All language subtitles for M.P.S01E17.1080p.WEB.h264-BAWD_track3_[eng]

- (theme music plays)

NARRATOR: We are beginning
our journey in Guantanamo

on the island of Cuba.

In 1903, the Americans lease
a plot of land here

from the Cuban government
in order to build a military base.

In 2002, the infamous
internment camp

is put into operation.

The reason:
the September 11 terror attacks.

Since 2002, mainly suspected Taliban
and Al Qaida members are detained.

The camp is very controversial.

The accusation: the USA aren’t
adhering to the Geneva convention.

This means that the prisoners
have no rights at all.

Each of our steps and of course
what we film is watched.

- (indistinct chatter)

- Everybody else that you talk to
today in the camps can be,

but no shots of guards.

NARRATOR: Especially trained public
relations officers lead us

through the camp.

First we visit the library.

We are not allowed to show the face
of the soldier who runs it.

The prisoners can choose from
over 35.000 different books,

DVDs and magazines in all kinds
of different languages.

They were all donated
by humanitarian organisations.

LIBRARIAN: We take them to them
on a weekly basis

and we'll take a couple of hundred
items.

We'll box up
and take them over to them.

And they are allowed to tell us:
"Hey, I’d like to get this item

this week" or... We're looking for
things that promote good order

and discipline in the camps,
have positive themes and values...

NARRATOR: Positive;
this is how the soldiers

want to present the camp to us.

Time and time again they emphasise
how well the prisoners

are treated here.

We hope that we will be able
to gather our own impressions

about this.

A bus takes us across the compound.

We are not allowed to roam freely.

The camp seems to be huge.

During its peak times, 700 prisoners
were locked up in the cells.

We want to get an idea of
the detention conditions ourselves.

At the time of our filming,
79 people are imprisoned here.

Most of them are in camp six.

This is where the soldiers
take us next.

The filming restrictions
become even stricter.

DIRECTOR: Can we film during
the drive?

- Uh, no.

We'll tell you when you can start.

- Here they have the opportunity to
engage with one another.

NARRATOR: Here we meet
Colonel Stephen Gabavics

for the first time.

He is the commander
of the prison camp.

- It is extremely important
that the world gets to see

what we do here and how great
our soldiers, sailors, airmen,

marine and coastguard do the mission
on a daily basis to provide

the safe and secure humane and legal
treatment to our detainees.

The majority of our detainees
are here in camp six.

Roughly 60% are here at camp six
and another approximately 20%

are in camp five.

NARRATOR:
That means there is another 20%.

But they do not want to show us
how these are housed.

At least we are allowed to take
a look around camp six.

In an empty single cell,
the soldiers present to us

the items that the prisoners
are allowed to have.

These include clothing, blankets,
headphones, cosmetics,

the Quran and writing utensils
that are self-harm-proof.

But the cells are empty.

In this part of the camp,
no more prisoners are detained.

Then the officers take us
to another part of the prison...

everything is darkened.

We may now only whisper.

Behind mirrored glass, we now see
prisoners for the first time.

Trying to get in contact with them
or even speaking to them

is strictly prohibited.

It is prayer time at the moment.

The detainees don’t know
that we are watching them.

These men are locked up
without having been sentenced

and nobody wants to tell us
what they are charged with.

The only statement:
because of the war.

Again and again ex-prisoners
report of random arrests.

Apparently the Americans
pay a premium to soldiers

or the police in Pakistan
and Afghanistan to hand over

terror suspects to them.

The officers take us
to neighbouring camp five.

Again they present a single cell
to us...

..and the media room.

According to them, the prisoners
can watch television here

for four hours per week...

in leg shackles.

Time after time, the officers
and guards emphasise

how well the prisoners
are treated here.

They even say that it is better here
than in the American prisons.

The officers keep stressing
that Guantanamo is not a prison.

- The biggest difference
is that in a prison

as you have in the United States
or elsewhere,

those are for people who have been
convicted in a court of law

but detainees were not arrested,

detainees were detained in relation
to some law of war aspect.

NARRATOR: The soldiers stand
behind this principle.

Colonel Gabavics, too.

He has only worked in the prison
camp for a couple of months.

- Oh, love it. It is a great job.

