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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:14,140 --> 00:00:19,100 In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler made the most ambitious boasts imaginable 2 00:00:19,100 --> 00:00:21,580 about what lay ahead. 3 00:00:40,780 --> 00:00:44,540 And just a few years later, it seemed to millions of Germans 4 00:00:44,540 --> 00:00:49,100 that Hitler had indeed created a future that belonged to them. 5 00:01:00,740 --> 00:01:03,900 In 1941, when this film was taken, 6 00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:07,300 Hitler was all but worshipped by his followers. 7 00:01:13,180 --> 00:01:15,260 In pursuit of his racist vision, 8 00:01:15,260 --> 00:01:19,740 Hitler had led the German army to a series of momentous victories. 9 00:01:19,740 --> 00:01:21,740 His promises were taken as gospel. 10 00:01:23,380 --> 00:01:25,460 My diary of the time has that line: 11 00:01:25,460 --> 00:01:29,060 "Come what may, the Fuhrer will sort it." 12 00:01:29,060 --> 00:01:30,740 I wrote that myself. 13 00:01:30,740 --> 00:01:34,620 I also believed, "Gosh, he's achieved so much already!" 14 00:01:34,620 --> 00:01:37,420 That was the point - all the things he'd achieved! 15 00:01:39,580 --> 00:01:43,380 But as the war progressed, the successes stopped coming. 16 00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:55,700 And then, the end. We were abandoned. 17 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:57,380 We had to suffer our fate. 18 00:02:04,380 --> 00:02:07,660 With insights from those who lived through these times - 19 00:02:07,660 --> 00:02:11,820 most of whom were interviewed by the BBC over the last 20 years - 20 00:02:11,820 --> 00:02:17,380 this film reveals how Hitler tried to retain his charismatic appeal, 21 00:02:17,380 --> 00:02:20,220 as the bond between the German people and Hitler 22 00:02:20,220 --> 00:02:22,500 was tested as never before. 23 00:02:47,300 --> 00:02:50,500 Adolf Hitler loved this landscape. 24 00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:53,460 It was here, amidst the mountains of southern Bavaria, 25 00:02:53,460 --> 00:02:56,180 that he said his ideas matured. 26 00:02:59,380 --> 00:03:04,100 And on 31st July 1940, at his house, the Berghof, 27 00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:08,700 he announced his most ambitious idea yet to his military leaders. 28 00:03:11,660 --> 00:03:14,980 Now that the Germans had conquered much of Western Europe, 29 00:03:14,980 --> 00:03:18,220 Hitler was thinking in epic terms. 30 00:03:18,220 --> 00:03:23,140 He wanted plans drawn up to invade the Soviet Union - a country which 31 00:03:23,140 --> 00:03:28,100 in his warped view of the world was led by Jewish/Bolshevik criminals. 32 00:03:28,100 --> 00:03:32,140 But it was also a country he'd signed a non-aggression pact with, 33 00:03:32,140 --> 00:03:35,300 as well as a country twice as large as Europe. 34 00:03:35,300 --> 00:03:38,780 The generals listened to Hitler's idea and many thought, 35 00:03:38,780 --> 00:03:40,820 "Shouldn't be too difficult." 36 00:03:46,740 --> 00:03:50,780 People thought, and the military leaders were among them, 37 00:03:50,780 --> 00:03:53,580 that it would be relatively easy to eliminate the Russian army 38 00:03:53,580 --> 00:03:56,620 with one short, forceful blow. 39 00:03:56,620 --> 00:03:59,340 Based on the information we had about the Russian army, 40 00:03:59,340 --> 00:04:02,380 I also believed that it would not be much of a problem. 41 00:04:06,460 --> 00:04:09,700 These soldiers knew that Hitler had been saying for years 42 00:04:09,700 --> 00:04:13,300 that the biggest danger Germany faced was the Soviet Union, 43 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:15,900 and many thought their Fuhrer was right. 44 00:04:25,500 --> 00:04:28,980 Fresh from their recent victory over France, 45 00:04:28,980 --> 00:04:32,620 German soldiers were full of confidence in Hitler's judgment. 46 00:04:36,820 --> 00:04:39,180 So much so, that he was called 47 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:42,140 "the greatest military commander of all time" 48 00:04:42,140 --> 00:04:43,940 by one of his leading generals. 49 00:04:46,580 --> 00:04:49,540 Hitler was more than an ordinary leader. 50 00:04:49,540 --> 00:04:53,300 By now, he was considered by many to be almost superhuman. 51 00:05:04,700 --> 00:05:09,260 And it wasn't just Hitler who was thought to be a superior being. 52 00:05:09,260 --> 00:05:13,100 His connection with those Germans he considered racially pure 53 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:17,020 was based, in part, on a shared sense of superiority. 54 00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:22,020 Millions of ordinary Germans, especially the young, 55 00:05:22,020 --> 00:05:24,540 had been told that they were special, too. 56 00:05:30,940 --> 00:05:34,620 We had been taught that only the Germans were valuable human beings. 57 00:05:34,620 --> 00:05:36,580 There was a little booklet called, 58 00:05:36,580 --> 00:05:40,100 German Inventors, German Poets, German Musicians. 59 00:05:40,100 --> 00:05:41,780 Nothing else existed. 60 00:05:41,780 --> 00:05:43,140 And we devoured it, 61 00:05:43,140 --> 00:05:46,580 and we were absolutely convinced that we were the greatest. 62 00:05:49,420 --> 00:05:53,020 And since Hitler boasted that the Germans were a superior race, 63 00:05:53,020 --> 00:05:57,580 he believed that victory over those he considered racially inferior, 64 00:05:57,580 --> 00:06:01,900 like the people of the Soviet Union, would be relatively straightforward. 65 00:06:06,140 --> 00:06:09,820 And so, on 22nd June 1941, 66 00:06:09,820 --> 00:06:12,660 the Germans launched the largest invasion 67 00:06:12,660 --> 00:06:14,260 in the history of the world. 68 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:34,700 Within just a week, the Germans had advanced more than 200 miles 69 00:06:34,700 --> 00:06:39,020 into Soviet territory and reached Minsk, capital of Belorussia. 70 00:06:40,980 --> 00:06:43,700 This wasn't just the biggest invasion in history, 71 00:06:43,700 --> 00:06:46,580 it was turning out to be one of the quickest, as well. 72 00:06:58,100 --> 00:06:59,860 You thought it was a doddle. 