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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,160 In Panama, a jungle stronghold 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,800 built to defend a prized American possession. 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,000 The Nazis knew that if they destroyed what this protected, 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,960 they could potentially defeat the Allies. 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,920 In Italy, the hilltop haunt of a mad scientist. 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,320 There's grates to an underground dungeon and shackles on a wall 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,600 as if you're in a torture chamber. 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,560 A remote Bulgarian facility that brought hope to its occupants. 9 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,760 At a time when the rest of Eastern Europe was suffering 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,120 under an oppressive communist system, 11 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,040 this complex was in its golden age. 12 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,200 And in Germany, a ghostly railway 13 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,840 divides a city, fractured by conflict. 14 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,840 Families were torn apart and this became 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,440 a staging post to fight back. 16 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,560 Decaying relics. 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,760 Ruins of lost worlds. 18 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,680 Sites haunted by the past. 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,400 Their secrets, waiting to be revealed. 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,040 In northern Panama, 21 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,320 dense rainforest hides remnants of an imperial age. 22 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,200 We're in the muggy, steamy jungle 23 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,680 and in between the trees, you see these buildings 24 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,640 that, from a distance, you might almost think were Mayan ruins. 25 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,560 But these are clearly modern, man-made structures. 26 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,480 These are very solid, lots of reinforced concrete. 27 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,840 The thing's built to last. 28 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:16,600 Exploring deeper, there are few clues to its original function. 29 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,280 There really isn't anything left. It's dark and it's dingy. 30 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,880 But you can imagine this was once bustling and filled with people, 31 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,000 whose job was to man the facilities here. 32 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,120 A distinctive, rectangular structure 33 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,480 suggests this was once a defensive stronghold. 34 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:39,520 One of the buildings is red and white. 35 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,160 It's got these, kind of, porthole-like windows 36 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,000 and on the side it says Battery Baird. 37 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,880 It's facing the sea, 38 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,440 so it's clearly some kind of a military fortification. 39 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,960 Today, this is just a crumbling outpost in the jungle. 40 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,280 But there was a time when this place was pivotal to the defence 41 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,920 of one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the world. 42 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,080 Joe Berger lives in the nearby city of Colon. 43 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,560 When he was growing up, this was his playground. 44 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,920 {\an8}My parents were working here from the '80s and in the '90s 45 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:24,400 and the guys would dress me up with military fatigues 46 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,720 and they'd put all the military makeup on your face so you could, 47 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,160 like, blend into the jungle and all that. 48 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,080 It was towards the end of the American presence here. 49 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,520 Joe's ancestors first came to Panama from Pennsylvania 50 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,280 more than a century ago. 51 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,440 Not as part of the military, but to help construct 52 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,000 one of the world's most ambitious engineering projects. 53 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,240 My family came down in 1907 54 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,720 to work on the Panama Canal, to build the Panama Canal. 55 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:03,080 It really is impossible to overstate how significant 56 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,000 this was to global history. 57 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,960 {\an8}For as long as Europeans have been colonising the Americas, 58 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,880 {\an8}they have been looking for a shortcut to connect 59 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,840 {\an8}the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. 60 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,480 In the late 19th century, 61 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,840 the French were the first to try and cut through Panama. 62 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:29,080 They discovered an area that was full of mosquito-borne diseases, 63 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,760 especially yellow fever and malaria. 64 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,280 {\an8}It's estimated the French lost about 20,000 people in their effort 65 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:40,440 to dig the canal. By 1899, they'd given up. 66 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,720 But then along comes the United States and says, 67 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:49,360 {\an8}"We need a Panama Canal to connect our east coast and west coast 68 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,120 and unite the continent and to give us ready access 69 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,320 to Asia and Europe from either coast." 70 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,920 The American government purchased the abandoned French assets 71 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,320 and the rights to the canal for $40 million. 72 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,200 Construction began in 1904, 73 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,320 but only after US engineers figured out how to succeed, 74 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,240 where the French had run into trouble. 75 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,640 There is a big river called the Chagres River 76 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,400 that runs from the Panama highlands down to the Atlantic 77 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,000 and sometimes it floods. It caused a lot of problems for the French. 