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Hitler decides to make
a private sightseeing trip to Paris

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on 23rd June 1940,

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when Paris is occupied and
controlled by the German forces.

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They tour the Arc de Triomphe,

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they walk around the artists'
quarter in Montmartre.

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Hitler says he'd thought of
razing Paris to the ground,

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but now he realises that he can
build a much bigger

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and better city in Berlin.

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And they go to Napoleon's tomb...

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..where Hitler pays his respects
to the previous conqueror of Europe.

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Hitler stands for a long while in
front of Napoleon's sarcophagus.

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It's reported he tells
his entourage,

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"That was the greatest and
finest moment of my life."

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He's paying his respects
to Napoleon, but also, I think,

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declaring privately to
himself that he's going

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to surpass his achievements.

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Napoleon Bonaparte had once
tried to conquer the world,

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but his armies got stuck
in the harsh Russian winter.

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This is the story of the Eastern
Front of the Second World War,

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which many see as
its defining conflict.

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It was a campaign that saw some
of the most brutal and inhumane

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warfare in all of history.

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Our interest is the
psychology of that war...

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What is the enemy up to?

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Can you deceive him?

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..the minds of dictators and the
morality of those around them.

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For him, no building is high enough
and no hall is long enough.

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And this is exactly
what Hitler wanted.

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To tell this story, we've asked
some of the world's most eminent

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historians and experts with
different kinds of insight

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to each take us inside the mind
of one of the key protagonists.

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He wants to be the architect
of Germany's reality,

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in some ways, the only truth teller.

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Nazi rule relies
on quiet complicity.

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Ultimately, it's a study of
why dictatorships are flawed

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and how those who rule through fear
and terror can never trust even

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the people closest to them.

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He'll then lose everything and
bring Germany down with him.

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For years, Hitler's mind
has been full of the poison

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of anti-Semitism.

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Falsely believing
in German racial supremacy,

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he wants to eliminate all Jews
and other races

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he considers inferior.

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And he dreams of world domination.

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So far, he's taken a number of huge
gambles, and they've all paid off.

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He marched into
Austria unchallenged.

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He thought he could annexe
Czechoslovakia and get away with it.

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And he was right.

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Then he made a deal with Stalin
to invade Poland,

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and his tanks reached
Warsaw within a week.

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And then he invaded France.

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LOUD, ECSTATIC CHEERING

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Now, it's July 1940.

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He rules most of Europe
and the German people love him.

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In the summer of 1940,

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Hitler thinks, "I'm the supreme
general, I'm the supreme leader,

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"I'm invincible."

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This is the high point of
Hitler's national popularity.

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People had doubts before,

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there had been some opposition,
some misgivings.

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But all this was swept away
in the summer of 1940.

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And so he comes to believe
ever more strongly

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in his own invincibility.

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Now, Hitler is about to make
a decision that will determine

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the outcome of the war.

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What to do about the
Soviet Union

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and its dictator, Joseph Stalin?

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Hitler in some ways admires Stalin.

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He says he's a kind of a monster.

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But of course, he admires him
as a strong leader.

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So it's a kind of love-hate
relationship.

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Meanwhile, in Moscow,
Stalin is trying to work out

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what he makes of Hitler.

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Stalin, ruthless dictator,
didn't hesitate to eliminate

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opposition, didn't hesitate to send
millions of people to die.

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It's recorded that Stalin had very
high opinion about

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the Night of the Long Knives,

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Hitler's ruthlessness.

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And of course, in 1940, Stalin
admires Hitler because he succeeded

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in destroying France and

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almost bringing England
on her knees.

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It's a very special love story.

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This is not
liking or not liking.

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If Hitler's standing in the way
of Stalin's dream

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of global dominance, so he should
find the most effective way

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of eliminating Hitler.

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And so you have two dictators,
both dreaming of world domination.

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So far, they have collaborated,
working together to carve up Poland,

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and it's at this point Hitler
offers Stalin a deal

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to split the world between them.

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Stalin was very opportunistic,

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not limited by any
even ideological barriers.

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Allying with Hitler?
If it works - perfect.

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But Stalin has to work out
if Hitler can be trusted.

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So he sends his Foreign Minister
to Berlin to find out.

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MUSIC: 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1:
No 5, Allegro by Johannes Brahms

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Molotov is a party official.

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He was loyal, and that meant that he
behaved very brutally indeed.

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For somebody who seemed to have
such authority and such power,

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he looked, you know, very sort of
modest and low-key.

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The German people that he met
talked about him

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as a mathematics professor.

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That was probably quite
complimentary, really.

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Lenin, of course, had called him
the best filing clerk in Russia.

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"What will be the objectives
for Hitler and the German side?"

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He arrives at the Reich Chancellery.

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The whole point about the Reich
Chancellery is project the power

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of Hitler, the power of the Reich.

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Walking down the long,
grand corridors

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then coming up
to the Fuhrer's study,

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and then you walk in, you,
the small man in the ordinary suit,

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you walk in and then the Fuhrer's
desk is right at the other end.

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Molotov has a long history of
regarding the fascists as the enemy.

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Hitler makes these very grand
general statements about friendship

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and alliance and so on.

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He's flattering, he's charming.

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That works a lot of the time.

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This is a game that Hitler
has played before,

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toying with other world leaders
before deceiving them.

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He even signed a peace deal
with the British Prime Minister,

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and now they're at war.

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Hitler starts by outlining his deal,
offering Molotov large swathes

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of the British Empire,
the Middle East and India.

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He's polite, calm

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and insists on answers
to his questions.

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How are Soviet security interests
in Europe, which is what really

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matters to them, how are
they going to be protected?

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A lot of what Hitler was thinking
about was fantasy,

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increasingly so.

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His grand geopolitical visions of
distributing bits of the world

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here and there,

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this is the kind of behaviour
that you get with these dictators.

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Molotov repeats the questions
and persists with the questions.

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"What does that actually mean
for the Soviet Union?"

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Hitler gets very irritated
by Molotov.

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The state of mind he was in
the summer of 1940,

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supreme, as he thinks, in Europe,

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and then here's this little man
in this dingy suit

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arguing the toss with him.
He doesn't like this at all.

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Hitler becomes increasingly
furious with Molotov

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and abruptly ends the meeting.

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That evening, a banquet
has been arranged.

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Still smarting,
Hitler is nowhere to be seen.

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So Molotov rubbed shoulders
with the Nazi Foreign Minister,

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Ribbentrop, until their dinner
is interrupted by an air-raid siren.

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Molotov and Ribbentrop
continue their negotiations

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in an air-raid shelter.

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There is a discussion, and of
course, the basic point is,

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is the British Empire
available now to be carved up?

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There's big talk from Ribbentrop
and he says,

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"Well, Britain is defeated."

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And of course, that famously brings
forward the comment,

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well, if Britain is defeated,
why are we in this air-raid shelter

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and why are these bombs going off?

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DISTANT EXPLOSIONS

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Molotov concludes after his time
in Berlin that the Germans

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have got their hands full dealing
with the British

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and do not pose an immediate threat.

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Hitler comes to a
very different conclusion.

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That it's time to invade.

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It was always Hitler's long-term aim
to invade the Soviet Union.

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The failure of the negotiations
with Molotov did confirm him

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in his belief that this is the right
thing to do and to start making

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preparations for it.

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Hitler is planning to launch
Operation Barbarossa,

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sending three million soldiers
into battle...

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..one army to invade the north,

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one to the south

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and one tasked with going
all the way to Moscow.

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The invasion of the Soviet Union
is really the first major move

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that Hitler has made to
fulfil the ambitions he laid down

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in Mein Kampf and that
he'd been harbouring since he

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went into politics,

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the creation of what he called a
living space in Eastern Europe.

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And from that point of view,

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the invasion of Poland
or Czechoslovakia,

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these were just little kind of
preparatory essays.

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This is the really big one.

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The man Hitler needs to launch
this invasion is the head

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of the German army,
Field Marshal von Brauchitsch.

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Walther von Brauchitsch,

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the absolutely quintessential
Prussian officer.

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Von Brauchitsch, he's got very grave
doubts about opening up a war

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on two fronts, a great deal
of consternation,

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a great deal of doubt.
What if this goes wrong?

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Brauchitsch epitomises
the great, vast tug-of-war

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going on in the minds of all
of those generals there

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as to the wisdom of
taking on the Soviets.

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Hitler's spelling out the
most ambitious, the biggest,

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the most dramatic invasion plan
in history.

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It's on an enormous scale.

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So he's offering them, in a way, to
participate in leading positions

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in what is inevitably going to be

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an extremely famous invasion.

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So he's appealing to
their vanity, in a sense.

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Brauchitsch is in this terrible
dilemma, because although

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he dislikes this, although he would
want to push back, he doesn't dare.

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This would be career suicide,
if not worse.

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Hitler had a number of ways
of securing the loyalty

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of the leading generals,
and in particular,

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he would dole out titles like
Field Marshal, for example.

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And also by, you might say,
outright bribery and corruption.

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Bribery going upwards through
the system and corruption coming

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down plays an ever bigger role,
and that's true in any dictatorship.

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When Brauchitsch wanted to leave his
wife to marry a younger woman,

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Hitler personally lent him 80,000
Reichsmarks to pay for the divorce.

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In the Faustian bargain,
it was Faust gave away his soul.

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And Brauchitsch in a way makes
that Faustian bargain with Hitler.

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So although the man in charge
of the biggest invasion force

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in history has doubts,
Hitler believes that the army

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is at his heel and fast-tracks
his plans for Barbarossa.

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# Kann die Liebe Sunde sein?

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00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,080
# Auch wenn sie es war'

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# So war's mir egal

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00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,960
# Lieber will ich sundigen mal... #

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In Berlin, life continues as normal.

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# Niemals werde ich bereuen... #

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The only people that know about
the planned invasion

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are those inside the Nazi regime

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like this man, Harro Schulze-Boysen,

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00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,920
who works inside the Air Ministry,

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00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,080
where he begins to see
Hitler's attack plans.

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Harro Schulze-Boysen is born into a
very prominent German naval family.

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He's very tall, very lean,

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00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:24,080
has these chiselled Nordic features,

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which the Nazis considered kind of
the ideal physical framework.

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00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,840
Harro's wife, Libertas, is also part
of the Nazi machine

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working for Goebbels'
Propaganda Ministry.

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But Harro and Libertas
are not what they seem.

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00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:48,960
Harro and Libertas are both
working for Nazi agencies,

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00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,920
but they both intentionally took
these positions in order to gather

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intelligence from the inside
and share it with people

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00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:59,360
who could work against the Nazis.

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00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:05,080
While most Germans either endorse
the regime or stay silent,

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00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,920
Harro and Libertas have joined

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00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,600
one of the few resistance
networks in Germany.

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00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,640
As a student, Harro's Jewish friend
was murdered at the hands

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00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,480
of Nazi stormtroopers.

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00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,440
What he says at that point is
that he's not going to respond

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00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:25,480
at the moment.

241
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,480
He basically says revenge
is a dish best eaten cold.

242
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,520
And that's the beginning
of his plans to infiltrate

243
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,560
the Nazi military hierarchy.

244
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,480
Some of the things he sees
are reports on air reconnaissance.

245
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,320
Some of the things he sees
are planning documents.

246
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:50,400
He is able to find out
what the order of battle is.

247
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,040
He is able to find out
a lot about the forces

248
00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,040
designated for the invasion.

249
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,080
So he makes contact
with the Soviets.

250
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,400
Harro was aware

251
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,440
that Stalin was an abusive dictator.

252
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,080
It was never a matter of Harro
serving Stalin

253
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:19,000
or promoting Stalin's interests in
Germany, it was a matter of rescuing

254
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,120
Germany from Hitler.

255
00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:25,760
Harro can see clearly in military
terms how Hitler can be quickly

256
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:31,280
defeated, and potentially
millions of lives can be saved.

257
00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,880
Harro meets with a Soviet spy

258
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,960
and offers to become
their man on the inside,

259
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,360
giving them the details
of Hitler's attack plans.

260
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,360
He's assigned a code name,
the Russian word for sergeant -

261
00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:50,960
Starshina.

262
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:56,840
But Stalin has a vast
espionage network.

263
00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:00,800
He has eyes and ears everywhere
at the heart of governments

264
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,280
across the world...

265
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,080
..from the Japanese cabinet

266
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,840
to the pillars of the
British establishment,

267
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,280
and now inside
the German Air Ministry.

268
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,320
So Harro's voice
is just one of many.

269
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:27,440
Meanwhile, Hitler is preparing
for Operation Barbarossa.

270
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,920
He needs to move a vast army
of three million men

271
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:33,800
to the Soviet border.

272
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,840
And he has to do this
right under the noses

273
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,080
of the watching Soviet generals.

274
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,760
MUSIC: Symphony No.7 in A major
op.92 - Il Allegretto by Beethoven

275
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:03,600
Georgy Zhukov, he was one
of the leading Soviet generals.

276
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,280
He would probably himself say,

277
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,120
"What do you mean, 'One of'?
I am the leading Soviet general."

278
00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:13,560
He was not without some vanity.

279
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,920
Zhukov clearly is

280
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:24,760
very concerned of German capability,
of German deployments,

281
00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:30,360
and there was this huge
build-up of German military power

282
00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:33,400
along the border.

283
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,600
Hitler has been busy working
on a way to deceive Stalin.

284
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:42,800
Hitler had a very good eye
for the weaknesses of his opponents.

285
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:50,360
Stalin was a very suspicious kind
of man, he was prone to conspiracy

286
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:55,960
theories, and that, of course, means
that you can supply Stalin

287
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,080
with many kinds of information
and misinformation

288
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,840
that he will believe.

289
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:08,440
Hitler orders his spies to pump out
conspiracy theories that other

290
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:13,360
nations are plotting against Russia,
and spreads rumours that Germany

291
00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:17,000
is going to attack Britain,
and a smokescreen that troops

292
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,840
on the Soviet border are really
just carrying out exercises,

293
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,360
preparing for the invasion
of Britain.

294
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,920
The run-up to Barbarossa

295
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,800
is almost a kaleidoscope
of information

296
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,560
which keeps changing.

297
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,840
Clever intelligence.

298
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,120
The Germans were quite good
at deception.

299
00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,360
Stalin relies on...

300
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:50,160
..what to me is
a fairly transparent lie from Berlin

301
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:55,720
that these...assembly of forces
is just retraining,

302
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:57,480
they're on exercise.

303
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,720
They're on exercise in preparation
for the real thing.

304
00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:10,400
Zhukov now does something
that few others dare.

305
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,400
He tells Stalin something
he doesn't want to hear.

306
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,720
I'm sure going through his head
would have been,

307
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,160
"If I get this wrong,
it's Siberia at best."

308
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,200
Zhukov is a patriot.

309
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,080
Yes, he was a Communist,
but he was a patriot.

310
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,920
And therefore he would, I'm sure,

311
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:39,240
have been motivated
by a patriotic stance

312
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:44,920
that we have to do everything
we can to stop the Germans.

313
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,840
Zhukov is saying,
"I have this intelligence,

314
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,880
"it's hard intelligence that the
Germans are going to attack."

315
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,360
And Stalin says,
"I have my own intelligence,"

316
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:13,440
discounting a warning which any,

317
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:18,440
any leader would have surely taken
utterly seriously

318
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,280
because the stakes
were unbelievably high.

319
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:29,000
Now, whether that was because
he really, really thought

320
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:34,680
this would not happen
or Stalin found the prospect

321
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,720
of a German invasion so awful,

322
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,680
he closed his mind down to it.

323
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,000
So Stalin makes no serious
preparations for a German attack.

324
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,960
The whole story is very mysterious
because it's this...

325
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,680
That's what I learned
in my school in the Soviet Union.

326
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,240
That's what we learned
from Soviet textbooks

327
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,920
and from the movies, that
there was so much intelligence

328
00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,640
and Stalin ignored it,
Stalin ignored it,

329
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,120
and because he trusted Hitler.

330
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,280
No, Stalin didn't trust Hitler,
Stalin didn't trust anybody.

331
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,800
There's only one
rational explanation.

332
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,840
Stalin didn't care because
he was also preparing to attack.

333
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,520
German invasion was inevitable.

334
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,560
They know there were four
million soldiers or so

335
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,400
across the border.

336
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,040
You don't bring four million people
at the border.

337
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,640
And do we believe Stalin
could buy Hitler's story

338
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,720
that he had them there just to take
a rest before invasion of England?

339
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,720
Come on, it's just...
It doesn't fly.

340
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,040
So either Stalin doesn't believe
Hitler is about to attack

341
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,920
or he is preparing
an attack of his own.

342
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,920
Either way,
virtually nothing is done.

343
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,440
What Hitler is planning
is not a normal invasion.

344
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,560
This is something far darker
even than normal warfare.

345
00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:00,760
At a meeting with his generals,

346
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,480
he outlines his vision
for Barbarossa.

347
00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,280
Hitler tells them this is
a war like no other,

348
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,120
this is not a conventional war.

349
00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:13,880
This is a war between the races
for racial supremacy.

350
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,160
It's a clash in which there
must be no consideration

351
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,920
at all for the conventional
rules of warfare.

352
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,840
The man on the other side
is not your comrade.

353
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,720
He is someone who has
got to be exterminated.

354
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,640
There must be no mercy.
It must be absolutely ruthless.

355
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:50,000
He believes this is going
to be a war of conquest above all

356
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,640
of Eastern Europe and of course,
a war,

357
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:58,640
and this is the most important core
belief of Hitler, against the Jews.

358
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,880
To be told you're going to be
involved in a war of annihilation,

359
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,560
there's absolutely no pretence
about the fact that this is going

360
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,000
to be a war about the mass murder
of innocent civilians and human

361
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,200
beings who have absolutely nothing
to do with this ideological fight

362
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:21,800
between Hitler and Stalin.

363
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,480
This becomes a tremendous burden
for Brauchitsch.

364
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,880
All of a sudden it becomes clear

365
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,880
just what road they've
started to go down.

366
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,800
Around the room, there is silence.

367
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,000
No-one utters any objections
to Hitler's plans.

368
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,480
Brauchitsch's reaction is to,
in a way, put his head in the sand,

369
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,200
the way a lot of them do.

370
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,400
He wants to think in terms
of the military.

371
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,040
He wants to think in terms of, OK,

372
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,080
where are my divisions
going to be going?

373
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,600
What about supplies and provisions?

374
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,080
What about weapons,
ammunition, fuel?

375
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,600
These are the nice sort of rather,
if you will, safe questions

376
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,400
that the military can
busy themselves with.

377
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,760
It's a way of creating
your own sort of moral bubble.

378
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,200
As if to ease his conscience,
Brauchitsch makes insignificant

379
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,640
tweaks to Hitler's orders,
but ultimately signs off

380
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:29,560
on commands giving carte blanche to
kill anyone, including civilians.

381
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,280
He coordinates with Himmler's
SS death squads,

382
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,800
who follow behind the German army,

383
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,560
murdering Jews in the name
of security.

384
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,920
Brauchitsch is not the man
pulling the trigger,

385
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:48,080
but the crimes that are going to be
committed are so horrific

386
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:53,280
that just by being such an
important cog in the wheel

387
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,640
of Hitler's machine
makes him complicit.

388
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,080
Over three million troops
are now stationed

389
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,360
along 1,100 miles
of Soviet border.

390
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,240
In just under a week,
they will attack.

391
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,880
With so many lives at stake,
much is resting

392
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,800
on Harro Schulze-Boysen's
covert intelligence.

393
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:30,440
I think about the story of Cassandra
in Ancient Greece

394
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:34,480
and the way she saw
disaster on the horizon,

395
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,600
and she desperately tried to tell
everyone what was coming.

396
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,760
And if she could only warn them,
maybe she could avoid the disaster.

397
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:46,520
That's Harro. Harro sees
the disaster on the horizon.

398
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,520
He sees how it's going to unfold
and the tragedy that

399
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,160
it's going to entail.

400
00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,240
On June 17th, a report was
sent quoting Starshina.

401
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,160
This lands on Stalin's desk.

402
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:27,360
He takes his pencil and he scrawls,
"This is not information,

403
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,440
"this is disinformation,
you can send your so-called source

404
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,080
"back to his whore of a mother."

405
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,720
A lot of authoritarian figures,
they disregard intelligence,

406
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:44,520
they disregard expertise,
they disregard the educated people

407
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,040
around them, and they go
by their instincts and they go,

408
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,840
to some extent, by their cronies,
who know how to tell them

409
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:52,200
what they want to hear.

410
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,800
You see this repeated in history
time and time again.

411
00:31:55,800 --> 00:32:00,160
And sooner or later, those
qualities catch up with them

412
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,640
and they have this prediction
that they make on instinct,

413
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,400
they're caught dead wrong, and

414
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,600
those are the seeds of their defeat.

415
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,640
MUSIC: The Seasons, Op. 37b - VI.
Barcarolle by Tchaikovsky

416
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,680
On the eve of the attack,
Hitler is in the Reich Chancellery

417
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,640
wracked with anxiety.

418
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,520
Hitler always gets nervous
just before a big event.

419
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:34,720
He was nervous before the
Night of the Long Knives,

420
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,280
he's nervous before the Anschluss.

421
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,040
He always gets kind of
last-minute jitters.

422
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,080
And of course, in this case,
there are spectres

423
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,400
hovering over Barbarossa.

424
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:53,320
There's the spectre of Napoleon
and his defeat in Moscow,

425
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,880
the catastrophe of
Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

426
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,920
He was a gambler, somebody
who went for broke all the time

427
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:15,200
because he felt that the cards
would fall in his favour.

428
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,480
Hitler believed that he was

429
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,320
a kind of favoured child
of providence.

430
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,960
Fate had ordained
that he would be victorious.

431
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,760
The invasion of the Soviet Union

432
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,160
is announced on all
German radio stations

433
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,680
to the sound of Franz Liszt.