The opportunity to be with all these
soldiers, sailors, airmen,

marine, coastguard
and everything, it’s fantastic.

Just every day to be able to come
out here and see

what these great Americans do is...

makes me feel good.

NARRATOR: The day is coming
to an end.

But there is no chance of sleep
anytime soon.

Until midnight we are sat
in the media inspection centre.

Picture for picture, the officers
check our filmed material...

lots of it is deleted.

Over 700 prisoners
have been released

from Guantanamo by the Americans
in the last years.

Does this mean that all
of the detained people

were innocent after all?

We ask the chief PR officer.

- And once they are transferred
from Guantanamo

and the custody removes from us

to some other entity,

we've done our job.

And so it is not up to us to talk

about guilt or innocence.

It is our job to detain
the detainees

and care for them safely
and humanely while they are here.

NARRATOR: Due to torture accusations

Guantanamo keeps appearing
in the headlines again and again.

It is rumoured that soldiers even
use illegal questioning techniques

like waterboarding.

We want to know: is this true?

At the final press conference,
the highlight of our trip,

we have the chance to ask the chief
commander

about the torture accusations.

- There is no torture.

And when we do
voluntary interviews...

.. that is exactly what they are.
They're voluntary.

I can’t speak for what may have
happened in other places

or many many years ago here

but for a long time now

there has been nothing that could be
considered by anybody as torture.

We do voluntary interviews.

NARRATOR:
In 2009 the then US president

promised to close Guantanamo.

His time in office is now over
but the prison camp still exists.

For how long?

- All I can tell you is that right
now, we are following the directives

that we are given
and the intent right now

from the presidency is to close
Guantanamo bay,

we'll continue to do what we need to
do to facilitate that.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately nobody can
tell us exactly when

this is going to happen.

Our visit is now over...

what remains are the nightmarish
pictures

from one of the most secret places
on Earth.

NARRATOR: Chongqing in China.

At over 29 million inhabitants

this city is more than three times
the size of New York.

Here we are looking
for a mysterious house.

Do the locals know
the building in our picture?

- (translation from Chinese)

NARRATOR:
The metro in Chongqing carries

2.3 million passengers per day
on its only four lines.

And there it is.

After the underground station,
Niujiaotuo, the metro tracks

lead right through a house
with its own stop.

The station: Liziba.

- (bell chimes)

10 years ago, the worldwide unique
skyscraper was built.

Through that, during peak times,
a train passes every two minutes.

The mega city
has an enormous space problem.

But we will find out later
if this is the reason

for this unusual building.

But what do the inhabitants
of the house

think about their unusual neighbour?

Julen Pun has been living here
for 20 years.

- (speaks Chinese)

NARRATOR: Vegetables haven’t grown
here for years.

To be more specific, since the metro
was built through the house.

NARRATOR: The last
house that Julen Pun and his wife

lived in was torn down
because the government

wanted to build a motorway there
and they were made to resettle here.

But is it possible to ever get
any sleep with this noise?

NARRATOR: Altogether,
over 500 families live

in the Metro skyscraper.

Only one storey above the tracks
is the home of Niki Wen.

NARRATOR: Surrounded by
the river and mountains,

the town planners thought
it to be the best idea

to build the tracks
through the house.

YuChan Fu is a former employee
of the Metro

and was co-responsible
for this bizarre building project.

NARRATOR: But living in the metro
house also has its benefits.

Thanks to the good connection

everything is only a stone’s throw
away.

Julen Pun loves the close vicinity
to his metro.

The underground stops right inside
the house

and the government even pays
the fares for them.

NARRATOR: Two stops,
less than five minutes ride away

he is already at the next biggest
shopping centre

which fortunately is also right
inside the underground station.

NARRATOR: Before the metro was built

the supermarket was
a 45-minute-walk away for Julen.

Using line number two it now takes
him less than ten minutes.

Back home,
right beneath the roof garden,

about four metres under the tracks

the two-bedroom apartment
is located.

Here he lives with his wife Fuyan.

NARRATOR: By the way,
the rent in the metro house at $150

is four times cheaper
than in the surrounding buildings.

So this means that the people
in the residential metro community

save a lot of money.