78 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,440 So the Americans, they build this huge dam called the Gatun Dam 79 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,640 and formed a giant reservoir in the middle of Panama 80 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,760 that feeds the canal. 81 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,280 Without that water, the Panama Canal cannot operate. 82 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:44,560 By 1914, the 50-mile long waterway was opened for business. 83 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,280 Effectively, the Panama Canal project 84 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:52,800 cost about $375 million. 85 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,360 And obviously, when you spend that much money, 86 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,440 you want to protect your investment. 87 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,000 So they decide, "All right, we need to put fortifications around 88 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,440 the canal to be able to protect that from any outside attack." 89 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,800 This is Fort Sherman. 90 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,000 It was made up of seven defence batteries 91 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,360 intended to protect the Atlantic entrance 92 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,120 to the canal and the Gatun Dam. 93 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:20,520 You've got, like, 14-inch guns, ten-inch guns, 94 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,840 all these battery positions ready to absolutely pummel 95 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:26,840 any adversary that closes up on the canal. 96 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:32,320 This is Battery Baird and over there, that's Battery Howard. 97 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,120 In order to triangulate the place where they're going to hit, 98 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,440 they'd have a viewing point over on one side 99 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:40,280 and a viewing point over on the other. 100 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:42,720 And with their calculations, they would be able to triangulate 101 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:44,600 where the ship was heading. 102 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,520 And then, right here is where those calculations, those coordinations, 103 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,640 would pop up for the people down there operating the mortars 104 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,560 to be able to line it up accordingly. 105 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:59,880 Altogether, Fort Sherman was really this formidable ring 106 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,080 of concrete and firepower. 107 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,320 In the decades to come, it would be put to the test. 108 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,720 In 1939, Europe went to war 109 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,880 and from the start, Americans feared that 110 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,000 the canal could potentially be a German target. 111 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,320 It was absolutely vital to be able to move forces and trade 112 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,440 between the two oceans, and if an enemy could take it out, 113 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,080 that could be their path to victory. 114 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,440 The US had to do everything they could 115 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,200 to keep enemy aircraft from ever reaching it. 116 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,480 As the United States got involved in the Second World War, 117 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,400 they saw the necessity for more troops. 118 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,280 These are where the soldiers would be stationed. 119 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,720 The perceived threat was all too real. 120 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,920 Fort Sherman was well prepared, 121 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,000 so in order for an attack to be successful, 122 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,760 the Nazis knew they would have to use a different approach. 123 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,120 Under the code name Operation Pelikan, 124 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,360 the Germans made an audacious plan. 125 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,920 They have this idea. "We're going to put a couple of 126 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,320 Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers in pieces on U-boats 127 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,400 and we're going to, like, sail them to this little island 128 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,240 just off the coast from Panama." 129 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,360 And then we're going to, like, put 'em together, 130 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,200 load 'em up with, like, a dam-busting type bomb 131 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,400 and then we're going to bomb the Gatun Dam." 132 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,880 A successful strike may have altered the course of the war. 133 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:45,400 If you could knock out that dam, it would take years 134 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,400 for the Americans to rebuild and reopen the canal. 135 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,920 Ultimately, what happened to that plan? We don't really know. 136 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,600 I mean, the Stukas never appeared over Panama, 137 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,960 never dropped bombs on the Gatun Dam. 138 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:03,440 Fortunately, the canal was never attacked. 139 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,440 And eventually, the army came up with another use 140 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,240 for this outpost in the jungle. 141 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:14,920 Many of the soldiers who were destined to go to the Vietnam War 142 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,560 did their jungle training here. 143 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:21,680 So there was even a mock-up Vietnam village 144 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,480 that was set here for them to train in. 145 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:30,120 Former Lieutenant Colonel Dan Smith served in the US Special Forces 146 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:31,840 for almost 20 years. 147 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,120 When I came here, I was 23 years old. 148 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,000 First, they would give you basic living, 149 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,120 {\an8}plants that were poisonous, things you could eat, 150 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,440 poisonous snakes and non-poisonous snakes 151 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,840 and then they would teach you how to build a jungle refuge. 152 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,760 Learning to survive in the jungle was the easy part. 153 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,560 Soldiers were also trained to withstand potential enemy torture. 