434
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,280
MUSIC: Les Preludes, symphonic poem
No.3, S.97 by Franz Liszt

435
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,760
Across the entire Soviet border,

436
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,840
from the Baltic to the Black Sea,

437
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,520
the German army sweeps in,

438
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,240
killing indiscriminately.

439
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:50,280
In Moscow, the German ambassador
arrives at the Kremlin

440
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:55,440
to tell Molotov that Germany
have declared war.

441
00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,680
He would be thinking,
"I didn't judge this correctly.

442
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,040
"I've got to go and tell more
to the boss,

443
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,160
"which is going to be difficult."

444
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:10,560
Er...he probably somewhere
in his mind was thinking,

445
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,000
"Yeah, I'm going to be under stress
now.

446
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,800
"This is the beginning of something
really massive."

447
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,000
Stalin has been caught off guard

448
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,240
and the Red Army are in disarray.

449
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:35,000
It becomes clear in Moscow

450
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:41,840
that this is not just an incursion
over the border,

451
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,280
but this is a strategic manoeuvre

452
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,200
to invade the Soviet Union.

453
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,400
Um...and you can imagine that

454
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:56,040
hearts would be in boots, um...in
the Kremlin.

455
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,920
Stalin was stunned by

456
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,600
the reality of the German invasion.

457
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,840
Within days, German forces
have advanced 200 miles

458
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:11,920
into Soviet territory.

459
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,760
By the time they reach
the city of Minsk,

460
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,840
they've captured or killed
over 300,000 Red Army troops.

461
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,600
With the Germans only 400 miles
from the capital,

462
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:28,520
the gravity of the situation
comes crashing down on Stalin.

463
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,400
The fall of Minsk happened on
28th June,

464
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,600
six days after the invasion.

465
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,440
Didn't take long.

466
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:40,320
And the scale of the defeat,

467
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,160
the destruction involved,

468
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,240
the killings involved of soldiers,

469
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:49,320
you know, it was a massive
military failure.

470
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,520
I think Stalin was not knowing
what to do.

471
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,680
I mean, he was...he was shocked,

472
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:01,800
panicked, frightened.

473
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,520
First time in many years,

474
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,160
maybe first time in his life,
he didn't have a game plan.

475
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,960
Stalin retreats to his dacha
like a cornered animal.

476
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,440
When his country needs him the most,

477
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:29,200
suddenly, Stalin is nowhere
to be seen.

478
00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:40,800
Hitler now bases himself
at his front-line headquarters,

479
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,560
the Wolf's Lair,

480
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:46,760
a top-secret, high-security
complex of camouflaged bunkers

481
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:50,120
hidden in a dense Prussian forest.

482
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:55,320
It's a strange world, penetrated
by neither light nor reality.

483
00:37:55,320 --> 00:38:00,800
Hitler is on course to control
even more territory than Napoleon.

484
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,120
He feels that he's conquered
the Soviet Union,

485
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,080
it's going to collapse any minute.

486
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:12,160
The atmosphere is one of
continuing optimism and euphoria

487
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,560
as news rolls in of stunning
military victories

488
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,440
over the Red Army.

489
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,320
The success of the invasion
leads to a jubilant mood,

490
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,600
and this allows Brauchitsch
to push any doubts he might have had
to one side.

491
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,400
The relationship between officers
and Hitler

492
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,760
is very much one like a magic show.

493
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:37,840
They had their doubts about
the Soviet Union,

494
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,840
and now, once again, he seems to be
like the great magician

495
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,280
pulling the vast rabbit out
of a hat.

496
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,080
They're all going to be coming home
by Christmas.

497
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:50,680
In the streets of Berlin,

498
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,360
confidence of a quick victory
is sky-high.

499
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,680
But at the Ministry of Propaganda,
Harro's wife, Libertas,

500
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,880
comes face-to-face with the reality
of Hitler's war.

501
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:07,000
She's receiving these photographs
and films

502
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,280
from soldiers coming back from
the Eastern Front.

503
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,440
When you look at these photos,
you see terrified women,

504
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:29,440
you see terrified children

505
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,520
looking into the eyes of
their attackers.

506
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,760
At Babi Yar in the Ukraine,
over two days,

507
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:10,840
34,000 men, women and children
are massacred.

508
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,040
By the end of 1941,

509
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,520
half a million Jewish people
are murdered.

510
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,520
It is known as
the Holocaust by bullets.

511
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,080
Uncounted numbers of Russians,

512
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,480
many, but not all of them, Jewish,

513
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:48,160
are being massacred

514
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:51,640
by not just SS divisions,

515
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:53,960
but by Wehrmacht,
German army divisions.

516
00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:08,680
She feels a responsibility
to archive this material

517
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:12,400
and to make it available
in any way that she can.

518
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,800
And what she says is that

519
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,440
in the future, there will be
accountability.

520
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:21,440
There will be a war crimes
tribunal.

521
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,480
And she is assembling the evidence.

522
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,800
She is archiving it,
it will be presented

523
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,440
in order to prosecute soldiers
who have committed

524
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,080
these...these terrible atrocities

525
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,160
and the officers
who have commanded them.

526
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:38,560
And she organises it. Er...

527
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,400
..this is her contribution
to the resistance activities.

528
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:50,720
Meanwhile, her husband Harro
and his resistance network

529
00:41:50,720 --> 00:41:53,360
are desperately trying to get
the next phase

530
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,800
of the German invasion plans
to the Soviets.

531
00:41:57,240 --> 00:42:01,040
But the Soviet high command
is in disarray.

532
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,480
No-one has seen or heard from Stalin
in days.

533
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:10,880
He refuses to sign documents
or to speak to anyone.

534
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,400
The Soviet government is paralysed.

535
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:17,520
There's debate as to what extent
he was actually breaking down,

536
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,720
or to what extent he was playing
a game, in a true Stalin-type way,

537
00:42:21,720 --> 00:42:23,160
to test the people around him

538
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:26,240
to see who was going to try and
come forward and take his place.

539
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:35,000
Molotov knew that he had to deal
with this situation.

540
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,840
He was clearly the number-two man.

541
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:44,760
It's an animal world.
You know, the dictators, you know,
they don't elect it.

542
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:49,440
They stay in power as long as they
are trusted by their cronies.

543
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:51,440
It's like a mafia boss.

544
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:56,320
So, you...you...you lost?
You're out.

545
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,360
And Stalin failed.

546
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:03,440
Stalin was desperate.

547
00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,720
He was sitting alone,
waiting for...for the worst,

548
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:10,280
because he was afraid
that his own Politburo members

549
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:12,400
could actually arrest him
for the failure,

550
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,200
because it was his fault,
and everybody knew it was his fault.

551
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,640
The outcome of Stalin's gamble
was disastrous.

552
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,880
This is like a mafia family.

553
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:33,520
So much, you know, reflects
the mentality of the Soviet bosses.

554
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:36,880
And I know...I know this country,
I grew up in this country.

555
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,000
And I-I could even... I could
visualise this scene, you know.

556
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,440
They're entering the room and...

557
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,520
..it could go either way,

558
00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:50,440
either just, you know,
thrown in the dust,

559
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:54,200
or, um...he becomes the king again.

560
00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:10,160
Molotov had to step in
to try and control the situation,

561
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:13,720
but not in a way that made him out
to be some kind of rival.

562
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:21,240
Molotov proposes the creation
of a shiny new body,

563
00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:23,680
the State Defence Commissariat...

564
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,920
..with Stalin, as supreme leader,
at its helm,

565
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,360
a new superdictatorship.

566
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,680
At the end of the day,
they proved to be weak.

567
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,960
And I think the fact that
they proved to be weak

568
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:41,840
made Stalin stronger,

569
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:45,960
because that's...that's... Somehow
it's a fluctuation of this energy

570
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,280
and spirit within the group.

571
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,120
So nothing...nothing
could disappear.

572
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:52,760
Energy doesn't disappear.

573
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:55,600
So if they're getting weaker,
Stalin's getting stronger.

574
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,200
And...and...and smelling
their fear and weakness,

575
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,200
Stalin gained back his confidence.

576
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,720
So he's in charge again, so it's,

577
00:45:04,720 --> 00:45:07,960
"Don't cry over spilled milk.
It's behind me.

578
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,600
"Yes, we failed,
now let's see what we can do."

579
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,960
This man, Molotov,
who was a boring apparatchik,

580
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:25,640
best filing clerk in Russia,
he kept his head.

581
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,360
And he was the one
who knew Stalin best.

582
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,240
And then, to let him come forward

583
00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:33,120
and show his strengths
as a wartime leader.

584
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:42,040
Stalin reappears
and tells the Soviet people

585
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,080
to resist the German invaders.

586
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:50,160
Stalin recognises
it's time to change the tone.

587
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,000
He's no longer talking like a father
of the nation.

588
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,920
His statement starts with,
"Brothers and sisters..."

589
00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:01,240
And that was the beginning of
reorganising Soviet propaganda

590
00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:05,160
towards Russian nationalists,
towards the Great Patriotic War.

591
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,880
I can tell you something
about Soviet propaganda.

592
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:09,520
Look at this picture.

593
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,320
Look at this picture.

594
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:15,800
And now look at this picture.

595
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:20,040
This picture, taken by anybody
prior to the war,

596
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:22,720
suicidal. You disappear.

597
00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:25,840
Because that's wrong. This is...
That's...that's...that's...

598
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,880
That's the way, a triumphant,
dear leader.

599
00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:33,480
This picture, this is brothers
and sisters.

600
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:37,960
This is a new image of Stalin
who is suffering, who is thinking,

601
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,760
who is no longer all-powerful,
he doesn't know everything,

602
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,800
but he's...he's with his people.
Look at him.

603
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:44,440
Just, you know, ordinary man.

604
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,920
This is the image
they wanted to present,

605
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:50,560
wounded by this betrayal of Hitler
that he trusted.

606
00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:53,160
But, you know, don't worry,
we're all together.

607
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,720
As they get closer to Moscow,

608
00:47:01,720 --> 00:47:03,520
the German attack is slowing.

609
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:06,800
And Brauchitsch becomes concerned

610
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:09,760
that this is going to take
longer than expected.

611
00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:15,200
He asks Hitler to focus the attack
on Moscow.

612
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:17,560
And he'll need tank reinforcements,

613
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:21,280
and the troops
may need winter clothes.

614
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:27,720
Hitler increasingly thought of
himself as the military commander.

615
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:31,680
And when Brauchitsch
tried to sway him

616
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,840
in favour of sending tanks
to Moscow,

617
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,160
Hitler simply went berserk.

618
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,760
Hitler hates what he thinks of
as defeatism.

619
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,920
For him, all you need is willpower,

620
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:48,480
the power of the will to overcome
any practical problems,

621
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:53,560
whether it's getting bogged down
in the mud in the autumn rains
in Russia,

622
00:47:53,560 --> 00:48:00,040
or getting frozen to death
in the snows at minus 30 degrees.

623
00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:03,320
All of this, he just brushes aside.
These are not problems.

624
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:06,160
So he didn't really bother
with getting the troops

625
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:08,120
adequate winter clothing.

626
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:09,600
It'll all be over by winter.

627
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:14,040
One push and the whole rotten
edifice of the Soviet Union
would collapse.

628
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:18,360
At this point, Hitler makes
a controversial decision.

629
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,280
He decides that the attack
on Moscow can wait...

630
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:27,040
..instead ordering his armies
north, to Leningrad,

631
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:31,920
and south, to Kiev, to capture
even more territory and resources.

632
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,520
Hitler was becoming increasingly
detached from reality.

633
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:37,560
Hitler's limitless self-belief

634
00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,040
made him think that he could do
anything.

635
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,880
And those generals who pointed out
the obstacles

636
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:46,600
in a sense of realism
and military professionalism

637
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,160
were simply brushed aside.

638
00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:54,680
By this point, the only reality
that matters is Hitler's reality.

639
00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:00,520
Brauchitsch made a Faustian pact
with Hitler

640
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:05,040
when he decided that he would
effectively bow to Hitler's wishes,

641
00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:07,440
whatever his own personal
views might be.

642
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:10,160
And in a way, this decision
comes to bite him,

643
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:14,600
because Hitler was only always using
him as a kind of mask

644
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:16,800
for what Hitler himself
was trying to do.

645
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:22,080
Hitler sidelines Brauchitsch,

646
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:24,720
who is forced to watch
what happens next.

647
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:33,120
Hitler wastes time capturing Kiev
and laying siege to Leningrad.

648
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:39,360
It's October by the time
he finally gives the order
for Army Group Centre,

649
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:43,120
a force of two million men,
to attack Moscow.

650
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,080
You had the German army
advancing on Moscow

651
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,280
as a Russian winter was setting in.

652
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:59,040
Harro knew that the German military

653
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:02,080
were not prepared for
the Russian winter.

654
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:05,920
And as Napoleon found out
to his distress,

655
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:09,720
the Russian winter can be a greater
enemy than the Russian armed forces.

656
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,480
Harro and Libertas meet with
a Soviet spy,

657
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:21,200
handing over vital intelligence

658
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,240
showing that Germany
is headed for military disaster.

659
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:29,120
They assure him that Hitler
can be beaten.

660
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:33,080
Harro is supercharged
with his adrenaline.

661
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:34,920
He's taking more and more risks.

662
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:38,080
When you're living
with that addiction to adrenaline,

663
00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:40,520
you're less attentive to danger.

664
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:44,560
And I watched various colleagues
of mine who were journalists

665
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:47,840
who...who...who became totally
addicted to the adrenaline

666
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:51,920
and just walked straight into
situations that killed them.

667
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:55,800
And you realise that the adrenaline
was driving them.

668
00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,120
They forgot how to fear.

669
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,600
Harro forgot how to fear.

670
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:02,640
INDISTINCT RADIO COMMS

671
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:11,720
The agent radios vital intelligence
back to Moscow.

672
00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:18,240
The basic rule of thumb
for these radio transmissions

673
00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:19,680
is to keep them short.

674
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:22,760
But he's got so much information
from Harro

675
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:27,280
that he stays transmitting
for five hours.

676
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,240
And it also leaves him susceptible

677
00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:33,720
to all kinds of detection from
the German military and others

678
00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:35,720
who are monitoring
these transmissions.

679
00:51:35,720 --> 00:51:37,520
INDISTINCT RADIO COMMS

680
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,200
The German army
are converging on Moscow,

681
00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:58,880
and the Luftwaffe
are bombing the city.

682
00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:00,760
There is panic in the capital.

683
00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:04,280
With no air-raid shelters
in the Kremlin,

684
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:08,880
Stalin has taken refuge in the
subterranean halls of the Metro.

685
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:12,400
He is deciding
whether to abandon the city.

686
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:16,520
Stalin was urged to leave Moscow

687
00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:19,400
when the Wehrmacht were

688
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:25,040
supposedly in sight of
the onion domes of the Kremlin,

689
00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:28,520
when he must have known that
if Moscow fell,

690
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:31,880
his life was likely to be short.

691
00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:38,880
But Stalin has one last card
left to play.

692
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:43,000
Having ignored the advice of the men
around him,

693
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,080
he's finally ready
to hear the truth.

694
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:48,720
He calls for General Zhukov.

695
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:10,160
An armoured train waits on the
platform to take Stalin to safety.

696
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:16,360
The answer to one question will
determine the outcome for Moscow.

697
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:25,360
He asks Zhukov whether he, Zhukov,

698
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:29,200
can keep Moscow out of German hands,

699
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:33,440
to which Zhukov says,
"I can do that."

700
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:35,600
Stalin wanted to hear the truth.

701
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:37,720
But again, he's a dictator,

702
00:53:37,720 --> 00:53:40,360
he wants Zhukov to say that.

703
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:44,720
So if anything goes wrong,
Zhukov would be responsible.

704
00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:52,720
The fate of the Soviet Union
is in Zhukov's hands.

705
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:56,960
He's tough. Very strong-willed.

706
00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:00,960
Something of a, um...street
fighter.

707
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:06,600
He was so single-minded
to achieve success

708
00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:08,800
that once committed,

709
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:13,360
he was absolutely adamant
that he would succeed.

710
00:54:20,720 --> 00:54:24,120
Zhukov rallies thousands
of civilians to defend Moscow...

711
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:31,240
..and sends battle-hardened
Siberian troops to the front,

712
00:54:31,240 --> 00:54:35,720
driving the Germans back 150 miles.

713
00:54:35,720 --> 00:54:39,960
Moscow was saved by at least
two generals,

714
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:43,680
General Zhukov and General Winter.

715
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:48,680
Zhukov telegraphed Stalin,
saying, "Victory."

716
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:54,560
And then falls asleep, I think,
for three days or more.

717
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:13,920
Over 100 years earlier,

718
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:19,160
Napoleon's army had taken Moscow,
only to be driven back.

719
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:23,480
Hitler's army reaches
the gates of Moscow, but no further.

720
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:29,320
So far, over three million Jews
and Soviets have died

721
00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:32,160
as part of Hitler's horrific
racial genocide.

722
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:35,600
But this is only the beginning.

723
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:50,680
If you don't have people
who find a way to stand up and say,

724
00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:53,720
"No, this is not correct,
this is not who we are,"

725
00:55:53,720 --> 00:55:58,360
then you've lost the whole framework
of civil society.

726
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:03,120
And Germany shows us better than
anywhere else where that can lead.

727
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,520
One has to look at these Nazis

728
00:56:50,520 --> 00:56:54,000
that particularly tried
to hide behind

729
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:59,480
these elevated positions of power
and of glory,

730
00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:01,960
and they could separate
themselves from the violence,

731
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:04,400
they could separate themselves
from the crimes

732
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:07,880
and then carry on with their lives
as if they really weren't involved.

733
00:57:09,720 --> 00:57:13,480
At the Nuremberg trials,
this was very much the position
that Brauchitsch took

734
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:15,920
with his own career path
and his own life.

735
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:17,400
"I didn't do anything wrong.

736
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,400
"I was separate from
these terrible crimes.

737
00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:22,280
"And anyway, I was dismissed
in 1941,

738
00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:24,280
"so I really had nothing
to do with it."

739
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:26,080
But this is a cop-out.

740
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,400
Um...it shows again
his lack of moral fibre,

741
00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:32,760
the inability for him to look
squarely in the face

742
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:35,640
of the Third Reich, of Hitler,
of the Nazis,

743
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:37,720
and have his own role in that,

744
00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:41,040
even if it was cut shorter than
some of his other colleagues'.

745
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:57,240
For both Hitler and Stalin, this
becomes a symbol of their conflict.

746
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:07,440
Stalingrad degenerated into
the most bitter gutter fighting.

747
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:11,720
Speer doesn't feel guilt.

748
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:14,280
He talks Hitler into winning.

749
00:58:23,600 --> 00:58:26,080
Die an honourable soldier's death,

750
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:29,600
like Roman generals
falling on their swords.

751
00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:33,760
If Stalingrad survives,
if this battle is won,

752
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:36,440
that's him, Joseph Stalin.

753
00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:39,680
That's where the German army
could meet its match.

754
00:59:17,300 --> 00:59:22,060
In June 1942,
Hitler travelled to Finland

755
00:59:22,060 --> 00:59:25,460
to have talks with the
Finnish leader Mannerheim

756
00:59:25,460 --> 00:59:27,300
in a railway carriage.

757
00:59:29,540 --> 00:59:33,140
The talks were being recorded
by the Finns for posterity.

758
00:59:37,100 --> 00:59:40,820
The formal part of the discussion
comes to an end,

759
00:59:40,820 --> 00:59:44,740
but the sound engineers
let the recording device

760
00:59:44,740 --> 00:59:46,940
carry on recording.

761
00:59:46,940 --> 00:59:49,820
We hear for the only time

762
00:59:49,820 --> 00:59:53,500
Hitler speaking privately.

763
00:59:55,100 --> 00:59:57,740
MAN SPEAKS GERMAN

764
01:00:19,100 --> 01:00:23,500
What is fascinating is the tone
and tenor of Hitler's voice.

765
01:00:23,500 --> 01:00:25,580
This is not prepared.

766
01:00:25,580 --> 01:00:28,620
This is almost stream
of consciousness stuff.

767
01:00:29,940 --> 01:00:33,940
He reveals how his meeting with
the Soviet Foreign Minister

768
01:00:33,940 --> 01:00:36,460
made up his mind to invade.

769
01:01:01,420 --> 01:01:06,020
And then an SS man notices that
the recording is still going

770
01:01:06,020 --> 01:01:08,260
and he goes like that.

771
01:01:12,100 --> 01:01:17,180
This is the story of the Eastern
Front of the Second World War,

772
01:01:17,180 --> 01:01:20,460
which many see as its
defining conflict.

773
01:01:20,460 --> 01:01:24,100
It was a campaign that saw some
of the most brutal and inhumane

774
01:01:24,100 --> 01:01:25,940
warfare in all of history.

775
01:01:27,220 --> 01:01:29,980
Our interest is the
psychology of that war...

776
01:01:32,260 --> 01:01:33,780
What is the enemy up to?

777
01:01:33,780 --> 01:01:36,100
Can you deceive him?

778
01:01:36,100 --> 01:01:41,180
..the minds of dictators and the
morality of those around them.

779
01:01:41,180 --> 01:01:45,740
Hitler always needed people
around him saying,

780
01:01:45,740 --> 01:01:49,460
"You are a genius, you are
our leader, you are the Fuhrer."

781
01:01:51,540 --> 01:01:55,540
To tell this story, we've asked some
of the world's most eminent

782
01:01:55,540 --> 01:01:59,220
historians and experts,
with different kinds of insight,

783
01:01:59,220 --> 01:02:04,100
to each take us inside the mind
of one of the key protagonists.

784
01:02:04,100 --> 01:02:07,140
He wants to be the architect
of Germany's reality,

785
01:02:07,140 --> 01:02:09,500
in some ways the only truthteller.

