they were 278 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:16,580 at the outset, which is to say 279 00:13:16,580 --> 00:13:19,118 blonde beasts in a state of nature. 280 00:13:19,118 --> 00:13:21,868 (birds chirping) 281 00:13:25,210 --> 00:13:26,570 - [Narrator] But to say that the Germans 282 00:13:26,570 --> 00:13:29,330 were at the origins of civilization was not enough. 283 00:13:29,330 --> 00:13:31,170 It needed to be proven. 284 00:13:31,170 --> 00:13:34,130 This was one of the SS's first missions. 285 00:13:34,130 --> 00:13:36,270 The Externsteine is a rock formation 286 00:13:36,270 --> 00:13:38,113 deep inside the Saxon forest. 287 00:13:39,370 --> 00:13:41,930 It served as a hermitage during the Middle Ages 288 00:13:41,930 --> 00:13:43,180 and maybe more than that. 289 00:13:44,970 --> 00:13:46,770 It was, in any case, Himmler's opinion 290 00:13:46,770 --> 00:13:49,170 that this was an ancient Saxon place of worship. 291 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,360 Hoping to find here a trace of the glorious ancestors, 292 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,343 he ordered the SS to carry out an archeological dig. 293 00:13:59,689 --> 00:14:01,389 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 294 00:14:01,389 --> 00:14:02,690 - [Interpreter For Johann] Himmler and the SS 295 00:14:02,690 --> 00:14:06,380 sent archeologists all over Germany to try to find, 296 00:14:06,380 --> 00:14:09,710 in the earth of Germania, the irrefutable proof of 297 00:14:09,710 --> 00:14:14,243 German excellence, craftsmanship, art, and intelligence. 298 00:14:18,810 --> 00:14:21,540 - [Narrator] Himmler didn't stop at Germany's frontiers. 299 00:14:21,540 --> 00:14:24,810 He also dispatched an expedition to Tibet to find the traces 300 00:14:24,810 --> 00:14:28,620 of the first Aryans and another in search of the Holy Grail. 301 00:14:28,620 --> 00:14:31,100 The results were very disappointing, 302 00:14:31,100 --> 00:14:33,590 but this research allowed the propaganda services 303 00:14:33,590 --> 00:14:35,770 to hammer home the message 304 00:14:35,770 --> 00:14:38,770 that Germans were the descendants of a superior race, 305 00:14:38,770 --> 00:14:41,550 and the Nazis were their new representatives, 306 00:14:41,550 --> 00:14:44,200 even if that meant taking a few liberties with reality, 307 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,370 as in this advertisement for Hugo Boss, 308 00:14:46,370 --> 00:14:48,680 who made the SS's uniforms. 309 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:50,530 Hitler and Goering were transfigured. 310 00:14:54,050 --> 00:14:55,792 - [Paula] (speaking in foreign language) 311 00:14:55,792 --> 00:14:58,000 - [Interpreter For Paula] This Hugo Boss advertisement 312 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,210 showed a sort of idolization of Hitler 313 00:15:01,210 --> 00:15:04,563 who appeared tall with light brown hair. 314 00:15:06,470 --> 00:15:08,110 He was standing next to Goering 315 00:15:08,110 --> 00:15:11,580 who was far slimmer than he was in reality. 316 00:15:11,580 --> 00:15:13,863 That didn't mean the public didn't seem this. 317 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,700 Of course, everybody knew Hitler wasn't so tall, 318 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:20,160 that he wasn't blonde, 319 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,403 and didn't conform to the Aryan ideal. 320 00:15:23,330 --> 00:15:26,930 On the other hand, there was the stimulation of the desire, 321 00:15:26,930 --> 00:15:29,460 the desire to be like an Aryan. 322 00:15:29,460 --> 00:15:32,210 (dramatic music) 323 00:15:34,610 --> 00:15:35,640 - [Narrator] But for the SS, 324 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,200 defining the ideal did not suffice. 325 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,790 Himmler was preparing his troops 326 00:15:39,790 --> 00:15:42,090 for a much more sinister mission. 327 00:15:42,090 --> 00:15:45,380 In 1936, the SS leader got a promotion. 328 00:15:45,380 --> 00:15:48,350 He was put in charge of all of Germany's police, 329 00:15:48,350 --> 00:15:50,880 even the Gestapo, the formidable political police 330 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,083 created by Goering, fell into the hands of the SS. 331 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,480 This former activist group 332 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,763 was becoming a gigantic force of repression. 333 00:16:02,664 --> 00:16:03,747 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 334 00:16:03,747 --> 00:16:04,890 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] 1936 was the moment 335 00:16:04,890 --> 00:16:08,610 Himmler really stated to organize the entire SS 336 00:16:08,610 --> 00:16:12,250 and the police and merge the two institutions. 337 00:16:12,250 --> 00:16:15,090 He would merge an elite core of political activists 338 00:16:15,090 --> 00:16:17,590 with their ideology and the political program 339 00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:21,050 ready to be put into practice with a police force 340 00:16:21,050 --> 00:16:24,203 that should have been an apolitical state institution. 341 00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:28,090 A terrible result was being prepared. 342 00:16:28,090 --> 00:16:31,770 The police was not an instrument that was totally innocent, 343 00:16:31,770 --> 00:16:35,980 and by taking it over, as he did in '36, Himmler was 344 00:16:35,980 --> 00:16:39,300 going to be able to sculpt himself a murder weapon. 345 00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:42,050 (dramatic music) 346 00:16:42,050 --> 00:16:43,630 - [Narrator] With the police under its orders, 347 00:16:43,630 --> 00:16:47,400 the SS was able to launch a new mission, the parasite hunt, 348 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,690 those who harmed, so said Nazi ideology, the German race. 349 00:16:51,690 --> 00:16:54,660 The first to be targeted were the disabled. 350 00:16:54,660 --> 00:16:57,990 Propaganda films described them as useless less-than-humans 351 00:16:57,990 --> 00:16:59,423 who had to be gotten rid of. 352 00:17:01,726 --> 00:17:02,559 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 353 00:17:02,559 --> 00:17:03,770 - [Interpreter For Johann] They would be sterilized, 354 00:17:03,770 --> 00:17:06,628 and it was the SS who oversaw the program, 355 00:17:06,628 --> 00:17:09,730 and then, in a second phase from 1939, 356 00:17:09,730 --> 00:17:13,340 in the context of the war, people with what were considered 357 00:17:13,340 --> 00:17:16,820 hereditary illnesses were killed in a euthanasia program 358 00:17:16,820 --> 00:17:20,980 called T4, which lead to the deaths of 200,000 people 359 00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:23,139 in the years up to 1945. 360 00:17:23,139 --> 00:17:26,030 (dramatic music) 361 00:17:26,030 --> 00:17:27,640 - [Narrator] The main enemies, the most dangerous 362 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,050 from Nazi's point of view, were of course the Jews, 363 00:17:31,050 --> 00:17:33,330 but this posed a problem for the SS. 364 00:17:33,330 --> 00:17:36,723 Unlike the disabled, the Jews were difficult to identify. 365 00:17:38,092 --> 00:17:39,433 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 366 00:17:39,433 --> 00:17:40,590 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] In all other regimes 367 00:17:40,590 --> 00:17:41,900 that have been founded on race, 368 00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:44,160 such as apartheid in South Africa 369 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,420 or the segregation policies in the United States, 370 00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:50,030 there was always what was called a color line 371 00:17:50,030 --> 00:17:52,400 that enabled the separation, so to speak, 372 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,170 of the white dominant people you want to build up 373 00:17:55,170 --> 00:17:57,740 from the people that you could easily physically recognize 374 00:17:57,740 --> 00:17:59,463 who were the dominated people. 