154 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,400 This area, I can remember 155 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,000 because they had a different torture in every room. 156 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,160 We were brought here blindfolded 157 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,240 and immediately stripped of all of our clothing 158 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,240 and they would send you in for an interrogation 159 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,800 and if you refused to answer, 160 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,920 they would send you out and you could go into the birdcage, 161 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,920 which was about that high. It was made of barbed wire. 162 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,880 They put it down over you and then you couldn't move. 163 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,640 And if it was on an ant nest, better. 164 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,520 Only the toughest went the distance. 165 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,320 I had one classmate and they put him in a box with water up to here 166 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:43,000 and every 60 seconds, they would pound on it with a heavy log. 167 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,600 And he came out of there screaming. He got claustrophobia. 168 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,720 They said, "All right, you're out." That was it. 169 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:54,640 I went to Vietnam in 1967 170 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,920 and it was challenging, but I think my training was good. 171 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:05,080 After the Vietnam War, this facility was still used for jungle training, 172 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,960 but Fort Sherman's end was in sight. 173 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:12,720 On the 31st of December 1999, 174 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,880 the US surrendered control of the canal to Panama, 175 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,520 ending its 150-year presence in the country. 176 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,200 The American government tried to retain Fort Sherman, 177 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,360 but the Panamanians, like, held firm and they said, 178 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:32,360 "No Yankees on Panamanian soil." So the Americans handed it back. 179 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:33,800 But it just, sort of, fell into disuse. 180 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,960 And so it's been taken back by the jungle in the years since. 181 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,880 My grandfather helped build the canal. 182 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,560 So I've been steeped in the lure of the canal since I was a little kid. 183 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:55,000 Going back and seeing a fort like this, 184 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,320 all the work that went into protecting that canal, 185 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,080 to save it from being attacked or destroyed, 186 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,320 it's a reminder to us of how crucial this kind of infrastructure 187 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:07,280 can be in our civilisation. 188 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,720 On the outskirts of Bologna, Italy, 189 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,680 an eclectic structure defies explanation. 190 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,760 There's gold leaf onion domes, 191 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,920 minarets, towers and turrets. 192 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,200 It looks like it was built one wing at a time, 193 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,280 each one in its own style. 194 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:41,320 There are endless medieval, Arab, Moorish decorations 195 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:45,200 in a labyrinth of towers, staircases and courtyards. 196 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,120 It's clear this is the creation of a very wealthy individual, 197 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:54,520 one whose face is immortalised in the stained glass. 198 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,520 Here, he came up with his greatest invention. 199 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,280 He set out to cure cancer 200 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:08,600 and the famous and the desperate made pilgrimages to the sanctuary. 201 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:13,560 The creator of this peculiar world won international acclaim, 202 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:17,920 but his monumental legacy would become his prison. 203 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:21,920 At the heart of it all is a drawbridge, 204 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,320 not at the front of the building, but inside it. 205 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,680 You must have a certain frame of mind 206 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:35,720 to build a drawbridge on the outside of your private quarters. 207 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,360 He descended into paranoia. 208 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,000 He felt like everyone was out to get him. 209 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,400 Carlotta Rubini grew up in the shadow of this looming mansion. 210 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:57,000 We always got used to this mysterious castle on top of the hill 211 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,600 that we didn't know much about. 212 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,400 {\an8}But I could never see the castle from the inside 213 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,200 because it closed before I was born. 214 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,760 For decades, rumours circulated in the local area 215 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,080 about the eccentric man who once lived here. 216 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:16,200 In August 2015, Carlotta got to find out the truth. 217 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,560 I remember the first time I walked in here, 218 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,200 I was, like, pinching myself 219 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,600 because I couldn't believe I finally got to set foot 220 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,040 inside this castle. 221 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,080 We were able to learn the real story of the Count Cesare Mattei. 222 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,520 {\an8}By most measures, Cesare Mattei led an enviable life, 223 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,920 {\an8}but it wasn't without hardship. 224 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,720 Born to a wealthy Bologna family in 1809, 225 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,640 illness influenced his life from an early age. 226 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,440 He was just 21 when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, 227 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,480 which she fought for 15 years before it eventually killed her. 228 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,200 Disappointed by incompetent doctors, 229 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,800 he decided to take matters into his own hands. 