73 00:06:59,860 --> 00:07:03,620 The Russians were all defecting in droves or were taken prisoner. 74 00:07:03,620 --> 00:07:05,700 And we would have a splendid life 75 00:07:05,700 --> 00:07:09,020 and the war would be over in six months - a year at most. 76 00:07:11,220 --> 00:07:13,500 There were soldiers who advanced singing. 77 00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:15,620 It's hard to believe, but it's a fact. 78 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:32,300 And soon, German troops were celebrating. 79 00:07:45,060 --> 00:07:48,260 Back in Berlin, on 3rd October 1941, 80 00:07:48,260 --> 00:07:52,020 Hitler publicly gloried in the successes on the Eastern Front. 81 00:08:00,220 --> 00:08:03,980 At the Sportpalast, he basked in the adulation of the crowd. 82 00:08:21,980 --> 00:08:24,420 Faith in Hitler's charismatic leadership 83 00:08:24,420 --> 00:08:29,460 had been built on his ability to deliver success after success. 84 00:08:29,460 --> 00:08:33,300 And here he was, so it seemed, successful, once again. 85 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:55,900 Hitler even went so far as to say 86 00:08:55,900 --> 00:08:59,380 explicitly that the Red Army had been defeated. 87 00:09:26,260 --> 00:09:29,700 All this euphoria about the invasion of the Soviet Union 88 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:35,340 highlighted a key aspect of Hitler's charismatic leadership. 89 00:09:37,820 --> 00:09:40,860 His ability to allow those who worked for him 90 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:43,700 to dream of wildly ambitious schemes. 91 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:50,140 To work, as their Fuhrer did, unhindered by moral restraint. 92 00:10:02,140 --> 00:10:06,060 German technocrats knew that Hitler had called for this to be a war 93 00:10:06,060 --> 00:10:07,580 of annihilation, 94 00:10:07,580 --> 00:10:11,060 and for months before the invasion, had been working out 95 00:10:11,060 --> 00:10:14,620 how many people in the Soviet Union should be starved to death. 96 00:10:17,420 --> 00:10:20,740 These people were surplus to Nazi requirements. 97 00:10:26,180 --> 00:10:29,860 And one calculation was that there were 30 million of them. 98 00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:43,620 When the German army occupied the Soviet city of Kharkov, 99 00:10:43,620 --> 00:10:46,740 they deliberately tried to starve the population. 100 00:10:48,700 --> 00:10:52,220 German soldiers, who'd been told to steal provisions 101 00:10:52,220 --> 00:10:56,020 from the locals, in order to feed themselves, sealed the city, 102 00:10:56,020 --> 00:10:57,380 and only gave food 103 00:10:57,380 --> 00:11:00,180 to the small number of people who worked for them. 104 00:11:01,540 --> 00:11:03,780 The rest began to die of hunger. 105 00:11:07,260 --> 00:11:09,500 In the final stages of starvation, 106 00:11:09,500 --> 00:11:13,060 your lips get somehow stretched, and it's what they call a hungry grin. 107 00:11:13,060 --> 00:11:17,100 You don't know whether a person is grinning or crying. 108 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:19,060 But the teeth are bare. 109 00:11:19,060 --> 00:11:22,140 Then, diarrhoea, the so-called hungry diarrhoea. 110 00:11:22,140 --> 00:11:24,540 And then comes a bitter taste in the mouth. 111 00:11:34,460 --> 00:11:37,540 This murderous policy was based on the belief 112 00:11:37,540 --> 00:11:40,060 that the Germans were superior. 113 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:41,500 But what if they weren't? 114 00:11:57,380 --> 00:12:01,300 The arrival of the Russian winter brought the first major military 115 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:04,740 setback for the Germans since the end of the First World War. 116 00:12:10,180 --> 00:12:14,180 When soldiers during the night had no opportunity to warm up somewhere, 117 00:12:14,180 --> 00:12:16,060 they got frozen toes and fingers. 118 00:12:16,060 --> 00:12:18,620 We were totally under-equipped. 119 00:12:24,540 --> 00:12:28,620 The soldiers were overwhelmed by fatigue and couldn't think straight. 120 00:12:28,620 --> 00:12:30,140 Nearly numbed by fatigue. 121 00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:37,980 Hitler and his generals had been so confident of swift victory 122 00:12:37,980 --> 00:12:42,140 that soldiers hadn't been provided with proper cold weather equipment. 123 00:12:45,140 --> 00:12:47,420 And when the Red Army counter-attacked, 124 00:12:47,420 --> 00:12:51,580 it looked like the whole German offensive might collapse. 125 00:13:06,900 --> 00:13:11,060 It was the greatest test yet for Hitler's leadership. 126 00:13:11,060 --> 00:13:13,540 And he responded by telling his soldiers 127 00:13:13,540 --> 00:13:16,860 simply to hold their nerve and stand fast. 128 00:13:19,860 --> 00:13:22,540 In the cold Soviet forests, they might die, 129 00:13:22,540 --> 00:13:26,780 but that was what soldiers were supposed to do when asked. 130 00:13:29,740 --> 00:13:33,820 Do you think Frederick the Great's grenadiers were happy to die, either? 131 00:13:33,820 --> 00:13:37,620 In the same way, I consider myself entitled to ask 132 00:13:37,620 --> 00:13:40,020 every German soldier to lay down his life. 133 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:48,660 Hitler's lack of compassion, lack of pity, hadn't mattered to most 134 00:13:48,660 --> 00:13:52,620 of these German soldiers, as long as they were winning easy victories. 135 00:13:55,620 --> 00:13:59,100 But now, Hitler's Darwinian beliefs meant that he could 136 00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:01,500 see his soldiers die without a care. 137 00:14:04,820 --> 00:14:06,740 After all, hadn't he always said 138 00:14:06,740 --> 00:14:08,860 that the weak didn't deserve to live? 139 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:19,900 Ever since he came to power, 140 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:23,300 Hitler had been portrayed as a man of strength. 141 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:25,380 A man who could not make a mistake. 