786
01:02:15,380 --> 01:02:19,460
Nazi rule relies
on quiet complicity.

787
01:02:22,780 --> 01:02:23,820
GUNSHOT

788
01:02:25,020 --> 01:02:29,300
Ultimately, it's a study of
why dictatorships are flawed,

789
01:02:29,300 --> 01:02:33,060
and how those who rule through fear
and terror can never trust

790
01:02:33,060 --> 01:02:34,820
even the people closest to them.

791
01:02:37,420 --> 01:02:42,380
He's in charge again, so it's
don't cry over spilled milk.

792
01:02:42,380 --> 01:02:46,380
It's behind me. Yes, we failed,
now let's see what we can do.

793
01:02:46,380 --> 01:02:49,220
MUSIC: Requiem Mass in D Minor
by Mozart

794
01:03:39,980 --> 01:03:43,060
It's January 1942.

795
01:03:43,060 --> 01:03:46,420
Hitler has launched
Operation Barbarossa...

796
01:03:50,940 --> 01:03:53,980
..invading the Soviet Union

797
01:03:53,980 --> 01:03:57,740
in the north, south and centre.

798
01:03:59,700 --> 01:04:02,740
But he's just lost
the Battle of Moscow,

799
01:04:02,740 --> 01:04:05,620
and all three of the armies
are now bogged down

800
01:04:05,620 --> 01:04:07,620
in the Russian winter.

801
01:04:07,620 --> 01:04:11,540
The German Army desperately
needs fuel and resources.

802
01:04:15,340 --> 01:04:19,580
Furious with this failure,
Hitler has sacked or sidelined

803
01:04:19,580 --> 01:04:24,860
his top generals and appointed
himself head of the German Army.

804
01:04:27,940 --> 01:04:32,820
Hitler feels that he has the
willpower and the genius, frankly,

805
01:04:32,820 --> 01:04:36,260
to turn the tide
and defeat the Soviets.

806
01:04:38,140 --> 01:04:40,900
Hitler wants war without end.

807
01:04:40,900 --> 01:04:44,380
Continual warfare was the only way
in which a race, as he thought

808
01:04:44,380 --> 01:04:46,460
of the Germans, could survive.

809
01:04:46,460 --> 01:04:48,460
Without war, they would be weak.

810
01:04:48,460 --> 01:04:50,700
So there's no prospect
of the war ending.

811
01:04:50,700 --> 01:04:52,580
He believes it's all or nothing.

812
01:04:52,580 --> 01:04:55,980
And 1942 is the year
where it's going to be all.

813
01:04:58,820 --> 01:05:02,460
Hitler decides on a bold new plan -

814
01:05:02,460 --> 01:05:05,900
to focus all his attack
in the south.

815
01:05:05,900 --> 01:05:09,980
The aim - to take the
Soviets' oilfields,

816
01:05:09,980 --> 01:05:13,900
stealing the fuel from Stalin's
army and supplying his own.

817
01:05:16,900 --> 01:05:21,580
But before he can do that, the
German forces need to be rearmed.

818
01:05:26,660 --> 01:05:29,180
As formal head of the war economy,

819
01:05:29,180 --> 01:05:32,300
this would usually fall
to Hermann Goring.

820
01:05:35,540 --> 01:05:37,580
But he's fallen out of favour.

821
01:05:43,900 --> 01:05:47,140
The general view of Goring
is that he was a bit of a maverick,

822
01:05:47,140 --> 01:05:50,820
that he liked dressing up, he took
drugs, that he indulged himself

823
01:05:50,820 --> 01:05:52,820
a great deal and so on.

824
01:05:56,060 --> 01:06:01,300
I think for Hitler, one of the main
considerations in early '42

825
01:06:01,300 --> 01:06:04,780
is that Goring's been given a lot
of power and responsibility.

826
01:06:04,780 --> 01:06:06,700
I mean, he has half a dozen offices.

827
01:06:06,700 --> 01:06:09,300
I mean, there were so many things
that Goring does,

828
01:06:09,300 --> 01:06:11,740
so many pies he had his finger in.

829
01:06:11,740 --> 01:06:14,540
You know, Hitler's come
to understand I think,

830
01:06:14,540 --> 01:06:17,900
that, you know,
there's a limit to Goring.

831
01:06:17,900 --> 01:06:20,660
And the habit in the Third Reich,
of course, is for Hitler to give

832
01:06:20,660 --> 01:06:23,300
power and to take it away, to raise
people up and drop them away.

833
01:06:24,940 --> 01:06:28,380
And there's a new man rising
in Hitler's inner circle

834
01:06:28,380 --> 01:06:31,820
who has been designing the monuments
of the Third Reich.

835
01:06:33,260 --> 01:06:38,380
Hitler's favourite architect,
36-year-old Albert Speer.

836
01:06:40,380 --> 01:06:43,820
Hitler was notorious for appointing

837
01:06:43,820 --> 01:06:47,900
apparently unqualified people
to do important jobs.

838
01:06:47,900 --> 01:06:50,300
You have Ribbentrop
as Foreign Minister,

839
01:06:50,300 --> 01:06:52,940
who was actually a wine merchant.

840
01:06:54,100 --> 01:06:57,860
You have Goring who is a pilot
running the economy,

841
01:06:57,860 --> 01:07:01,700
and Speer fits the bill perfectly.

842
01:07:07,380 --> 01:07:10,940
The vision of Hitler and Speer is

843
01:07:10,940 --> 01:07:14,300
to build monumental buildings

844
01:07:14,300 --> 01:07:18,740
like in ancient Rome,
like in ancient Athens.

845
01:07:18,740 --> 01:07:24,780
Berlin will be the world's biggest
and most famous capital.

846
01:07:26,700 --> 01:07:31,340
For him, no building is high enough
and no hall is long enough.

847
01:07:31,340 --> 01:07:33,980
And this is exactly
what Hitler wanted.

848
01:07:39,460 --> 01:07:42,700
There's going to be a triumphal
arch, bigger than the one in Paris,

849
01:07:42,700 --> 01:07:46,060
a great hall with a dome,
bigger than that of St Peter's,

850
01:07:46,060 --> 01:07:48,820
and it was gargantuan.

851
01:07:48,820 --> 01:07:51,380
Speer recalled in his memoirs later
that his father,

852
01:07:51,380 --> 01:07:53,820
who was also an architect,
came and saw these plans.

853
01:07:53,820 --> 01:07:56,540
He just tapped his head
and said, "You've all gone mad."

854
01:08:01,860 --> 01:08:04,300
Now, Speer has an opportunity.

855
01:08:04,300 --> 01:08:08,540
If he can solve Hitler's problem
and successfully resupply

856
01:08:08,540 --> 01:08:12,180
the German Army, he will become
even more powerful.

857
01:08:14,020 --> 01:08:16,300
But there is one person
in his way.

858
01:08:17,860 --> 01:08:19,420
Hermann Goring.

859
01:08:27,180 --> 01:08:30,260
He goes for a meeting
to try and gain access

860
01:08:30,260 --> 01:08:32,220
to Goring's ministries.

861
01:08:33,420 --> 01:08:36,540
Well, Goring, I think, is horrified
by the appointment of Speer

862
01:08:36,540 --> 01:08:38,420
and really doesn't understand it.

863
01:08:38,420 --> 01:08:41,220
You know, he's had years
of experience running areas

864
01:08:41,220 --> 01:08:44,060
of the economy. Here's Albert Speer,
but he knows nothing

865
01:08:44,060 --> 01:08:46,700
about armaments,
nothing about the war economy.

866
01:08:49,140 --> 01:08:52,620
Goring keeps Speer waiting
for over an hour.

867
01:08:54,020 --> 01:08:57,420
He knows he is close to Hitler.

868
01:08:57,420 --> 01:09:02,380
He walks in and out of
Hitler's flat and not Goring.

869
01:09:14,740 --> 01:09:20,420
Speer understands that Goring is
motivated by the prestige of power

870
01:09:20,420 --> 01:09:23,060
but doesn't actually
want to do the work.

871
01:09:24,260 --> 01:09:26,780
So he offers to do Goring's job
for him

872
01:09:26,780 --> 01:09:29,780
whilst Goring remains
the figurehead.

873
01:09:34,540 --> 01:09:38,100
And so Germany has a new
Armaments Minister,

874
01:09:38,100 --> 01:09:41,140
architect Albert Speer.

875
01:09:41,140 --> 01:09:44,180
He talks Hitler into winning.

876
01:09:46,220 --> 01:09:50,500
"We can win the war. I'll more than
double the war production."

877
01:09:53,700 --> 01:09:56,380
Hitler loves Speer's confidence,

878
01:09:56,380 --> 01:10:00,460
so begins preparations for his
huge attack in the south.

879
01:10:07,140 --> 01:10:11,620
At the Kremlin, the map looks
very different for Stalin.

880
01:10:13,860 --> 01:10:17,340
He's won the Battle of Moscow,

881
01:10:17,340 --> 01:10:21,540
but millions of German troops
are still all over the country,

882
01:10:21,540 --> 01:10:26,220
from Leningrad in the north
to Rostov in the south.

883
01:10:42,620 --> 01:10:45,140
Oh, my goodness. Pravda.

884
01:10:49,180 --> 01:10:51,620
"Glorious victory."

885
01:10:51,620 --> 01:10:53,580
At Moscow.

886
01:10:53,580 --> 01:10:56,100
HE READS IN RUSSIAN

887
01:10:56,100 --> 01:10:59,140
And in prime position, Zhukov.

888
01:11:00,540 --> 01:11:03,420
Saved Leningrad, saved Moscow,

889
01:11:03,420 --> 01:11:07,500
the two leading cities
of the Soviet Union.

890
01:11:09,140 --> 01:11:13,180
Perhaps for Stalin, a
slightly bigger worry

891
01:11:13,180 --> 01:11:18,860
that this army officer is getting
rather big for his boots

892
01:11:18,860 --> 01:11:22,500
and I must watch him.

893
01:11:24,500 --> 01:11:27,860
Stalin views Zhukov as his
most capable general,

894
01:11:27,860 --> 01:11:29,540
but a potential threat.

895
01:11:34,500 --> 01:11:37,740
Because Zhukov could be
a dictator, Stalin doesn't make

896
01:11:37,740 --> 01:11:39,380
these kind of mistakes.

897
01:11:39,380 --> 01:11:42,220
He could smell Zhukov's strengths -
Zhukov's ruthless,

898
01:11:42,220 --> 01:11:44,460
Zhukov's highly popular.

899
01:11:44,460 --> 01:11:47,380
And Stalin knows that he needs
Zhukov

900
01:11:47,380 --> 01:11:51,100
but he has to distance Zhukov
from himself.

901
01:11:52,780 --> 01:11:55,620
Determined to prove
that he's the one in charge,

902
01:11:55,620 --> 01:12:00,500
Stalin unveils his own plan to drive
the Germans out of the Soviet Union,

903
01:12:00,500 --> 01:12:04,660
launching a huge offensive
from Leningrad to the Black Sea.

904
01:12:04,660 --> 01:12:08,740
But Zhukov can see
Stalin's plan is doomed.

905
01:12:08,740 --> 01:12:11,660
He warns Stalin that after
the Battle of Moscow,

906
01:12:11,660 --> 01:12:15,340
the Red Army are in no shape
to attack so soon.

907
01:12:15,340 --> 01:12:18,180
Stalin has shown time and time
again,

908
01:12:18,180 --> 01:12:23,260
if you get in my way,
I will get in yours terminally.

909
01:12:25,700 --> 01:12:30,580
But Zhukov had the courage
when necessary -

910
01:12:30,580 --> 01:12:33,620
I'm sure he chose his moments
carefully -

911
01:12:33,620 --> 01:12:36,460
but when necessary,
to say to Stalin,

912
01:12:36,460 --> 01:12:39,100
"Comrade Stalin, yes, but..."

913
01:12:42,540 --> 01:12:45,780
While Zhukov is warning,
correctly warning,

914
01:12:45,780 --> 01:12:48,420
Stalin doesn't want to hear that.

915
01:12:48,420 --> 01:12:51,460
Stalin's confident now,
he's in the driving seat.

916
01:12:51,460 --> 01:12:53,300
He is... He's a big boss.

917
01:12:53,300 --> 01:12:55,540
It's not just about winning the war,

918
01:12:55,540 --> 01:12:58,380
it's about making sure
he was in charge.

919
01:13:00,100 --> 01:13:04,300
So Zhukov's reward for the success
of the Battle of Moscow

920
01:13:04,300 --> 01:13:08,540
is that he is sidelined
and sent to the Front.

921
01:13:08,540 --> 01:13:11,780
If you think of an army as a body,

922
01:13:11,780 --> 01:13:14,500
you've got the brain,
you've got a nervous system

923
01:13:14,500 --> 01:13:17,900
which carries signals and messages,

924
01:13:17,900 --> 01:13:21,540
and you've got muscles
which do the fighting.

925
01:13:21,540 --> 01:13:24,980
What Stalin did was virtually
to remove the brain.

926
01:13:27,620 --> 01:13:30,700
So now both Hitler and Stalin
have taken charge

927
01:13:30,700 --> 01:13:32,140
of their own armies.

928
01:13:33,380 --> 01:13:35,820
There's no-one left
to hold them back.

929
01:13:37,220 --> 01:13:39,420
Something that always happened
to dictators,

930
01:13:39,420 --> 01:13:42,460
by clearing their path to power,

931
01:13:42,460 --> 01:13:45,500
they have no choice but
to eliminate the most

932
01:13:45,500 --> 01:13:50,180
capable and most skilful executives.

933
01:13:50,180 --> 01:13:53,820
The moment Stalin or Hitler tried
to take over the command,

934
01:13:53,820 --> 01:13:55,660
it led to a disaster.

935
01:13:57,500 --> 01:14:00,980
Hitler has already made
a similar mistake,

936
01:14:00,980 --> 01:14:03,780
replacing or firing
his top generals.

937
01:14:12,300 --> 01:14:16,580
And now the man in charge of the
6th Army, who will play a key

938
01:14:16,580 --> 01:14:18,820
role in the attack on the south...

939
01:14:21,020 --> 01:14:25,540
..is a man who has never commanded
troops in the field before -

940
01:14:25,540 --> 01:14:29,180
the recently appointed
General Paulus.

941
01:14:39,140 --> 01:14:41,300
TRAIN WHISTLE BLARES

942
01:14:46,260 --> 01:14:50,300
Paulus's leadership qualities
were frankly rather weak,

943
01:14:50,300 --> 01:14:51,940
to put it mildly.

944
01:14:51,940 --> 01:14:56,180
He probably felt a slight feeling
of impostor syndrome,

945
01:14:56,180 --> 01:14:59,620
at the same time feeling thrilled
and happy

946
01:14:59,620 --> 01:15:03,020
at this remarkable piece of luck.

947
01:15:07,380 --> 01:15:11,420
Paulus is immediately thrust
into difficulty

948
01:15:11,420 --> 01:15:16,100
when his troops are attacked by the
Red Army at the city of Kharkov.

949
01:15:27,660 --> 01:15:29,900
Paulus was under tremendous strain.

950
01:15:29,900 --> 01:15:31,540
He had this nervous tic,

951
01:15:31,540 --> 01:15:34,940
revealed quite how much pressure
he was under.

952
01:15:37,060 --> 01:15:39,460
Paulus was nicknamed The Delayer.

953
01:15:40,700 --> 01:15:44,140
This was partly because he did not
like to take a decision.

954
01:15:44,140 --> 01:15:48,420
He was always rather frightened
of taking the wrong decision.

955
01:15:54,340 --> 01:15:57,140
Paulus asked permission
to hold off on attacking.

956
01:15:59,380 --> 01:16:02,220
But Hitler is now in control
of the battlefield.

957
01:16:05,260 --> 01:16:08,900
He instructs Paulus to smash
through Red Army lines.

958
01:16:12,700 --> 01:16:16,660
Following Hitler's orders,
Paulus and his army

959
01:16:16,660 --> 01:16:18,700
annihilate Soviet troops.

960
01:16:20,100 --> 01:16:23,420
Stalin loses nearly
300,000 soldiers.

961
01:16:26,580 --> 01:16:29,420
Hitler personally thanks
Paulus for the victory

962
01:16:29,420 --> 01:16:32,260
and awards him the Knight's Cross.

963
01:16:32,260 --> 01:16:35,940
Paulus had tremendous admiration
from that particular moment,

964
01:16:35,940 --> 01:16:39,380
thinking, well, Hitler must
have had a better view from up there

965
01:16:39,380 --> 01:16:43,260
than I had down on the ground
during the course of the battle.

966
01:16:45,260 --> 01:16:47,780
Hitler has put Paulus in his debt

967
01:16:47,780 --> 01:16:51,180
and binds Paulus to him personally.

968
01:16:52,780 --> 01:16:56,820
Paulus then follows every command
of Hitler's,

969
01:16:56,820 --> 01:17:01,740
believing totally
in his military brilliance.

970
01:17:04,580 --> 01:17:08,260
So Hitler feels ready to launch
his massive assault on the south.

971
01:17:17,180 --> 01:17:20,900
Just over a week before
the operation begins,

972
01:17:20,900 --> 01:17:24,460
a German plane is shot out
of the sky by the Red Army.

973
01:17:27,740 --> 01:17:31,260
When they approach the wreckage,
they find in the dead officer's

974
01:17:31,260 --> 01:17:34,420
satchel the German invasion plans.

975
01:17:37,900 --> 01:17:41,740
The maps and documents
are raced to the Kremlin.

976
01:17:59,300 --> 01:18:01,460
The German airplane - shot down,

977
01:18:01,460 --> 01:18:03,900
and the pilot accidently has a map.

978
01:18:03,900 --> 01:18:08,180
In Stalin's eyes, forgery,

979
01:18:08,180 --> 01:18:11,140
disinformation,
so you cannot trust it.

980
01:18:11,140 --> 01:18:13,220
I don't think Stalin had
even second thoughts

981
01:18:13,220 --> 01:18:15,860
because it's accidental -
he doesn't believe in accidents,

982
01:18:15,860 --> 01:18:17,700
so it's probably staged.

983
01:18:20,460 --> 01:18:23,820
Having sidelined his top general,
Zhukov,

984
01:18:23,820 --> 01:18:27,420
Stalin has nobody
to make him see sense.

985
01:18:27,420 --> 01:18:29,980
Stalin thought that Hitler would
eventually attack Moscow,

986
01:18:29,980 --> 01:18:32,260
because taking over Moscow,

987
01:18:32,260 --> 01:18:34,780
that's the way to make
Soviet capitulate.

988
01:18:36,820 --> 01:18:40,860
And while Germans were making
their build-ups in the south,

989
01:18:40,860 --> 01:18:43,900
Stalin couldn't think
of anything else but Moscow,

990
01:18:43,900 --> 01:18:45,180
because he was there.

991
01:18:46,740 --> 01:18:50,620
And that's why the real information
from the dead pilot,

992
01:18:50,620 --> 01:18:56,180
that was all disregarded by Stalin
because it did not fit his ideas

993
01:18:56,180 --> 01:18:59,940
about the top targets
in Hitler's mind.

994
01:19:04,420 --> 01:19:10,100
So Stalin fails to defend the south
and the German Army storm through.

995
01:19:10,100 --> 01:19:16,220
Soon, a million German soldiers
are advancing on the oilfields.

996
01:19:18,020 --> 01:19:21,100
They show no mercy toward
Soviet civilians.

997
01:19:52,780 --> 01:19:55,580
Paulus is a Christian,

998
01:19:55,580 --> 01:19:58,660
but that did not necessarily mean
he was ever prepared

999
01:19:58,660 --> 01:20:03,140
to outright rejection
on Nazi killing-orders

1000
01:20:03,140 --> 01:20:06,580
of Jews, Slavs,
commissars and so forth.

1001
01:20:09,420 --> 01:20:12,180
There's a form of moral anaesthetic.

1002
01:20:12,180 --> 01:20:17,140
Paulus probably feels that he's
certainly not active in pushing

1003
01:20:17,140 --> 01:20:19,780
Hitler's genocidal endeavours.

1004
01:20:21,380 --> 01:20:24,220
He was uneasy, but he certainly
wasn't going to speak out

1005
01:20:24,220 --> 01:20:25,940
in any way against it.

1006
01:20:34,300 --> 01:20:38,860
At this point, it is interesting
to know what Hitler is thinking,

1007
01:20:38,860 --> 01:20:43,540
because on one hand, the war
seems to be going well,

1008
01:20:43,540 --> 01:20:47,660
but it's all taking so much
longer than he thought.

1009
01:20:47,660 --> 01:20:52,500
How does he justify to himself
the failures of the campaign so far?

1010
01:20:54,420 --> 01:20:58,500
In June 1942, he travels to Finland

1011
01:20:58,500 --> 01:21:01,420
to meet the Finnish leader,
Mannerheim.

1012
01:21:03,380 --> 01:21:06,300
And one can listen in
to their conversation.

1013
01:21:31,900 --> 01:21:37,020
He's talking quite informally
and quite openly about where things

1014
01:21:37,020 --> 01:21:43,060
have gone wrong, excusing
the failure of the German Army

1015
01:21:43,060 --> 01:21:48,180
to defeat the Red Army,
the Soviet Army, in short order.

1016
01:22:10,060 --> 01:22:13,540
He's making excuses
for his failures.

1017
01:22:35,260 --> 01:22:39,580
While Hitler complains that nobody
told him how strong the Russian Army

1018
01:22:39,580 --> 01:22:43,300
was, he doesn't realise
that there are other things

1019
01:22:43,300 --> 01:22:45,900
that people still
don't dare tell him.

1020
01:22:49,580 --> 01:22:53,940
In Berlin, the architect, Speer,
is struggling.

1021
01:22:57,020 --> 01:23:00,740
He does everything in his power

1022
01:23:00,740 --> 01:23:04,260
to enforce war production

1023
01:23:04,260 --> 01:23:09,220
and to get more and more people
to work.