230 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:05,800 His purpose was to find a new medicine 231 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:10,120 that could cure everything from a simple cold to cancer. 232 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:16,080 In 1850, he acquired this hillside to build a residence 233 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,920 that would house his growing obsession. 234 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,960 Cesare didn't trust anyone else with the design 235 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,040 and was the architect of his own outlandish vision. 236 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,840 It became known as Rocchetta Mattei. 237 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,720 The count loved the Moorish style, 238 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,080 which is prominent inside the castle. 239 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,560 Eccentric is a good word to describe it, I think. 240 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,200 It's very peculiar. 241 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,200 But it was more than just Cesare's folly. 242 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,320 Here, he would atone for his mother's drawn-out death. 243 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,520 {\an8}He came up with an alternative form of medicine 244 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,600 {\an8}called electro-homeopathy. 245 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,760 This is the room of the visions, where the count claims 246 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:08,440 to have had the original idea for his medicine, 247 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,000 which he then had painted on the wall there. 248 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,760 Cesare believed his unique, plant-based method 249 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,160 could cure diseases by balancing electrical charges 250 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,760 and chemicals inside the body. 251 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:29,600 {\an8}He turned to grinding various plants into pulps 252 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,080 and mixing them in vials. 253 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,520 It was made of 33 types of granules and five liquids 254 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,360 that, mixed together in different dosages, 255 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,440 were supposed to cure everything. 256 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,640 He administered his herbal concoctions 257 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,160 to the sick of Bologna without charge. 258 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,920 Word spread and patients soon came from all over the world 259 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,320 to take the supposedly magical medicine. 260 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,520 And as Cesare's empire expanded, he won approval 261 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,000 from the very highest authority. 262 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,240 So this room is the Pope's room 263 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:13,480 and it was originally built by Mattei to host Pope Pius IX. 264 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,640 But all of a sudden, the good friendship 265 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,400 between the Pope and the count stopped. We don't know why. 266 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,640 And it was a big blow to the count, 267 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,040 for the Pope to ignore him and never come to the castle 268 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,640 after he built all of this for him. 269 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,600 Despite the high-profile snub, 270 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,880 electro homeopathy continued to go from strength to strength. 271 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,200 At the height of his empire, 272 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,520 there were some 107 distribution centres throughout the world, 273 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,960 from the UK to America and China. 274 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,200 There's even mention of the remedies in a novel 275 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,080 by the famous author, Dostoevsky. 276 00:17:55,080 --> 00:18:00,360 But in 1873, after surviving a horrifying train crash, 277 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:03,120 Cesare became increasingly reclusive 278 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:06,600 and gradually withdrew into his house on the hill, 279 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,240 where he lived, childless, single and alone. 280 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,800 But Cesare was getting older and he had no named heir. 281 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,600 Increasingly aware of his legacy, 282 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,400 Cesare turned to his closest family to maintain his empire. 283 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:27,760 But a betrayal would threaten to destroy everything he'd built. 284 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,240 The count's mental health had deteriorated 285 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,680 and he made the fateful decision 286 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,160 to allow his nephew, Luigi, to run the business. 287 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,000 His nephew was originally supposed to inherit everything, 288 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:47,000 but his nephew liked to gamble and he had embezzled a lot of money. 289 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:51,800 Luigi brought Cesare to the edge of bankruptcy 290 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,560 and the count had to rely on a long-time collaborator, 291 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,320 Mario Venturoli, to save him from ruin. 292 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,280 He was able to make the count get back most of the money he had lost. 293 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:08,680 As a thank you, the count adopted him and made him his heir. 294 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,760 He brought Mario to live with him in his castle 295 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,640 and gave him his own private quarters in a separate wing. 296 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,920 But Cesare was growing increasingly deluded 297 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:23,000 and became convinced that Mario and his wife were trying to kill him. 298 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,120 Cesare Mattei did not like her 299 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:29,800 and accused her of trying to poison him through coffee. 300 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,600 The claim was never proven, but whether it was true or not, 301 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,360 the story says much about the state of Cesare's mental health. 302 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,880 It got worse and it got to the point where he trusted no-one, 303 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:44,760 except for his maid. 304 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:49,400 Cesare's paranoia was most evident in his castle's innermost sanctum. 