142 00:14:27,380 --> 00:14:31,380 Goebbels, the propaganda minister, had said that building this image 143 00:14:31,380 --> 00:14:33,860 had been one of his greatest achievements. 144 00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:37,580 Via the creation of the Fuhrer myth, 145 00:14:37,580 --> 00:14:40,500 Hitler has been given the halo of infallibility. 146 00:14:43,900 --> 00:14:48,300 But now, Hitler was beginning to appear all too fallible. 147 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:52,380 He'd told the German people that the Red Army would never rise again. 148 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:54,420 But it just had. 149 00:14:56,060 --> 00:14:59,500 To help solve this difficulty, Goebbels turned to history. 150 00:15:07,620 --> 00:15:12,020 In March 1942, a film was released about a charismatic leader 151 00:15:12,020 --> 00:15:15,700 from Germany's past - the Prussian king, Frederick the Great. 152 00:15:20,820 --> 00:15:25,020 And every German knew that Frederick had also suffered setbacks, 153 00:15:25,020 --> 00:15:26,740 but had triumphed in the end. 154 00:15:33,020 --> 00:15:36,700 Frederick the Great was supposed to symbolise Hitler. 155 00:15:39,660 --> 00:15:42,300 The German who watched it was supposed to think 156 00:15:42,300 --> 00:15:44,820 that here was a similar situation to the present, 157 00:15:44,820 --> 00:15:48,740 that the war could be as desperate as that, that there were still 158 00:15:48,740 --> 00:15:50,500 possibilities to turn it round, 159 00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:52,780 and that it could be brought to victory. 160 00:16:16,860 --> 00:16:20,500 Since the start of the campaign against the Soviet Union, 161 00:16:20,500 --> 00:16:24,220 Germany's new Frederick the Great, Adolf Hitler, had chosen 162 00:16:24,220 --> 00:16:28,580 to spend his time here, isolated in a forest in East Prussia. 163 00:16:36,460 --> 00:16:40,900 This was his field headquarters, known as the Wolf's Lair. 164 00:16:44,860 --> 00:16:48,540 Hitler said to one of his generals that it was important to keep one's 165 00:16:48,540 --> 00:16:53,220 distance from the suffering on the front line, so as not to feel pity. 166 00:16:57,020 --> 00:17:00,340 But even though he and his staff were hundreds of miles away 167 00:17:00,340 --> 00:17:03,860 from the fighting, it still wasn't possible to hide from 168 00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:05,740 the stark realities of this war. 169 00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:14,020 Just after the Soviets started their counter-offensive, 170 00:17:14,020 --> 00:17:19,100 in December 1941, Hitler had gained a new enemy - the Americans, 171 00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:21,300 with their vast industrial capacity. 172 00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:32,860 It was around this time that Hitler held important discussions 173 00:17:32,860 --> 00:17:36,300 about increasing the Nazi persecution of the Jews. 174 00:17:38,140 --> 00:17:39,780 How Hitler did this 175 00:17:39,780 --> 00:17:42,940 reveals a great deal about how his leadership worked. 176 00:17:48,820 --> 00:17:51,740 Hitler hated formal government meetings. 177 00:17:51,740 --> 00:17:54,620 Even though there was officially still a German cabinet, 178 00:17:54,620 --> 00:17:58,420 Hitler had not allowed the cabinet to meet since 1938. 179 00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:02,940 A charismatic leader like Hitler 180 00:18:02,940 --> 00:18:06,020 didn't want to take part in some sort of committee meeting, 181 00:18:06,020 --> 00:18:09,460 where he might have to listen to the views of others. 182 00:18:12,780 --> 00:18:17,020 Instead, at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler met Heinrich Himmler, 183 00:18:17,020 --> 00:18:21,460 head of the SS, on 18th December, 1941. 184 00:18:26,660 --> 00:18:29,340 And the killing of Jews was discussed. 185 00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:31,340 Just between the two of them - 186 00:18:31,340 --> 00:18:34,140 unter vier Augen - under four eyes. 187 00:18:51,020 --> 00:18:55,820 Several hundred thousand Jews had already been killed by the Nazis, 188 00:18:55,820 --> 00:19:01,580 mostly in the Soviet Union, but now, starting in 1942, the Nazis 189 00:19:01,580 --> 00:19:05,500 tried to round up the Jews of Europe and systematically murder them. 190 00:19:10,780 --> 00:19:13,620 Hitler authorised the killings of the Holocaust, 191 00:19:13,620 --> 00:19:18,180 but many others sorted out the detail of how it was to happen. 192 00:19:26,140 --> 00:19:29,100 And despite the scale of the crime, 193 00:19:29,100 --> 00:19:32,940 Hitler never had to deal with any mass public protest in Germany 194 00:19:32,940 --> 00:19:35,460 about the deportation of the Jews. 195 00:19:36,980 --> 00:19:40,780 Hitler was always sensitive to the mood of the general population, 196 00:19:40,780 --> 00:19:42,340 even during the war. 197 00:19:55,820 --> 00:20:00,660 What happened here in Bavaria in 1941 shows just how responsive 198 00:20:00,660 --> 00:20:05,020 the Nazis could be to the feelings of ordinary Germans. 199 00:20:26,940 --> 00:20:31,660 Bavaria was a largely Catholic area, and when a leading Bavarian Nazi 200 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:34,620 decreed that schools should stop displaying crucifixes 201 00:20:34,620 --> 00:20:37,180 in the classroom, there was public outrage. 202 00:20:42,340 --> 00:20:43,740 As a mother of eight, 203 00:20:43,740 --> 00:20:47,580 our Fuhrer awarded me with the Mother's Cross in gold. 204 00:20:47,580 --> 00:20:50,220 It is incomprehensible to me that my youngest, 205 00:20:50,220 --> 00:20:52,900 whom last Monday I led to school for the first time, 206 00:20:52,900 --> 00:20:54,420 should not see a crucifix there, 207 00:20:54,420 --> 00:20:57,060 after his seven siblings 208 00:20:57,060 --> 00:21:00,660 have grown up in the shadow of the crucifix, hitherto. 209 00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:05,220 I often contemplate and cannot solve the mystery how such a measure 210 00:21:05,220 --> 00:21:10,140 is possible at all, since our Fuhrer stands by his soldiers in the east 211 00:21:10,140 --> 00:21:12,140 and fights against Bolshevikism. 