375 00:18:00,580 --> 00:18:03,430 In Germany, that was not the case. 376 00:18:03,430 --> 00:18:04,370 Why not? 377 00:18:04,370 --> 00:18:06,040 And this is why anti-Semitism 378 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,623 is an extremely complex form of racism. 379 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,130 Neither the Nazis nor anyone else 380 00:18:12,130 --> 00:18:15,640 could tell the Jews apart, by their physical appearance. 381 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,550 You don't have that sort of so-called ethnic racism 382 00:18:18,550 --> 00:18:20,333 based on direct recognition. 383 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:22,645 (ominous music) 384 00:18:22,645 --> 00:18:23,830 - [Narrator] Although the propaganda 385 00:18:23,830 --> 00:18:25,610 did its best to pretend otherwise. 386 00:18:25,610 --> 00:18:27,320 In newspapers and even in schools, 387 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,520 you could study so-called Jewish features. 388 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,560 Jews were described as the absolute antithesis 389 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,363 of the Aryan model, small, fat, dark eyes, hooked nose. 390 00:18:37,090 --> 00:18:39,350 Nazi doctors used color charts to try to 391 00:18:39,350 --> 00:18:40,700 validate their theories, 392 00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:43,163 by checking Jewish children's hair and eye color. 393 00:18:50,860 --> 00:18:54,820 But the SS, itself, realized that it wasn't very convincing, 394 00:18:54,820 --> 00:18:57,723 so Jews were attributed diabolical powers. 395 00:18:58,774 --> 00:19:00,485 - [Paula] (speaking in foreign language) 396 00:19:00,485 --> 00:19:02,280 - [Interpreter For Paula] There were two levels. 397 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,350 There was a level where a lot of stress was put on images 398 00:19:05,350 --> 00:19:10,350 of typical Jews with big noses, dark eyes, and so on, 399 00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:12,350 and then there was the masquerade 400 00:19:12,350 --> 00:19:14,713 as the Nazis called it, by the Jew. 401 00:19:15,990 --> 00:19:18,690 So the Jew was someone who could be masked 402 00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:21,863 and mix with the population without them knowing. 403 00:19:24,770 --> 00:19:27,790 That's where the Jew became problematic for the Aryan, 404 00:19:27,790 --> 00:19:32,053 according to Nazi ideology because he was sometimes masked. 405 00:19:33,430 --> 00:19:35,619 You couldn't immediately see that he had characteristics 406 00:19:35,619 --> 00:19:38,712 that were not compatible with the Aryan man. 407 00:19:38,712 --> 00:19:40,300 (dramatic music) 408 00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:41,930 - [Narrator] Confronted with what it presented 409 00:19:41,930 --> 00:19:44,230 as a formidable enemy, the SS invented 410 00:19:44,230 --> 00:19:49,230 a new sort of anti-Semitism, as cold as it was radical. 411 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:51,410 It's members were trained to act methodically 412 00:19:51,410 --> 00:19:52,363 without feeling. 413 00:19:53,860 --> 00:19:54,693 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 414 00:19:54,693 --> 00:19:55,900 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] What the SS sought were 415 00:19:55,900 --> 00:19:58,610 rational definitions, biological definitions, 416 00:19:58,610 --> 00:20:01,220 and therefore, a treatment of this question that was, 417 00:20:01,220 --> 00:20:04,410 if you like, without hatred, and it was actually stated. 418 00:20:04,410 --> 00:20:06,070 Himmler said it, hatred. 419 00:20:06,070 --> 00:20:08,380 Look, it's terrible what it reveals about 420 00:20:08,380 --> 00:20:11,930 the anti-Semitism of party activists because to hate Jews, 421 00:20:11,930 --> 00:20:15,310 in such a passionate way, is, in the mind of the SS member, 422 00:20:15,310 --> 00:20:17,770 to care too much about them. 423 00:20:17,770 --> 00:20:22,160 The required solution needs to be extremely rational, cold. 424 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,110 And that is really an SS invention 425 00:20:24,110 --> 00:20:27,127 and explains a lot in the genocide that would follow. 426 00:20:27,127 --> 00:20:29,670 (dramatic music) (crowd shouting) 427 00:20:29,670 --> 00:20:31,300 - [Narrator] For the time being, there was no question 428 00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:34,303 of genocide, just getting rid of the Jews, 429 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:37,760 to harass them by all means possible 430 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,466 so that they would leave Germany. 431 00:20:39,466 --> 00:20:42,060 (crowd shouting) 432 00:20:42,060 --> 00:20:45,750 In the 1930's, discrimination followed discrimination. 433 00:20:45,750 --> 00:20:48,920 Shops were closed, people were forbidden from working 434 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,210 in certain professions, from going to the cinema 435 00:20:51,210 --> 00:20:54,610 or to a restaurant, to sit on certain benches. 436 00:20:54,610 --> 00:20:57,723 Jews were forced into ghettos and to wear the yellow star. 437 00:20:59,930 --> 00:21:02,460 But these solutions weren't going fast enough. 438 00:21:02,460 --> 00:21:05,133 The SS was preparing more radical methods. 439 00:21:09,092 --> 00:21:11,842 (birds chirping) 440 00:21:15,350 --> 00:21:16,980 A few kilometers from Munich, 441 00:21:16,980 --> 00:21:19,870 in a former munitions factory, the Dachau camp. 442 00:21:19,870 --> 00:21:22,537 (ominous music) 443 00:21:25,260 --> 00:21:28,070 A work camp, said the Nazis. 444 00:21:28,070 --> 00:21:30,610 The formula displayed at the entrance of the camp, 445 00:21:30,610 --> 00:21:31,903 work makes you free. 446 00:21:34,730 --> 00:21:36,470 This enclosed space was, in fact, 447 00:21:36,470 --> 00:21:38,188 a private SS hunting ground. 448 00:21:38,188 --> 00:21:40,910 (door squeaking) 449 00:21:40,910 --> 00:21:43,410 As soon as the camp opened in 1933, 450 00:21:43,410 --> 00:21:44,960 Himmler obtained control of it. 451 00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:49,470 He frequently visited what was presented as a model prison 452 00:21:49,470 --> 00:21:50,853 for political opponents. 453 00:21:51,950 --> 00:21:54,783 In fact, it was already a little hell. 454 00:22:00,610 --> 00:22:02,660 The SS leader wanted to make Dachau 455 00:22:02,660 --> 00:22:06,920 into an experimentation center for his policy of repression, 456 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,470 a template for the camps to come. 457 00:22:09,470 --> 00:22:10,900 To work towards that aim, 458 00:22:10,900 --> 00:22:14,580 he recruited a new type of SS member, very young men, 459 00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:18,000 maximum 22 years old with little education. 460 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,150 They were taught to become violent and pitiless. 461 00:22:21,150 --> 00:22:24,100 As this inmate's drawing recounts, prisoners were greeted 462 00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:27,380 on their arrival in the camp with 25 blows from a cosh, 463 00:22:27,380 --> 00:22:29,010 a way of breaking all resistance 464 00:22:29,010 --> 00:22:30,743 but also of hardening the guards. 465 00:22:32,666 --> 00:22:33,499 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 466 00:22:33,499 --> 00:22:34,850 - [Interpreter For Elissa] Sharing a crime, 467 00:22:34,850 --> 00:22:37,863 however you look at it, brings people together. 