1024
01:23:09,220 --> 01:23:13,660
He doesn't care where
these labourers come from.

1025
01:23:17,500 --> 01:23:21,820
Desperate to give Hitler
the armaments he has promised,

1026
01:23:21,820 --> 01:23:25,500
he conscripts slave labour
into the war effort.

1027
01:23:27,380 --> 01:23:32,340
Speer is not only an able organiser,
but he is ruthless.

1028
01:23:33,980 --> 01:23:38,940
He takes every worker
he can get his hands on.

1029
01:23:45,860 --> 01:23:48,780
Speer sees people dying.

1030
01:23:50,540 --> 01:23:54,260
He sees desperate, ill people

1031
01:23:54,260 --> 01:23:59,580
deprived of everything,
but he doesn't care.

1032
01:23:59,580 --> 01:24:05,260
These prisoners weren't human beings
for him any more.

1033
01:24:05,260 --> 01:24:10,140
Tens of thousands die as he tries
to supply the Nazi war machine.

1034
01:24:11,140 --> 01:24:13,140
But it's still not enough.

1035
01:24:14,980 --> 01:24:17,860
So he decides to cook the books,

1036
01:24:17,860 --> 01:24:21,460
faking the numbers to try
and make it appear to Hitler

1037
01:24:21,460 --> 01:24:23,020
like he is delivering.

1038
01:24:28,260 --> 01:24:32,380
Hitler is so convinced that he will
ultimately win the war,

1039
01:24:32,380 --> 01:24:35,020
he takes another huge gamble.

1040
01:24:38,540 --> 01:24:42,620
He's going to capture not
only the Soviet oilfields,

1041
01:24:42,620 --> 01:24:46,220
but 300 miles of
the Black Sea coast,

1042
01:24:46,220 --> 01:24:48,500
as well as the city of Stalingrad.

1043
01:24:50,740 --> 01:24:54,220
In military terms, this is madness.

1044
01:24:57,060 --> 01:25:00,820
I think if Hitler had understood
the magnitude of any of the gambles

1045
01:25:00,820 --> 01:25:03,020
he made, he probably
wouldn't have made them.

1046
01:25:03,020 --> 01:25:06,060
He was precisely a gambler,

1047
01:25:06,060 --> 01:25:08,300
somebody who went for broke
all the time

1048
01:25:08,300 --> 01:25:13,220
because he felt that the cards
would fall in his favour.

1049
01:25:15,740 --> 01:25:20,620
His faith in the racial superiority
of the Germans

1050
01:25:20,620 --> 01:25:24,020
was enough to quell any doubts
he might have had.

1051
01:25:28,300 --> 01:25:31,420
Hitler is desperately impatient.

1052
01:25:31,420 --> 01:25:36,460
Paulus, I think, had a mixed idea or
feeling about what was lying ahead.

1053
01:25:37,820 --> 01:25:43,780
He certainly was not
going to openly reject the orders

1054
01:25:43,780 --> 01:25:46,620
coming from Hitler's headquarters.

1055
01:25:49,460 --> 01:25:53,700
By dividing the army group, Hitler
is weakening each of the two parts.

1056
01:25:56,180 --> 01:25:59,300
So while Paulus is sent
to Stalingrad,

1057
01:25:59,300 --> 01:26:04,020
the other half of the army
sets off to capture the oilfields.

1058
01:26:04,020 --> 01:26:07,020
MUSIC: Gnossienne No 1
by Erik Satie

1059
01:26:12,420 --> 01:26:14,740
But what looks straightforward
on Hitler's map

1060
01:26:14,740 --> 01:26:17,100
is different in reality.

1061
01:26:23,460 --> 01:26:28,060
They soon find themselves traversing
the colossal Caucasus Mountains.

1062
01:26:31,700 --> 01:26:35,060
Within weeks, they are low on fuel
and supplies,

1063
01:26:35,060 --> 01:26:38,020
and the army grinds to a halt.

1064
01:26:42,900 --> 01:26:45,500
UPBEAT GERMAN MUSIC PLAYS

1065
01:26:48,780 --> 01:26:52,220
A general of the Army High Command
returns from the Caucasus

1066
01:26:52,220 --> 01:26:54,260
with the worst possible news.

1067
01:26:55,660 --> 01:26:59,700
The operation to capture
Stalin's oilfields is failing.

1068
01:27:02,980 --> 01:27:07,660
But Hitler demands that the
campaign continue at all costs.

1069
01:27:09,580 --> 01:27:12,780
It's very unusual for a general
to stand up to Hitler,

1070
01:27:12,780 --> 01:27:16,820
but so serious is the situation
that he does.

1071
01:27:16,820 --> 01:27:22,180
Unusually, he stands his ground
and he shouts back at Hitler.

1072
01:27:22,180 --> 01:27:26,340
"You gave the orders,
you can't blame us, the generals.

1073
01:27:26,340 --> 01:27:28,060
"It's all your fault."

1074
01:27:37,940 --> 01:27:40,420
Hitler simply won't accept this.

1075
01:27:42,140 --> 01:27:45,020
Hitler thinks, well,
he's the leader,

1076
01:27:45,020 --> 01:27:48,780
he's the dictator,
he's the supreme strategist,

1077
01:27:48,780 --> 01:27:53,300
he's the man who defeated France and
now he's beginning to be confronted

1078
01:27:53,300 --> 01:27:57,420
with the realities of the situation,
and he really can't take it.

1079
01:28:06,380 --> 01:28:08,420
Things get very heated.

1080
01:28:08,420 --> 01:28:13,180
Hitler's not used to being informed
by generals that his own strategy

1081
01:28:13,180 --> 01:28:15,100
is not going to work.

1082
01:28:18,060 --> 01:28:20,860
What happens next
seems to be a turning point

1083
01:28:20,860 --> 01:28:22,820
in Hitler's psychology.

1084
01:28:31,260 --> 01:28:35,980
With no-one left to blame,
he has some kind of mental collapse.

1085
01:28:41,700 --> 01:28:44,540
He withdraws, pulls back,

1086
01:28:44,540 --> 01:28:49,420
won't talk to the generals again,
eats on his own,

1087
01:28:49,420 --> 01:28:54,300
and there's a generally
rather unpleasant, tense atmosphere

1088
01:28:54,300 --> 01:28:56,140
in the headquarters.

1089
01:28:58,220 --> 01:29:02,260
Convinced his generals must
have misquoted his orders,

1090
01:29:02,260 --> 01:29:07,100
he brings in a team of stenographers
from Berlin to type out everything

1091
01:29:07,100 --> 01:29:09,380
he says in meetings from now on.

1092
01:29:12,140 --> 01:29:16,380
None of this shakes Hitler's belief
that he will win the war.

1093
01:29:18,060 --> 01:29:21,580
Hitler begins to pin
his hopes on Stalingrad.

1094
01:29:21,580 --> 01:29:24,860
This is the part of the operation
that's still going forward,

1095
01:29:24,860 --> 01:29:29,260
and he now decides that
that is the big objective,

1096
01:29:29,260 --> 01:29:32,260
conquering the city
named after Stalin.

1097
01:29:43,260 --> 01:29:47,940
Dictators, they pay overwhelming
attention to symbols.

1098
01:29:50,140 --> 01:29:52,820
It's all about symbols.

1099
01:29:52,820 --> 01:29:57,500
Dictator must prove time and again
that he is, he is worthy

1100
01:29:57,500 --> 01:30:02,740
of this power that he somehow
has been given, often grabbed.

1101
01:30:02,740 --> 01:30:05,820
But to hold his power,
he needs victories,

1102
01:30:05,820 --> 01:30:07,820
sometimes symbolic victories.

1103
01:30:10,940 --> 01:30:14,780
If the city was named whatever,
Volgograd, Ekaterinoslav,

1104
01:30:14,780 --> 01:30:17,580
whatever the name, Tsaritsyn,
as the original name,

1105
01:30:17,580 --> 01:30:22,260
I don't think Hitler would be so
devoted to go against it.

1106
01:30:22,260 --> 01:30:24,100
But it was Stalingrad.

1107
01:30:24,100 --> 01:30:27,340
And I think the name
on the map, on the map,

1108
01:30:27,340 --> 01:30:29,980
you know, paralysed Hitler,
he wanted to take Stalingrad.

1109
01:30:29,980 --> 01:30:33,940
And the German armies, instead
of using their momentum,

1110
01:30:33,940 --> 01:30:37,580
the advantage, the manoeuvres
and looking for oil

1111
01:30:37,580 --> 01:30:41,140
in Baku and Caucasus, he decides to
bring his best troops

1112
01:30:41,140 --> 01:30:42,980
into Stalingrad.

1113
01:30:45,220 --> 01:30:47,460
Stalin was quite pleased.

1114
01:30:49,060 --> 01:30:53,220
Deep in his soul,
Stalin feels even happy.

1115
01:30:54,340 --> 01:30:58,020
He knows enough about war
to recognise that Hitler

1116
01:30:58,020 --> 01:31:00,220
is making a mistake,

1117
01:31:00,220 --> 01:31:05,060
that war in the city is going
to wear out German troops.

1118
01:31:07,340 --> 01:31:10,180
Also, I think in the back
of his mind, he thinks

1119
01:31:10,180 --> 01:31:12,020
about the great effect.

1120
01:31:12,020 --> 01:31:15,900
If Stalingrad survives,
if this battle's won,

1121
01:31:15,900 --> 01:31:20,020
that's him, Joseph Stalin,
here in the city of Stalin -

1122
01:31:20,020 --> 01:31:22,180
which had nothing
to do with Stalin -

1123
01:31:22,180 --> 01:31:24,900
but now it's the city
that bears Stalin's name.

1124
01:31:24,900 --> 01:31:28,060
That's where the German Army
could meet its match.

1125
01:31:33,300 --> 01:31:36,740
For both Hitler and Stalin,
this becomes a symbol

1126
01:31:36,740 --> 01:31:38,340
of their conflict.

1127
01:31:39,660 --> 01:31:43,420
For Hitler it would be a kind of
symbolic victory over Stalin.

1128
01:31:43,420 --> 01:31:47,460
Stalin realises this and throws
everything he can into its defence.

1129
01:31:49,340 --> 01:31:53,940
Stalin orders that every
Russian man, woman and child

1130
01:31:53,940 --> 01:31:56,820
must stay and defend the city.

1131
01:31:56,820 --> 01:32:01,180
Any Russian soldier seen retreating
will be shot immediately.

1132
01:32:16,700 --> 01:32:20,660
So both the Red Army and the German
forces descend on Stalingrad.

1133
01:32:44,660 --> 01:32:48,420
And Stalin knows just the man
he needs for this situation.

1134
01:32:54,660 --> 01:32:59,620
Stalin knows that the professionals
must carry the war.

1135
01:32:59,620 --> 01:33:01,900
Zhukov is Stalin's man now.

1136
01:33:01,900 --> 01:33:04,340
Not his pet, not his favourite,

1137
01:33:04,340 --> 01:33:06,500
but this is the man Stalin needs.

1138
01:33:06,500 --> 01:33:10,860
What's apparent to Zhukov
is that the German Army

1139
01:33:10,860 --> 01:33:14,940
has a weak spot in Axis troops
camped outside the city.

1140
01:33:14,940 --> 01:33:19,740
Romanian, Hungarian and Italian
forces are vulnerable to attack

1141
01:33:19,740 --> 01:33:22,220
in the north and south.

1142
01:33:22,220 --> 01:33:25,780
Zhukov aims to launch
a simultaneous attack

1143
01:33:25,780 --> 01:33:28,100
on both these flanks.

1144
01:33:28,100 --> 01:33:33,460
Zhukov came up with
an ambitious plan

1145
01:33:33,460 --> 01:33:38,500
to encircle Paulus's
6th Army of the Wehrmacht.

1146
01:33:38,500 --> 01:33:44,380
It is the great objective
of any ambitious general

1147
01:33:44,380 --> 01:33:49,060
because it gives you, if you get
it right, an outstanding victory.

1148
01:33:51,460 --> 01:33:54,820
Paulus is aware of exactly
the same weakness.

1149
01:33:54,820 --> 01:33:57,980
Fearing his army
is vulnerable to Soviet entrapment,

1150
01:33:57,980 --> 01:34:01,260
he goes to ask Hitler
for reinforcements.

1151
01:34:05,900 --> 01:34:08,540
At the same moment, in Moscow,

1152
01:34:08,540 --> 01:34:12,420
Zhukov asks for Stalin's
approval to attack.

1153
01:34:17,140 --> 01:34:19,740
This is the moment
where both dictators,

1154
01:34:19,740 --> 01:34:22,340
they change the course
almost simultaneously.

1155
01:34:24,060 --> 01:34:28,060
While Stalin demonstrated
Zhukov has his full confidence,

1156
01:34:28,060 --> 01:34:30,500
Hitler goes in the
opposite direction.

1157
01:34:35,700 --> 01:34:39,820
Hitler refuses to listen
to Paulus's concerns.

1158
01:34:39,820 --> 01:34:43,620
He's only interested in
when Stalingrad will fall.

1159
01:34:48,380 --> 01:34:51,300
Hitler, once again
consumed by impatience,

1160
01:34:51,300 --> 01:34:53,860
wants to have something to announce
back in Germany

1161
01:34:53,860 --> 01:34:56,300
of a huge victory in the East.

1162
01:34:56,300 --> 01:35:00,180
And so he is pushing Paulus to say,
when is the city going to fall?

1163
01:35:00,180 --> 01:35:02,500
Paulus had already given
an assessment

1164
01:35:02,500 --> 01:35:04,580
of another two weeks at least.

1165
01:35:06,380 --> 01:35:10,100
But actually even Paulus didn't
believe that figure at the time.

1166
01:35:21,460 --> 01:35:24,900
On September 30th, 1942,

1167
01:35:24,900 --> 01:35:28,180
Hitler is in Berlin
to make a speech.

1168
01:35:31,340 --> 01:35:36,100
He declares to the nation that
victory at Stalingrad is imminent.

1169
01:36:23,820 --> 01:36:27,500
Hitler's self-belief was absolute.

1170
01:36:29,300 --> 01:36:32,580
Success is what's going to happen.

1171
01:36:32,580 --> 01:36:35,940
You can't even contemplate
any kind of failure.

1172
01:36:38,300 --> 01:36:41,500
Hitler in the speech is
really doing two things.

1173
01:36:41,500 --> 01:36:46,140
He's rallying the public around the
belief that Stalingrad

1174
01:36:46,140 --> 01:36:49,220
is finished, that the German
troops are going to occupy it

1175
01:36:49,220 --> 01:36:51,380
in very short order.

1176
01:36:51,380 --> 01:36:54,340
But he's also saying
to the German troops

1177
01:36:54,340 --> 01:36:56,820
that that's what they've got to do.

1178
01:36:56,820 --> 01:37:00,100
They've got to occupy Stalingrad,
they mustn't be deterred.

1179
01:37:07,780 --> 01:37:10,140
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

1180
01:37:10,140 --> 01:37:14,420
Hitler has publicly tied his own
fate to the conquest of Stalingrad.

1181
01:37:18,740 --> 01:37:21,380
But Stalin isn't going anywhere.

1182
01:37:21,380 --> 01:37:25,340
The Soviet people take up arms
against the Germans,

1183
01:37:25,340 --> 01:37:30,020
fighting house by house and
street by street to defend the city.

1184
01:37:34,500 --> 01:37:36,940
LOUD GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

1185
01:37:40,940 --> 01:37:45,020
Stalingrad degenerated into the most

1186
01:37:45,020 --> 01:37:47,300
bitter gutter fighting

1187
01:37:47,300 --> 01:37:50,740
amongst the ruined factories.

1188
01:37:50,740 --> 01:37:53,420
Very vicious indeed.

1189
01:37:57,460 --> 01:38:01,940
With no space for tanks, savage
urban combat breaks out

1190
01:38:01,940 --> 01:38:04,980
in ruined homes, basements
and cellars across Stalingrad.

1191
01:38:06,620 --> 01:38:08,540
It's a fight to the death.

1192
01:38:22,140 --> 01:38:24,060
Stalingrad could fall.

1193
01:38:25,700 --> 01:38:28,700
Now, Zhukov launches his attack.

1194
01:38:30,380 --> 01:38:33,420
He sends over a
million of his troops

1195
01:38:33,420 --> 01:38:35,660
in a surprise pincer movement,

1196
01:38:35,660 --> 01:38:38,940
attacking the weak German flanks

1197
01:38:38,940 --> 01:38:42,980
and trapping a quarter
of a million enemy soldiers.

1198
01:38:45,820 --> 01:38:50,060
Well, it showed great imagination,
thinking out of the box.

1199
01:38:52,100 --> 01:38:54,660
And on a grand scale.

1200
01:38:54,660 --> 01:38:59,820
The distances, the numbers involved
in that encirclement operation

1201
01:38:59,820 --> 01:39:03,780
are on the ambitious side,
without doubt.

1202
01:39:05,900 --> 01:39:10,580
Before Paulus can react, his army
is almost entirely surrounded.

1203
01:39:13,860 --> 01:39:17,780
Paulus is in fairly
constant correspondence

1204
01:39:17,780 --> 01:39:22,380
with Fuhrer Headquarters
to decide on what should be done.

1205
01:39:27,460 --> 01:39:30,940
Paulus asks permission
from Hitler to break out.

1206
01:39:33,020 --> 01:39:36,260
The German armies cannot withdraw,
not least because he's said that

1207
01:39:36,260 --> 01:39:39,700
they've already won, so it will be
a serious loss of face for him.

1208
01:39:39,700 --> 01:39:41,780
Stalingrad has to be captured.

1209
01:39:44,500 --> 01:39:49,620
Autocratic leaders seem
incapable of accepting

1210
01:39:49,620 --> 01:39:53,460
that an army sometimes
has to withdraw

1211
01:39:53,460 --> 01:39:58,940
to more favourable ground
in order to better defend.

1212
01:39:58,940 --> 01:40:03,820
For the dictator,
every inch is a failure.

1213
01:40:03,820 --> 01:40:07,860
And by not allowing redeployment,

1214
01:40:07,860 --> 01:40:10,540
they make the end worse than ever.

1215
01:40:12,740 --> 01:40:16,820
But for one man, this is the
opportunity he's been waiting for.

1216
01:40:27,980 --> 01:40:32,500
Hermann Goring sees the situation
in Stalingrad as a way to redeem

1217
01:40:32,500 --> 01:40:35,980
himself with Hitler and gain
the upper hand over his rival,

1218
01:40:35,980 --> 01:40:37,540
Albert Speer.

1219
01:40:39,180 --> 01:40:41,620
He's very aware that
Germany's up against it.

1220
01:40:41,620 --> 01:40:44,020
He wants Germany to win.

1221
01:40:44,020 --> 01:40:47,060
Victory means Goring's
still number two,

1222
01:40:47,060 --> 01:40:49,340
Goring with even more resources,

1223
01:40:49,340 --> 01:40:52,380
Goring with his big hunting forest
in Russia.

1224
01:40:52,380 --> 01:40:55,420
You know, victory means
a lot to Goring.

1225
01:40:55,420 --> 01:40:58,660
MUSIC: Op 64, No.13
Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev

1226
01:40:58,660 --> 01:41:01,860
Goring has a plan that he claims
will miraculously

1227
01:41:01,860 --> 01:41:03,700
turn the tide at Stalingrad.

1228
01:41:04,740 --> 01:41:08,620
He persuades Hitler that he can use
the Luftwaffe to supply Paulus's

1229
01:41:08,620 --> 01:41:12,260
trapped army with enough food
and equipment to beat Stalin.

1230
01:41:14,100 --> 01:41:16,940
This is an opportunity
to demonstrate once again

1231
01:41:16,940 --> 01:41:18,740
that he's in command.

1232
01:41:20,140 --> 01:41:23,540
There's no serious group of people
sitting around and evaluating

1233
01:41:23,540 --> 01:41:25,380
what's going on and saying,

1234
01:41:25,380 --> 01:41:28,340
this can be done, that can't be done
and so on.

1235
01:41:28,340 --> 01:41:30,940
You've got Hitler and Goring,
both of them inclined

1236
01:41:30,940 --> 01:41:33,180
to be impulsive strategically.

1237
01:41:34,540 --> 01:41:39,100
You know, Hitler desperately needing
a solution to a strategic disaster

1238
01:41:39,100 --> 01:41:42,940
which he's created,
Goring desperately wanting to

1239
01:41:42,940 --> 01:41:46,380
get in with Hitler again
and show him that, you know,

1240
01:41:46,380 --> 01:41:48,620
he can deliver something
that Hitler wants.

1241
01:41:48,620 --> 01:41:52,500
So the two of them really are
colluding together to create

1242
01:41:52,500 --> 01:41:55,940
what actually turns out
to be a strategic fantasy.

1243
01:41:57,620 --> 01:42:01,260
Just like Speer before him,
Goring knows he can't deliver

1244
01:42:01,260 --> 01:42:03,540
on his far-fetched promise,

1245
01:42:03,540 --> 01:42:06,540
but sends his Luftwaffe in anyway,

1246
01:42:06,540 --> 01:42:09,180
carrying only a fraction
of the supplies needed

1247
01:42:09,180 --> 01:42:10,980
to sustain Hitler's army.

1248
01:42:13,620 --> 01:42:17,700
The Russian winter prevents
most planes from landing.

1249
01:42:17,700 --> 01:42:20,820
Those that do
are attacked by the Soviets.

1250
01:42:22,940 --> 01:42:25,740
Goring loses the lives of 1,000 men,

1251
01:42:25,740 --> 01:42:29,860
leaving Paulus and his army
stranded in Stalingrad.

1252
01:42:36,180 --> 01:42:39,620
Among those trapped is
Albert Speer's brother, Ernst.

