All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S11E05.The.Desert.Pirates.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

[narrator] In Alabama,

the pride of a community

that was born
out of a harsh reality.

At the time
when people were struggling
for freedom in this country,

this building
stood as a beacon of hope.

[narrator]
A lavish complex in Lebanon,

embroiled
in an unexpected tragedy.

You had every component
of a bomb just sitting there

waiting for the spark
that would ignite it.

[narrator] And in Greece,
an unforgiving institution

for the country's
ambitious elite.

[Rob Bell]
It looks like a paradise,

but this place was designed
to toughen you up.

[theme music playing]

[narrator] Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds...

Sites haunted by the past...

Their secrets waiting...

to be revealed.

In Tunisia,
a hostile landscape

disguises remnants
of a fateful confrontation.

[Dr. Onyeka Nubia]
Dug into the ground
are structures

that seem at one
with the landscape

until you get closer to them.

Are they medieval?

Are they modern?

Who has made them?

[Dr. Lynette Nusbacher]
This facility has clearly
been stripped off

everything of value.

All that's left

is the echoing space,

and the concrete structures.

[narrator] A complex,
buried high on the hillside,

reveals who
once occupied this site.

If you look up you will see

very clearly painted exactly
who was here.

[narrator]
From this subterranean
outpost in Africa,

plans were hatched
that could've decided
the fate of Europe

and the Allied forces.

The natural advantages
of this piece of terrain

mean that
nobody can get through here.

[Sascha Auerbach]
Overcoming this required

the invention of an entirely
new type of warfare

conducted by
a ragtag group of rogues
who called themselves

the Pirates
of the High Desert.

[narrator] Major Mohamed Mars

has served
in the Tunisian Army
for over 20 years.

He's spent a decade
uncovering the secrets
of these remote structures.

[interpreter] This building's
made of reinforced concrete.

It's more than
three-feet thick.

[Major Mars
speaking other language]

[interpreter] The roof
is camouflaged,

so it can't be detected
by the enemy.

[narrator] This site's
construction began in 1936

against an unexpected enemy.

[Dr. Nusbacher]
In the early 20th century,

Tunisia was part
of the French Empire.

[Dr. Nubia] The French
were concerned

about the Italian influence
in Africa.

Libya had fallen under
the authoritarian power

of the dictators in Italy,

and they felt
that Tunisia was next.

[narrator]
The French solution was this,

the Mareth Line,

a 22-mile-long
heavily-armed
chain of bunkers

designed to protect Tunisia

against an Italian invasion
from neighboring Libya.

[Auerbach]
Bound on either side
by natural obstacles

these fortifications formed
an impenetrable wall.

It was the perfect place
to stage a defense.

[narrator] Yet it wasn't
an attack on the Mareth Line

that the French
should've feared.

The real threat
was closer to home.

[Auerbach]
Germany's blitzkrieg victory
over France in 1940

led to the installation
of pro-Nazi government

in both the French
North African colonies
and in France itself.

[narrator]
German-led Axis forces

swiftly took control
of much of North Africa,

including Libya and Tunisia.

The region's
strategic importance

would soon make it
a key battleground

in the world's
deadliest conflict.

[Dr. Nusbacher]
It is a small step

across the narrowest bit
of the Mediterranean Sea

to Sicily,
and you're on Italian soil.

Once you can fight

the Italians
and the Germans in Italy,

you can fight the Italians
and Germans in Germany.

Winning the war in Tunisia

is the first step

to winning the war in Europe.

[Auerbach] In 1942
the British launched

an invasion of North Africa.

Churchill appointed
Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery,

known as Monty, to lead it.

Americans landed
in Morocco and Algeria
to the west of Tunisia,

while British forces pushed in
from Egypt to the East,

trapping the Germans
in a pincer movement
in Tunisia.

[narrator]
But the heavily fortified
Mareth Line

now stood in the way
of Allied victory.

Nazi commander Erwin Rommel

was tasked with stopping them.

[Dr. Nubia]
Rommel was determined

that the Mareth Line
would be defended

with the belief
that so long as
he held the Mareth line,

then Tunisia would never fall
to the Allies.

He massively
reinforced the Line
adding and placement

of pillbox and machine guns
on either side.

He also added
a five-mile-wide minefield

that ran for the entirety
of its length.

[Dr. Nusbacher] Attacking
this line of fortifications

would have to be done
at great cost,

paying a price in blood.

[narrator] Even then,
there was no guarantee

a head-on assault
would succeed.