305 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,960 This was the entrance to the private quarters of the count. 306 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,560 There's a drawbridge here, in the middle of the stairwell, 307 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:01,160 which is a bit bizarre, 308 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:05,040 but he built this so that he could isolate himself 309 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:06,880 from the rest of the castle. 310 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,120 He actually passed away on his own, inside his quarters 311 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:13,600 and he was found a few days later, 312 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:15,440 after they pulled down the drawbridge. 313 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,760 Mario inherited Rocchetta Mattei in 1904, 314 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,200 but one crucial piece of information was missing. 315 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,720 Mario Venturoli could never replicate the same medicine. 316 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,760 The count never shared his recipe with anyone. 317 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:37,680 He and the maid were the only people who made the medicine in here. 318 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,880 She survived the count. 319 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,640 She never shared the medicine with Venturoli or anyone else. 320 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,840 Even so, Mario managed to keep the practice 321 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:48,840 of electro homeopathy going 322 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:53,920 until the mid-20th century, using his own method. 323 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,840 As modern science develops, the appetite for homeopathy 324 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,160 and pseudoscientific remedies waned. 325 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:04,880 Mario stayed in Rocchetta Mattei until his death in 1937. 326 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,320 Over the following years, the building changed hands several times. 327 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,000 It briefly opened as a tourist attraction. 328 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,920 They branded it as a medieval castle 329 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,200 and they brought in torture chambers and these unsettling statues. 330 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,920 In the late 1980s, it was deemed unsafe and forced to close. 331 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:36,280 In 2015, after almost a decade of restoration, 332 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,360 the castle was opened to the public once again. 333 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:43,120 It provided an opportunity for people to learn 334 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,160 about this eccentric count. 335 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,200 There's still an air of mystery 336 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,240 and so much that we don't know about him or his life. 337 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,480 The interest in the tourists' faces 338 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,760 and people coming from completely different cultures, 339 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,360 they have no idea what went on in Italy. 340 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,880 I feel, like, a lot of pride in my hometown. 341 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:13,800 In the breathtaking sierras of central Bulgaria, 342 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,840 the sharp lines of a brutalist structure 343 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,200 slice through the fresh mountain air. 344 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,240 All you can see for miles around 345 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,280 is the rolling landscape and thick forests. 346 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,840 This is a place of calm and tranquillity 347 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,400 and then, you see it. 348 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,800 This strange, long straight line poking out 349 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,880 from the top of the treetops. It's, like, dagger shaped. 350 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:44,920 And it goes on and on and on and on. 351 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,600 It's curious to have a building of this size 352 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,080 just plonked down in the middle of nowhere. 353 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:54,160 The remote location holds the key to this structure's function. 354 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,360 We are as far away as you can get 355 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:00,520 from the smog and smut of a big city. 356 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,440 It could be a hotel, like an outdoor resort, 357 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,840 but inside it has more of an institutional feel. 358 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,960 There are what appear to be lots of dormitories. 359 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,960 The distinctive design hints at its origin. 360 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,880 You've got rooms with books just falling off the walls. 361 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,920 There's what looks like a cinema and a gymnasium 362 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,360 and then you see things that give the game away, 363 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:29,440 surgical rooms, X-ray machines, lab equipment. 364 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,160 This was clearly some kind of medical facility. 365 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,360 The unlikely visionaries behind this complex 366 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:39,720 were ahead of their time. 367 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:44,760 This place was built by not one, but two enterprising women. 368 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,800 At a time when the rest of Eastern Europe was suffering 369 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,120 under an oppressive communist system, 370 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:53,040 this complex was in its golden age. 371 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,400 But when seismic change rocked Bulgaria, 372 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,240 this all came to an abrupt and chaotic end. 373 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,680 It's clear that whoever left here, left in a hurry. 374 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,760 Valentin Nedkov grew up near this groundbreaking facility. 375 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:19,040 Today, he's on a mission to save it from destruction. 376 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,880 The story of this innovative sanctuary 377 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,720 started almost a century ago. 378 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,240 {\an8}In 1930, Tsar Boris of Bulgaria 379 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,160 {\an8}marries an Italian princess, Joanna. 380 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,800 {\an8}She was known as a very charitable woman. 381 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,400 She funded many, many charitable organisations, 382 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,640 including a children's hospital in the capital of Sofia. 