Gryfino in Poland.

Here there is supposed
to be a crooked wood.

But why do all the trees here
look like this?

We head out in search of the answer.

- (translation from Polish)

NARRATOR: So the woods exist
but nobody knows its exact location.

We are trying to find somebody
responsible from the municipality.

We are sent to ask
ranger Daniel Pogorzelec.

NARRATOR: We follow him...
and the thick pipes

along the side of the road.

They are heat conducting pipes from
a close by nuclear power plant.

Some people say that the pipes are
responsible for the crooked trees.

But we'll get to that later.

After about a 4 km long drive,
ranger Daniel stops his car

in the middle of a forest
without any crooked trees.

We follow him on foot.

NARRATOR: And really,
the slanting trees,

the crooked forest
as it is called...

..it looks just like in the
pictures. Mysterious, almost spooky.

The woods could easily be
the set for a fantasy movie.

NARRATOR: But why is it this way?

The about 12 metres high pine trees
look like

upside down question marks.
And not only one of them.

We count them and there are...

..94.
How odd that there are so many.

NARRATOR: And how did the trees
develop?

NARRATOR: One of them:
close by there is a power plant

whose heat-conducting pipes
run by close to the woods.

The theory: the combined heat
and power station

has poisoned the ground through
incorrect storage of coal.

But the power plant
was only built in 1974

and the crooked trees have been in
the woods for much longer.

What we know for sure:
the pines were planted in 1934.

Scientists agree that 6 to 10 years
later a mysterious occurrence

made the trees grow
at a slanting angle.

So this event must have happened
during the Second World War.

Another popular theory
is that of the tanks.

NARRATOR: Is this possible?

Probably not, because if the tanks
had come through here

there would be a big swathe
of crooked trees

and not a circular area
that is enclosed by straight trees.

By now the mysterious forest
has started to attract tourists,

as in a few years the trees
will have died

because this kind of pine doesn’t
get any older than 100 years.

People who want to see the trees,
need to hurry. Just like Magdalena.

NARRATOR: We think so too.

Ranger Daniel uses his local
contacts

and arranges a meeting
with two scientists for us:

a cultural scientist
and a specialist

from the forestry commission office,
who both have very different

approaches to the issue.

NARRATOR: The condition
for this would be

that the snow masses bent the trees
for several months.

And really during the war
the area was hit

by multiple prolonged periods
of extreme cold with lots of snow.

But would this not mean
that the whole woods

would then have been affected?

NARRATOR: A technique like this
was used back then.

Young trees were cut in two places
and tied down.

This way this shape came about.

Years later the trees were made
into furniture or into sleds.

But because of the war
they were probably forgotten here

and weren’t cut down.

This would be a possibility.

But then we receive a call.

A German professor is said
to have a suspicion.

So we drive to Germany.

At the college for sustainable
development in Eberswalde

we meet professor Tobias Cremer.

The tree and woodland scientist
examines

the mysterious phenomenon for us.

- (translation from German)

NARRATOR: Manmade? That would
support the furniture theory.

But this technique was only used
until the 18th century.

So 200 years before the trees
were planted in Poland.

It is these inconspicuous-looking
holes that lead the scientist

onto the right track.

They prove that the trees were cut
when they were still small.

NARRATOR: The explanation:

at the age of six to ten years
the pine trees were cut back.

Only the lowest branch remained.

It then grew towards the sunlight
and eventually became

the thick main stem.

As the loggers left the lowest
branch on all the trees

he probably knew:
the trees would continue to grow.

So this way the stranger
created one of the most mysterious

and fascinating woods
about 70 years later.

NARRATOR: In Germany.

Prora. At four and a half kms,
it is the longest building complex

in the world.

The monster by the sea,
as Prora is also called.

Built by the Nazis,
used by the GDR-Regime.

Today the longest youth hostel
in the world is located here

and is planned to become a holiday
paradise due to the new luxury flats

that are to be built here.

But how will this structure make
the step into the future

without forgetting all the
things that happened here?

At the southern end of Prora,
the old ruins

have already turned into
a 500-metre-long building site.

Architect Ulrich Stuke has taken on
a mammoth project with Prora.

His team has already removed
8,000 tons of debris

from this tract alone.