British commander Montgomery

knew the only way
to defeat the Nazis

was to find a way
around the Mareth Line.

[Auerbach] But to get to it
he had to move

thousands of troops
and vehicles

across 20 miles
of treacherous
mountainous terrain

and then a hundred miles
of trackless desert,

that was deemed
impossible to penetrate.

[narrator]
It was a huge gamble,

and something no one,
including the Germans
thought possible.

But Montgomery already had
a secret mission underway,

one he set in motion
months earlier.

The solution
came with this new
British special forces

that were actually
going to change
the face of warfare.

[narrator] In Tunisia

the Nazi-controlled
Mareth Line

stood in the way
of Allied victory
in North Africa.

But British commander
Bernard Montgomery

had a secret weapon.

A covert ops team of soldiers,

called
the Long Range Desert Group

originally led by maverick
military engineer
Ralph Bagnold.

Bagnold was
a brilliant geologist,

an amateur archaeologist,

Royals Signals Officer.

He was one of
the British desert lovers,

like Lawrence of Arabia.

[Auerbach]
Bagnold had spent the '30s

pioneering new ways of
getting around the desert,

by four-wheel-drive vehicles

that could move
heavy equipment
through the shifting sands.

[Dr. Nusbacher]
Bagnold formed
the core of the units

who know how to work
with the desert

rather than
to have to fight against
the desert environment.

They can go places
no one ever expect them to be.

[narrator]
On Montgomery's orders,

they set out
deep behind enemy lines

in specially modified
off-road trucks

to find a route
around the Mareth Line.

[Auerbach] The LRDG
probed the mountains
and out into the desert,

looking for a route
that would allow the Allies

to avoid the Mareth Line
and outflank the Germans.

[narrator]
After weeks of searching,

they manage to chart
a navigable course.

Armed with
this vital information,

Montgomery launched
a two-pronged attack.

[Dr. Nusbacher]
So, the British Army pins down

Rommel's troops
in the Mareth Line,

another chunk
of the British Army
sneak through the desert,

finds their way assisted by
the Long Range Desert Group

and deliver a sharp left hook

to the German Army.

[narrator] But victory
was far from certain.

Two weeks
of hellish fighting followed,

before the British
finally overpowered
the Mareth Line,

paving the way
for victory in North Africa.

Tunisia was fundamental

to the North African campaign

and the North Africa campaign
was fundamental to the success

of the Second World War.

Montgomery said that
without the probing
of the Long Range Desert Group

then his attack
would have been
a leap in the dark.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator]
At the end of the battle
for the Mareth Line,

its bunkers were disarmed

and decommissioned.

The now empty structures
were left to decay.

[Dr. Nubia] In the 1990s,
a museum opened
where we can all learn

about what happened here
during the Second World War.

[narrator]
In Lebanon's capital city,

an elegant structure
sticks out

from the high-rises
that surround it.

[Prof. Michele Mitchell]
Beirut can be a city
of noise and commotion.

But tucked away
on the center of it all
is something of an oasis.

[Dr. Katherine Landdeck]
When you turn on
to this street,

the architecture of the space
is drastically different

than everything around it.

You walk into this house
and it's very elaborate,

it's very beautiful.

It has marble floors,
beautiful ceilings.

These were clearly built
by and for, the city's elite.

[narrator]
Yet the faded opulence

hides the hallmarks
of a traumatic event.

[Auerbach]
Everywhere you look,
you start to notice damage.

The great windows
at the back of the building
are missing entirely.

It's like someone
has reconstructed

the whole segments
of the outside wall

but never
bothered to paint it.

[Dr. Landdeck] This level
of devastation and destruction

doesn't happen overtime.

Something very quick
and violent has happened here.

It was a normal day.
The weather was fantastic,

and all of a sudden
there was a huge circle,

just like a nuclear bomb
over this area.

[Dr. Landdeck] People had
to evacuate immediately.

The city was collapsing
around them.

[Eli Khoury]
I've been through wars,

I've been through
civil unrest,

I've never ever seen
something like that.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator] Eli Khoury
co-owns this building.

When he
and his business partners

first decided to make this
the headquarters

for their media company,

it had been neglected
for years.

I'm the type that always
wants to dream big.

When we moved in,
which was in 2010,

well, it was in shambles.

Cost roughly about
four to five million dollars
to fix it.

Believe me, it was funny

because people
didn't want to go home.

I mean,
they wanted to stay here,

work late,

every Friday
we used to do,

like, an in-house
sort of little party.