468 00:22:39,710 --> 00:22:41,780 He therefore forced the SS to witness 469 00:22:41,780 --> 00:22:44,500 the meting out of corporal punishment, 470 00:22:44,500 --> 00:22:46,950 to deal it out themselves or to watch, 471 00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:50,750 and in that way, he created veritable rights of passage, 472 00:22:50,750 --> 00:22:53,210 initiation rights that were very, very important 473 00:22:53,210 --> 00:22:58,210 formative experiences inside the SS. 474 00:22:58,407 --> 00:22:59,440 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 475 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,410 - [Interpreter For Johann] There was a term and an adjective 476 00:23:01,410 --> 00:23:04,930 that were repeated like a mantra, so to speak, in the SS. 477 00:23:04,930 --> 00:23:06,760 It was hart, hard. 478 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,540 Mann musst hart sein, you have to be hard. 479 00:23:09,540 --> 00:23:12,300 Hard first of all towards yourself, towards what the SS 480 00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:15,500 called your inner bastard, den innerer schweinehund, 481 00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:18,300 which is to say the weak, sensitive man. 482 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:20,530 Weak because he had been weakened by Christianity, 483 00:23:20,530 --> 00:23:23,200 which is to say by Judeo-Christianity. 484 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,200 He'd been taught pity, compassion, gentleness, 485 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,063 all sorts of anti-natural feelings. 486 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,530 He had to be silenced, this sensitive man, 487 00:23:33,530 --> 00:23:36,320 this inner bastard, in order to be hard 488 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,120 with the enemies of the German race. 489 00:23:39,696 --> 00:23:42,446 (dramatic music) 490 00:23:43,982 --> 00:23:46,160 - [Narrator] Inside the camp, the prisoners crammed 491 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,060 into the dormitories were reduced to the status of cattle. 492 00:23:59,060 --> 00:24:02,363 Any reason was good enough to torture them in their dungeon. 493 00:24:04,460 --> 00:24:07,563 Under the cover of the rules, it was a reign of lawlessness. 494 00:24:09,190 --> 00:24:12,230 Outside the camp, even inside the Nazi regime, 495 00:24:12,230 --> 00:24:15,680 some were worried by the terror that reigned at Dachau, 496 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,350 but no protest was possible. 497 00:24:18,350 --> 00:24:21,530 Himmler made sure the camp was a place controlled by the SS 498 00:24:21,530 --> 00:24:22,883 and hermetically sealed. 499 00:24:24,358 --> 00:24:26,105 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 500 00:24:26,105 --> 00:24:27,200 - [Interpreter For Elissa] No state official 501 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,900 was allowed to enter. 502 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:32,610 No member of the judiciary, no police man, no one 503 00:24:32,610 --> 00:24:36,860 was allowed to investigate or penetrate this closed space. 504 00:24:36,860 --> 00:24:39,930 That protected the SS because obviously 505 00:24:39,930 --> 00:24:42,850 the judiciary couldn't accuse them of murder. 506 00:24:42,850 --> 00:24:45,960 It was at that moment that the concentration camp system 507 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,998 became a world, you could say a world apart. 508 00:24:48,998 --> 00:24:51,640 (dramatic music) 509 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,830 - [Narrator] By 1936, the template was in place. 510 00:24:54,830 --> 00:24:57,350 The SS opened five other camps like Dachau 511 00:24:57,350 --> 00:24:59,110 in German territory. 512 00:24:59,110 --> 00:25:02,370 Political opponents were joined by undesirables, 513 00:25:02,370 --> 00:25:06,470 Jews, gypsies, beggars, homosexuals. 514 00:25:06,470 --> 00:25:08,890 Several thousand people were imprisoned and tortured 515 00:25:08,890 --> 00:25:10,253 with complete impunity. 516 00:25:11,630 --> 00:25:13,740 Three years away from the World War, 517 00:25:13,740 --> 00:25:15,613 the SS expanded its web. 518 00:25:17,252 --> 00:25:20,002 (dramatic music) 519 00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:27,283 On August 31, 1939, Nazi troops invaded Poland. 520 00:25:32,290 --> 00:25:33,900 Hitler presented the operation 521 00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:36,270 as retaliation for an aggression. 522 00:25:36,270 --> 00:25:37,600 The Poles he claimed, 523 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,573 had attacked a radio transmitter inside German territory. 524 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,160 In fact, it was an SS mockup operation 525 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:45,470 ordered by the Fuhrer. 526 00:25:45,470 --> 00:25:47,653 It was even called Operation Himmler. 527 00:25:48,742 --> 00:25:50,376 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 528 00:25:50,376 --> 00:25:52,410 - [Interpreter For Christian] In August 1939, 529 00:25:52,410 --> 00:25:56,020 Hitler was determined to finish with Poland, 530 00:25:56,020 --> 00:26:00,550 and Himmler gave the task to the SD and Gestapo chief 531 00:26:00,550 --> 00:26:03,903 to mount an operation that would be an act of provocation. 532 00:26:06,370 --> 00:26:09,020 They picked some seasoned SS members, 533 00:26:09,020 --> 00:26:12,640 made them into a group, took some Polish uniforms, 534 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,180 pretended to attack a border radio post with a speaker 535 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:17,810 that was supposed to transmit 536 00:26:17,810 --> 00:26:20,503 a message of provocation, in Polish. 537 00:26:22,500 --> 00:26:24,300 - [Narrator] Several inmates, from a neighboring camp, 538 00:26:24,300 --> 00:26:26,860 were dressed as Poles and killed near the transmitter, 539 00:26:26,860 --> 00:26:29,070 to make the attack more credible. 540 00:26:29,070 --> 00:26:31,750 Hitler had his pretext for unleashing war. 541 00:26:31,750 --> 00:26:32,640 (dramatic music) 542 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:34,420 In response to the invasion of Poland, 543 00:26:34,420 --> 00:26:36,870 France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. 544 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:42,290 (gun blasts) 545 00:26:42,290 --> 00:26:45,450 The SS had just started the Second World War, 546 00:26:45,450 --> 00:26:47,500 and it was going to participate directly. 547 00:26:48,879 --> 00:26:49,712 - Fire. 548 00:26:49,712 --> 00:26:52,629 (artillery blasts) 549 00:26:55,951 --> 00:26:58,701 (birds chirping) 550 00:27:01,290 --> 00:27:03,900 - [Narrator] In a Munich suburb, the Bad Tolz barracks 551 00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:06,404 had been built by Dachau prisoners. 552 00:27:06,404 --> 00:27:08,040 (dramatic music) 553 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,910 This is where SS officers were trained before going off 554 00:27:10,910 --> 00:27:14,410 to war because the SS also had its own army. 555 00:27:14,410 --> 00:27:16,540 For several years, Himmler had been preparing 556 00:27:16,540 --> 00:27:18,500 this new branch of his organization, 557 00:27:18,500 --> 00:27:22,590 which was destined to become its biggest, the Waffen-SS. 558 00:27:22,590 --> 00:27:23,423 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 559 00:27:23,423 --> 00:27:25,240 - [Interpreter For Christian] The Waffen were soldiers, 560 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,870 combat troops who wore uniforms 561 00:27:27,870 --> 00:27:31,240 but who were considered to be political soldiers. 562 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,250 That meant that you joined the SS 563 00:27:33,250 --> 00:27:35,730 as an act of political militancy. 564 00:27:35,730 --> 00:27:37,409 You were not, in theory, a conscript. 565 00:27:37,409 --> 00:27:39,005 - [David] (speaking in foreign language) 566 00:27:39,005 --> 00:27:39,838 - [Interpreter For David] There was, 567 00:27:39,838 --> 00:27:42,360 from the SS point of view, the will to create an army 568 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:44,830 of political soldiers, who, even more than 569 00:27:44,830 --> 00:27:47,680 the regular German Army, would fight pitilessly 570 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,263 while following the precepts of Nazi ideology. 571 00:27:53,027 --> 00:27:55,980 (dramatic music) 572 00:27:55,980 --> 00:27:58,060 - [Narrator] The Waffen-SS was thrown into battle 573 00:27:58,060 --> 00:28:00,373 alongside the Wehrmacht, the regular army. 574 00:28:02,060 --> 00:28:05,460 It took part in the invasion of Belgium and France. 