212 00:21:14,260 --> 00:21:18,740 Despite the fact that Hitler loathed Christianity himself, 213 00:21:18,740 --> 00:21:21,740 the Nazis reversed the policy on crucifixes, 214 00:21:21,740 --> 00:21:24,020 because it was damaging German morale. 215 00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:43,020 With the disappearance of the Russian winter, 216 00:21:43,020 --> 00:21:46,460 the Germans started to recover their optimism. 217 00:21:46,460 --> 00:21:49,060 The Red Army counter-attack had ground to a halt 218 00:21:49,060 --> 00:21:53,860 and, by the summer of 1942, German units were advancing again, 219 00:21:53,860 --> 00:21:56,900 travelling across the steppes in the south of Russia. 220 00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:06,900 In less than eight weeks, they advanced 500 miles. 221 00:22:11,820 --> 00:22:15,180 We were better soldiers than the Russians. We were better. 222 00:22:15,180 --> 00:22:19,140 It filled us with pride to advance that far to the east, 223 00:22:19,140 --> 00:22:20,380 further and further. 224 00:22:27,940 --> 00:22:32,580 We were all inspired by the belief that we succeed in whatever we do, 225 00:22:32,580 --> 00:22:35,820 and that for us, nothing is impossible. 226 00:22:54,500 --> 00:22:58,500 In August 1942, the German Sixth Army reached 227 00:22:58,500 --> 00:23:02,940 the River Volga, 1,400 miles east of Berlin. 228 00:23:05,140 --> 00:23:10,620 And then, suddenly, a broad silvery ribbon, the Volga. 229 00:23:10,620 --> 00:23:15,060 We knew this was the goal, the ultimate goal of the war, maybe, 230 00:23:15,060 --> 00:23:16,500 to get to the Volga. 231 00:23:16,500 --> 00:23:18,100 It was an exciting feeling. 232 00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:22,300 But on the bank of the Volga lay a city 233 00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:27,020 still occupied by the Soviets, a city then called Stalingrad. 234 00:23:33,700 --> 00:23:36,740 Hitler ordered the commander of the German Sixth Army, 235 00:23:36,740 --> 00:23:40,020 Friedrich Paulus, to take Stalingrad at once. 236 00:23:41,780 --> 00:23:44,980 And in a speech a few weeks later, Hitler said: 237 00:23:44,980 --> 00:23:50,260 "You can rest assured no human being can remove us from this place." 238 00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:55,180 But there was a growing disconnect between the promises 239 00:23:55,180 --> 00:23:58,900 Hitler was making, and the ability of his troops to achieve them. 240 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:03,940 The basis of his charismatic leadership 241 00:24:03,940 --> 00:24:07,980 had always been his certainty that his vision was attainable. 242 00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:11,420 But now, with supply lines stretched almost to breaking point, 243 00:24:11,420 --> 00:24:15,660 German generals questioned whether their troops had the resources 244 00:24:15,660 --> 00:24:17,540 to do what their Fuhrer wanted. 245 00:24:31,820 --> 00:24:37,660 A meeting, here in Berlin in August 1942, at the aviation ministry, 246 00:24:37,660 --> 00:24:41,260 showed just how Hitler's unrealistic style of leadership 247 00:24:41,260 --> 00:24:43,580 influenced those Nazis closest to him. 248 00:24:47,580 --> 00:24:51,540 This giant office block, one of the biggest in the world 249 00:24:51,540 --> 00:24:56,340 when it was opened, was built for Reich Marshall Hermann Goering. 250 00:24:58,220 --> 00:24:59,780 A former fighter pilot, 251 00:24:59,780 --> 00:25:02,500 Goering was not only head of the German airforce, 252 00:25:02,500 --> 00:25:05,100 he was also helping to run the German economy. 253 00:25:10,860 --> 00:25:13,660 On the 6th August, Goering met Nazi officials 254 00:25:13,660 --> 00:25:15,540 from the occupied territories. 255 00:25:15,540 --> 00:25:17,540 And Goering, attempting to manage them 256 00:25:17,540 --> 00:25:21,420 in the same way Hitler would, simply told them what he wanted. 257 00:25:23,180 --> 00:25:27,260 I have here reports from you on how much you expect to deliver. 258 00:25:28,660 --> 00:25:32,140 This is nothing in view of your territories. 259 00:25:32,140 --> 00:25:35,420 Last year, France delivered 550,000 tons of grain, 260 00:25:35,420 --> 00:25:38,940 and now, I demand 1.2 million. 261 00:25:38,940 --> 00:25:41,540 There will be no discussion about it. 262 00:25:46,740 --> 00:25:49,380 They were unobtainable demands. 263 00:25:49,380 --> 00:25:51,700 And Goering was constantly making them. 264 00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:57,940 So much so, that some people who worked directly for him chose to 265 00:25:57,940 --> 00:26:01,780 kill themselves, when they couldn't deliver what was asked of them. 266 00:26:04,860 --> 00:26:10,980 Luftwaffe General Ernst Udet shot himself in 1941. 267 00:26:12,060 --> 00:26:15,900 As did Hans Jeschnonnek, chief of the Luftwaffe General staff, 268 00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:17,460 in 1943. 269 00:26:20,980 --> 00:26:24,420 Jeschonnek left a suicide note, in which he said: 270 00:26:24,420 --> 00:26:27,980 "It is no longer possible to work with the Reich Marshall. 271 00:26:27,980 --> 00:26:29,220 "Long live the Fuhrer." 272 00:26:35,180 --> 00:26:38,860 Also desperate, as autumn turned to winter in Stalingrad, 273 00:26:38,860 --> 00:26:41,580 were soldiers of the German Sixth Army. 274 00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:44,420 They were finding that fulfilling Hitler's order 275 00:26:44,420 --> 00:26:46,780 to take the city was all but impossible. 276 00:26:55,460 --> 00:26:58,260 This was street fighting, at close quarters, 277 00:26:58,260 --> 00:27:03,180 and the Germans were used to driving their tanks across the steppes. 278 00:27:12,260 --> 00:27:15,700 You had to make your way to the front ducking, crouching, 279 00:27:15,700 --> 00:27:18,540 kneeling. Shots rang out from all sides, 280 00:27:18,540 --> 00:27:20,580 from the front, from behind, 281 00:27:20,580 --> 00:27:22,940 from above, from below. 282 00:27:22,940 --> 00:27:26,180 And all around you was the noise of the artillery salvos. 283 00:27:27,860 --> 00:27:32,540 We were repeatedly told, another 100 metres, and you've done it, 284 00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:35,780 but how can it be done if you just don't have the strength? 