383 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:06,600 When Giovanna took the throne, 384 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,720 the country was in the grips of a deadly epidemic. 385 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,200 Bulgaria has one of the highest death rates 386 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,680 from tuberculosis in Europe. 387 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,720 Tuberculosis, or TB as it became known, 388 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,720 {\an8}is a bacterial infection that mostly affects the lungs. 389 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,080 Over 20,000 people died of the disease every year. 390 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,760 And so there was a feeling inside Bulgaria 391 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,240 that, "We have to confront this. We have to come up with strategies 392 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,440 to solve the problem of tuberculosis in Bulgarian society." 393 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,480 Tsarina Giovanna took a personal interest in the project 394 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,880 and championed the construction of a specialised hospital. 395 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,120 The Bulgarian government commissioned a team 396 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:52,760 to find the ideal location to build it. 397 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:15,000 The air is clean and fresh and dry, so they choose this place 398 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,320 for a state-of-the-art Bulgarian sanatorium. 399 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:22,360 A competition was launched to find the best architect 400 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:25,640 to bring Giovanna's vision to life. 401 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,960 It was won by another groundbreaking woman of the age. 402 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,400 Victoria Angelova Vinarova 403 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,080 was one of the first, famous, female architects in Bulgaria. 404 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,640 She was awarded the contract for the construction 405 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,800 of what would be her most significant architectural project. 406 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,280 Within the year, Victoria Vinarova had created 407 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,320 a state-of-the-art brutalist design. 408 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,160 They break ground in 1939, but the construction 409 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,360 almost immediately has to be halted because of the outbreak 410 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:00,520 of World War II. 411 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:05,960 The Bulgarian tsar opportunistically allies with the Germans, 412 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,040 but when the Soviet Red Army crosses the border 413 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,560 to liberate Bulgaria in 1944, 414 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,480 the communist partisans quickly take over power in Bulgaria 415 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,960 and they make Bulgaria a satellite state of Stalin's Soviet Union. 416 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,560 By 1946, the Bulgarian monarchy had been overthrown 417 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,600 and a new Soviet-style government installed in the country. 418 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,160 Luckily, the new communist rulers placed an enormous importance 419 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:39,000 on public health. 420 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:40,640 So construction continues 421 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,760 and the hospital is eventually finished in 1955. 422 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:49,520 When the doors of the Raduntsi Specialised Hospital for prolonged 423 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,040 treatment of lung diseases finally opened, 424 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,080 its visionary architect was missing. 425 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,520 What's really sad is Angelova built a hospital for tuberculosis patients 426 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,240 and ended up dying of tuberculosis before the hospital opened. 427 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,400 Her creation, unrivalled in its time, lived on. 428 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:17,120 The hospital at Raduntsi was the longest hospital in the Balkans. 429 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:22,720 It housed 200 male patients, 100 female patients and 100 children. 430 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,080 Valentin's mother came to work here as a specialised nurse. 431 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,360 They also had the latest, cutting-edge medical equipment 432 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,080 and everything they needed to get their patients 433 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,080 back in working order. 434 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:56,040 The Raduntsi Hospital had a golden age, when, you know, 435 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,560 not only Bulgarians but people from all over the Soviet Bloc 436 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,440 came to this hospital to be treated for tuberculosis 437 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,000 and other lung ailments. 438 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,560 But when Soviet communism collapsed in 1991, 439 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,960 Bulgaria had to rebuild its government, 440 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,160 putting the hospital in jeopardy. 441 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:41,000 The Bulgarian transition to a capitalist democracy 442 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,360 had been marked by corruption, cronyism and depression. 443 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:47,760 All of the state-owned enterprises 444 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,960 that were effectively, property of the people 445 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,400 were sold off at bargain prices. 446 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,040 In 2015, things really came to a head when the hospital 447 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,040 had its electricity cut, with patients still in it 448 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:20,920 because of unpaid bills. 449 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,840 The Raduntsi Hospital went without power for 30 days 450 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,080 and was reaching a crisis point. 451 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,160 Its last hope lay in the hands 452 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,920 of controversial politician, Petar Moskov. 453 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,080 He once, reportedly, during a TV interview, 454 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,520 got the location of the hospital completely wrong. 455 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,560 He was out by 100 miles, 456 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,920 so you can tell that he really wasn't 457 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,480 on top of what was going on here. 458 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,680 Moskov then went on to blow the national health budget 459 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,720 on divisive and costly projects, like biometric technology. 