575 00:28:05,460 --> 00:28:07,970 Contrary to the Nazi propaganda claims, 576 00:28:07,970 --> 00:28:10,260 the beginnings were not very glorious. 577 00:28:10,260 --> 00:28:13,410 The SS were not soldiers, first and foremost. 578 00:28:13,410 --> 00:28:15,190 They fought with their fanaticism 579 00:28:15,190 --> 00:28:16,634 and suffered heavy casualties. 580 00:28:16,634 --> 00:28:21,634 (bomb whining) (bomb blasting) 581 00:28:27,078 --> 00:28:30,140 (political Nazi music) 582 00:28:30,140 --> 00:28:32,430 To compensate for their losses in battle, 583 00:28:32,430 --> 00:28:35,043 the SS were obliged to complete another mission, 584 00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:37,460 a mission that Himmler considered to be 585 00:28:37,460 --> 00:28:38,793 as important as fighting. 586 00:28:40,050 --> 00:28:41,843 The SS had to procreate. 587 00:28:43,725 --> 00:28:44,558 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 588 00:28:44,558 --> 00:28:45,920 - [Interpreter For Johann] The SS were a biological elite, 589 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:47,050 from Himmler's point of view. 590 00:28:47,050 --> 00:28:49,930 They'd been selected and must be procreators. 591 00:28:49,930 --> 00:28:51,460 They had to have children. 592 00:28:51,460 --> 00:28:53,775 They had to produce biological material. 593 00:28:53,775 --> 00:28:55,100 (dramatic music) 594 00:28:55,100 --> 00:28:56,170 - [Narrator] From the beginning, 595 00:28:56,170 --> 00:28:59,680 Himmler imposed pronatalist rules on the SS. 596 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,410 SS men had to marry women who were also considered 597 00:29:02,410 --> 00:29:06,717 racially pure and procreate as quickly as possible. 598 00:29:06,717 --> 00:29:08,068 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 599 00:29:08,068 --> 00:29:09,670 - [Interpreter For Elissa] Himmler followed the marriages 600 00:29:09,670 --> 00:29:13,173 very closely and the divorces, in fact, 601 00:29:14,580 --> 00:29:17,410 and he would actually say very clearly 602 00:29:17,410 --> 00:29:20,300 that a childless marriage was a worthless marriage 603 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:24,592 for society, in general, and for the SS, even more so. 604 00:29:24,592 --> 00:29:25,542 - [David] (speaking in foreign language) 605 00:29:25,542 --> 00:29:26,810 - [Interpreter For David] If they didn't contribute 606 00:29:26,810 --> 00:29:29,810 to the German people's biological regeneration, 607 00:29:29,810 --> 00:29:33,240 then, in theory, they could be subject to sanctions 608 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,970 of a financial sort, in particular. 609 00:29:35,970 --> 00:29:37,700 There was a contribution, a sort of fine 610 00:29:37,700 --> 00:29:38,950 that you were supposed to pay 611 00:29:38,950 --> 00:29:40,850 if, after a certain number of years, 612 00:29:40,850 --> 00:29:43,199 you hadn't had a sufficient number of children. 613 00:29:43,199 --> 00:29:44,099 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 614 00:29:44,099 --> 00:29:45,980 - [Interpreter For Elissa] So according to Himmler, 615 00:29:45,980 --> 00:29:48,570 the aim was that every SS marriage 616 00:29:48,570 --> 00:29:50,660 provide at least four children. 617 00:29:50,660 --> 00:29:53,210 (gentle music) 618 00:29:53,210 --> 00:29:55,010 - [Narrator] But the SS found it hard to live up 619 00:29:55,010 --> 00:29:56,003 to this ambition. 620 00:29:57,620 --> 00:29:59,180 When war broke out, 621 00:29:59,180 --> 00:30:02,172 Himmler's objectives were far from being reached. 622 00:30:02,172 --> 00:30:03,005 - [David] (speaking in foreign language) 623 00:30:03,005 --> 00:30:05,010 - [Interpreter For David] In fact, by the end of the 1930's, 624 00:30:05,010 --> 00:30:08,170 so after almost 10 years of applying these criteria, 625 00:30:08,170 --> 00:30:10,830 only 40% of SS men were married. 626 00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:13,493 So, in fact, a large number of them were single. 627 00:30:14,820 --> 00:30:16,980 As for the numbers of children per family, 628 00:30:16,980 --> 00:30:18,800 it was about one child, 629 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,290 so the SS were typical of the German population generally. 630 00:30:22,290 --> 00:30:25,170 They did not conform as willingly as might be expected, 631 00:30:25,170 --> 00:30:27,357 to the organization's constraints. 632 00:30:27,357 --> 00:30:29,280 (dramatic music) 633 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:30,380 - [Narrator] So the SS leader 634 00:30:30,380 --> 00:30:32,133 made an extraordinary decision. 635 00:30:33,070 --> 00:30:35,700 In October 1939, a few months after 636 00:30:35,700 --> 00:30:38,780 the beginning of the war, he signed a procreation order 637 00:30:38,780 --> 00:30:41,963 inciting SS men to have extramarital affairs. 638 00:30:43,234 --> 00:30:44,760 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 639 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,210 - [Interpreter For Elissa] He encouraged soldiers 640 00:30:46,210 --> 00:30:49,810 and members of the armed police and of course the SS 641 00:30:49,810 --> 00:30:53,003 to make children with German women outside of marriage. 642 00:30:54,755 --> 00:30:55,639 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 643 00:30:55,639 --> 00:30:57,130 - [Interpreter For Johann] So we were back with the idea 644 00:30:57,130 --> 00:30:59,040 that monogamy, only having one wife 645 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,520 and only having children with one wife, 646 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:03,660 had been imposed by the Catholic priests, 647 00:31:03,660 --> 00:31:07,030 which is to say by the Jews, in order to dry up the race. 648 00:31:07,030 --> 00:31:10,090 Himmler took the opposite stance, telling SS members, 649 00:31:10,090 --> 00:31:12,430 you have the duty to make children everywhere, 650 00:31:12,430 --> 00:31:14,670 all the time, wherever you can. 651 00:31:14,670 --> 00:31:17,403 It was understood that he meant even outside the couple. 652 00:31:17,403 --> 00:31:20,153 (dramatic music) 653 00:31:21,297 --> 00:31:24,150 (artillery blasts) 654 00:31:24,150 --> 00:31:28,930 - [Narrator] On June 22, 1941, Hitler entered a new phase. 655 00:31:28,930 --> 00:31:32,550 After the invasion of Poland, he attacked the U.S.S.R. 656 00:31:32,550 --> 00:31:34,760 He launched the great Nazi project, 657 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:39,370 spreading to the East, lebensraum, Germany's living space. 658 00:31:39,370 --> 00:31:42,240 According the Nazi doctrine, these concurred lands 659 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,180 had to be cleaned of the sub-humans who lived in them, 660 00:31:45,180 --> 00:31:47,623 so as to be replace by authentic Germans. 661 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:50,760 To concur this living space, 662 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,403 the SS would once more show their fanaticism. 663 00:31:54,510 --> 00:31:57,190 The regular army was followed into the concurred zones, 664 00:31:57,190 --> 00:32:00,173 by the Einsatzgruppen, the SS task forces. 665 00:32:02,210 --> 00:32:04,350 The mission of these death squads was to eliminate 666 00:32:04,350 --> 00:32:06,420 all opponents, as well as people who were 667 00:32:06,420 --> 00:32:09,120 considered inferiors, starting with the Jews. 668 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,500 They executed men by firing squad, 669 00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:14,233 raised villages, burned down synagogues. 670 00:32:15,899 --> 00:32:17,341 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 671 00:32:17,341 --> 00:32:19,100 - [Interpreter For Christian] There were 3,000 members 672 00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:22,610 of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union between 673 00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:27,530 the 22nd of June '41 and let's say Christmas 1941, 674 00:32:27,530 --> 00:32:29,460 which is to say six months. 