285 00:27:39,780 --> 00:27:43,980 Each attack resulted in such a high number of losses, that it was 286 00:27:43,980 --> 00:27:47,820 easy to calculate how long it would be before there was no-one left. 287 00:27:55,300 --> 00:27:59,540 In November 1942, Hitler learnt that the Red Army had launched 288 00:27:59,540 --> 00:28:03,220 a huge offensive near Stalingrad, and the German Sixth Army, 289 00:28:03,220 --> 00:28:06,060 fighting inside the city, was now cut off. 290 00:28:09,420 --> 00:28:12,340 But he wouldn't let them make a fighting retreat. 291 00:28:12,340 --> 00:28:15,380 He ordered them to stay where they were. 292 00:28:15,380 --> 00:28:17,860 Hitler's stubbornness, his intransigence, 293 00:28:17,860 --> 00:28:20,300 his refusal to listen to the advice of others - 294 00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:23,220 qualities that had helped make him seem a strong leader 295 00:28:23,220 --> 00:28:26,340 before the war - were now revealed as weaknesses. 296 00:28:28,940 --> 00:28:32,100 Weaknesses compounded during the Stalingrad crisis 297 00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:36,500 by Hitler's willingness to rely on the promises of Herman Goering. 298 00:28:42,820 --> 00:28:45,820 Goering had boasted that the Luftwaffe could supply 299 00:28:45,820 --> 00:28:47,420 the Sixth Army from the air. 300 00:28:52,220 --> 00:28:55,820 So all these soldiers had to do in Stalingrad, 301 00:28:55,820 --> 00:28:58,700 freezing, and surrounded by their enemy, 302 00:28:58,700 --> 00:29:02,780 was to rely on Hermann Goering to keep his word. 303 00:29:11,820 --> 00:29:13,300 Back in Germany, 304 00:29:13,300 --> 00:29:18,420 the population was largely ignorant of what was happening in Stalingrad. 305 00:29:18,420 --> 00:29:21,580 This was the film that Goebbels's propaganda ministry 306 00:29:21,580 --> 00:29:24,340 chose to release for Christmas 1942. 307 00:29:37,260 --> 00:29:40,580 An emotional attempt to show how German women and children 308 00:29:40,580 --> 00:29:43,620 still believed in victory, and stood behind 309 00:29:43,620 --> 00:29:47,940 husbands and fathers at the front line, and, crucially, their Fuhrer. 310 00:29:53,620 --> 00:29:58,100 But increasingly, it was a fantasy, and this was the reality. 311 00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:11,780 On the 2nd of February 1943, the last German soldiers 312 00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:14,500 surrendered to the Red Army in Stalingrad. 313 00:30:17,180 --> 00:30:20,540 Goering's Luftwaffe hadn't been able to provide the Sixth Army 314 00:30:20,540 --> 00:30:24,780 with adequate supplies and all attempts to rescue them had failed. 315 00:30:36,180 --> 00:30:38,780 The Red Army took more than 90,000 prisoners. 316 00:30:52,740 --> 00:30:56,060 The commander of the Sixth Army, Friedrich Paulus, 317 00:30:56,060 --> 00:30:58,780 also fell into Soviet hands. 318 00:30:58,780 --> 00:31:01,620 He had been promoted by Hitler to the rank of Field Marshal 319 00:31:01,620 --> 00:31:04,260 just before the German surrender. 320 00:31:04,260 --> 00:31:08,700 It was a hint that Hitler wanted Paulus to commit suicide. 321 00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:10,900 German Field Marshals were not expected 322 00:31:10,900 --> 00:31:12,700 to be captured alive in battle. 323 00:31:26,860 --> 00:31:30,780 Hitler was furious when he heard that Paulus hadn't killed himself. 324 00:31:37,860 --> 00:31:40,660 At his headquarters, he raged against him. 325 00:31:43,420 --> 00:31:47,060 "It hurts me so much, because the heroism of so many soldiers 326 00:31:47,060 --> 00:31:51,020 "is obliterated by one single spineless weakling. 327 00:31:51,020 --> 00:31:55,580 "What does this mean, "life"? The individual has to die, anyway. 328 00:31:55,580 --> 00:31:57,620 "What lives on is the people." 329 00:32:00,820 --> 00:32:05,020 Hitler also spoke of how he wanted those around him to behave, 330 00:32:05,020 --> 00:32:07,300 if the situation ever seemed hopeless. 331 00:32:08,620 --> 00:32:12,020 "You stand together, form an all-round defence, 332 00:32:12,020 --> 00:32:14,500 "and shoot yourself with the last bullet." 333 00:32:17,620 --> 00:32:21,740 It was another sign of the potential downside of having faith in Hitler. 334 00:32:23,060 --> 00:32:24,940 He couldn't have made it clearer. 335 00:32:24,940 --> 00:32:27,020 This war was all or nothing. 336 00:32:27,020 --> 00:32:28,380 Life or death. 337 00:32:29,820 --> 00:32:32,260 And death now seemed the more likely option 338 00:32:32,260 --> 00:32:36,180 as the boasts of victory on the Eastern Front rang ever more hollow. 339 00:33:28,220 --> 00:33:30,420 Now, in the spring of 1943, 340 00:33:30,420 --> 00:33:33,260 with the war going as badly as this for the Germans, 341 00:33:33,260 --> 00:33:36,740 there were concerted attempts to get rid of Hitler. 342 00:33:47,460 --> 00:33:50,900 Officers serving with Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front 343 00:33:50,900 --> 00:33:54,980 wrapped up a bomb, pretending it was two bottles of liqueur. 344 00:34:00,460 --> 00:34:03,660 One of them then passed on the package to a passenger 345 00:34:03,660 --> 00:34:06,860 who was travelling with Hitler on his plane. 346 00:34:06,860 --> 00:34:11,420 The conspirators wanted Hitler's death to be blamed on a plane crash. 347 00:34:11,420 --> 00:34:14,500 That way, they wouldn't be criticised by other officers 348 00:34:14,500 --> 00:34:16,940 who remained loyal to Hitler. 349 00:34:20,060 --> 00:34:23,940 But the bomb failed to go off, and Hitler's plane landed safely. 350 00:34:29,540 --> 00:34:33,260 Though some army officers were prepared to try and blow Hitler up, 351 00:34:33,260 --> 00:34:37,220 no-one could be found in 1943 who had access to Hitler 352 00:34:37,220 --> 00:34:42,060 and could bring himself to shoot his Fuhrer face to face. 353 00:34:42,060 --> 00:34:46,060 At least one conspirator said he was just not equal to the task. 354 00:34:48,940 --> 00:34:51,060 The legacy of his personal charisma 355 00:34:51,060 --> 00:34:53,820 might well have saved Hitler's life that year. 356 00:34:58,020 --> 00:35:00,540 In the aftermath of the defeat at Stalingrad, 357 00:35:00,540 --> 00:35:02,740 Hitler wasn't keen to speak in public, 358 00:35:02,740 --> 00:35:05,700 and Josef Goebbels attempted to raise morale. 