460 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,760 And he spent so much money on all this data collection, 461 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:02,960 he had to close this hospital and others like it 462 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,000 with nothing to show for it. 463 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,440 In August 2015, the last patient left 464 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,200 and the hospital was abandoned. 465 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,760 Raduntsi Hospital has become a symbol 466 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,280 of the country's complicated relationship with its past. 467 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:30,000 This place is a perfect example of the red nostalgia 468 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,400 that still exists in countries like Bulgaria today. 469 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:37,040 There's the sense that, well, as bad as communism was, 470 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,840 things like Raduntsi Hospital worked quite well 471 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,840 and if you went there, they would cure you and you'd actually enjoy 472 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,400 the experience and were treated like a human being. 473 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,200 Now, there are plans in progress 474 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:54,640 to bring the once-innovative treatment centre back to life. 475 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:58,240 With the hope it can again serve its original function 476 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,080 as a sanatorium. 477 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,400 As of April 2023, the complex has new owners. 478 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,320 It feels like the history of this building 479 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,480 has not yet finished. 480 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,320 In north-west Berlin, a rusting relic 481 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:23,040 is a chilling reminder of the city's turbulent past. 482 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:32,120 There are long, straight lines of trees reaching into the distance, 483 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:33,600 splitting the neighbourhood in two. 484 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,960 In the midst of this, is an isolated viaduct 485 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,120 that seems stark and sharply out of place. 486 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,840 Along its length are a series of battered buildings. 487 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:50,320 All of a sudden, you realise you're at a railway platform. 488 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,840 There are structures that might have been 489 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,320 waiting rooms or ticket offices. 490 00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,840 The windows are smashed, the doorways are boarded up 491 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,320 and there's debris covering the floor. 492 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,800 But the real question is why isn't it still in use? 493 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:12,080 Further down the line, a disturbing clue emerges. 494 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,520 A bridge leads out to the river, but it's been cut off 495 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,600 and is left marooned on the bank. 496 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,760 Its destruction marked the start of an oppressive new era. 497 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,760 Families were torn apart and this railway became a symbol 498 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,000 of the brutal division. 499 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,720 Historian Mathias Hiller sifts through the remnants 500 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,040 of a desolate station. 501 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,960 Mathias specialises in the capital's city-wide 502 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:02,800 railway network known as the S-Bahn. 503 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,520 The abandoned track dates back to the 19th century, 504 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:31,400 when electrical engineer, Werner von Siemens was looking for somewhere 505 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,080 to base his revolutionary enterprise. 506 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,800 {\an8}The company we know today as Siemens was founded in 1847 507 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:44,080 and they started out producing telegraph technology. 508 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,360 {\an8}By 1890, it's this huge engineering conglomerate 509 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,880 {\an8}and it has thousands of employees 510 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:54,160 {\an8}and they need a space for all of their factories. 511 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:59,680 They found the ideal place in Berlin in 1897 512 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:04,640 and the area was officially renamed Siemens City in January 1914. 513 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,080 This is the Siemensbahn. 514 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,040 A little-known branch of Berlin's S-Bahn. 515 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:35,520 It started close to the River Spree 516 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,920 and transformed the lives of thousands of workers, 517 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,560 carrying commuters from all over the city 518 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,120 into the factories of Siemensstadt. 519 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,840 When it began operating, the Siemens railway 520 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,160 is thought to have carried up to 17,000 passengers a day. 521 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,720 But this boom time would last for less than a decade. 522 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:21,800 At the height of World War II, the electronics factories of Siemensstadt 523 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,840 and the railway that served them 524 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,560 became a prized target for Allied bombers. 525 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,000 However, Siemensstadt is lucky. 526 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,680 Despite ferocious bombardment, 527 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,840 most of the Siemensbahn infrastructure survives. 528 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,440 But it was the Germans themselves, 529 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:43,560 who destroyed the Siemensbahn bridge across the River Spree. 530 00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:00,280 When the war ended, the victorious Allies dismantled Hitler's Reich 531 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,600 and redrew the map of Germany, including Berlin. 