675 00:32:29,460 --> 00:32:31,913 They killed 550,000 people. 676 00:32:33,630 --> 00:32:34,930 If you do that math, 677 00:32:34,930 --> 00:32:38,810 to be one of the Einsatzgruppen shooters in the U.S.S.R. 678 00:32:38,810 --> 00:32:43,220 meant killing a man every day for six months. 679 00:32:43,220 --> 00:32:44,990 Each one of them has, on average, 680 00:32:44,990 --> 00:32:47,730 180 people on their conscience. 681 00:32:47,730 --> 00:32:49,690 That is for the first year of the war, 682 00:32:49,690 --> 00:32:50,976 not counting the rest. 683 00:32:50,976 --> 00:32:52,770 (dramatic music) 684 00:32:52,770 --> 00:32:54,850 - [Narrator] Summer 1941, 685 00:32:54,850 --> 00:32:57,930 a new peak was reached on the scale of crime. 686 00:32:57,930 --> 00:33:01,150 Berlin requested that women and children be killed too. 687 00:33:01,150 --> 00:33:02,900 Even for the fanatical SS, 688 00:33:02,900 --> 00:33:06,473 this task would be hard to carry out, and Himmler knew it. 689 00:33:07,562 --> 00:33:08,395 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 690 00:33:08,395 --> 00:33:09,228 - [Interpreter For Johann] It was clear to him, 691 00:33:09,228 --> 00:33:11,410 as it was clear for the other SS officials 692 00:33:11,410 --> 00:33:14,870 that it was not easy to kill and that if it was easy to kill 693 00:33:14,870 --> 00:33:17,270 then that would be a sign of moral degeneration. 694 00:33:19,450 --> 00:33:23,040 Killing should be done not for pleasure nor out of vice. 695 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,703 Killing was a moral duty. 696 00:33:26,358 --> 00:33:27,191 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 697 00:33:27,191 --> 00:33:28,300 - [Interpreter For Christian] There was violence 698 00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:31,660 that had become the norm, that had normalized. 699 00:33:31,660 --> 00:33:32,850 It was very intense. 700 00:33:32,850 --> 00:33:35,220 It was monstrous what these people did, 701 00:33:35,220 --> 00:33:37,940 but killing children was nevertheless put within the limits 702 00:33:37,940 --> 00:33:39,770 of this normalized violence. 703 00:33:39,770 --> 00:33:40,640 It was disgusting. 704 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:41,910 They didn't want to do. 705 00:33:41,910 --> 00:33:43,430 They didn't think it was good to do it, 706 00:33:43,430 --> 00:33:46,410 but well, for them, they had to do it. 707 00:33:46,410 --> 00:33:48,472 There was a certain necessity about it. 708 00:33:48,472 --> 00:33:49,341 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 709 00:33:49,341 --> 00:33:50,280 - [Interpreter For Johann] There was a whole 710 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,703 and very effective argument to justify that. 711 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,140 This perversion of the moral argument had it 712 00:33:56,140 --> 00:33:58,200 that the moral good was not to spare 713 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,720 the four-year-old child standing on the edge of the pit. 714 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,500 That would be cowardly. 715 00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:07,610 It would be cowardly towards our race, towards our country, 716 00:34:07,610 --> 00:34:12,220 towards our own children because the four-year-old child 717 00:34:12,220 --> 00:34:15,350 in front of the pit wasn't a charming little child. 718 00:34:15,350 --> 00:34:17,940 He was a Jew who, when he grew up, 719 00:34:17,940 --> 00:34:20,100 would come and kill your own children, 720 00:34:20,100 --> 00:34:21,810 therefore the higher morality 721 00:34:21,810 --> 00:34:24,000 is to force yourself to kill this child 722 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,873 because you are conscious of the danger he represented. 723 00:34:28,649 --> 00:34:30,560 (soldiers stomping) 724 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,870 - [Narrator] This barbarous logic reached its climax 725 00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:36,000 in October 1941, when the Einsatzgruppen 726 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,393 attacked the city of Kiev. 727 00:34:39,231 --> 00:34:40,070 (ominous music) 728 00:34:40,070 --> 00:34:41,780 Another massacre, 729 00:34:41,780 --> 00:34:44,180 but this one would be the most monstrous of all. 730 00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:47,073 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 731 00:34:47,073 --> 00:34:47,906 - [Interpreter For Christian] It started on 732 00:34:47,906 --> 00:34:50,690 the 28th of September 1941, 733 00:34:50,690 --> 00:34:54,270 with posters put up all over the place that gave the order, 734 00:34:54,270 --> 00:34:56,540 on pain of death, to Jewish citizens, 735 00:34:56,540 --> 00:34:59,893 to gather for deportation, in a certain area. 736 00:35:02,770 --> 00:35:04,610 They were then brought, on the morning of 737 00:35:04,610 --> 00:35:07,350 the 29th of September 1941, 738 00:35:07,350 --> 00:35:10,430 to the Ravine of the Grandmother, Babi Yar, 739 00:35:10,430 --> 00:35:11,743 at the exit to the town. 740 00:35:13,570 --> 00:35:14,890 - [Narrator] Most of the Jewish families 741 00:35:14,890 --> 00:35:16,640 responded to the call. 742 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:18,020 They came with their luggage, 743 00:35:18,020 --> 00:35:20,670 convinced they were going to be evacuated. 744 00:35:20,670 --> 00:35:23,520 They were asked to undress and to lie down on the ground. 745 00:35:25,358 --> 00:35:26,191 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 746 00:35:26,191 --> 00:35:27,024 - [Interpreter For Christian] At that moment, 747 00:35:27,024 --> 00:35:29,130 those units put into place what would remain 748 00:35:29,130 --> 00:35:32,120 the most gigantic genocidal massacre 749 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,000 of the Second World War, with the killing of 33,771 people, 750 00:35:38,140 --> 00:35:40,143 men, women, and children, over two days. 751 00:35:40,143 --> 00:35:42,726 (gentle music) 752 00:35:45,620 --> 00:35:47,530 - [Narrator] The first bodies were covered with earth, 753 00:35:47,530 --> 00:35:49,120 then they started again. 754 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,670 The killing went on hour after hour. 755 00:35:51,670 --> 00:35:54,030 The SS took shifts to kill families 756 00:35:54,030 --> 00:35:56,230 as if they were working on an assembly line. 757 00:35:57,242 --> 00:35:58,075 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 758 00:35:58,075 --> 00:35:58,908 - [Interpreter For Christian] At Babi Yar, 759 00:35:58,908 --> 00:36:01,050 it was the shooters with their rifles who forced people 760 00:36:01,050 --> 00:36:03,780 to lie down before shooting them with a bullet in the head, 761 00:36:03,780 --> 00:36:05,280 but they were using war weapons 762 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,120 that caused considerable bodily damage. 763 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:11,310 The heads exploded, so there was a confrontation 764 00:36:11,310 --> 00:36:12,946 with extreme violence. 765 00:36:12,946 --> 00:36:15,613 (ominous music) 766 00:36:16,830 --> 00:36:18,380 - [Narrator] In total during the war, 767 00:36:18,380 --> 00:36:21,120 one and a half million people were assassinated 768 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:22,453 in mass shootings. 769 00:36:24,701 --> 00:36:26,350 (children laughing) 770 00:36:26,350 --> 00:36:28,620 While men were engaged in the mass execution 771 00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:31,530 of Jewish children, Himmler was still looking for ways 772 00:36:31,530 --> 00:36:35,000 to accelerate the multiplication of pure-race Germans, 773 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:36,630 those who would, in the future, 774 00:36:36,630 --> 00:36:39,303 live in the new living space liberated in the East. 775 00:36:40,170 --> 00:36:43,290 He wanted to avoid abortions that could deprive the Reich 776 00:36:43,290 --> 00:36:47,193 of future SS member. (babies crying) 777 00:36:48,203 --> 00:36:49,844 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 778 00:36:49,844 --> 00:36:52,180 - [Interpreter For Elissa] He made maternity wards available 779 00:36:52,180 --> 00:36:54,650 where SS men's fiances 780 00:36:54,650 --> 00:36:56,963 could go and give birth at their ease. 781 00:37:00,020 --> 00:37:05,020 By SS fiances, I mean fiances who were going to be married 782 00:37:05,030 --> 00:37:08,040 but also mistresses with whom SS members 783 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,180 had had extramarital affairs. 