[narrator] But this building
was not always used
as an office.

It began life
over a century earlier,

as a glamorous
private residence.

More than once,
it was a victim

of the country's
turbulent past.

[Prof. Mitchell] In 18th
and 19th century Beirut,

the aristocracy was formed

by prominent
Christian families

that held massive wealth
and power in Lebanon.

[Auerbach] They built
these palatial homes

in the style
of European villas.

[narrator] This one
is called Villa Mokbel.

[Dr. Landdeck]
At one point there are about

30 of these palaces
on the street.

[Auerbach]
But few of these palazzos
would escape the chaos

that descended on Beirut
in the 1970s.

[Prof. Mitchell]
Civil war broke out
and some of

the heaviest fighting's
took place here,

right in the heart
of the city.

[Auerbach] As rival militias
fought for control,

these buildings would suffer

from artillery strikes
and looting.

[narrator] Villa Mokbel
was one of those caught
in the conflict's crossfire.

At the end of the war in 1990,

the derelict
battle-scarred mansion

changed ownership
a number of times,

until Eli stepped in
to transform it.

But little did he know

Beirut was once again

headed for disaster.

[Khoury]
Rubble on the streets,

ash, smoke,

people with blood, crying.

That day would make headlines
the world over,

and headlines
of the worst possible kind.

[narrator] In Beirut,

August fourth, 2020,

started like any other day
for Eli Khoury

and his 40 employees.

That, would soon change.

I came here with my colleague.

We are both
talking on the phone,

and just looking at the port,

looking at sky,

and then
the whole thing happened.

[man] Oh, my God!

[Khoury] The scene I saw,
it was incredible.

That actually went
through the buildings
as if they were linked.

This is when
my colleague and I,

he pushed me,

so we jump on the floor.

The lady
that was on that balcony

actually flew all the way
to that end,

and she fell unconscious,

uh, unfortunately.

[narrator]
The blast Eli witnessed
destroyed 77,000 homes,

and caused $15 billion
worth of damage.

The chain of events
that led to this disaster,

was set in motion
seven years earlier.

[Dr. Landdeck] In 2013
a Russian-owned ship

the MV Rhosus,

made an unscheduled stop
in the Port of Beirut.

Port authorities
inspected the ship,

and they did not like
what they found.

[narrator] They discovered

that the ship's hull
was leaking

and water was constantly
being pumped out
to keep it afloat.

They decided very quickly
that this ship was unsafe
to continue its journey,

and grounded them
there in the Port of Beirut.

[narrator]
The ship's Russian owner

refused to pay
the mounting port bills

and shortly after
mysteriously vanished.

The ship's cargo was unloaded,

and stuffed into a warehouse,
right there, at the port.

[Auerbach] What was offloaded,

was a potentially
deadly cargo,

2,750 tons
of ammonium nitrate,

a volatile compound
that is used in fertilizer,

but can also be employed
to make explosives.

The cargo sat there
in hangar 12 for years,
completely neglected.

[narrator]
Customs officials at the port

sent multiple letters

to government lawyers
in Beirut,

pleading
for the volatile payload
to be removed.

Every request was ignored.

[Auerbach] In the weeks
leading up to the disaster

even the prime minister
and president

were warned
of the potential dangers
of the situation.

Despite wide knowledge
of the safety risk,

nobody took any action.

[narrator] But there was
an even bigger problem.

[Auerbach]
The ammonium nitrate

was stored in bags
that were spilling,

and it was stored with

kerosene, hydrochloric acid,

and 15 tons of fireworks.

[Dr. Landdeck] When you put

all of these
materials together

you've essentially
got the makings
of a giant bomb.

All that was missing now
was a spark.

[narrator] That spark
came on August 4th,

when an unexplained fire
broke out.

It was thought
to have originated

at the north end
of hangar 12,

and then spread quickly
across the warehouse.

[Auerbach] Fireworks
stored nearby discharged,

and hangar 12 goes up
in a ball of flame.

Seconds later

the ammonium nitrate
detonates

in a blinding
enormous explosion.

[man] Oh, my God!

[indistinct shouting]

This creates a shockwave
that goes across the city,

breaks out windows,
knocks down buildings,

blows people over.

We went out.
We start seeing people
with blood all over.

It was a scene from
the worst World War II movie
I've ever seen.

Over 200 people died,

you know,
hundreds of thousands
are homeless.

[Khoury] One of
the most saddening moment

was watching a lady
coming down from her apartment

with a dead baby in her hands.

It was incredible.