359 00:35:49,140 --> 00:35:52,500 But Goebbels didn't just offer the German people 360 00:35:52,500 --> 00:35:54,780 this fanatical talk of "total war." 361 00:35:54,780 --> 00:35:57,860 He also gave them something else - escapism. 362 00:36:08,340 --> 00:36:09,820 In March 1943, 363 00:36:09,820 --> 00:36:14,220 one of the most expensive German films of the period was released, 364 00:36:14,220 --> 00:36:16,540 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. 365 00:36:37,100 --> 00:36:40,620 "The entertainment film had a political purpose. 366 00:36:40,620 --> 00:36:44,380 "That political purpose was to get the audience off the streets, 367 00:36:44,380 --> 00:36:47,620 "away from their household cares and family worries." 368 00:37:25,700 --> 00:37:28,100 Almost until the last day of his life, 369 00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:31,700 Hitler would try to sell his own fantasy to those around him, 370 00:37:31,700 --> 00:37:34,820 that Germany could still somehow win this war. 371 00:37:37,020 --> 00:37:39,580 And to do this, he relied in large part 372 00:37:39,580 --> 00:37:42,220 on his remaining charismatic powers. 373 00:37:45,140 --> 00:37:49,540 "I experienced examples of it, of men who came to tell him 374 00:37:49,540 --> 00:37:53,380 "it could not go on any longer, and even said that to him. 375 00:37:53,380 --> 00:37:58,300 "And then he talked for an hour and then they went and said, 376 00:37:58,300 --> 00:38:00,100 "I want to give it another try." 377 00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:05,620 "Well, he had an enormously strong will, you know, and he had 378 00:38:05,620 --> 00:38:09,660 "powers of persuasion that could gloss over any rational arguments." 379 00:38:13,980 --> 00:38:17,420 This amateur footage of Hitler with General Manstein 380 00:38:17,420 --> 00:38:20,900 gives a rare opportunity to see Hitler interacting 381 00:38:20,900 --> 00:38:22,700 with his military commanders. 382 00:38:28,860 --> 00:38:30,500 "At the end of every meeting, 383 00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:33,820 "he would always personally turn to the Field Marshal in charge 384 00:38:33,820 --> 00:38:37,620 "and say, "But you're not going to abandon me." 385 00:38:37,620 --> 00:38:40,540 "And he took both his hands and shook them. 386 00:38:40,540 --> 00:38:44,300 "He had an immense ability to manipulate and influence people." 387 00:38:53,940 --> 00:38:56,260 When Hitler said goodbye to Manstein, 388 00:38:56,260 --> 00:39:00,180 he looked him straight in the eye and held on to his hand for longer, 389 00:39:00,180 --> 00:39:01,820 much longer, than normal. 390 00:39:31,020 --> 00:39:34,940 But Hitler's motivational tricks were falling increasingly flat. 391 00:39:45,620 --> 00:39:51,020 On the 6th of June 1944 came D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy. 392 00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:56,860 'Fast rocket boats showered the enemy with their rain of death.' 393 00:39:58,340 --> 00:39:59,780 Two weeks later, 394 00:39:59,780 --> 00:40:03,740 the Red Army launched a massive offensive on the Eastern Front. 395 00:40:06,180 --> 00:40:09,300 All this demonstrated the sheer scale of the resources 396 00:40:09,300 --> 00:40:11,860 at the disposal of the Allies, 397 00:40:11,860 --> 00:40:14,580 resources the Germans could not hope to match. 398 00:40:14,580 --> 00:40:17,100 'Our beachhead to Berlin was established.' 399 00:40:29,300 --> 00:40:30,980 It was against the background 400 00:40:30,980 --> 00:40:33,700 of these military catastrophes for the Germans 401 00:40:33,700 --> 00:40:37,140 that the most famous attempt on Hitler's life was made, 402 00:40:37,140 --> 00:40:41,060 here at the Wolf's Lair on the 20th of July, 1944. 403 00:40:44,900 --> 00:40:48,020 Paradoxically, it would also show the lingering power 404 00:40:48,020 --> 00:40:50,140 of Hitler's charismatic authority. 405 00:40:53,300 --> 00:40:55,260 Count Claus von Stauffenberg, 406 00:40:55,260 --> 00:40:58,060 appalled at the way Hitler was leading Germany, 407 00:40:58,060 --> 00:41:01,900 planted a bomb under the table at Hitler's midday conference. 408 00:41:12,860 --> 00:41:16,260 Stauffenberg then hurried to the nearby military airfield 409 00:41:16,260 --> 00:41:20,060 and flew to Berlin, intending to help co-ordinate the coup there. 410 00:41:28,580 --> 00:41:32,660 Ahead of Stauffenberg, a number of other plotters had arrived here, 411 00:41:32,660 --> 00:41:36,620 at these offices of the German Army, on the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin. 412 00:41:41,100 --> 00:41:44,220 Amongst the conspirators in the building was the man who was 413 00:41:44,220 --> 00:41:47,780 supposed to be the new German Head of State, Ludwig Beck, 414 00:41:47,780 --> 00:41:50,940 former Chief of Staff of the Army. 415 00:41:50,940 --> 00:41:53,180 He waited to see how many other officers 416 00:41:53,180 --> 00:41:55,820 would pledge their support for the coup. 417 00:41:55,820 --> 00:42:00,020 But the question they asked was this - "Did Hitler still live?" 418 00:42:05,460 --> 00:42:07,580 And the answer was yes. 419 00:42:07,580 --> 00:42:11,260 Hitler had survived the bomb attempt with only minor injuries. 420 00:42:11,260 --> 00:42:14,100 The wooden walls of the conference room had blown out, 421 00:42:14,100 --> 00:42:15,740 dissipating the explosion. 422 00:42:20,380 --> 00:42:24,300 That evening, Major Remer, commander of the Berlin Guard Battalion, 423 00:42:24,300 --> 00:42:29,580 was uncertain what to do, until he spoke to Adolf Hitler on the phone. 424 00:42:29,580 --> 00:42:32,700 Hitler told him to suppress the coup at once. 425 00:42:32,700 --> 00:42:34,420 Sofort, mein Fuhrer. 426 00:42:34,420 --> 00:42:37,580 It was the sound of Hitler's voice that made Remer act. 427 00:42:39,340 --> 00:42:43,980 Forces loyal to Hitler re-took the Army offices on the Bendlerstrasse. 