784 00:37:12,261 --> 00:37:13,094 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 785 00:37:13,094 --> 00:37:13,990 - [Interpreter For Johann] The moral fault 786 00:37:13,990 --> 00:37:15,890 was not that a young and beautiful German 787 00:37:15,890 --> 00:37:17,733 would procreate outside of marriage. 788 00:37:18,900 --> 00:37:20,000 Marriage was a Christian, 789 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,073 which is to say Jewish, institution. 790 00:37:23,670 --> 00:37:27,450 The true moral fault was not to have children, 791 00:37:27,450 --> 00:37:30,020 therefore, if the racially pure woman fell pregnant 792 00:37:30,020 --> 00:37:33,730 and had children, the SS was duty bound to look after her 793 00:37:33,730 --> 00:37:35,150 and make sure she gave birth 794 00:37:35,150 --> 00:37:37,731 in the best possible conditions. 795 00:37:37,731 --> 00:37:41,520 (gentle music) (babies crying) 796 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:43,930 - [Narrator] The SS created Germany's first nurseries, 797 00:37:43,930 --> 00:37:45,500 before the war. 798 00:37:45,500 --> 00:37:47,250 With the extension of the conflict, 799 00:37:47,250 --> 00:37:49,380 they opened more of them around Europe. 800 00:37:49,380 --> 00:37:51,480 These nurseries included foreigners, 801 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,460 women considered racially pure 802 00:37:53,460 --> 00:37:55,743 who had had relations with SS members. 803 00:37:57,410 --> 00:37:59,840 But it wasn't enough for Himmler to breed children, 804 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:00,993 he also stole them. 805 00:38:02,686 --> 00:38:03,519 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 806 00:38:03,519 --> 00:38:04,610 - [Interpreter For Johann] In one of his speeches, 807 00:38:04,610 --> 00:38:08,040 Himmler used a very surprising formula, which was, 808 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,310 we are going to steal German blood wherever it can be found 809 00:38:11,310 --> 00:38:12,840 because in the history of the German race, 810 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,490 there had been two migrations. 811 00:38:15,490 --> 00:38:19,180 Himmler said there was German blood, German pockets, 812 00:38:19,180 --> 00:38:21,560 pockets of German blood in the Slav zones, 813 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,113 in the Jewish zones, etc. 814 00:38:24,930 --> 00:38:26,590 They had to go and find this blood 815 00:38:26,590 --> 00:38:29,395 and bring it back, re-Germanize it. 816 00:38:29,395 --> 00:38:32,060 (ominous music) (children laughing) 817 00:38:32,060 --> 00:38:34,260 - [Narrator] In the territories of occupied-Poland, 818 00:38:34,260 --> 00:38:35,970 in Ukraine, in Russia, 819 00:38:35,970 --> 00:38:39,300 the SS searched the kindergartens and school playgrounds. 820 00:38:39,300 --> 00:38:41,960 Those with blonde hair and blue eyes were rounded up 821 00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:46,070 and put into orphanages or given to SS foster families. 822 00:38:46,070 --> 00:38:49,040 Some 200,000 children were kidnapped in this way 823 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,390 and grew up without knowing their real parents. 824 00:38:56,310 --> 00:39:01,310 (birds chirping) (ominous music) 825 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,593 A few kilometers from Krakow, Auschwitz camp in Poland. 826 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:11,720 It was one of the new camps installed by the SS, 827 00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:12,820 in the concurred zone. 828 00:39:17,940 --> 00:39:21,700 On July 17, 1942, Himmler went to Auschwitz 829 00:39:21,700 --> 00:39:22,873 on a secret mission. 830 00:39:25,910 --> 00:39:28,563 He came to observe a new means of execution. 831 00:39:31,060 --> 00:39:34,240 With the introduction in a closed room of Zyklon B, 832 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:37,860 a gas used to disinfect the camp, he witnessed the killing 833 00:39:37,860 --> 00:39:41,403 of 449 Dutch Jews, in a matter of minutes. 834 00:39:42,470 --> 00:39:45,220 Himmler left the camp quite pleased. 835 00:39:45,220 --> 00:39:47,190 These SS men had just started to put 836 00:39:47,190 --> 00:39:49,293 the final solution into practice. 837 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,690 The principle had already been agreed for some months. 838 00:39:54,690 --> 00:39:57,400 The Fuhrer wanted to find a solution that was more radical 839 00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,630 than deportation, to put an end to those 840 00:39:59,630 --> 00:40:02,320 he called Germany's racial enemies. 841 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,520 The mass shootings were not killing fast enough 842 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:06,240 and many of those doing the shooting 843 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:08,913 were troubled by the monstrousness of their mission. 844 00:40:10,742 --> 00:40:13,177 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 845 00:40:13,177 --> 00:40:14,210 - [Interpreter For Johann] What had been observed 846 00:40:14,210 --> 00:40:17,280 on the ground in the experience of the mobile units 847 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,223 carrying out the massacres in the East from June 1941, 848 00:40:21,874 --> 00:40:24,060 was that it was very hard to kill 849 00:40:24,060 --> 00:40:26,410 and that being face to face with your victim 850 00:40:26,410 --> 00:40:29,340 lead to psychological damage for the killers, 851 00:40:29,340 --> 00:40:30,935 for the executioners. 852 00:40:30,935 --> 00:40:34,270 (dramatic music) 853 00:40:34,270 --> 00:40:35,820 - [Narrator] It was, therefore, both out of 854 00:40:35,820 --> 00:40:38,640 a sort of morbid concern to improve efficiency 855 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:40,280 and to spare the executioners 856 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,130 that the gas chambers were installed. 857 00:40:44,170 --> 00:40:47,740 At Auschwitz, a second camp was built, Birkenau, 858 00:40:47,740 --> 00:40:49,360 which would enable the transformation 859 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,849 from a concentration camp to extermination camp. 860 00:40:52,849 --> 00:40:55,020 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 861 00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:56,120 - [Interpreter For Johann] They thought up 862 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:57,920 what they called killing centers. 863 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,830 In other words, places where you bring people, 864 00:41:00,830 --> 00:41:03,540 where you concentrate a population that has to be killed 865 00:41:03,540 --> 00:41:05,990 and killed according to a certain procedure, 866 00:41:05,990 --> 00:41:09,090 one that would spare the executioners as much as possible 867 00:41:09,090 --> 00:41:11,433 by splitting the job into separate tasks. 868 00:41:13,676 --> 00:41:15,830 (ominous music) 869 00:41:15,830 --> 00:41:17,930 - [Narrator] The deportees arrived by trainload 870 00:41:17,930 --> 00:41:19,410 in the middle of the camp. 871 00:41:19,410 --> 00:41:21,050 They were then separated, 872 00:41:21,050 --> 00:41:22,960 those who would be killed straight away 873 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,160 and those who would be worked to exhaustion. 874 00:41:26,540 --> 00:41:28,930 The new arrivals were stripped of all their belongings, 875 00:41:28,930 --> 00:41:30,980 which were saved and methodically sorted. 