Remarkably, we had 41 injured

but thank God no one died.

[narrator]
Like many of the buildings
in the blast radius,

Villa Mokbel was shattered
into pieces,

and needed
emergency stabilization
to keep it standing.

Today, it remains in ruins,

until Eli can raise the funds
to restore it.

[Khoury]
If I were to fix it again,

it will cost between
two to three million dollars.

If things get better
we would wanna
come back to this office

because it was beautiful
to work out of here.

[dramatic music playing]

[Auerbach] In the aftermath
of the explosion

an investigation was launched,

but any attempt to hold

particular
government officials
accountable

has been blocked
on multiple occasions.

[narrator]
For the people of Beirut,

the long wait
for justice continues.

[Khoury] The country
is going through,
real, real tough stuff now.

It's actually, uh,

a tough job to be Lebanese.

It's not an easy job.

[narrator]
In Downtown Birmingham,
Alabama,

is an imposing structure
that played a part

in one of America's
greatest times of change.

[Jim Meigs] Standing alone
like a monolith

is this very dramatic
seven-story building.

It might be
a former department store

or an office block.

It's just so vast,
what can it be used for?

On the upper level
are long corridors

with fading business signs,

for lawyers,
doctors and dentists.

What I'd say
it's been long since

anyone sat inside
of those chairs.

It's almost as if
the people left

in a great hurry.

[narrator] Further exploration
reveals there's much more

to this sight
that meets the eye.

The whole second floor
is dominated

by this enormous ballroom,

with balconies and a stage.

This was a place for big
public meetings of some sort.

[narrator]
Discarded paraphernalia
hints an ominous agenda.

[Prof. Mitchell]
There are strange symbols,

a coffin
and a throne-like seating.

It all feels
sort of ritualistic.

[narrator] Yet looks
can be deceiving,

and not all is what it seems.

[Dr. Nubia] It was a place
where people organized

to make sure that democracy

was for all
of the American citizens.

[narrator]
In Downtown Birmingham,
Alabama,

is a grand
century-old structure.

Today, Corey Hawkins
heads up the group

that was originally behind
its construction.

[Corey D. Hawkins Sr.]
It was the, the place,

that African Americans
were proud of,

and whether they are member
of the organization or not,

this was their building.

[narrator]
That organization is one,
often shrouded in secrecy.

[Hawkins Sr.] We have been
accused of being a cult,

which is not true,

being a part
of the illuminati.

I am
a fourth generation mason.

[Prof. Mitchell]
In simple terms,

the freemasons
are a male, social

and philanthropic
organization,

and its origins
date back to medieval Europe,

and the guilds of stonemasons.

[Meigs] Through his career
a mason would move up

from being a, an apprentice

to a joinery man
to eventually a master mason.

And at each level
they were taught

secret code words
and handshakes.

[Prof. Mitchell] That way
stonemasons made their way

across Europe to the next job.

Each man would be paid
according to his skill level.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] By the mid-1700s
the handshakes still remained.

But the society
had evolved into a fraternity

no longer connected
to the stonemasonry
labor force.

Yet there were no lodges
for African Americans.

That is until revolutionary
war hero Prince Hall

made it his mission
to change that.

[Meigs] Prince Hall
was an extraordinary man.

Born, raised
as a slave in Boston,

by 1770, he had earned
his freedom.

[Dr. Nubia]
He sought admittance
to an established lodge

and was prevented
because of his color.

But he wasn't daunted.
He continued.

[narrator] Hall realized
he had to sidestep

the American masons
that denied him access.

Instead, he petitioned

the Duke of Cumberland,
in England,

the home of freemasonry,

to ask permission
to start his own lodge.

[Prof. Mitchell]
A charter was granted

and the African Lodge No. 459
began.

Many African American Lodges
including this one

have descended
from Prince Hall's.

[narrator] Fast forward
to the early 1900s,

and Birmingham's
Prince Hall masons
were determined

to build a state headquarters

worthy of their
hard-fought history.

You have to remember that

this was the period
of Jim Crow laws.

Meaning that segregation
was enshrined in law.

[Dr. Nubia] This building
therefore was to be

a beacon of hope
for those communities.

[narrator] The order raised
$720,000 from its members,

and in 1922, construction
on the new Masonic Temple.

Two years later,
it opened its doors.

[Hawkins Sr.]
There's a photo from 1924,

when the masons
were congregated
here in this room,

uh, at the state-wide meeting.

But this building
was much more

than just a headquarters
for the masons.