The mission: to turn the mystery
place Prora into a luxury resort.

Here luxury roof terraces with
a view of the sea will be built.

Not an easy task,
as Prora is a listed building.

NARRATOR: In the longest building
in the world,

flats, holiday homes
and hotels will be built.

56 kms of sandy beaches
attract 1.5 million holiday makers

and nature lovers every year.

Back then, the Nazis built
the so-called

"coastal resort of the 20,000".

It is concrete proof
of the megalomania

of the National Socialist regime.

Susanna Misgajski wants to
commemorate it with her association,

as behind the holiday resort
was a perfidious plan.

NARRATOR: The individual was
supposed to vanish in the masses

in Prora. Brainwashing included:
via loudspeakers,

the NS propaganda reached
every room.

NARRATOR: So, from 1936 onwards,

eight blocks are built
along the coast.

A gigantic festival hall was also
planned but it was never built.

Also no holiday makers
ever came here

because in 1939 the Second World War
broke out.

This meant that the building process
was put on hold.

All that is left
of the "monster by the sea"

is the shell of the building.

What is remarkable is the so called
"resting halls"

in which the holiday makers were
supposed to have a lie down

during certain times.

In block one, the structure
of the building was dilapidated

so it had to be torn down.

Connecting the past
and the future...

this is the great task
for the architects in Prora today.

NARRATOR: Juliane Heidrich
and her mother

have also heard of the new life
coming to Prora.

They are interested
in the apartments

that are being built in block 3.

Investor Michael Jacobi shows them
what the current state of things is.

NARRATOR: The past is inseparably
connected with the building for her

even just through
the incredible dimensions.

About 20 kms of corridors
originally existed in Prora.

NARRATOR: The corridors were
connected to 10,000 identical rooms

each with a sea view.
Each 12 square metres large.

It is difficult for Cornelia
to imagine that stylish apartments

will be built here.

NARRATOR: Showing the run-down part
of the building first

is part of Jacobi’s plan.

The surprise will be even bigger
when he presents

a finished apartment.

NARRATOR: About one third
of the 4.5 km long colossus

is already renovated.

And opposed to back in the day,
the holiday-makers

will be even closer to the sea
on their very own balconies.

NARRATOR: And this view doesn’t give
Cornelia the impression at all

that she is in the longest
building complex in the world.

But it is especially the size
of the building

that keeps attracting
unwanted visitors.

Therefore Michael Jacobi regularly
checks the ruins with his team.

NARRATOR: The problem:
especially the ramshackle buildings

of Prora magically attract
adventurers

and of course the owners
cannot secure

the whole 30-football-field large
complex.

NARRATOR: The roofs of the complex
also become a risky playground.

NARRATOR:
After the end of the Nazi rule,

the end had not come for Prora yet.

During the time of the GDR,
the national people’s army

continued to use the building.

NARRATOR: In 1989,
Karel Bosel attended

the military academy in Prora.

Today the 46-year-old is visiting
the detention cells

in the former entrance control
building.

Cells like these existed
in every block.

NARRATOR: Without a trial
soldiers were locked up here

for up to ten days.

Prora became the biggest
military facility in the GDR.

NARRATOR: In 1991
the last tanks left Prora.

The building goes over
into the possession

of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Karel Bosel has bought
two apartments here.

They are located in the same block
as the military school used to be.

He can enjoy the view.

Others condemn the decision
to turn the historically charged

building into a holiday resort.

But what else could be done
with a mega structure like this?

The state has by now sold four
of the five blocks to investors.

In one of them the longest youth
hostel in the world is located,

on about 200 metres in block 5.

Denis Brosseit has been
the manager since it opened in 2011.

NARRATOR: For the start
of the season

he has to prepare 96 rooms that
offer space for over 420 guests.

Something that many
of them don’t know:

the 840 windows are not
all the same size

and therefore
had to be especially made.

But Brosseit sees the biggest
challenge

for this place somewhere else.

NARRATOR: The history of Prora.

NARRATOR:
Travelling on to New Zealand.

Close to the town of Waimoto there
are some very special grottoes:

the Waitomo caves.

Also known as the firefly caves.

Even Hiria Kohe-Love's
ancestors came here.