428 00:42:43,980 --> 00:42:46,620 Stauffenberg and three other plotters were taken out 429 00:42:46,620 --> 00:42:49,100 into this courtyard and immediately shot. 430 00:42:50,340 --> 00:42:51,700 Over the next weeks, 431 00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:56,220 several thousand other suspects were arrested, and 200 killed. 432 00:43:05,140 --> 00:43:09,300 In the early hours of the 21st of July, Hitler spoke on the radio, 433 00:43:09,300 --> 00:43:12,060 to tell the German people that he still lived. 434 00:44:03,500 --> 00:44:06,220 But public reaction to the attempt on Hitler's life 435 00:44:06,220 --> 00:44:10,180 showed how deep the roots of his charismatic power still reached. 436 00:44:11,180 --> 00:44:12,780 This response was typical. 437 00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:16,780 "I was outraged, 438 00:44:16,780 --> 00:44:20,500 "I was totally outraged that something like this could happen. 439 00:44:20,500 --> 00:44:23,380 "It was a horrible experience for me." 440 00:44:23,380 --> 00:44:25,940 "There was widespread relief that the attack had failed 441 00:44:25,940 --> 00:44:28,620 "and Hitler gained a lot of sympathy because of it." 442 00:44:29,740 --> 00:44:31,300 But this feeling of gratitude 443 00:44:31,300 --> 00:44:33,900 that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt 444 00:44:33,900 --> 00:44:37,620 didn't mean that people had faith that the war could still be won. 445 00:44:52,020 --> 00:44:55,380 Despite the image Goebbels' propaganda tried to project, 446 00:44:55,380 --> 00:45:00,340 of an idyllic world peopled by perfect Germans, 447 00:45:00,340 --> 00:45:02,860 Nazi internal intelligence reports 448 00:45:02,860 --> 00:45:07,180 detected a growing disenchantment with the regime 449 00:45:07,180 --> 00:45:09,500 and real fear about what lay ahead. 450 00:45:17,660 --> 00:45:20,260 And by the autumn of 1944, 451 00:45:20,260 --> 00:45:23,140 the Germans had a great deal to be fearful about. 452 00:45:37,860 --> 00:45:40,540 The Red Army was advancing into Germany. 453 00:45:43,140 --> 00:45:46,380 The countryside of East Prussia was the first German land 454 00:45:46,380 --> 00:45:48,100 to be occupied by the Soviets. 455 00:45:50,940 --> 00:45:53,020 And in some of the towns and villages, 456 00:45:53,020 --> 00:45:55,100 the Red Army committed atrocities. 457 00:45:55,100 --> 00:45:58,300 For Nazi propaganda, it was a gift, 458 00:45:58,300 --> 00:46:01,260 the reason to keep fighting was clearer than ever... 459 00:46:01,260 --> 00:46:05,180 to stop people Hitler called "animals from the steppes of Asia" 460 00:46:05,180 --> 00:46:07,300 from gaining control of Germany. 461 00:46:16,820 --> 00:46:19,540 What the Nazi propaganda didn't say, of course, 462 00:46:19,540 --> 00:46:23,140 was that a strong motivation for this terrible Soviet revenge 463 00:46:23,140 --> 00:46:26,260 was the countless horrors the Germans had perpetrated 464 00:46:26,260 --> 00:46:27,580 in the Soviet Union. 465 00:46:39,900 --> 00:46:43,580 Further inside Germany, faith in Hitler was being eroded. 466 00:46:47,700 --> 00:46:51,380 Charismatic leadership relies on a connection between the leader 467 00:46:51,380 --> 00:46:55,540 and the led, a connection based on faith that the leader knows best. 468 00:46:56,740 --> 00:46:58,940 That was now all but broken... 469 00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:04,620 ..in large part because towns and cities 470 00:47:04,620 --> 00:47:06,740 were being bombed to destruction, 471 00:47:06,740 --> 00:47:10,340 and many blamed not just the Nazis in general, 472 00:47:10,340 --> 00:47:12,060 but Hitler, in particular. 473 00:47:16,820 --> 00:47:18,900 "The Fuhrer has it easy. 474 00:47:18,900 --> 00:47:21,020 "He doesn't have to look after a family. 475 00:47:21,020 --> 00:47:23,260 "If the worst comes to the worst in the war, 476 00:47:23,260 --> 00:47:27,060 "he'll leave us all in a mess and put a bullet through his head." 477 00:47:31,620 --> 00:47:35,980 "It's always claimed that the Fuhrer was sent to us from God. 478 00:47:35,980 --> 00:47:38,620 "I don't doubt it. The Fuhrer was sent to us from God, 479 00:47:38,620 --> 00:47:41,620 "though not in order to save Germany, but to ruin it." 480 00:47:43,620 --> 00:47:45,420 In the face of such criticism, 481 00:47:45,420 --> 00:47:48,700 Nazi terror increased against the general population 482 00:47:48,700 --> 00:47:52,740 and thousands of Germans were shot for defeatism. 483 00:47:56,020 --> 00:47:58,140 The irony was not lost on these people that, 484 00:47:58,140 --> 00:47:59,940 just before the war began, 485 00:47:59,940 --> 00:48:04,780 one leading German had promised that no bombs would fall on Germany. 486 00:48:05,860 --> 00:48:09,140 Hermann Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe 487 00:48:09,140 --> 00:48:11,740 and serial breaker of promises. 488 00:48:21,860 --> 00:48:24,260 With much of Germany in ruins, 489 00:48:24,260 --> 00:48:28,780 in January 1945, Adolf Hitler spoke on the radio. 490 00:48:28,780 --> 00:48:30,860 And he revealed the gap that had grown 491 00:48:30,860 --> 00:48:34,100 between him and the German people. 492 00:48:34,100 --> 00:48:37,620 They knew the war was lost. He didn't appear to. 493 00:49:05,940 --> 00:49:09,380 Amidst this crisis, Joseph Goebbels thought he knew 494 00:49:09,380 --> 00:49:11,940 how to raise the morale of the German people. 495 00:49:18,380 --> 00:49:19,940 He released Kolberg, 496 00:49:19,940 --> 00:49:24,700 a historical epic about the heroic resistance of a small Prussian town 497 00:49:24,700 --> 00:49:28,380 to the invasion of the French, 140 years before. 498 00:49:32,220 --> 00:49:35,660 Goebbels was so keen on this film, that he ordered thousands 499 00:49:35,660 --> 00:49:38,580 of German soldiers to act in it as extras. 500 00:49:40,420 --> 00:49:43,860 "Goebbels even said to me that it was more important 501 00:49:43,860 --> 00:49:47,660 "that the soldiers act in his film, rather than fight at the front, 502 00:49:47,660 --> 00:49:49,500 "which was no longer worth doing, 503 00:49:49,500 --> 00:49:52,380 "since we were in the middle of a total collapse." 504 00:49:58,220 --> 00:50:00,740 And the message Goebbels wanted the German people 505 00:50:00,740 --> 00:50:04,220 to take from the film could scarcely have been more obvious. 