[Dr. Nubia] It was full of
excitement and creativity,

businesses, and activities,

designed to uplift
the community.

[Hawkins Sr.]
For African Americans
that was new...

gave people
a sense of pride and hope in

what the future holds
for our people.

[narrator]
Over the next 29 years

the Masonic Temple
helped transform

the 4th Avenue District
into a thriving business
and cultural hub.

But the biggest test
was still yet to come.

In the 1960s
the long overdue fight

for civil rights was really
coming to a boil,

and Birmingham
is today synonymous

with the intensity
of this fight.

[narrator] In January 1963,
Martin Luther King

announced he wanted to lead
a demonstration in Birmingham.

It was while
he was in the city

to recruit
non-violent protestors

for the Birmingham campaign,

that Martin Luther King
came to the Masonic Temple.

And there's a photo
where he's making a pool shot,

so, that let you know
that he was in this building,

and we're proud of that.

King chose Birmingham
because of its strong
segregation laws,

and because it had officials
there, like "Bull" Connor,

who was a symbol
of segregation.

[narrator] But
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth,

a key civil rights
spokesperson in Birmingham,

didn't want to proceed
with the protest,

while Connor, the city's
public safety officer

and de facto police chief,
was still in office.

He believed that
if a desegregation accord

was reached
with local businesses,

that Connor
would actually reverse it

and then reinforce
segregation.

[narrator] One way
to remove Connor,

was if the City of Birmingham
voted to change

how the local government
was set up.

J. Mason Davis
played a crucial role
in making that happen

from his legal practice
at the Masonic Temple.

[J. mason Davis]
There were four, five lawyers
that were in this building

and we were all
working towards the same end

of getting City of Birmingham

change from
a three-person city commission

to a nine-person city council.

Once the voter
voted to change
the form of government

that changed the attitude

of all of the people
that lived in the city

toward progress by Blacks.

[Prof. Mitchell]
Birmingham then held
its first mayoral election.

Connor ran but lost,

and with more moderate
Albert Boutwell in office

the marches
could actually go forward.

On April third, 1963,

the campaign began
with lunch counter sit-ins,

a march to City Hall,

and a boycott
of downtown businesses.

But towards
the end of April
things were starting to flag.

It was hard for people
to keep going into the streets

and facing that kind of abuse
that they were facing.

[narrator] The civil rights
campaign in Birmingham

was in danger
of falling apart.

It would take
a profound leap of faith

to save it.

In the spring of 1963,

the civil rights movement
in Birmingham

was beginning
to lose momentum.

A new approach
brought fresh hope.

Some leaders came up
with a pretty radical idea

which was to send
the children out

to help lead these protests,

the Children's Crusade.

This is very
controversial, obviously

because they were
sending these kids
into harm's way.

In May, the campaign
was reinvigorated

by these
young people's presence.

[narrator] But "Bull" Connor,

despite no longer having
any real law-making power,

after being ousted
by Birmingham's voters,

refused to relinquish control
over the city's police force.

He was willing to use
the most extreme
and vicious methods

to drive these protestors
off the streets.

[Dr. Nubia]
Over 900 children
were arrested,

and then he began to implement

even more draconian measures

involving the use
of water canons

and attack dogs.

[dog barking]

I remember
looking out the window

and watching the water
coming out of those hoses

hitting young people
and knocking them down
in the street.

Often when
protestors were injured,

they didn't go
to the hospital,

they came
to the Masonic Temple

'cause there were
doctors there.

[narrator] Outside,
the tide was turning
in the fight for equality.

The shocking scenes
were enough to spark

both national
and international outrage.

[Meigs] Eventually
the Attorney General
Robert Kennedy

sent a representative
down to Birmingham

to try to negotiate
a compromise.

And indeed the result
of all this was

the effective desegregation
of Birmingham.

[Davis]
It was very good

because... you knew that

you were making progress,

because in the next year

the Civil Rights Act
was passed.

And the next year,

in 1965, the Voting Rights Act
was passed.

[Meigs] That...
that was the genius
of King's movement

was to make people
see for themselves

that this was unfair,
that it had to change.

[upbeat music playing]

[Dr. Nubia]
For a longtime after
the civil rights campaign

this building
continued to be popular,

useful, and a center

for this community
in this city.

[narrator]
But as the years passed
the businesses slowly vacated

until the last occupants
left in 2011.

Its legacy however is secured,

and there are
multi-million dollar plans
in progress

to bring it back to life.