1253
01:42:39,620 --> 01:42:43,380
His family members beg Speer
to use his influence

1254
01:42:43,380 --> 01:42:45,500
to get his brother out.

1255
01:42:45,500 --> 01:42:48,500
But Speer claims he can't do
anything to save him.

1256
01:42:49,820 --> 01:42:53,020
Speer doesn't really feel guilt.

1257
01:42:55,540 --> 01:43:00,340
He is willing to sacrifice
the lives of his family

1258
01:43:00,340 --> 01:43:02,580
for this higher cost.

1259
01:43:07,460 --> 01:43:10,860
It's Christmas Day, and for weeks
Paulus and his men

1260
01:43:10,860 --> 01:43:14,060
have been trapped with
virtually no supplies.

1261
01:43:15,780 --> 01:43:20,260
They're stuck in an area
known as the Cauldron,

1262
01:43:20,260 --> 01:43:24,100
but instead of boiling alive,
they are freezing to death.

1263
01:43:28,180 --> 01:43:30,900
The suffering of the German
troops was appalling.

1264
01:43:33,060 --> 01:43:35,380
The temperatures were often
down to minus 20,

1265
01:43:35,380 --> 01:43:37,540
even at one stage to minus 30.

1266
01:43:37,540 --> 01:43:40,980
It meant that the casualties from
frostbite were simply terrifying.

1267
01:43:43,980 --> 01:43:47,060
The worst thing of all was the lice
for many of them.

1268
01:43:47,060 --> 01:43:50,540
I mean, you could tell as soon as a
body died, somebody had died,

1269
01:43:50,540 --> 01:43:54,340
because there was this grey mass
of lice leaving the body

1270
01:43:54,340 --> 01:43:56,380
as the temperature had cooled down.

1271
01:43:56,380 --> 01:43:59,180
And this, of course,
was spreading typhus.

1272
01:44:04,540 --> 01:44:07,900
From that point onwards, they are
beginning to starve to death.

1273
01:44:10,220 --> 01:44:13,940
And they start eating the horses,
they start eating animals,

1274
01:44:13,940 --> 01:44:16,340
and in the end,
there's some evidence,

1275
01:44:16,340 --> 01:44:18,340
they started eating each other.

1276
01:44:19,620 --> 01:44:23,460
Caught between the extreme suffering
of his men and his duty

1277
01:44:23,460 --> 01:44:26,660
to his Commander in Chief,

1278
01:44:26,660 --> 01:44:29,620
Paulus is now in a state of mental
and physical collapse.

1279
01:44:29,620 --> 01:44:34,460
Paulus was suffering very badly
from recurrent dysentery.

1280
01:44:34,460 --> 01:44:37,260
He was extremely thin and haggard.

1281
01:44:37,260 --> 01:44:40,420
His twitch was pretty manic.

1282
01:44:40,420 --> 01:44:43,860
And one could tell that he was only
occasionally sort of in control

1283
01:44:43,860 --> 01:44:47,380
of his own state
and his own emotions.

1284
01:44:47,380 --> 01:44:52,060
And this is where Schmidt, his Chief
of Staff, starts to take over.

1285
01:44:55,020 --> 01:44:59,780
Paulus, he had no options,
basically, that's his problem.

1286
01:44:59,780 --> 01:45:05,660
He had no option other than
to disobey Hitler

1287
01:45:05,660 --> 01:45:10,340
and start to withdraw
or to surrender.

1288
01:45:10,340 --> 01:45:12,780
What else could he have done?

1289
01:45:25,140 --> 01:45:27,820
At the start of 1943,

1290
01:45:27,820 --> 01:45:32,860
the Russians dropped thousands
of leaflets over the Cauldron,

1291
01:45:32,860 --> 01:45:35,660
wishing the 6th Army
a happy new year.

1292
01:45:58,500 --> 01:46:02,940
To the officers
and soldiers of the Wehrmacht,

1293
01:46:02,940 --> 01:46:07,220
your hopes to get help,
as of nothing.

1294
01:46:09,380 --> 01:46:10,940
You've had it.

1295
01:46:10,940 --> 01:46:14,140
So the best thing you can do is,
basically,

1296
01:46:14,140 --> 01:46:17,380
come out with your hands up
or you will die.

1297
01:46:30,020 --> 01:46:33,420
Paulus tries one last
roll of the dice.

1298
01:46:33,420 --> 01:46:37,900
He chooses a most unlikely messenger
to go and reason with Hitler.

1299
01:46:39,340 --> 01:46:42,740
A 23-year-old called Winrich Behr.

1300
01:46:44,780 --> 01:46:48,980
Hitler was not listening
to any generals, and so that's why

1301
01:46:48,980 --> 01:46:54,300
they chose Winrich Behr,
who was a young 23-year-old captain,

1302
01:46:54,300 --> 01:46:58,780
in his black Panzer uniform with
the Knight's Cross at the throat,

1303
01:46:58,780 --> 01:47:04,260
who would speak to him
almost soldier to soldier.

1304
01:47:05,700 --> 01:47:10,300
Under artillery fire,
he is smuggled out and flown

1305
01:47:10,300 --> 01:47:14,300
to the Wolf's Lair, where
he is given an audience with Hitler.

1306
01:47:36,140 --> 01:47:39,500
Behr basically
was not allowed to speak.

1307
01:47:39,500 --> 01:47:43,100
Hitler basically was telling him
what a wonderful situation it was,

1308
01:47:43,100 --> 01:47:45,940
they would have an opportunity
of inflicting a vast defeat

1309
01:47:45,940 --> 01:47:48,340
on the Red Army and
all the rest of it.

1310
01:47:48,340 --> 01:47:50,820
Now, Behr knew perfectly well
that this was untrue

1311
01:47:50,820 --> 01:47:53,780
and he waited until
Hitler had finished.

1312
01:47:53,780 --> 01:47:56,740
And then he said, you know, Mein
Fuhrer, will I please now have

1313
01:47:56,740 --> 01:47:59,660
your permission to tell you exactly
what I was ordered to tell you

1314
01:47:59,660 --> 01:48:01,780
by my commander in chief?

1315
01:48:01,780 --> 01:48:06,140
And in front of all of the others
present, Hitler could not say no.

1316
01:48:09,300 --> 01:48:14,340
Behr tells Hitler that
the situation before Stalingrad

1317
01:48:14,340 --> 01:48:17,420
is desperate,
that the troops are starving.

1318
01:48:19,020 --> 01:48:22,220
That their morale and their
physical strength is so low,

1319
01:48:22,220 --> 01:48:24,860
it's increasingly difficult
for them to fight.

1320
01:48:28,780 --> 01:48:32,860
Then Hitler just thinks
that Behr's talking nonsense.

1321
01:48:34,780 --> 01:48:37,820
So he takes him to the situation map

1322
01:48:37,820 --> 01:48:42,540
and shows him all these massive
German forces, all these divisions.

1323
01:48:45,140 --> 01:48:48,620
And Behr realises these divisions
are now reduced

1324
01:48:48,620 --> 01:48:50,860
to just a few hundred men each.

1325
01:49:15,300 --> 01:49:18,900
Stalin is now on the brink
of victory in the city

1326
01:49:18,900 --> 01:49:20,620
that bears his name.

1327
01:49:20,620 --> 01:49:25,300
But so far he's lost the lives of
almost half a million soldiers

1328
01:49:25,300 --> 01:49:28,180
and 40,000 civilians.

1329
01:49:28,180 --> 01:49:30,540
Stalin didn't care about who lives.

1330
01:49:30,540 --> 01:49:33,300
It was all about winning.
It's all about surviving.

1331
01:49:33,300 --> 01:49:38,460
When we say brutality, we believe
that there are certain values

1332
01:49:38,460 --> 01:49:41,940
like human life that, you know,
could stand in the way

1333
01:49:41,940 --> 01:49:44,740
of us achieving our goals.

1334
01:49:44,740 --> 01:49:47,420
Stalin, Stalin
was a classical dictator.

1335
01:49:47,420 --> 01:49:51,260
If you should get from A to B
or A to Z even, you know,

1336
01:49:51,260 --> 01:49:55,100
it doesn't matter, you know, how
many people will die in the middle.

1337
01:50:10,460 --> 01:50:13,860
Hitler now becomes
fixated on the idea

1338
01:50:13,860 --> 01:50:18,460
that whatever happens in Stalingrad,
his troops must not surrender.

1339
01:50:20,740 --> 01:50:25,020
Sensing Hitler's wishes,
Goring gives a speech on the radio

1340
01:50:25,020 --> 01:50:29,140
that even the soldiers in Stalingrad
will be able to hear.

1341
01:50:31,260 --> 01:50:36,180
What he's telling his audience
is that the men in Stalingrad

1342
01:50:36,180 --> 01:50:38,220
are like the 300 in Thermopylae -

1343
01:50:38,220 --> 01:50:42,100
the Greeks, the Spartans who
sacrificed themselves

1344
01:50:42,100 --> 01:50:44,180
to save Sparta.

1345
01:50:44,180 --> 01:50:47,740
And it's a bizarre message

1346
01:50:47,740 --> 01:50:51,100
because it means that all the people
in Stalingrad are going to die.

1347
01:51:39,940 --> 01:51:43,900
Those few who actually
heard the speech,

1348
01:51:43,900 --> 01:51:48,060
they knew that this was their
funeral oration,

1349
01:51:48,060 --> 01:51:53,140
implying that they were there to
die to create this great legend.

1350
01:51:57,140 --> 01:52:01,660
Paulus is holed up in the basement
of a bombed-out department store

1351
01:52:01,660 --> 01:52:06,100
in Stalingrad when he finally
gets word from Hitler himself.

1352
01:52:10,380 --> 01:52:13,980
He receives a telegram announcing
that he's been promoted

1353
01:52:13,980 --> 01:52:15,740
to Field Marshal.

1354
01:52:20,140 --> 01:52:23,420
Paulus knew instantly
what it indicated.

1355
01:52:23,420 --> 01:52:26,420
No German Field Marshal
had ever surrendered.

1356
01:52:29,500 --> 01:52:33,140
He knew perfectly well that Hitler
expected him to commit suicide.

1357
01:52:37,220 --> 01:52:41,380
Die an honourable soldier's death,
like Roman generals falling

1358
01:52:41,380 --> 01:52:43,700
on their swords
when they were defeated.

1359
01:52:47,300 --> 01:52:51,020
It shows the fanaticism
of the Nazi party.

1360
01:52:51,020 --> 01:52:54,820
It shows Hitler's
all-or-nothing mentality.

1361
01:53:44,700 --> 01:53:48,300
MUSIC: Moonlight Sonata
by Beethoven

1362
01:54:04,540 --> 01:54:08,620
On January 31st, 1943,

1363
01:54:08,620 --> 01:54:13,060
Paulus surrenders what is left
of his army to the Russians.

1364
01:54:30,980 --> 01:54:34,620
I think the most obvious lesson
from Paulus's experiences

1365
01:54:34,620 --> 01:54:40,780
and his life as the pawn
of a dictator

1366
01:54:40,780 --> 01:54:46,660
shows that if you do not have the
courage to stand up to a dictator...

1367
01:54:48,620 --> 01:54:51,700
..you will be left to suffer.

1368
01:54:53,260 --> 01:54:56,580
The lack of moral courage
which Paulus showed

1369
01:54:56,580 --> 01:55:00,020
was actually going to do for him
in the end, and it did.

1370
01:55:07,140 --> 01:55:10,180
The Soviet victory at Stalingrad

1371
01:55:10,180 --> 01:55:13,220
marks a crucial turning point
in the war.

1372
01:55:16,060 --> 01:55:19,940
Stalin knows that it's a big defeat
for the German military machine,

1373
01:55:19,940 --> 01:55:24,140
but also it's a spiritual victory
for him because it's Stalingrad.

1374
01:55:24,140 --> 01:55:26,060
His stock goes up.

1375
01:55:26,060 --> 01:55:28,260
Not just Soviet Union, Stalin.

1376
01:55:28,260 --> 01:55:31,340
He's potentially viewed
as a liberator

1377
01:55:31,340 --> 01:55:36,060
and many of the past crimes could be
simply wiped out from history.

1378
01:55:38,260 --> 01:55:41,460
And the fact that the Soviet Union
paid such a high price

1379
01:55:41,460 --> 01:55:46,940
by fighting Nazi Germany cannot
be used by Stalin, his successors,

1380
01:55:46,940 --> 01:55:51,340
to wipe out the crimes
committed by Communism.

1381
01:55:51,340 --> 01:55:54,860
It's a result of
misreading of history.

1382
01:55:54,860 --> 01:55:59,100
And that's one of the reasons
why we should tell the truth

1383
01:55:59,100 --> 01:56:03,380
about World War II and about
the immeasurable sufferings brought

1384
01:56:03,380 --> 01:56:06,540
to human race by Stalin and Hitler.

1385
01:56:09,580 --> 01:56:11,100
Memories fade.

1386
01:56:12,460 --> 01:56:16,700
I was born in 1944, a wartime baby.

1387
01:56:16,700 --> 01:56:19,220
My father was away fighting.

1388
01:56:19,220 --> 01:56:21,980
We forget just how...

1389
01:56:23,340 --> 01:56:26,740
..primeval a situation it was.

1390
01:56:29,180 --> 01:56:33,060
The weakness of dictatorship

1391
01:56:33,060 --> 01:56:38,620
is you get one man who thinks
he is infallible,

1392
01:56:38,620 --> 01:56:43,540
who will not brook debate
or dissension,

1393
01:56:43,540 --> 01:56:47,820
very dismissive of the value
of human life.

1394
01:56:47,820 --> 01:56:52,500
And in the end, I'm glad to say,
they don't really work.

1395
01:57:04,220 --> 01:57:06,980
Everyone in Europe
is afraid of this man.

1396
01:57:10,180 --> 01:57:14,100
After years of talking about it,
next to Hitler is a bomb

1397
01:57:14,100 --> 01:57:16,900
with a fuse ticking
that's about to explode.

1398
01:57:18,340 --> 01:57:21,660
Are you willing to do what it takes
to survive?

1399
01:57:30,740 --> 01:57:32,580
It's important to
remember that fear,

1400
01:57:32,580 --> 01:57:35,420
because we would all feel
it in those circumstances.

1401
01:57:36,980 --> 01:57:41,700
They have no alternative
than to go forward in this war.

1402
01:57:42,940 --> 01:57:45,180
He decides that when
he's not going to win,

1403
01:57:45,180 --> 01:57:49,100
he'll then lose everything
and bring Germany down with him.

1404
01:58:43,300 --> 01:58:46,460
Stalingrad is a really
major setback.

1405
01:58:47,700 --> 01:58:50,100
Really, I think,
it has an effect on him.

1406
01:58:50,100 --> 01:58:53,740
It makes him doubt,
I think, inwardly,

1407
01:58:53,740 --> 01:58:56,140
his ability to...to lead Germany.

1408
01:58:58,500 --> 01:59:03,100
The physical and mental stress
on Hitler is absolutely immense.

1409
01:59:04,300 --> 01:59:06,180
He has insomnia,

1410
01:59:06,180 --> 01:59:08,380
he finds it difficult to sleep.

1411
01:59:10,060 --> 01:59:13,020
He doesn't quite know what to do.

1412
01:59:14,660 --> 01:59:18,380
For once, there is no masterplan.

1413
01:59:20,180 --> 01:59:22,660
Hitler leaves it to the men
around him

1414
01:59:22,660 --> 01:59:25,420
to pull Germany back from the abyss.

1415
01:59:37,020 --> 01:59:42,460
This is the story of the Eastern
Front of the Second World War,

1416
01:59:42,460 --> 01:59:45,620
which many see as its
defining conflict.

1417
01:59:46,980 --> 01:59:50,540
It was a campaign that saw some
of the most brutal and inhumane

1418
01:59:50,540 --> 01:59:52,460
warfare in all of history.

1419
01:59:54,500 --> 01:59:57,500
Our interest is the psychology
of that war.

1420
01:59:58,540 --> 02:00:02,140
What is the enemy up to?
Can you deceive him?

1421
02:00:02,140 --> 02:00:07,620
The minds of dictators and
the morality of those around them.

1422
02:00:07,620 --> 02:00:11,980
Hitler always needed people
around him saying,

1423
02:00:11,980 --> 02:00:16,060
"You are a genius. You are
our leader. You are the Fuhrer."

1424
02:00:16,060 --> 02:00:18,900
To tell this story,
we've asked some of the world's

1425
02:00:18,900 --> 02:00:21,620
most eminent historians and experts

1426
02:00:21,620 --> 02:00:24,140
with different kinds of insight

1427
02:00:24,140 --> 02:00:28,580
to each take us inside the mind
of one of the key protagonists.

1428
02:00:30,260 --> 02:00:32,860
He wanted to be the architect
of Germany's reality.

1429
02:00:32,860 --> 02:00:35,620
In some ways, the only truth-teller.

1430
02:00:42,180 --> 02:00:45,660
Nazi rule relies on
quiet complicity.

1431
02:00:51,180 --> 02:00:55,340
Ultimately, it's a study
of why dictatorships are flawed,

1432
02:00:55,340 --> 02:00:58,100
and how those who rule through fear
and terror

1433
02:00:58,100 --> 02:01:01,700
can never trust even the people
closest to them.

1434
02:01:03,580 --> 02:01:07,420
He'll then lose everything
and bring Germany down with him.

1435
02:01:07,420 --> 02:01:10,860
MUSIC: Requiem in D Minor
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1436
02:01:37,780 --> 02:01:43,540
In 1943, the war has been raging
for over three years.

1437
02:01:44,620 --> 02:01:50,500
On the surface, Germans remain
united behind the Nazi regime,

1438
02:01:50,500 --> 02:01:53,060
but war fatigue is setting in.

1439
02:01:54,740 --> 02:01:58,420
And the crucial pact between
the Nazis and the public

1440
02:01:58,420 --> 02:02:00,820
is starting to come under strain.

1441
02:02:03,100 --> 02:02:08,380
Their charismatic leader,
Adolf Hitler, is nowhere to be seen.

1442
02:02:13,780 --> 02:02:16,500
Hitler's absence
creates a power vacuum.

1443
02:02:18,180 --> 02:02:21,740
Senior Nazis go into competition
to prove themselves

1444
02:02:21,740 --> 02:02:24,380
as Hitler's most valuable deputy.

1445
02:02:26,020 --> 02:02:28,220
Each has a different strategy.

1446
02:02:33,420 --> 02:02:35,260
Hitler's principle of rule

1447
02:02:35,260 --> 02:02:38,620
was what's been called
"managerial Darwinism".

1448
02:02:38,620 --> 02:02:41,580
He would appoint different people
and different organisations

1449
02:02:41,580 --> 02:02:43,140
to do more or less the same thing,

1450
02:02:43,140 --> 02:02:45,460
let them fight it out
between themselves

1451
02:02:45,460 --> 02:02:49,020
and whoever came out on top, in his
view, would be the most effective.

1452
02:02:50,580 --> 02:02:52,860
Master of Nazi spin,

1453
02:02:52,860 --> 02:02:55,100
Joseph Goebbels,

1454
02:02:55,100 --> 02:02:59,500
believes he is the man to return
Hitler to his former strength.

1455
02:03:03,620 --> 02:03:10,540
Joseph Goebbels is the person
that has made the lies so palatable.

1456
02:03:10,540 --> 02:03:14,780
Goebbels is the author of
your reality in 1940s Germany.

1457
02:03:14,780 --> 02:03:19,060
He created the hero-worship cult
of Hitler,

1458
02:03:19,060 --> 02:03:21,900
the idea of
the Fuhrer's infallibility.

1459
02:03:21,900 --> 02:03:24,340
To Goebbels,
Hitler isn't just a hero,

1460
02:03:24,340 --> 02:03:27,540
he's the incarnation
of National Socialism.

1461
02:03:30,420 --> 02:03:34,260
But Stalingrad represents a total
disaster for the Nazi regime.

1462
02:03:37,220 --> 02:03:40,340
He's getting regular reports
from intelligence

1463
02:03:40,340 --> 02:03:42,140
about people's feelings.

1464
02:03:45,300 --> 02:03:47,420
It was Hitler's reputation,

1465
02:03:47,420 --> 02:03:50,940
and especially his infallibility,
that took a hit.

1466
02:03:50,940 --> 02:03:53,100
Because, you see,
the thing about infallibility

1467
02:03:53,100 --> 02:03:56,100
means that you never fail.

1468
02:03:56,100 --> 02:03:59,540
If you fail once, the whole myth
is liable to collapse.

1469
02:04:01,100 --> 02:04:04,260
Everything Goebbels had built
is at stake.

1470
02:04:05,700 --> 02:04:10,020
With Hitler in retreat, Goebbels
attempts to do damage control.

1471
02:04:11,180 --> 02:04:13,260
He unrolls a barefaced lie...

1472
02:04:15,260 --> 02:04:18,980
..spinning the defeat in Stalingrad
as a heroic sacrifice

1473
02:04:18,980 --> 02:04:21,900
on the part of
Paulus and the 6th Army...

1474
02:04:23,660 --> 02:04:27,460
..proclaiming generals, officers and
troops battled shoulder to shoulder

1475
02:04:27,460 --> 02:04:29,140
until the last bullet was fired.

1476
02:04:30,740 --> 02:04:33,540
"They died, so that Germany
could live."

1477
02:04:35,300 --> 02:04:38,580
Within the top echelons
of the Nazi Party,

1478
02:04:38,580 --> 02:04:40,860
Goebbels is not
the most powerful man.

1479
02:04:42,340 --> 02:04:44,980
And he's constantly thirsty
for more power.

1480
02:04:47,220 --> 02:04:51,060
Hitler's withdrawal provides
Goebbels with an opportunity

1481
02:04:51,060 --> 02:04:53,860
to prove his intellectual
superiority,

1482
02:04:53,860 --> 02:04:56,140
to inspire confidence.