506 00:50:39,180 --> 00:50:45,140 By January 1945, the Red Army had reached here, the River Oder, 507 00:50:45,140 --> 00:50:48,060 just 40 miles east of Berlin. 508 00:50:49,580 --> 00:50:53,340 They now outnumbered the German defenders more than three to one. 509 00:51:00,220 --> 00:51:03,660 Over the next weeks, the Soviets gathered their strength 510 00:51:03,660 --> 00:51:07,100 before crossing the Oder in April 1945, 511 00:51:07,100 --> 00:51:11,860 and launching 2.5 million soldiers against the German capital. 512 00:52:05,860 --> 00:52:08,100 In Berlin, Hitler was living in a bunker 513 00:52:08,100 --> 00:52:10,140 underneath the Reich Chancellery, 514 00:52:10,140 --> 00:52:12,700 which stood on this site on the Vossstrasse. 515 00:52:14,820 --> 00:52:16,140 As his empire crumbled, 516 00:52:16,140 --> 00:52:20,060 he tried to control what was left of the German Army. 517 00:52:20,060 --> 00:52:23,740 But he also spent his time dreaming of this... 518 00:52:33,140 --> 00:52:34,900 The city of Linz in Austria. 519 00:52:34,900 --> 00:52:36,940 Hitler had gone to school here 520 00:52:36,940 --> 00:52:40,020 and his parents were buried in one of Linz's suburbs. 521 00:52:47,500 --> 00:52:50,180 Hitler had huge plans for Linz 522 00:52:50,180 --> 00:52:53,540 and a large-scale model of the new, Hitler-approved Linz 523 00:52:53,540 --> 00:52:57,500 had been assembled in a cellar room of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, 524 00:52:57,500 --> 00:52:59,100 early in 1945. 525 00:53:02,540 --> 00:53:05,540 So that Hitler, as the Red Army closed in on him, 526 00:53:05,540 --> 00:53:08,780 could fantasise about what the new city would look like. 527 00:53:12,020 --> 00:53:14,100 Hitler had planned to retire to Linz, 528 00:53:14,100 --> 00:53:18,140 and a giant Adolf Hitler museum was to be built here. 529 00:53:18,140 --> 00:53:21,060 He also wanted the bodies of his parents to be dug up 530 00:53:21,060 --> 00:53:23,740 from their existing graves and re-interred 531 00:53:23,740 --> 00:53:27,580 in a specially-constructed bell tower in the centre of the city. 532 00:53:30,940 --> 00:53:33,500 His ability to construct visions of the future 533 00:53:33,500 --> 00:53:36,700 had always been a central part of his charismatic appeal. 534 00:53:38,060 --> 00:53:42,900 But by now, his visions had parted company completely with reality. 535 00:53:47,700 --> 00:53:50,420 Close by worked another fantasist. 536 00:53:53,060 --> 00:53:56,820 This was Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. 537 00:53:56,820 --> 00:54:00,940 And here, in April 1945, this was on his mind. 538 00:54:06,220 --> 00:54:08,540 The power of film to alter history. 539 00:54:09,700 --> 00:54:13,540 Goebbels tried to convince his staff to stay and make a last stand, 540 00:54:13,540 --> 00:54:17,060 because, he said, "In 100 years time, 541 00:54:17,060 --> 00:54:19,660 "a film will be made about this epic period." 542 00:54:21,020 --> 00:54:24,380 "Gentlemen, don't you want to play a part in this film? 543 00:54:24,380 --> 00:54:28,140 "To be brought back to life in 100 years' time. 544 00:54:28,140 --> 00:54:31,740 "I can assure you that it will be a fine and elevating picture. 545 00:54:31,740 --> 00:54:35,980 "And for the sake of this prospect, it is worth standing fast. 546 00:54:35,980 --> 00:54:39,300 "Hold out now, so that 100 years hence, 547 00:54:39,300 --> 00:54:42,460 "the audience does not hoot and whistle 548 00:54:42,460 --> 00:54:44,260 "when you appear on the screen." 549 00:54:45,460 --> 00:54:48,460 Goebbels planned what he thought was a heroic ending 550 00:54:48,460 --> 00:54:51,300 for himself, his wife and six children. 551 00:54:53,180 --> 00:54:55,540 They all came with him to Hitler's bunker 552 00:54:55,540 --> 00:54:57,900 where Goebbels had his children killed. 553 00:55:07,500 --> 00:55:10,420 After these children had been murdered, 554 00:55:10,420 --> 00:55:13,500 Goebbels and his wife committed suicide. 555 00:55:25,540 --> 00:55:30,500 Hitler had killed himself the day before, on 30th April 1945 556 00:55:30,500 --> 00:55:33,460 and his body was taken by other Nazis 557 00:55:33,460 --> 00:55:37,300 and burnt here, in what was then the garden of the Reich Chancellery. 558 00:55:39,500 --> 00:55:42,420 Just over a week later, Germany surrendered. 559 00:55:52,220 --> 00:55:55,780 In his last days, underground in this bunker, 560 00:55:55,780 --> 00:55:58,460 Hitler had composed a final testament, 561 00:55:58,460 --> 00:56:02,740 one that revealed his views of the world had not altered. 562 00:56:02,740 --> 00:56:05,220 He still blamed the Jews for everything, 563 00:56:05,220 --> 00:56:08,460 and possessed unshakeable confidence in himself. 564 00:56:12,420 --> 00:56:16,860 "In these three decades, all my thoughts, my actions, and my life 565 00:56:16,860 --> 00:56:19,020 "have been guided solely 566 00:56:19,020 --> 00:56:21,380 "by the love and loyalty to my people." 567 00:56:25,180 --> 00:56:28,180 Even in his last hours, Hitler had not changed. 568 00:56:31,900 --> 00:56:35,180 Almost all the elements that had enabled him to become 569 00:56:35,180 --> 00:56:39,460 a charismatic leader still existed within him, until his last breath. 570 00:56:39,460 --> 00:56:43,620 What had changed was other people's perception of him. 571 00:56:57,220 --> 00:57:03,140 This was Hitler's legacy, one of unparalleled destruction. 572 00:57:06,860 --> 00:57:08,940 Seven million Germans dead. 573 00:57:10,580 --> 00:57:17,100 Around 34 million dead in the countries that had fought Nazism, 574 00:57:17,100 --> 00:57:20,140 with six million Jews alone killed in the Holocaust. 575 00:57:26,060 --> 00:57:29,900 Hitler had said that those he considered racially-pure Germans 576 00:57:29,900 --> 00:57:33,180 were better than anyone else, and many had believed him. 577 00:57:41,380 --> 00:57:44,860 Hitler had not hypnotised these people into supporting him. 578 00:57:50,060 --> 00:57:53,620 They had chosen to follow a leader they felt had charisma. 579 00:58:00,780 --> 00:58:05,460 And this, in the end, was where their belief in Hitler had led them. 580 00:58:36,580 --> 00:58:39,620 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 581 00:58:40,260 --> 00:58:43,313 Best watched using Open Subtitles MKV Player 51584

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