876 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:33,393 Suitcases, 877 00:41:37,090 --> 00:41:37,923 shoes, 878 00:41:42,030 --> 00:41:42,863 glasses. 879 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,750 Each task was carried out by different groups of SS members 880 00:41:51,750 --> 00:41:54,893 in order to make the massacre easier, for the assassins. 881 00:41:56,243 --> 00:41:57,421 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 882 00:41:57,421 --> 00:41:58,254 - [Interpreter For Johann] There were those 883 00:41:58,254 --> 00:42:00,360 who got people out of the trains, 884 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,410 those who then took them to have their head shaved 885 00:42:02,410 --> 00:42:05,250 and to be stripped, those who closed the doors, 886 00:42:05,250 --> 00:42:07,820 those who put on gas masks, opened the hatches, 887 00:42:07,820 --> 00:42:10,163 and poured in the poison, the ZyKlon B. 888 00:42:11,050 --> 00:42:12,800 Splitting the job into separate tasks 889 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,300 permitted a sort of diluting of responsibility, 890 00:42:15,300 --> 00:42:18,730 which spared the executioners because killing face to face 891 00:42:18,730 --> 00:42:20,682 is a source of moral discomfort. 892 00:42:20,682 --> 00:42:22,670 (dramatic music) 893 00:42:22,670 --> 00:42:25,750 - [Narrator] Meanwhile, for the SS, life went on. 894 00:42:25,750 --> 00:42:27,930 A stone's throw from the gas chambers, 895 00:42:27,930 --> 00:42:30,650 leisure activities were organized for them. 896 00:42:30,650 --> 00:42:33,533 Himmler insisted that care be taken to keep up moral. 897 00:42:35,290 --> 00:42:37,310 The massacre of thousands of people 898 00:42:37,310 --> 00:42:39,419 had to be just another job. 899 00:42:39,419 --> 00:42:40,767 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 900 00:42:40,767 --> 00:42:42,780 - [Interpreter For Elissa] All the camps were situated 901 00:42:42,780 --> 00:42:47,200 outside towns, in the countryside, so you could go hiking, 902 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:52,200 visit your fiance, receive letters, take snapshots, etc. 903 00:42:54,278 --> 00:42:57,400 In fact, SS members went to the cinema, 904 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,880 lead a life that was more or less normal during the war, 905 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:04,550 and I would say even that it was more or less comfortable 906 00:43:04,550 --> 00:43:07,080 and that they didn't suffer from the shortages. 907 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:08,810 They were always well fed 908 00:43:08,810 --> 00:43:11,223 and were a long way from the bombardments. 909 00:43:14,257 --> 00:43:17,070 (gentle music) 910 00:43:17,070 --> 00:43:18,930 - [Narrator] Unlike the Nazi's other crimes, 911 00:43:18,930 --> 00:43:20,810 what happened in the extermination camps 912 00:43:20,810 --> 00:43:22,803 was to remain as secret as possible. 913 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:26,770 Himmler thought public opinion was not yet ready 914 00:43:26,770 --> 00:43:28,800 to understand what they were doing, 915 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,283 as the detainees came from all over Europe. 916 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,017 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 917 00:43:35,017 --> 00:43:36,240 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] Killing Soviet Jews 918 00:43:36,240 --> 00:43:38,800 with mobile death squads where everyone saw 919 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:41,750 they were dragging dozens and dozens or thousands of Jews, 920 00:43:41,750 --> 00:43:44,630 in the case of Babi Yar, to pits and executing them. 921 00:43:44,630 --> 00:43:47,240 Everyone knew that was happening. 922 00:43:47,240 --> 00:43:50,290 But for the Nazis, that didn't matter very much. 923 00:43:50,290 --> 00:43:53,490 These were Soviet Jews in Soviet territory. 924 00:43:53,490 --> 00:43:56,870 The fact that the news spread wasn't that important. 925 00:43:56,870 --> 00:43:59,060 On the other hand, the policy that sought to 926 00:43:59,060 --> 00:44:02,030 spread this extermination to all European Jews, 927 00:44:02,030 --> 00:44:04,610 including therefore assimilated Jews, 928 00:44:04,610 --> 00:44:06,990 Jews in positions of power in some countries, 929 00:44:06,990 --> 00:44:10,400 French Jews, Dutch Jews, here, a much strong taboo 930 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,080 was transgressed and there was much more concern 931 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,653 about public opinion, including German public opinion. 932 00:44:17,936 --> 00:44:19,624 - [Elissa] (speaking in foreign language) 933 00:44:19,624 --> 00:44:21,180 - [Interpreter For Elissa] And the SS would always 934 00:44:21,180 --> 00:44:24,103 be careful to destroy all traces of the murder, 935 00:44:25,230 --> 00:44:29,250 so, in fact, that's why the cremation units were so large, 936 00:44:29,250 --> 00:44:32,690 almost as large as the death squads in the gas chambers 937 00:44:32,690 --> 00:44:35,640 because once the detainees had been killed, 938 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,900 the bodies had to be disposed of straight away. 939 00:44:38,900 --> 00:44:42,140 They had to be burnt, so as not to leave any trace 940 00:44:42,140 --> 00:44:47,140 of those murders, what today we would call a genocide. 941 00:44:47,265 --> 00:44:49,848 (gentle music) 942 00:44:53,328 --> 00:44:54,161 - Fire. (artillery blasts) 943 00:44:54,161 --> 00:44:55,499 - Fire. (artillery blasts) 944 00:44:55,499 --> 00:44:58,249 (dramatic music) 945 00:45:01,710 --> 00:45:03,760 - [Narrator] At the beginning of 1943, 946 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:05,633 the war was at its turning point. 947 00:45:06,530 --> 00:45:09,113 The German Army lost the Battle Stalingrad. 948 00:45:13,290 --> 00:45:15,610 This defeat reinforced SS power 949 00:45:15,610 --> 00:45:18,580 because it started to look like the last resort. 950 00:45:18,580 --> 00:45:21,490 The military branches of the SS, the Waffen-SS, 951 00:45:21,490 --> 00:45:23,360 was continuing to grow in size. 952 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:24,740 It's numbers doubled in a year, 953 00:45:24,740 --> 00:45:26,423 to reach half a million fighters. 954 00:45:28,900 --> 00:45:30,530 To facilitate recruitment, 955 00:45:30,530 --> 00:45:33,860 the famous selection criteria were quietly softened. 956 00:45:33,860 --> 00:45:37,210 The minimum height, five foot seven at the start of the war 957 00:45:37,210 --> 00:45:40,203 was lowered to five foot two and a half for some units. 958 00:45:44,740 --> 00:45:46,870 Himmler had had an idea. 959 00:45:46,870 --> 00:45:49,200 Confronted with the Wehrmacht's failures, 960 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:52,453 he dreamed of making the SS into a complete substitute army. 961 00:45:55,810 --> 00:45:59,173 June 1944, Operation Overlord. 962 00:46:00,210 --> 00:46:02,063 The Americans landed in Normandy. 963 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,563 For the German Army, this new front was a catastrophe. 964 00:46:12,610 --> 00:46:14,560 Himmler sent Waffen-SS divisions 965 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:16,973 to fill the gaps in the regular army's lines. 966 00:46:18,770 --> 00:46:20,910 Among them were some of the most radical, 967 00:46:20,910 --> 00:46:23,540 such as the Das Reich Waffen-SS division, 968 00:46:23,540 --> 00:46:26,947 which had already distinguished itself on the Eastern Front. 969 00:46:26,947 --> 00:46:29,390 (dramatic music) 970 00:46:29,390 --> 00:46:30,253 Oradour-sur-Glane, 971 00:46:35,250 --> 00:46:37,803 a French village 20 kilometers from Limoges. 972 00:46:41,890 --> 00:46:44,030 On June 10, 1944, 973 00:46:44,030 --> 00:46:47,143 members of the Das Reich division surrounded the village. 974 00:46:51,750 --> 00:46:53,900 It was an operation intended to put a stop 975 00:46:53,900 --> 00:46:56,963 to the acts of sabotage carried out by the resistance. 976 00:47:01,580 --> 00:47:03,450 The inhabitants were ordered to gather 977 00:47:03,450 --> 00:47:04,550 in the village square. 