1483
02:04:56,140 --> 02:04:58,380
Confidence that the war can be won.

1484
02:05:05,500 --> 02:05:09,340
Goebbels' radio broadcast
is heard across the country.

1485
02:05:11,780 --> 02:05:15,340
But there are some Germans who see
through the smoke and mirrors.

1486
02:05:17,140 --> 02:05:20,820
Nazi rule relies on
quiet complicity.

1487
02:05:23,580 --> 02:05:26,540
It relies on people
turning a blind eye.

1488
02:05:28,460 --> 02:05:32,700
But Sophie Scholl clearly cares
deeply about right and wrong,

1489
02:05:32,700 --> 02:05:36,140
and believes that this is
an active pursuit.

1490
02:05:36,140 --> 02:05:39,580
That there is an obligation
to take a stand.

1491
02:05:42,260 --> 02:05:44,900
For months, 21-year-old student
Sophie Scholl

1492
02:05:44,900 --> 02:05:47,660
has been questioning
the actions of the Nazi regime.

1493
02:05:52,100 --> 02:05:55,660
Her boyfriend, Fritz, has been
fighting on the Eastern Front,

1494
02:05:55,660 --> 02:05:57,900
and sends her regular updates

1495
02:05:57,900 --> 02:06:00,740
on the realities of the war
with the Soviets.

1496
02:06:05,100 --> 02:06:07,820
READS: "For eight days,
we have been in constant retreat.

1497
02:06:09,260 --> 02:06:11,500
"The situation here
is pretty hopeless.

1498
02:06:13,540 --> 02:06:18,020
"It is frightening how heartlessly
my commander talks about

1499
02:06:18,020 --> 02:06:21,740
"the slaughter of all the Jews
in occupied Russia.

1500
02:06:21,740 --> 02:06:24,380
"He remains completely convinced

1501
02:06:24,380 --> 02:06:26,540
"of the justice of this action."

1502
02:06:29,820 --> 02:06:32,020
During the Nazi era,
and especially during the war,

1503
02:06:32,020 --> 02:06:35,460
it was difficult to get access
to information that was credible.

1504
02:06:35,460 --> 02:06:37,100
There was no freedom of press.

1505
02:06:37,100 --> 02:06:39,780
The country was saturated
with Nazi propaganda.

1506
02:06:41,340 --> 02:06:45,540
Sophie sees the personal suffering
of Germans

1507
02:06:45,540 --> 02:06:47,220
through this needless warfare,

1508
02:06:47,220 --> 02:06:50,300
and she also gets the sense of

1509
02:06:50,300 --> 02:06:53,740
the lies that the Nazi regime
is propagating.

1510
02:06:55,780 --> 02:06:57,820
At this point in her life,

1511
02:06:57,820 --> 02:07:01,660
she decides she's going to expose
the truth about the Nazi regime.

1512
02:07:03,260 --> 02:07:05,940
Sophie has joined an underground
resistance movement -

1513
02:07:05,940 --> 02:07:06,900
the White Rose.

1514
02:07:08,980 --> 02:07:11,700
Based in the Nazi heartlands
of Munich,

1515
02:07:11,700 --> 02:07:13,660
they have been producing
and distributing

1516
02:07:13,660 --> 02:07:15,860
anti-Nazi material
across the country.

1517
02:07:17,420 --> 02:07:19,540
Just walking down a street
in Nazi Germany

1518
02:07:19,540 --> 02:07:22,380
feels like a precarious thing to do.

1519
02:07:22,380 --> 02:07:25,660
There are so many reasons
for which you could be questioned,

1520
02:07:25,660 --> 02:07:28,060
interrogated, arrested.
People were spying,

1521
02:07:28,060 --> 02:07:30,380
they were informants everywhere.

1522
02:07:33,580 --> 02:07:36,660
So imagine in that context,
taking leaflets,

1523
02:07:36,660 --> 02:07:40,180
the discovery of which would
certainly lead to your death.

1524
02:07:40,180 --> 02:07:42,700
Carrying them on trains,

1525
02:07:42,700 --> 02:07:47,620
trains that are full of
Gestapo, guards.

1526
02:07:47,620 --> 02:07:49,820
It would really feel like
carrying a bomb.

1527
02:07:51,860 --> 02:07:54,300
Sophie realises the defeat
in Stalingrad

1528
02:07:54,300 --> 02:07:56,700
is the opportunity
she has been waiting for.

1529
02:07:58,540 --> 02:08:01,060
Many ordinary Germans
are starting to question

1530
02:08:01,060 --> 02:08:03,020
the regime's lies and propaganda.

1531
02:08:04,260 --> 02:08:07,420
People are finally ready to hear
the message of the White Rose.

1532
02:08:08,900 --> 02:08:11,260
They draft a damning leaflet,

1533
02:08:11,260 --> 02:08:13,460
calling on the youth of Germany
to rise up

1534
02:08:13,460 --> 02:08:17,220
and overthrow Hitler
and the Nazi Party.

1535
02:08:25,580 --> 02:08:28,580
They decide that to make
maximum impact,

1536
02:08:28,580 --> 02:08:30,660
hundreds of leaflets
will be distributed

1537
02:08:30,660 --> 02:08:33,940
at their university campus
during school hours.

1538
02:08:36,940 --> 02:08:40,940
Goebbels knows he must keep
close control of the public mood.

1539
02:08:42,380 --> 02:08:46,420
He believes Hitler needs the fervour
of the nation to propel him forward.

1540
02:08:49,540 --> 02:08:53,220
But Hitler has another deputy
who is working on his own strategy

1541
02:08:53,220 --> 02:08:56,940
to get the nation, and his Fuhrer,
back on track.

1542
02:09:02,860 --> 02:09:08,180
In many ways, Heinrich Himmler
is the quintessential Nazi.

1543
02:09:11,620 --> 02:09:15,460
Coldblooded and extremely brutal.

1544
02:09:17,180 --> 02:09:20,380
And everyone in Europe
is afraid of this man.

1545
02:09:22,460 --> 02:09:25,300
He is the mastermind of genocide,

1546
02:09:25,300 --> 02:09:27,820
he's the mastermind
of the racial war,

1547
02:09:27,820 --> 02:09:30,980
he's the architect of the Holocaust.

1548
02:09:33,420 --> 02:09:37,460
Here is someone who wants
to be the chief protagonist

1549
02:09:37,460 --> 02:09:40,100
of the racial re-engineering,

1550
02:09:40,100 --> 02:09:42,940
the racial reordering of Europe.

1551
02:09:44,460 --> 02:09:46,420
He knows how powerful he is,

1552
02:09:46,420 --> 02:09:50,140
and he knows that he's only
becoming more powerful.

1553
02:09:51,460 --> 02:09:54,020
At only 42-years-old,

1554
02:09:54,020 --> 02:09:56,940
Himmler has risen to become the main
architect of terror

1555
02:09:56,940 --> 02:09:59,020
in the Third Reich.

1556
02:09:59,020 --> 02:10:04,500
He is chief of all German police
units, and his vast SS network

1557
02:10:04,500 --> 02:10:07,540
penetrates nearly every corner
of German society.

1558
02:10:08,700 --> 02:10:10,580
Now, Himmler has a plan -

1559
02:10:10,580 --> 02:10:14,260
to turn the tide of the war
by extending his tentacles

1560
02:10:14,260 --> 02:10:17,900
to the one area of German life
currently out of his reach -

1561
02:10:17,900 --> 02:10:19,940
the military.

1562
02:10:19,940 --> 02:10:23,780
To the ire of the Army High Command,

1563
02:10:23,780 --> 02:10:28,700
Himmler has been building a special
military branch of his prized SS.

1564
02:10:28,700 --> 02:10:34,100
The Waffen-SS has become
famed for their brutality.

1565
02:10:42,660 --> 02:10:46,060
Himmler's main insecurity is

1566
02:10:46,060 --> 02:10:49,060
that in 1918, he's too young
to fight

1567
02:10:49,060 --> 02:10:51,660
on the front line
in the First World War.

1568
02:10:53,060 --> 02:10:57,220
And he really wants to prove himself
as a political soldier.

1569
02:10:57,220 --> 02:11:01,020
And he hopes to impress Hitler

1570
02:11:01,020 --> 02:11:03,460
with the performance
of the Waffen-SS.

1571
02:11:05,620 --> 02:11:09,540
Himmler viewed the Wehrmacht
with some suspicion.

1572
02:11:09,540 --> 02:11:13,620
He thought that their main loyalty
was not towards Hitler.

1573
02:11:16,420 --> 02:11:19,300
The whole history of Hitler's
relationship with the senior

1574
02:11:19,300 --> 02:11:22,300
generals and field marshals of the
army is a rather fraught one.

1575
02:11:22,300 --> 02:11:25,220
Senior generals,
with their long tradition

1576
02:11:25,220 --> 02:11:27,980
of Prussian military conduct,

1577
02:11:27,980 --> 02:11:31,140
were less susceptible
to Hitler's charm.

1578
02:11:34,020 --> 02:11:36,500
The German Army is in retreat,

1579
02:11:36,500 --> 02:11:41,140
facing relentless setbacks in
North Africa and the Soviet Union.

1580
02:11:44,860 --> 02:11:48,060
But the Waffen-SS are proving
their worth on the battlefield.

1581
02:11:49,700 --> 02:11:52,740
Himmler's troops score their own
independent victory

1582
02:11:52,740 --> 02:11:54,740
against Russian forces,

1583
02:11:54,740 --> 02:11:57,620
taking back the city of Kharkov
from the Soviets.

1584
02:11:58,860 --> 02:12:01,180
As the Waffen-SS began to score
some victories,

1585
02:12:01,180 --> 02:12:04,340
Hitler found this was
absolutely the right way to go.

1586
02:12:04,340 --> 02:12:07,380
These were noted
for their fanaticism,

1587
02:12:07,380 --> 02:12:09,540
their total devotion to Hitler.

1588
02:12:09,540 --> 02:12:12,060
And the army might be failing him,

1589
02:12:12,060 --> 02:12:13,980
but Himmler and the SS were not.

1590
02:12:15,940 --> 02:12:20,860
Hitler does not like listening
to many other people...

1591
02:12:23,420 --> 02:12:25,660
..but Himmler has Hitler's ear.

1592
02:12:27,500 --> 02:12:32,540
He knows that if he can produce
the desired lethal results...

1593
02:12:33,980 --> 02:12:39,260
..he can become the most powerful
man in Germany, just after Hitler.

1594
02:12:40,860 --> 02:12:44,540
Goebbels is watching
Himmler's rise with frustration.

1595
02:12:44,540 --> 02:12:47,140
He is still struggling to get Hitler
to buy into his efforts

1596
02:12:47,140 --> 02:12:49,220
to seize the nation's morale.

1597
02:12:50,420 --> 02:12:53,700
He plans a stunt, which he hopes
will sway the public mood

1598
02:12:53,700 --> 02:12:55,980
and galvanise the Fuhrer.

1599
02:12:57,660 --> 02:13:00,580
He gathers thousands
of top Nazi officials

1600
02:13:00,580 --> 02:13:03,020
at Berlin's Sportpalast Arena.

1601
02:13:04,700 --> 02:13:08,940
On the same day, Sophie Scholl
is making her way across Munich.

1602
02:13:08,940 --> 02:13:12,340
The White Rose have decided
that today is the day

1603
02:13:12,340 --> 02:13:14,620
to put their plans into action.

1604
02:13:14,620 --> 02:13:17,900
They have in their possession
a suitcase, no less,

1605
02:13:17,900 --> 02:13:19,460
packed with leaflets.

1606
02:13:23,140 --> 02:13:25,140
Putting these leaflets
in visible places.

1607
02:13:26,420 --> 02:13:29,220
In corridors, on notice boards,
on doors.

1608
02:13:30,500 --> 02:13:32,060
It's incredibly dangerous.

1609
02:13:33,100 --> 02:13:36,340
But she knew that what she was doing
was going to, in her words,

1610
02:13:36,340 --> 02:13:37,460
"make waves",

1611
02:13:37,460 --> 02:13:41,420
was going to be remembered as
something that stood out

1612
02:13:41,420 --> 02:13:45,020
in this sea of oppression
and complicity.

1613
02:13:45,020 --> 02:13:48,740
As the White Rose
spread their message,

1614
02:13:48,740 --> 02:13:52,380
Goebbels' speech
fills the Sportpalast.

1615
02:13:52,380 --> 02:13:54,180
HE RANTS

1616
02:13:58,700 --> 02:14:01,700
He hopes to renew a sense
of German patriotism

1617
02:14:01,700 --> 02:14:05,820
by proclaiming a state of total war.

1618
02:14:05,820 --> 02:14:10,420
Total war involves
devoting all national resources

1619
02:14:10,420 --> 02:14:12,100
to the conflict.

1620
02:14:12,100 --> 02:14:14,340
Britain and the Soviet Union
were the first to do it.

1621
02:14:14,340 --> 02:14:18,140
The entire economy became
subservient to the war efforts.

1622
02:14:20,020 --> 02:14:25,060
If he can commit every last German
to devote all of their beings,

1623
02:14:25,060 --> 02:14:27,340
all of their economic lives,

1624
02:14:27,340 --> 02:14:30,140
victory is within grasp.

1625
02:14:38,100 --> 02:14:39,940
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1626
02:14:41,140 --> 02:14:44,380
Are you willing to do
what it takes to survive?

1627
02:14:48,900 --> 02:14:51,900
She's just feeling this rush
of adrenaline.

1628
02:14:51,900 --> 02:14:55,580
And Sophie acts impulsively.

1629
02:14:55,580 --> 02:14:57,180
HE RANTS

1630
02:15:19,540 --> 02:15:24,820
He truly believes that if you can
push a perception far enough,

1631
02:15:24,820 --> 02:15:26,420
it will become reality.

1632
02:15:26,420 --> 02:15:29,700
MUSIC: Requiem in D Minor
by Mozart

1633
02:15:38,620 --> 02:15:40,500
CHEERING

1634
02:15:40,500 --> 02:15:42,660
APPLAUSE

1635
02:15:50,820 --> 02:15:53,340
At this critical moment,

1636
02:15:53,340 --> 02:15:56,900
Sophie's actions are spotted
by a caretaker.

1637
02:15:56,900 --> 02:16:00,340
He reads the leaflets
and informs the dean.

1638
02:16:01,860 --> 02:16:03,940
The local Gestapo are alerted

1639
02:16:03,940 --> 02:16:06,580
and officers rush to the university.

1640
02:16:13,020 --> 02:16:16,020
As Sophie is brought into custody,

1641
02:16:16,020 --> 02:16:21,180
Goebbels' Total War speech is being
broadcast around the building.

1642
02:16:30,700 --> 02:16:32,300
SHOUTS OF AGREEMENT

1643
02:16:34,460 --> 02:16:36,940
She's brought into Gestapo HQ,

1644
02:16:36,940 --> 02:16:41,140
she's fingerprinted,
then she has this mugshot taken.

1645
02:16:42,820 --> 02:16:45,380
You really get a glimpse of Sophie.

1646
02:16:45,380 --> 02:16:48,460
She looks trepidatious,

1647
02:16:48,460 --> 02:16:52,180
but at the same time,
she looks quite resilient.

1648
02:16:52,180 --> 02:16:53,700
Defiant, even.

1649
02:16:55,340 --> 02:16:58,060
Looking straight ahead,
giving very little away.

1650
02:17:05,220 --> 02:17:08,420
Goebbels' speech has failed
to convince the public.

1651
02:17:08,420 --> 02:17:11,660
He receives reports from
Security Service agents

1652
02:17:11,660 --> 02:17:14,580
who listen in on conversations
across Germany,

1653
02:17:14,580 --> 02:17:18,180
revealing that support
for the regime is crumbling.

1654
02:17:18,180 --> 02:17:21,580
Goebbels knows that these reports
will be deeply damaging

1655
02:17:21,580 --> 02:17:23,860
to his standing with Hitler.

1656
02:17:23,860 --> 02:17:26,460
There is only one man
who can help him.

1657
02:17:27,620 --> 02:17:30,140
As always, with leading Nazis,

1658
02:17:30,140 --> 02:17:31,980
there is quite a lot of jealousy

1659
02:17:31,980 --> 02:17:34,420
about who has more access
to Hitler,

1660
02:17:34,420 --> 02:17:37,100
who is more important
in Hitler's eyes.

1661
02:17:37,100 --> 02:17:39,900
Is it Himmler? Is it Goebbels?

1662
02:17:39,900 --> 02:17:44,180
But Goebbels does not want Himmler
to present

1663
02:17:44,180 --> 02:17:47,820
the SD reports on public morale
to Hitler

1664
02:17:47,820 --> 02:17:50,700
because Goebbels finds them
too defeatist.

1665
02:17:50,700 --> 02:17:53,380
Himmler firmly believes
that Hitler needs to know

1666
02:17:53,380 --> 02:17:55,300
about what the German people think.

1667
02:17:56,780 --> 02:18:00,260
He offers to his arch-rival,
Heinrich Himmler,

1668
02:18:00,260 --> 02:18:03,260
to doctor these SD reports together.

1669
02:18:05,420 --> 02:18:08,340
This is a fascinating moment
where the minister of propaganda

1670
02:18:08,340 --> 02:18:11,700
is actually trying to lie
to his own superiors.

1671
02:18:11,700 --> 02:18:13,820
He's trying to doctor reality

1672
02:18:13,820 --> 02:18:16,820
even as seen privately
by the regime itself.

1673
02:18:18,900 --> 02:18:22,380
How concerning must these reports
have been

1674
02:18:22,380 --> 02:18:26,220
for Goebbels to need to conceal them

1675
02:18:26,220 --> 02:18:29,260
and doctor them
for Hitler's benefit?

1676
02:18:29,260 --> 02:18:31,100
Himmler does not agree,

1677
02:18:31,100 --> 02:18:33,940
and Himmler refuses to doctor
the reports

1678
02:18:33,940 --> 02:18:36,340
that are going up to the higher-ups,
to Hitler,

1679
02:18:36,340 --> 02:18:38,500
about dissent in Germany.

1680
02:18:38,500 --> 02:18:42,500
Himmler has a close
working relationship with Hitler,

1681
02:18:42,500 --> 02:18:46,140
so in all likelihood,
Himmler still shows

1682
02:18:46,140 --> 02:18:48,660
these public-opinion reports
to Hitler.

1683
02:18:50,980 --> 02:18:53,940
Hitler steps further back
into the shadows.

1684
02:19:01,140 --> 02:19:05,220
Hitler identifies himself
with the German people,

1685
02:19:05,220 --> 02:19:08,500
so it obviously becomes
more difficult for him

1686
02:19:08,500 --> 02:19:11,900
if he has to admit that people
are beginning to criticise him.

1687
02:19:11,900 --> 02:19:15,940
Mingling with ordinary people,
as he'd done so often,

1688
02:19:15,940 --> 02:19:18,180
becomes rather less frequent.

1689
02:19:18,180 --> 02:19:20,660
And I think he begins to be
a little bit afraid

1690
02:19:20,660 --> 02:19:24,500
that he won't get rapturous crowds

1691
02:19:24,500 --> 02:19:27,380
giving the Nazi salute
and cheering their heads off.

1692
02:19:27,380 --> 02:19:31,740
Himmler is well aware of the need
to reassert authority.

1693
02:19:33,420 --> 02:19:36,460
When Sophie Scholl's case
reaches his desk,

1694
02:19:36,460 --> 02:19:40,900
he decides to make an example of her
and the White Rose movement.

1695
02:19:44,820 --> 02:19:48,900
Germany's most notorious judge
is to oversee a show trial.

1696
02:19:52,500 --> 02:19:55,740
The sentence is death by beheading.

1697
02:20:09,540 --> 02:20:12,420
She's allowed one last visit
with her parents.

1698
02:20:16,700 --> 02:20:18,740
For Sophie, at that age,

1699
02:20:18,740 --> 02:20:21,620
you still feel like you need
and rely on your parents.

1700
02:20:21,620 --> 02:20:24,100
And here they are,
having to let you go

1701
02:20:24,100 --> 02:20:27,060
to a regime
that's going to execute you.

1702
02:20:35,660 --> 02:20:38,540
But even in those circumstances,

1703
02:20:38,540 --> 02:20:41,740
Sophie had a serenity about her.

1704
02:20:43,340 --> 02:20:45,860
Her mother brought her sweets
and she said,

1705
02:20:45,860 --> 02:20:48,220
"Oh, thank goodness,
cos I haven't had lunch".

1706
02:20:53,700 --> 02:20:58,100
She projected confidence,
strength of character, integrity.

1707
02:20:59,460 --> 02:21:01,900
But on the inside,
she was terrified.

1708
02:21:06,340 --> 02:21:08,780
It's important to remember
that fear,

1709
02:21:08,780 --> 02:21:11,620
because we would all feel it
in those circumstances.

1710
02:21:15,540 --> 02:21:19,300
And I can only understand
her composure

1711
02:21:19,300 --> 02:21:22,140
by imagining that she had confidence

1712
02:21:22,140 --> 02:21:25,380
that it would mean something
long after she was gone.

1713
02:21:49,340 --> 02:21:52,220
Himmler may have eradicated
the White Rose,

1714
02:21:52,220 --> 02:21:55,420
but in the summer of 1943,

1715
02:21:55,420 --> 02:21:57,660
a new crisis is brewing.

1716
02:22:06,220 --> 02:22:09,260
The allies launch
merciless carpet-bombing raids

1717
02:22:09,260 --> 02:22:11,060
over major German cities.

1718
02:22:12,900 --> 02:22:15,500
Taking out factories, dams,

1719
02:22:15,500 --> 02:22:18,300
and the homes
of ordinary German people.

1720
02:22:20,140 --> 02:22:23,260
One RAF raid sets Hamburg on fire.