532 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,320 The city was divided up between the Allies 533 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,200 into shared zones of control 534 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,480 and the East German State Railway Company, 535 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:15,280 which was run from the Russian zone, 536 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,960 is picked to run the S-Bahn, which included the Siemensbahn. 537 00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:24,360 Most of the railway workers were West Berliners, 538 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,600 who now found themselves working for the East German-controlled company. 539 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:33,880 It was a logistical nightmare, but as long as they were still allies, 540 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,440 it wasn't a problem. 541 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,400 But with their ideological differences, 542 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:43,360 it didn't take long for relations 543 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,840 between some of the Allied powers to cool. 544 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,800 {\an8}This was a division between two different worlds. 545 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:56,280 {\an8}In the East, we had Soviet-style communism, socialist societies. 546 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:00,880 In the West, we had a capitalist democratic society. 547 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,040 Despite this, the agreement that the East German Railway Company 548 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,240 would keep operating the S-Bahn, 549 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:10,400 even though it was in West Berlin, remained in place. 550 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:15,520 Railway police employed by East Germany controlled the stations. 551 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,920 The West Berlin police also have their own patrols here, 552 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,200 so in short, it's a total mess. 553 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:28,200 The tense situation escalated at the start of the 1960s, 554 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,560 when the East German authorities took a drastic step 555 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,560 to prevent citizens from escaping their draconian regime. 556 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,200 On August 13th, 1961, the Berlin Wall rises 557 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,400 and it completely separates families. It separates friends. 558 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,640 It's a true tragedy. 559 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:51,240 The residents of West Berlin were quick to vent their anger 560 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:55,000 on the Communist-controlled S-Bahn, 561 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,840 which encompassed the Siemensbahn branch line. 562 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:03,760 The railways became a symbol of East German authority, 563 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:08,040 a symbol of the oddity of the division of Germany. 564 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:29,680 Even though the boycott caused chaos for commuters across the city, 565 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,880 West Berliners continued to protest. 566 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:38,680 The network lost up to 80% of its passengers, 567 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,840 which really just put this already-struggling railway, 568 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,960 kind of, further into the red. 569 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,160 They were desperate to cut costs 570 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:52,120 and eventually, the only costs that were left to cut were staff. 571 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:57,480 So in January 1980, they fired 78 railway workers 572 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:02,840 and reduced the service and people were furious. 573 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:05,320 The cutting of hours 574 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,280 and the firing of a pregnant woman is the final straw. 575 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,400 This was when the workers decided to strike. 576 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:14,120 They occupied signal towers, 577 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:18,000 ensuring that trains couldn't run without effective signals. 578 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,960 The network was brought to a halt. 579 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,400 They abandoned the trains, blocked the tracks. 580 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,040 I mean, they wanted it shut down. 581 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,440 Many businesses were brought to a standstill 582 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:35,080 as thousands of commuters struggled to get to work. 583 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:40,000 East Berliners could not risk taking part in the protest 584 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,120 and the communist authorities were quick to act 585 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,320 against the striking West Berliners. 586 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:51,520 The East German Railway Police stormed the signal towers 587 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:53,680 and dragged out the occupiers, 588 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,880 and so basically, the strikes were broken. 589 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:00,760 But the cost of these delays 590 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,520 and the whole breakdown of the system, 591 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:08,000 meant that it was not economically viable to keep the network running. 592 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,920 Over 40 miles of lines were closed. That's almost half of the S-Bahn. 593 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,480 Four years after the strike, 594 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:22,520 West Berlin finally negotiated control of its section of the S-Bahn. 595 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,880 But by now, a new underground line had been built 596 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,880 along the route of the Siemens branch, 597 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,680 which had never recovered from the strike and remained abandoned. 598 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,440 Today, there's a project to bring the Siemensbahn back to life, 599 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:03,560 just in time for its 100th birthday. 600 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:09,600 Project engineer Dorothee Blendin understands that for Berliners, 601 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:14,440 this railway is more than just a means of transportation. 602 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:19,760 The people in this area are really connected to the Siemensbahn. 603 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:24,360 {\an8}It's, like, their track and I think in reactivating it, 604 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,640 {\an8}we're giving back something to the people. 605 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,040 It's important for getting this area of the city 606 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:32,560 connected to the train again. 607 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,320 Subtitles by Red Bee Media 52626

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