978 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:11,313 The men were taken away in small groups and shot in barns. 979 00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:26,490 Meanwhile, the women and children 980 00:47:26,490 --> 00:47:29,193 gathered in the church were burnt alive. 981 00:47:43,331 --> 00:47:46,498 642 dead, a village wiped off the map. 982 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,593 This crime was seen as a symbol of SS barbarity, 983 00:47:52,700 --> 00:47:55,170 but it was nothing compared with the assassinations 984 00:47:55,170 --> 00:47:56,653 carried out in the East. 985 00:47:58,362 --> 00:47:59,195 - [Christian] (speaking in foreign language) 986 00:47:59,195 --> 00:48:01,049 - [Interpreter For Christian] Belorussia was 317 times 987 00:48:01,049 --> 00:48:03,396 Oradour, 317 times. 988 00:48:03,396 --> 00:48:06,510 Oradour every other day for four years, 989 00:48:06,510 --> 00:48:09,120 so there's no sense in seeing Oradour as an exception. 990 00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:10,600 The Nazis took the decision 991 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:12,930 and racial determinism took over. 992 00:48:12,930 --> 00:48:14,920 In the East, people were barbarians, 993 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,700 who had to be kept in line, so all sorts of strategies 994 00:48:17,700 --> 00:48:19,750 of coercion and aggression were used 995 00:48:19,750 --> 00:48:21,453 against the civilian population. 996 00:48:22,530 --> 00:48:25,240 Other decisions had been taken in the West, 997 00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:28,430 but as soon as Operation Overlord happened, 998 00:48:28,430 --> 00:48:31,590 bringing back war to this part of Europe, 999 00:48:31,590 --> 00:48:34,250 the Nazis allowed a certain limited number 1000 00:48:34,250 --> 00:48:35,883 of civilian massacres. 1001 00:48:37,350 --> 00:48:41,200 These had, what you might call a semiotic function, 1002 00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:42,913 a function of communication. 1003 00:48:43,970 --> 00:48:45,900 They said, be careful, don't move, 1004 00:48:45,900 --> 00:48:47,913 otherwise we'll do that all the time. 1005 00:48:49,100 --> 00:48:52,043 At Oradour, it was all about terror and intimidation. 1006 00:48:52,043 --> 00:48:54,710 (ominous music) 1007 00:48:57,923 --> 00:48:59,010 (military cadence) 1008 00:48:59,010 --> 00:49:00,450 - [Narrator] Caught between the Russian front 1009 00:49:00,450 --> 00:49:04,230 and the American landing, the German Army withdrew. 1010 00:49:04,230 --> 00:49:06,053 The generals knew the end was near. 1011 00:49:07,610 --> 00:49:12,260 On July 20, 1944, Hitler escaped an assassination attempt. 1012 00:49:12,260 --> 00:49:13,930 Senior members of the German Army 1013 00:49:13,930 --> 00:49:16,640 were involved in the plot to kill him. 1014 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:19,700 This was the opportunity Himmler had been waiting for. 1015 00:49:19,700 --> 00:49:22,580 The Fuhrer, who had lost confidence in the Wehrmacht, 1016 00:49:22,580 --> 00:49:24,603 made him head of the replacement army. 1017 00:49:25,470 --> 00:49:28,270 The former agronomist had become the most powerful man 1018 00:49:28,270 --> 00:49:31,763 in the Reich, after Hitler, but it was too late. 1019 00:49:33,970 --> 00:49:37,143 In April 1945, the Soviets entered Berlin. 1020 00:49:41,790 --> 00:49:43,713 Hitler killed himself in his bunker. 1021 00:49:45,170 --> 00:49:47,690 Himmler was arrested after attempting to flee 1022 00:49:47,690 --> 00:49:50,493 and committed suicide by biting a cyanide capsule. 1023 00:49:51,510 --> 00:49:54,627 It was the end of the war, the end of the SS empire. 1024 00:49:55,580 --> 00:49:59,040 The horrors of Nazism were displayed for all to see. 1025 00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:02,410 Thousands of SS members took their own lives. 1026 00:50:02,410 --> 00:50:04,530 Most of the others would remain caught 1027 00:50:04,530 --> 00:50:06,373 inside their criminal logic. 1028 00:50:08,644 --> 00:50:09,477 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 1029 00:50:09,477 --> 00:50:10,310 - [Interpreter For Johann] These people took 1030 00:50:10,310 --> 00:50:13,190 full responsibility for what they had done. 1031 00:50:13,190 --> 00:50:14,140 Guilty they asked. 1032 00:50:14,140 --> 00:50:15,470 Guilty of what? 1033 00:50:15,470 --> 00:50:17,480 We saved Europe from Bolshevism. 1034 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:19,320 We saved Europe from Stalin. 1035 00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:20,770 We cleaned Europe of those Jews 1036 00:50:20,770 --> 00:50:23,670 who wanted to undermine Western and European civilization. 1037 00:50:25,274 --> 00:50:27,500 Instead of dragging us into the mud and making us 1038 00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:30,840 stand trial, you should be raising statues in our honor 1039 00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:31,923 and giving us medals. 1040 00:50:33,830 --> 00:50:36,650 Today it's absolutely insane, from our point of view, 1041 00:50:36,650 --> 00:50:38,520 and absolutely unbearable when you know 1042 00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:41,070 what these people did, when you know the atrocity 1043 00:50:41,070 --> 00:50:43,220 and intensity of the crimes they committed, 1044 00:50:44,590 --> 00:50:48,370 but these people considered themselves white knights. 1045 00:50:48,370 --> 00:50:50,620 They never admitted to their guilt, 1046 00:50:50,620 --> 00:50:53,570 not in the sense that they said they hadn't done anything, 1047 00:50:53,570 --> 00:50:55,203 that they were innocent, no. 1048 00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:58,800 They said, we did these things. 1049 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,367 We killed, but we were justified in doing what we did. 1050 00:51:02,367 --> 00:51:04,530 (dramatic music) 1051 00:51:04,530 --> 00:51:06,020 - [Narrator] At the Nuremberg trials, 1052 00:51:06,020 --> 00:51:07,933 this fanaticism had its uses. 1053 00:51:08,980 --> 00:51:11,730 The SS crimes were a perfect pretext for lifting 1054 00:51:11,730 --> 00:51:13,993 all responsibility from the rest of Germany. 1055 00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:20,360 As soon as the war ended, numerous generals were quick 1056 00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:23,010 to say they hadn't known about the extermination camps, 1057 00:51:23,010 --> 00:51:25,083 which had been under complete SS control. 1058 00:51:28,732 --> 00:51:30,785 - [Johann] (speaking in foreign language) 1059 00:51:30,785 --> 00:51:32,270 - [Interpreter For Johann] It was very convenient 1060 00:51:32,270 --> 00:51:36,890 for the civilian administration and the army, after the war, 1061 00:51:36,890 --> 00:51:40,033 to let the SS take the blame for all Nazi crimes. 1062 00:51:42,230 --> 00:51:44,194 The SS wasn't alone. 1063 00:51:44,194 --> 00:51:45,027 - [Nicolas] (speaking in foreign language) 1064 00:51:45,027 --> 00:51:45,930 - [Interpreter For Nicolas] Nowadays we know that, 1065 00:51:45,930 --> 00:51:49,410 on the ground, no party was guiltless of crime, 1066 00:51:49,410 --> 00:51:51,930 neither the Wehrmacht, the regular police, 1067 00:51:51,930 --> 00:51:55,610 the secret police, SS members, nor local populations. 1068 00:51:55,610 --> 00:51:58,010 All took part in a policy of death. 1069 00:51:58,010 --> 00:51:59,940 (dramatic music) 1070 00:51:59,940 --> 00:52:02,903 - [Narrator] You can not reduce Nazi horror to the SS, 1071 00:52:03,860 --> 00:52:08,790 nevertheless, this organization was Nazism's sharpest point. 1072 00:52:08,790 --> 00:52:13,180 It spread its ideology through the whole of German society. 1073 00:52:13,180 --> 00:52:16,110 Loyal to the oath of its leader, Heinrich Himmler, 1074 00:52:16,110 --> 00:52:20,870 it was indeed a terrifying vanguard, a vanguard of crime 1075 00:52:20,870 --> 00:52:23,713 for the construction of the most barbaric of regimes. 1076 00:52:24,775 --> 00:52:27,692 (explosion blasts) 1077 00:52:33,288 --> 00:52:36,121 (dramatic music)