1721
02:22:24,700 --> 02:22:26,660
In the space of a week,

1722
02:22:26,660 --> 02:22:29,980
over 30,000 men, women and children

1723
02:22:29,980 --> 02:22:31,580
are killed in the inferno.

1724
02:22:33,020 --> 02:22:35,740
If Stalingrad woke Germans
to the possibility

1725
02:22:35,740 --> 02:22:38,100
that a German army
could be defeated,

1726
02:22:38,100 --> 02:22:41,340
the bombing of major German cities
showed them

1727
02:22:41,340 --> 02:22:44,220
that they were not invulnerable.
Quite the opposite.

1728
02:22:44,220 --> 02:22:47,860
They would be killed, their cities
destroyed by the Allies.

1729
02:22:47,860 --> 02:22:50,460
It became very obvious
that it was going to hurt,

1730
02:22:50,460 --> 02:22:52,300
and it was going to hurt at home.

1731
02:22:52,300 --> 02:22:55,100
It was going to invade their lives.

1732
02:22:55,100 --> 02:22:57,780
And there is nothing that German
propaganda could do

1733
02:22:57,780 --> 02:23:00,260
to soften the blow of the bombing.

1734
02:23:00,260 --> 02:23:03,660
In Hamburg, some survivors are moved
to show open dissent

1735
02:23:03,660 --> 02:23:05,740
against the Nazi regime.

1736
02:23:05,740 --> 02:23:08,180
Swastikas are ripped down

1737
02:23:08,180 --> 02:23:10,980
and people dare to refuse
the Hitler salute.

1738
02:23:12,780 --> 02:23:17,300
Goebbels' Total War propaganda
is losing its resonance.

1739
02:23:19,140 --> 02:23:22,380
Dissent is now coming out
into the open,

1740
02:23:22,380 --> 02:23:26,020
and directly linked to the failure
of the Nazi regime

1741
02:23:26,020 --> 02:23:27,740
to keep these Germans safe.

1742
02:23:45,300 --> 02:23:48,740
But the RAF don't just drop bombs,

1743
02:23:48,740 --> 02:23:50,820
they also drop leaflets.

1744
02:23:52,020 --> 02:23:53,420
Thousands of them.

1745
02:23:54,420 --> 02:23:57,900
Leaflets that have been smuggled out
by the German Resistance.

1746
02:23:59,340 --> 02:24:03,420
Leaflets written by the White Rose

1747
02:24:03,420 --> 02:24:05,100
and Sophie Scholl.

1748
02:24:06,220 --> 02:24:08,500
OPERATIC RECITAL

1749
02:24:24,940 --> 02:24:28,420
Interestingly, the White Rose
leaflet mentioned Goebbels by name,

1750
02:24:28,420 --> 02:24:32,020
and insulting him, essentially,
claiming that he is lying.

1751
02:24:33,260 --> 02:24:37,540
It proved that, unlike Goebbels'
claim in his many speeches,

1752
02:24:37,540 --> 02:24:39,780
Germany was not united
behind the Nazis,

1753
02:24:39,780 --> 02:24:43,300
and this was not the only
necessary future for Germany.

1754
02:24:45,060 --> 02:24:46,900
It shows the power of
these leaflets.

1755
02:24:46,900 --> 02:24:49,500
They had so much resonance,
the British saw them as a weapon

1756
02:24:49,500 --> 02:24:51,420
against the Nazis in the war.

1757
02:24:51,420 --> 02:24:53,740
And to think that a group of
students created that,

1758
02:24:53,740 --> 02:24:55,460
I think is just really remarkable.

1759
02:24:57,460 --> 02:25:01,580
By this circuitous route,
despite having executed Sophie,

1760
02:25:01,580 --> 02:25:04,740
these leaflets actually came back
to haunt the regime

1761
02:25:04,740 --> 02:25:06,860
just at the moment
it was most damaging.

1762
02:25:06,860 --> 02:25:10,020
And I think that also would have
given Sophie great satisfaction.

1763
02:25:18,380 --> 02:25:21,220
Goebbels repeatedly calls on Hitler
to come out

1764
02:25:21,220 --> 02:25:23,980
and face down these gestures
of resistance.

1765
02:25:25,460 --> 02:25:27,020
But he refuses.

1766
02:25:28,540 --> 02:25:31,900
Hitler's never comfortable
with defeat or with attacks.

1767
02:25:31,900 --> 02:25:34,500
For him,
war is all about the offensive.

1768
02:25:34,500 --> 02:25:37,620
And when Germany is on
the defensive,

1769
02:25:37,620 --> 02:25:41,260
he gets rather, I think, isolated.

1770
02:25:41,260 --> 02:25:43,140
Doesn't know quite what to do

1771
02:25:43,140 --> 02:25:45,780
and certainly doesn't want
to confront the population.

1772
02:25:47,620 --> 02:25:50,660
These expressions of dissent
actually scare him quite a lot.

1773
02:25:50,660 --> 02:25:52,700
They terrify his sensibilities.

1774
02:25:52,700 --> 02:25:55,540
He just keeps refusing to turn up
to events,

1775
02:25:55,540 --> 02:25:58,780
keeps refusing Goebbels'
very numerous requests

1776
02:25:58,780 --> 02:26:01,980
for Hitler to do it like Churchill
and other leaders,

1777
02:26:01,980 --> 02:26:04,620
and visit bombsites,
commiserate with Germans

1778
02:26:04,620 --> 02:26:06,500
and be there for his people.

1779
02:26:06,500 --> 02:26:10,500
This makes the Fuhrer more distant
from ordinary Germans.

1780
02:26:16,460 --> 02:26:20,140
Recognising his authority
now rests with police repression

1781
02:26:20,140 --> 02:26:22,980
rather than the adulation
of the masses,

1782
02:26:22,980 --> 02:26:27,380
Hitler appoints Himmler
as Reich Minister of the Interior.

1783
02:26:29,260 --> 02:26:30,620
Goebbels was disappointed.

1784
02:26:30,620 --> 02:26:32,900
I think he probably coveted
that position himself,

1785
02:26:32,900 --> 02:26:35,820
and more influence,
but crucially, he also thought

1786
02:26:35,820 --> 02:26:38,980
that Hitler was missing
a political opportunity.

1787
02:26:38,980 --> 02:26:41,300
This is a very clear signal

1788
02:26:41,300 --> 02:26:44,700
that Hitler believes
that this problem will be resolved

1789
02:26:44,700 --> 02:26:47,660
not through more propaganda,
not through more consent,

1790
02:26:47,660 --> 02:26:50,580
but rather, through more repression
of dissent.

1791
02:26:50,580 --> 02:26:52,300
Himmler's methods.

1792
02:26:55,660 --> 02:27:00,540
He knows that he's only becoming
more powerful in 1943

1793
02:27:00,540 --> 02:27:03,300
with this appointment
as Reich Minister of the Interior.

1794
02:27:05,900 --> 02:27:09,700
The party and the SS begin
to increase in power

1795
02:27:09,700 --> 02:27:13,940
and to put the screws on
the German people.

1796
02:27:15,660 --> 02:27:18,540
Himmler is a very chilling figure.

1797
02:27:18,540 --> 02:27:19,780
The cold bureaucrat.

1798
02:27:19,780 --> 02:27:22,380
And that does, with the Gestapo,

1799
02:27:22,380 --> 02:27:27,740
cast a kind of chill of fear
among the German population.

1800
02:27:29,140 --> 02:27:30,900
Himmler's new position of power

1801
02:27:30,900 --> 02:27:34,420
is a frightening move
for almost all of Germany.

1802
02:27:36,500 --> 02:27:38,900
But a new threat is brewing
in the one place

1803
02:27:38,900 --> 02:27:41,820
that still remains
out of his reach -

1804
02:27:41,820 --> 02:27:43,820
the German Army.

1805
02:27:56,220 --> 02:27:59,060
Everyone who was ever
in the presence of Stauffenberg

1806
02:27:59,060 --> 02:28:01,660
talks about how he's charismatic,

1807
02:28:01,660 --> 02:28:05,100
he has a real presence in the room.

1808
02:28:05,100 --> 02:28:07,580
He has a way with words.

1809
02:28:07,580 --> 02:28:10,380
He makes this impression
on everyone around him.

1810
02:28:10,380 --> 02:28:12,860
He's a man of action.

1811
02:28:12,860 --> 02:28:17,580
Claus von Stauffenberg appears
every inch the German war hero,

1812
02:28:17,580 --> 02:28:20,980
having been attacked by
Allied fighter planes in Tunisia.

1813
02:28:20,980 --> 02:28:25,460
He's lost an eye, a hand,
and two fingers.

1814
02:28:25,460 --> 02:28:28,500
Unable to return to the front
on account of his injuries,

1815
02:28:28,500 --> 02:28:31,260
he has been appointed Chief of Staff

1816
02:28:31,260 --> 02:28:34,180
of the General Army Office
in Berlin.

1817
02:28:35,300 --> 02:28:39,660
But Stauffenberg is harbouring
a dangerous secret.

1818
02:28:39,660 --> 02:28:41,980
He wants to kill Hitler.

1819
02:28:41,980 --> 02:28:44,380
Stauffenberg has witnessed
personally

1820
02:28:44,380 --> 02:28:48,900
the vast scale of slaughter that has
become central to the war.

1821
02:28:48,900 --> 02:28:51,620
The losses on the Eastern Front
are massive.

1822
02:28:51,620 --> 02:28:53,700
He sees this everywhere he turns,

1823
02:28:53,700 --> 02:28:57,420
and he sees German youth just being
laid to waste for nothing.

1824
02:28:58,740 --> 02:29:01,980
And his whole outlook on the world
has changed.

1825
02:29:04,060 --> 02:29:06,620
Stauffenberg is part of
an assassination plot

1826
02:29:06,620 --> 02:29:10,220
that spans the political
and military corridors of Germany.

1827
02:29:13,740 --> 02:29:15,780
Hitler's always had quite
an uncomfortable relationship

1828
02:29:15,780 --> 02:29:17,260
with the army.

1829
02:29:17,260 --> 02:29:19,740
A lot of them have never really got
beyond the idea

1830
02:29:19,740 --> 02:29:24,060
that he's this lowly corporal that
somehow become Commander-in-chief,

1831
02:29:24,060 --> 02:29:26,180
and that he's not really
one of them.

1832
02:29:26,180 --> 02:29:29,900
So there's this sort of separation
between the two.

1833
02:29:29,900 --> 02:29:33,420
Stauffenberg knows Hitler
is a danger to the nation.

1834
02:29:34,700 --> 02:29:38,700
He believes that it is his mission
to assassinate him.

1835
02:29:38,700 --> 02:29:40,900
Of course, it's a vast undertaking.

1836
02:29:40,900 --> 02:29:42,620
He knows that there's a good chance

1837
02:29:42,620 --> 02:29:44,980
that he won't survive
the attempted coup.

1838
02:29:46,100 --> 02:29:49,820
He'll also suffer the risk
of being criticised

1839
02:29:49,820 --> 02:29:53,020
for the rest of history as being a
traitor to his own country.

1840
02:29:53,020 --> 02:29:56,820
Despite the risks,
despite the scale,

1841
02:29:56,820 --> 02:29:59,900
it's something that he feels
is his duty.

1842
02:30:03,980 --> 02:30:07,020
Stauffenberg is in a valuable
position.

1843
02:30:07,020 --> 02:30:10,460
His new role puts him within
Hitler's orbit.

1844
02:30:10,460 --> 02:30:13,260
He could almost get close enough
to plant a bomb.

1845
02:30:15,380 --> 02:30:19,020
Meanwhile, the plotters
will take on strategic roles

1846
02:30:19,020 --> 02:30:21,620
within Reserve Army units
across Germany.

1847
02:30:24,900 --> 02:30:28,140
Once Stauffenberg succeeds
in killing Hitler,

1848
02:30:28,140 --> 02:30:31,460
he will initiate Operation Valkyrie.

1849
02:30:32,620 --> 02:30:36,020
Word will go out for
the Reserve Army to start the coup,

1850
02:30:36,020 --> 02:30:39,340
arrest all high-ranking Nazis,

1851
02:30:39,340 --> 02:30:42,420
and take over
the running of Germany.

1852
02:30:54,140 --> 02:30:56,380
Stauffenberg seems to be
the sort of person

1853
02:30:56,380 --> 02:30:59,420
who enjoys pressurised situations.

1854
02:30:59,420 --> 02:31:02,180
When he's in the military,
he enjoys being on the front.

1855
02:31:02,180 --> 02:31:06,900
He enjoys the sort of thrill
of having his life on the line.

1856
02:31:06,900 --> 02:31:09,540
This is something, again, where
he finds himself in a situation

1857
02:31:09,540 --> 02:31:11,980
where there are dangers
and there are risks,

1858
02:31:11,980 --> 02:31:14,300
but this is not a situation
in which he's uncomfortable.

1859
02:31:14,300 --> 02:31:17,060
This is the sort of place
he likes to be.

1860
02:31:21,140 --> 02:31:23,660
They discussed their plans,
as far as possible,

1861
02:31:23,660 --> 02:31:27,060
away from prying eyes
and prying ears.

1862
02:31:27,060 --> 02:31:29,740
He's really clear about
the fact that any documentation

1863
02:31:29,740 --> 02:31:31,500
should be destroyed.

1864
02:31:32,940 --> 02:31:34,740
He tells his secretary
to write in gloves

1865
02:31:34,740 --> 02:31:36,540
so there's no fingerprints on it.

1866
02:31:38,020 --> 02:31:40,500
He knows the Gestapo
have got their eyes open.

1867
02:31:40,500 --> 02:31:44,540
If anyone gets the merest idea that
they're doing what they're doing,

1868
02:31:44,540 --> 02:31:48,060
then the likelihood is they'd be
carted off to a concentration camp

1869
02:31:48,060 --> 02:31:49,580
and probably executed.

1870
02:31:50,940 --> 02:31:52,660
Stauffenberg and his conspirators

1871
02:31:52,660 --> 02:31:55,300
must outwardly support
the war effort,

1872
02:31:55,300 --> 02:31:58,460
without letting
the Nazi leadership know

1873
02:31:58,460 --> 02:32:01,460
that their biggest threat
comes from within.

1874
02:32:08,020 --> 02:32:10,860
Meanwhile, the news
on the battlefield

1875
02:32:10,860 --> 02:32:12,780
is going from bad to worse.

1876
02:32:12,780 --> 02:32:15,340
Sicily is lost,

1877
02:32:15,340 --> 02:32:18,420
mainland Italy has been invaded,

1878
02:32:18,420 --> 02:32:21,460
and the Allies now have a foothold
in Europe.

1879
02:32:22,900 --> 02:32:25,340
At this critical moment in the war,

1880
02:32:25,340 --> 02:32:28,180
Hitler refuses to return
to public life.

1881
02:32:30,380 --> 02:32:33,060
But Minister for Armaments,
Albert Speer,

1882
02:32:33,060 --> 02:32:37,340
has a plan to give Hitler
the psychological boost he needs

1883
02:32:37,340 --> 02:32:39,940
to stage a fightback
against the Allies.

1884
02:32:45,020 --> 02:32:47,060
The story of Speer

1885
02:32:47,060 --> 02:32:50,940
is about admiration...

1886
02:32:50,940 --> 02:32:52,460
..belief...

1887
02:32:53,980 --> 02:32:55,060
..love.

1888
02:32:57,220 --> 02:33:00,620
He owes everything he has to Hitler.

1889
02:33:01,860 --> 02:33:04,340
But the weaker Hitler gets,

1890
02:33:04,340 --> 02:33:06,780
the stronger is Speer.

1891
02:33:08,620 --> 02:33:12,380
Now, more and more,
he relies on this inner circle.

1892
02:33:12,380 --> 02:33:16,940
He relies on these
trustworthy companions.

1893
02:33:16,940 --> 02:33:21,180
Speer understands that Hitler
is a fantasist,

1894
02:33:21,180 --> 02:33:24,580
so he unveils a set of superweapons

1895
02:33:24,580 --> 02:33:28,300
that he claims will miraculously
defeat the Allies

1896
02:33:28,300 --> 02:33:30,460
and win Germany the war.

1897
02:33:32,380 --> 02:33:34,900
Hitler's always looking for a way
out,

1898
02:33:34,900 --> 02:33:38,460
and this is what seems to
offer him

1899
02:33:38,460 --> 02:33:42,180
the way of reversing the debacle
of Stalingrad

1900
02:33:42,180 --> 02:33:44,540
and the disasters of 1943.

1901
02:33:47,140 --> 02:33:51,820
With the weapons, it's the same
as with Speer's plaster models

1902
02:33:51,820 --> 02:33:56,500
of the Reich capital, Berlin.

1903
02:33:56,500 --> 02:33:58,340
It's a vision.

1904
02:34:00,260 --> 02:34:02,460
The idea of the Wunderwaffe

1905
02:34:02,460 --> 02:34:06,660
was, of course, very attractive
to propagandists,

1906
02:34:06,660 --> 02:34:08,500
and it's a kind of a slogan.

1907
02:34:09,900 --> 02:34:12,420
Hitler believes in Providence.

1908
02:34:12,420 --> 02:34:15,460
He believes that Providence and fate
are steering him towards victory

1909
02:34:15,460 --> 02:34:17,660
all the time.
And when things are going badly,

1910
02:34:17,660 --> 02:34:19,980
Providence will surely
come to the rescue.

1911
02:34:19,980 --> 02:34:22,540
So the wonder weapons,
the miracle weapons, for him,

1912
02:34:22,540 --> 02:34:26,060
are another intervention
of Providence.

1913
02:34:26,060 --> 02:34:29,500
Speer fuels Hitler's dreams

1914
02:34:29,500 --> 02:34:32,660
of a bright and victorious future.

1915
02:34:36,140 --> 02:34:39,180
Convinced by Speer's promise
of war-winning armaments,

1916
02:34:39,180 --> 02:34:43,860
Hitler finally agrees to do what
Goebbels has been asking for months.

1917
02:34:43,860 --> 02:34:46,260
He comes out of the shadows

1918
02:34:46,260 --> 02:34:48,100
and addresses the nation.

1919
02:34:51,580 --> 02:34:55,860
Goebbels is terrified that
most Germans are losing confidence

1920
02:34:55,860 --> 02:35:00,300
in the regime's capacity
and willingness to triumph.

1921
02:35:00,300 --> 02:35:02,260
Now, in this set-piece speech,

1922
02:35:02,260 --> 02:35:06,420
Goebbels and Hitler are trying
to set the clock back

1923
02:35:06,420 --> 02:35:10,900
to believing in the Fuhrer
and having faith in his plan.

1924
02:35:13,220 --> 02:35:16,260
He's back to something like
his form.

1925
02:35:16,260 --> 02:35:19,860
He gives all kinds of reassurances
to the German people

1926
02:35:19,860 --> 02:35:23,300
that it's worth
carrying on with the struggle.

1927
02:35:23,300 --> 02:35:26,700
Their sufferings in the bombing
of the cities will be avenged

1928
02:35:26,700 --> 02:35:28,740
by the wonder weapons,

1929
02:35:28,740 --> 02:35:30,820
and that victory is still there

1930
02:35:30,820 --> 02:35:33,260
if only they hold fast
to their beliefs

1931
02:35:33,260 --> 02:35:35,420
and their loyalty to Germany
and to him.

1932
02:35:40,860 --> 02:35:44,780
Now Speer has sold Hitler
and Germany his vision,

1933
02:35:44,780 --> 02:35:47,580
he needs help to make it a reality.

1934
02:35:50,420 --> 02:35:54,780
Himmler has a workforce
in his concentration camps.

1935
02:35:54,780 --> 02:35:58,220
Speer desperately needs
Himmler's workforce.

1936
02:35:58,220 --> 02:36:03,140
For Speer, it's very important
to collaborate with Himmler.

1937
02:36:06,300 --> 02:36:09,260
Himmler likes the idea of producing
these weapons

1938
02:36:09,260 --> 02:36:13,020
that will finally deliver
the final victory over the Allies.

1939
02:36:13,020 --> 02:36:15,700
The SS will make itself
indispensable

1940
02:36:15,700 --> 02:36:18,740
in ensuring that the miracle weapons
will actually be built

1941
02:36:18,740 --> 02:36:21,380
and that they will deliver
the desired results.

1942
02:36:23,420 --> 02:36:26,860
Himmler and the SS have been using
concentration camp inmates

1943
02:36:26,860 --> 02:36:29,660
to build an economic empire.

1944
02:36:29,660 --> 02:36:32,700
Now Himmler sees an opportunity

1945
02:36:32,700 --> 02:36:36,620
to exploit this resource
on a vast scale.

1946
02:36:36,620 --> 02:36:39,860
He persuades Hitler
that rocket productions

1947
02:36:39,860 --> 02:36:42,300
should come under his control.

1948
02:36:42,300 --> 02:36:45,700
The SS built an underground
factory complex

1949
02:36:45,700 --> 02:36:47,700
near the Harz Mountains

1950
02:36:47,700 --> 02:36:51,180
and put 60,000 prisoners to work.

1951
02:36:51,180 --> 02:36:52,780
The conditions were...

1952
02:36:54,860 --> 02:36:56,700
..indescribable.

1953
02:36:56,700 --> 02:37:00,580
It is hard to imagine
how ghastly and appalling

1954
02:37:00,580 --> 02:37:02,500
working conditions were.

1955
02:37:02,500 --> 02:37:04,620
It is unspeakable.

1956
02:37:09,100 --> 02:37:12,300
Speer works very closely
with Himmler.

1957
02:37:13,540 --> 02:37:16,820
For him, it's no problem at all

1958
02:37:16,820 --> 02:37:21,100
to work with concentration camp
prisoners.

1959
02:37:21,100 --> 02:37:22,900
He knows the conditions.

1960
02:37:24,820 --> 02:37:27,780
Himmler is not interested
in collaboration.

1961
02:37:27,780 --> 02:37:31,220
This has become another opportunity
to impress Hitler

1962
02:37:31,220 --> 02:37:34,260
and extend the reach of the SS.

1963
02:37:34,260 --> 02:37:36,740
Remember, without Himmler,

1964
02:37:36,740 --> 02:37:41,060
without the repressive apparatus
of the SS and the police,

1965
02:37:41,060 --> 02:37:43,820
without the essential contributions
of the SS

1966
02:37:43,820 --> 02:37:46,180
to the genocidal war in the east,

1967
02:37:46,180 --> 02:37:49,420
Hitler's rule wouldn't be as robust.

1968
02:37:49,420 --> 02:37:53,540
But Himmler without Hitler
is almost unimaginable.

1969
02:37:53,540 --> 02:37:58,140
Himmler is so powerful
because he enjoys Hitler's backing.

1970
02:37:58,140 --> 02:38:01,100
Especially at a time

1971
02:38:01,100 --> 02:38:03,140
when the fortunes of war

1972
02:38:03,140 --> 02:38:06,540
have turned against Nazi Germany.

1973
02:38:12,860 --> 02:38:15,100
The Allied bombing raids increase,

1974
02:38:15,100 --> 02:38:17,540
in volume and destruction.

1975
02:38:20,180 --> 02:38:23,580
And the German people continue
to question Hitler's leadership.

1976
02:38:24,980 --> 02:38:27,820
Hitler's inner circle can see
the writing on the wall.

1977
02:38:28,940 --> 02:38:32,980
But deep rifts emerge over
how to protect the nation

1978
02:38:32,980 --> 02:38:35,820
and the spirit of the Fuhrer.

1979
02:38:37,820 --> 02:38:40,100
By late 1943,
Goebbels no longer believes

1980
02:38:40,100 --> 02:38:43,100
that Germany can win this war
on two fronts.

1981
02:38:44,380 --> 02:38:48,860
Goebbels has an existential
nightmare in his hands

1982
02:38:48,860 --> 02:38:51,380
because his beloved,
worshipped Fuhrer

1983
02:38:51,380 --> 02:38:53,300
refuses to see the limitations

1984
02:38:53,300 --> 02:38:55,380
of the reality of the war
they're fighting.

1985
02:38:56,780 --> 02:39:01,860
At this point, Hitler is ever-less
amenable to having a conversation.

1986
02:39:04,220 --> 02:39:07,580
Hitler wasn't a good listener,
that's for sure.

1987
02:39:07,580 --> 02:39:12,660
And you took your life in your hands
if you started arguing against him

1988
02:39:12,660 --> 02:39:16,060
or opposing him, or suggesting
to him things he didn't want to do.

1989
02:39:19,940 --> 02:39:22,980
It speaks to Goebbels' closeness
and confidence with the Fuhrer

1990
02:39:22,980 --> 02:39:25,900
that he's able to tell him something
that he does not want to hear.

1991
02:39:25,900 --> 02:39:28,980
And that is, we must make peace
with one of the two sides.

1992
02:39:28,980 --> 02:39:32,100
Either the Soviets
or the Anglo-American Allies.

1993
02:39:34,940 --> 02:39:38,020
This is yet another suggestion
of retreat,

1994
02:39:38,020 --> 02:39:40,420
abandoning half the war.

1995
02:39:41,660 --> 02:39:46,300
Hitler is certainly not prepared
to countenance this at all.

1996
02:39:47,420 --> 02:39:50,380
In his diary, Goebbels writes
that several times,

1997
02:39:50,380 --> 02:39:55,260
he has lectured Hitler on the need
to make peace with one side.

1998
02:39:55,260 --> 02:39:58,180
A war with the Soviet Union
was fundamental

1999
02:39:58,180 --> 02:40:00,100
to Hitler's belief system.

2000
02:40:02,580 --> 02:40:06,620
But in any case, again,
Hitler thought he could win.

2001
02:40:06,620 --> 02:40:08,060
Something was going to happen

2002
02:40:08,060 --> 02:40:10,060
that would enable him
to defeat both sides.

2003
02:40:13,700 --> 02:40:16,380
Goebbels, here, is trying to face

2004
02:40:16,380 --> 02:40:19,540
the very real problem of
the war is being lost.

2005
02:40:19,540 --> 02:40:22,780
And he concludes this diary entry
by saying,

2006
02:40:22,780 --> 02:40:25,780
"I don't know what the Fuhrer
will do in the end".

2007
02:40:25,780 --> 02:40:28,940
Goebbels, the creator of
the Fuhrer myth

2008
02:40:28,940 --> 02:40:32,380
of the infallible leader of Germany,

2009
02:40:32,380 --> 02:40:36,900
does not know if Hitler
has a solution at all.

2010
02:40:49,700 --> 02:40:52,540
Hitler isn't the only one
who wants the war to continue.

2011
02:40:53,980 --> 02:40:57,460
Himmler acts quickly to ensure
that senior party members

2012
02:40:57,460 --> 02:40:59,500
cannot abandon the regime.

2013
02:41:00,700 --> 02:41:03,060
In October 1943,

2014
02:41:03,060 --> 02:41:06,740
Himmler gathers high-ranking Nazis
at Posen

2015
02:41:06,740 --> 02:41:09,900
for a series of speeches.

2016
02:41:09,900 --> 02:41:12,060
They are recorded,

2017
02:41:12,060 --> 02:41:14,500
and any absentees are noted.

2018
02:41:23,220 --> 02:41:25,180
On this rare occasion,

2019
02:41:25,180 --> 02:41:28,180
Himmler talks
openly about the Final Solution.

2020
02:41:29,940 --> 02:41:35,500
He coldly describes the mass murder
of Jewish men, women and children.

2021
02:42:06,180 --> 02:42:07,900
Himmler assures his audience

2022
02:42:07,900 --> 02:42:10,060
that these killings
are morally justified.

2023
02:42:11,780 --> 02:42:14,420
But there is another motive
behind these words.

2024
02:42:15,820 --> 02:42:18,660
By admitting this giant crime,

2025
02:42:18,660 --> 02:42:23,300
Himmler has turned all those present

2026
02:42:23,300 --> 02:42:25,180
into accomplices.

2027
02:42:27,500 --> 02:42:30,900
As Germany heads to
almost-inevitable defeat,

2028
02:42:30,900 --> 02:42:35,340
the Nazi leadership
are locked into their pact.

2029
02:42:35,340 --> 02:42:39,380
The war will continue
until the bitter end.

2030
02:43:06,380 --> 02:43:08,620
CLICK AND WHIRRING

2031
02:43:14,380 --> 02:43:18,020
There's a very eerie movie
that Eva Braun took

2032
02:43:18,020 --> 02:43:22,420
where Hitler starts to flirt
with her in front of the camera

2033
02:43:22,420 --> 02:43:23,900
and pay her compliments.

2034
02:43:23,900 --> 02:43:27,780
And it gives one a very unsettling
feeling that he's flirting with you,

2035
02:43:27,780 --> 02:43:30,980
you know, when you look at it
from her eyes and her point of view.

2036
02:43:33,220 --> 02:43:35,780
As the final chapter
of the Holocaust is carried out

2037
02:43:35,780 --> 02:43:37,100
in his name...

2038
02:43:38,420 --> 02:43:43,660
..Hitler withdraws to his official
mountain retreat, the Berghof.

2039
02:43:53,340 --> 02:43:56,260
The atmosphere generally
was very relaxed.

2040
02:43:56,260 --> 02:43:59,020
People were laughing and joking.

2041
02:43:59,020 --> 02:44:02,500
They had conversations,
they looked at the scenery.

2042
02:44:02,500 --> 02:44:04,300
It was all very normal.

2043
02:44:11,500 --> 02:44:15,260
You weren't allowed to discuss
the extermination of the Jews,

2044
02:44:15,260 --> 02:44:19,620
anti-Semitism, the policies towards
the Jews or anything like that.

2045
02:44:21,140 --> 02:44:23,340
Particularly over dinner,
and then afterwards,

2046
02:44:23,340 --> 02:44:26,020
when they were watching old movies,

2047
02:44:26,020 --> 02:44:28,260
he's in his own private world.

2048
02:44:34,980 --> 02:44:37,820
He won't have discussions
of the military situation.

2049
02:44:37,820 --> 02:44:40,060
That's been dealt with
earlier in the day.

2050
02:44:40,060 --> 02:44:42,540
He just holds these monologues

2051
02:44:42,540 --> 02:44:44,940
about the old days
and tells stories.

2052
02:44:47,100 --> 02:44:50,820
Hitler is here on 6th June, 1944,

2053
02:44:50,820 --> 02:44:53,460
when the dramatic news comes in.

2054
02:44:53,460 --> 02:44:58,300
A giant armada of warships
has arrived at the Normandy coast,

2055
02:44:58,300 --> 02:45:01,220
carrying over 150,000 troops.

2056
02:45:01,220 --> 02:45:04,420
D-Day has begun.

2057
02:45:04,420 --> 02:45:08,700
It was very difficult
to dent Hitler's self-belief.

2058
02:45:08,700 --> 02:45:12,940
He slept late on 6th June
as the Allies were landing.

2059
02:45:14,660 --> 02:45:17,220
When he was told after he'd awoken,

2060
02:45:17,220 --> 02:45:20,660
his reaction was rather strange,
in a way,

2061
02:45:20,660 --> 02:45:22,380
but predictable in another way.

2062
02:45:22,380 --> 02:45:24,140
He took it very lightly.

2063
02:45:24,140 --> 02:45:26,980
He thought, "This is great.
They're going to be defeated

2064
02:45:26,980 --> 02:45:29,900
"and we can make political capital
out of this.

2065
02:45:29,900 --> 02:45:32,660
"The German people
will be very angry about this."

2066
02:45:41,100 --> 02:45:43,220
But D-Day tips the balance
of the war

2067
02:45:43,220 --> 02:45:46,020
irreversibly in favour
of the Allies.

2068
02:45:49,500 --> 02:45:51,180
Stauffenberg sees this.

2069
02:45:51,180 --> 02:45:54,980
He knows now that Germany is
starting to enter the endgame.

2070
02:46:00,420 --> 02:46:03,060
And he also knows that it creates
a time pressure.

2071
02:46:04,220 --> 02:46:06,140
If he's going to make this attempt
on Hitler's life,

2072
02:46:06,140 --> 02:46:07,580
he needs to do it now.

2073
02:46:19,820 --> 02:46:24,420
After months of meticulous planning,
Stauffenberg's chance arrives.

2074
02:46:24,420 --> 02:46:26,860
He's promoted into the Reserve Army

2075
02:46:26,860 --> 02:46:29,060
and called to the Wolf's Lair,

2076
02:46:29,060 --> 02:46:33,820
where he will be face-to-face
with Hitler in a reinforced bunker.

2077
02:46:33,820 --> 02:46:37,220
It's the perfect opportunity
to plant a bomb.

2078
02:46:38,380 --> 02:46:41,300
So this isn't a practical act
any more, as such,

2079
02:46:41,300 --> 02:46:44,100
this is a moral act.
It's an act of conscience.

2080
02:46:44,100 --> 02:46:48,340
It's a statement to say,
within this age of terror

2081
02:46:48,340 --> 02:46:49,860
and oppression and violence,

2082
02:46:49,860 --> 02:46:53,700
there were people who were prepared
to do something about it and to act.

2083
02:46:54,940 --> 02:46:59,220
Stauffenberg's briefcase
contains two bombs.

2084
02:46:59,220 --> 02:47:03,460
There was a 30-minute window
from priming to detonation,

2085
02:47:03,460 --> 02:47:06,900
but no-one knows how accurate
they are.

2086
02:47:06,900 --> 02:47:10,980
He will have to be fast and precise.

2087
02:47:10,980 --> 02:47:16,260
If anything happens that reveals
his true purpose at this stage,

2088
02:47:16,260 --> 02:47:20,660
he risks calamitous harm
to everybody around him.

2089
02:47:24,940 --> 02:47:27,980
He knows that he has the eyes
of history on him.

2090
02:47:27,980 --> 02:47:31,100
He knows that the events of this day

2091
02:47:31,100 --> 02:47:35,740
could become fundamental
to the rest of German history,

2092
02:47:35,740 --> 02:47:37,580
to the rest of European history.

2093
02:47:37,580 --> 02:47:41,300
When Stauffenberg arrives
at the Wolf's Lair,

2094
02:47:41,300 --> 02:47:44,180
he's told the plans have changed.

2095
02:47:45,540 --> 02:47:47,740
The briefing has been
brought forward,

2096
02:47:47,740 --> 02:47:51,020
giving him less time to prepare.

2097
02:47:51,020 --> 02:47:55,300
And the meeting has been moved
to a wooden conference hut.

2098
02:47:55,300 --> 02:47:57,540
This is not what they'd planned for.

2099
02:48:01,980 --> 02:48:06,220
When he enters the Wolf's Lair, he's
very much entering Hitler's space.

2100
02:48:06,220 --> 02:48:09,260
The people in this environment
are people who are passionately

2101
02:48:09,260 --> 02:48:12,340
determined to serve Hitler
with everything they have to give.

2102
02:48:12,340 --> 02:48:15,420
And so, whether or not
it's real or imagined,

2103
02:48:15,420 --> 02:48:17,940
von Stauffenberg feels these eyes
on him.

2104
02:48:19,060 --> 02:48:22,460
And so, the risks and the danger
to him and to the plan

2105
02:48:22,460 --> 02:48:26,140
just grow and grow the further into
this space that he moves.

2106
02:48:30,780 --> 02:48:32,820
As he's led to the briefing,

2107
02:48:32,820 --> 02:48:35,300
Stauffenberg asks for a private room

2108
02:48:35,300 --> 02:48:38,380
to change his shirt
before the meeting begins.

2109
02:48:40,380 --> 02:48:43,780
This is his window
to prime the bombs.

2110
02:48:51,380 --> 02:48:54,740
A staff aide knocks on the door
to hurry him to the briefing.

2111
02:48:55,940 --> 02:48:57,700
This rattles him.

2112
02:48:57,700 --> 02:48:59,580
And in his haste,

2113
02:48:59,580 --> 02:49:02,300
he only primes one explosive.

2114
02:49:21,780 --> 02:49:24,780
For Hitler, Stauffenberg was
a real war hero.

2115
02:49:24,780 --> 02:49:26,980
The kind of soldier
he always wanted.

2116
02:49:26,980 --> 02:49:31,500
Someone prepared to make any
sacrifice for him and for Germany.

2117
02:49:31,500 --> 02:49:33,420
And losing an eye and losing a hand

2118
02:49:33,420 --> 02:49:36,180
were obvious examples
of his extraordinary bravery.

2119
02:49:36,180 --> 02:49:38,100
So Hitler greeted him very warmly.

2120
02:49:39,740 --> 02:49:42,180
He has a briefcase with him.

2121
02:49:42,180 --> 02:49:44,340
Nobody thinks there's anything
unusual in this.

2122
02:49:47,780 --> 02:49:50,460
In this moment, Stauffenberg's
mind must have been racing.

2123
02:49:50,460 --> 02:49:54,100
He must have been charged
with a version of excitement.

2124
02:49:54,100 --> 02:49:57,340
After years of talking about it
and months of concentrated planning,

2125
02:49:57,340 --> 02:49:58,940
it's finally happening.

2126
02:50:01,180 --> 02:50:03,860
Next to Hitler is a bomb

2127
02:50:03,860 --> 02:50:06,860
with a fuse ticking
that's about to explode.

2128
02:50:15,060 --> 02:50:19,300
With limited time to leave the room
before the explosion,

2129
02:50:19,300 --> 02:50:22,900
Stauffenberg has a pre-planned
phone call,

2130
02:50:22,900 --> 02:50:24,420
ready to make an exit.

2131
02:50:26,940 --> 02:50:29,580
He makes his pardons and leaves.

2132
02:50:31,260 --> 02:50:33,740
This is the last time
he will ever see Hitler.

2133
02:50:40,500 --> 02:50:43,260
EXPLOSION

2134
02:50:53,140 --> 02:50:56,500
Von Stauffenberg knows
that the bomb's gone off.

2135
02:50:56,500 --> 02:50:59,340
The plot has happened,
it's been successful.

2136
02:51:01,940 --> 02:51:03,540
He's killed Hitler.

2137
02:51:05,060 --> 02:51:07,820
Stauffenberg hurries to
his waiting plane,

2138
02:51:07,820 --> 02:51:11,260
ready to carry out the next phase
of Operation Valkyrie.

2139
02:51:11,260 --> 02:51:13,500
But when he lands in Berlin...

2140
02:51:14,580 --> 02:51:16,300
..he learns the dreadful truth.

2141
02:51:17,540 --> 02:51:19,380
Hitler has survived the bomb.

2142
02:51:27,860 --> 02:51:32,180
At the Wolf's Lair, Hitler
is covered in cuts and bruises.

2143
02:51:33,900 --> 02:51:35,940
And his eardrums have burst.

2144
02:51:37,180 --> 02:51:39,660
Furious at the attempt on his life,

2145
02:51:39,660 --> 02:51:42,100
he looks for someone to blame,

2146
02:51:42,100 --> 02:51:44,180
and summons Heinrich Himmler.

2147
02:51:48,660 --> 02:51:51,820
Certainly, Himmler and the Gestapo
did not look very good

2148
02:51:51,820 --> 02:51:55,340
because they'd failed to intercept
Stauffenberg,

2149
02:51:55,340 --> 02:51:57,860
or to detect his involvement
in the plot.

2150
02:52:00,260 --> 02:52:02,620
Himmler gets his act together
very quickly,

2151
02:52:02,620 --> 02:52:05,180
and he talked to Hitler and says,

2152
02:52:05,180 --> 02:52:09,220
"We must crush this coup harshly
and swiftly".

2153
02:52:10,980 --> 02:52:13,100
This is really the final blow

2154
02:52:13,100 --> 02:52:15,940
to Hitler's relationship
with the army officers.

2155
02:52:15,940 --> 02:52:19,540
He thought they were incompetent,
cowardly.

2156
02:52:19,540 --> 02:52:22,620
Here, now, he discovers
they're trying to kill him.

2157
02:52:22,620 --> 02:52:27,020
And so, he gets much more
suspicious, much more paranoid.

2158
02:52:28,660 --> 02:52:31,060
From now on, Himmler and the SS

2159
02:52:31,060 --> 02:52:34,620
have his trust
to an even greater extent.

2160
02:52:37,420 --> 02:52:41,220
Rather than blaming him, Hitler
is persuaded to entrust Himmler

2161
02:52:41,220 --> 02:52:43,700
with even more power.

2162
02:52:43,700 --> 02:52:46,020
To eliminate further opposition
within the army

2163
02:52:46,020 --> 02:52:48,180
as ruthlessly as possible,

2164
02:52:48,180 --> 02:52:51,820
he appoints Himmler
as head of the Reserve Army.

2165
02:52:54,460 --> 02:52:57,300
Himmler heads straight to Berlin,

2166
02:52:57,300 --> 02:52:59,540
sending SS units ahead

2167
02:52:59,540 --> 02:53:02,780
to round up conspirators
in the army headquarters.

2168
02:53:38,940 --> 02:53:42,780
The SS and Himmler work
in a concerted manner

2169
02:53:42,780 --> 02:53:46,460
to crush the resistance attempt.

2170
02:53:46,460 --> 02:53:50,460
Extremely speedily
and extremely efficiently,

2171
02:53:50,460 --> 02:53:54,540
the suppressions and vengeance
meted out by the SS,

2172
02:53:54,540 --> 02:53:58,620
the police
and the German judiciary is brutal.

2173
02:53:58,620 --> 02:54:00,460
HE RANTS

2174
02:54:09,620 --> 02:54:12,860
Himmler moves to destroy
the Resistance network.

2175
02:54:12,860 --> 02:54:16,540
Close to 5,000 people
are rounded up

2176
02:54:16,540 --> 02:54:18,340
and are swiftly put on trial.

2177
02:54:22,860 --> 02:54:26,180
The loyal Heinrich has proved
himself to be the man

2178
02:54:26,180 --> 02:54:28,900
who Hitler can count on to deliver
no matter what.

2179
02:54:30,660 --> 02:54:33,820
Himmler is now at the peak
of his power.

2180
02:54:33,820 --> 02:54:36,420
Second only to Hitler.

2181
02:54:56,340 --> 02:55:00,380
And the coup marks a moment
of resurrection for Hitler.

2182
02:55:00,380 --> 02:55:02,740
He is now more convinced than ever

2183
02:55:02,740 --> 02:55:04,660
of his own invincibility.

2184
02:55:06,300 --> 02:55:09,340
Providence has preserved him
yet again.

2185
02:55:09,340 --> 02:55:13,980
So his future is still to guide
Germany to victory.

2186
02:55:13,980 --> 02:55:16,100
He sees this as confirmation

2187
02:55:16,100 --> 02:55:19,180
of everything that he's done
up to that point.

2188
02:56:00,140 --> 02:56:02,900
Hitler will now never concede.

2189
02:56:04,300 --> 02:56:08,860
Rallied by the defiance and denial
of his closest aides...

2190
02:56:10,860 --> 02:56:15,340
..he pushes Germany on
towards untold destruction.

2191
02:56:18,860 --> 02:56:20,900
Hitler now had no boundaries.

2192
02:56:23,260 --> 02:56:26,740
Ultimately, Hitler's mission
really becomes

2193
02:56:26,740 --> 02:56:31,380
one, literally, of annihilation
or victory.

2194
02:56:35,460 --> 02:56:38,940
The result was total destruction.

2195
02:56:38,940 --> 02:56:41,540
Death on an almost unimaginable
scale.

2196
02:56:43,780 --> 02:56:46,140
This is a kind of absolute nightmare

2197
02:56:46,140 --> 02:56:49,260
which has very few parallels
in history.