[Meigs] As one of
his last acts in office,

President Obama
signed an executive order

establishing a

Civil Rights National Monument
in Birmingham

and it includes protecting
the Prince Hall Lodge
Masonic Temple.

[narrator] On the Greek island
of Spetses,

is a collection
of monolithic constructions

intended to mold
the country's elite.

[Meigs] Here in this town
of red-roof buildings,

we see this compound,
very imposing,

large white structures.

They were clearly designed
to be stately and impressive

but it's kind of
eerily empty.

There's an
old basketball court

with the hoop
just lying on the ground.

And then what seems like
an old gymnasium.

You can still see
the wooden climbing frames

along the sides.

It all gives a very
ghost-town feel
about the place.

[Dominic Selwood] Entering
through a broken door

you're greeted
by a vast number
of chairs and desks

piled precariously
on top of each other.

[Bell] Rows of old lockers
with doors just hanging open.

Blackboards, I mean,
it looks like a school,

but why would you have
such a huge

educational facility like this
stranded on a tiny island?

[narrator] This complex
was built to achieve
an ambitious national dream,

but for the people
contained within,

it felt more like a prison.

[Bell] This was no
five-star luxury resort.

This place was designed
to toughen you up.

It was
a world-class institution,

with a very serious purpose.

[narrator]
Leontios Portokalakis
and Panos Karamitsos

met here in the 1960s.

[narrator]
Forging strong alliances

was central
to this facility's vision.

It was conceived in an era

when Greece
was still emerging

from the dark shadow
of tyranny.

[Selwood] At the start
of the 20th century,

Greece was relatively
a young country,

having been ruled for much
of the previous 500 years,

by the Ottoman Empire.

[Bell] In a bloody war
of independence in the 1820s,

the Greeks
had taken back Athens

and many of
the surrounding areas.

But much of the mainland
and the islands

were still controlled
by the Turks.

That all changed
when a legendary leader

hailing from Crete
took power in 1910.

[Bell] Eleutherios Venizelos,
was a young politician

determined to unite
all Greeks into one nation.

[narrator] By 1913,

after fighting
against the Turks
with his Balkan neighbors,

he managed to retake
former Greek land.

Then during
the First World War,

after siding with the Allies,

he seized back even more.

By 1920,

Greece had doubled
in size and population
under his leadership.

[Meigs]
Venizelos believed that

this reestablished country

with its deep cultural roots

needed a strong,
elite, leadership class

who could
manage the challenges

that lay ahead,

and he was very aligned

to looking at
his allies in Britain

and saying, "Well,
how do the British do it?"

[narrator] Venizelos
used the centuries old

English boarding school
named Eton College

as the blueprint
for his vision.

The aim was to educate
the future leaders of Greece.

By that time Eton
had already produced
15 British prime ministers.

[Meigs] The Duke of Wellington

supposedly said
after defeating Napolean,

that the Battle of Waterloo

was won
on the playing fields of Eton.

[narrator] For Venizelos,
his country's future

depended on realization
of this dream.

Yet no one was willing
to invest in his idea.

The grand plan
looked destined to fail.

He didn't have anywhere
near the money

to, to build a school.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator] In 1920s,

Greek Prime Minister
Eleutherios Venizelos

envisioned building a school
for the country's elite.

But no one would fund
its construction.

The dream looked to be over,

until an old friend
offered him a lifeline.

[Selwood] Sotirios Anargyros

was the wealthiest man
in Spetses,

having made a fortune
trading tobacco in America.

[Bell] But he offered
the cash on one condition

that the school be built on
his beloved Spetses.

[narrator] In 1927,

the Anargyrios
and Korgialeneios
School of Spetses

opened its doors
to wealthy families.

[Selwood] It featured
five neo-classical buildings,

manicured gardens,

state-of-the-art
sports facilities,

and even an amphitheater
with breathtaking views
out over the sea.

[Meigs] The school brought in
noted scholars and educators

to train these young men.

But it also really sought
to toughen these kids up.

These might be
the spoilt children
of the elite

but they wouldn't be
spoilt for long.

The school adopted

the harsh discipline system
of Eton,

complete with a timetable
that kept the boys busy

from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

[narrator] That system
included physical punishment

by the teachers

for alleged
disorderly behavior.

The boys could be caned
for the slightest breach,

for speaking in class
to not cleaning their rooms.

[narrator] If that
wasn't bad enough,

the students themselves

were forced into
a brutal hierarchy.

Older boys
who'd earn their rank

were free
to dish out punishments

as they saw fit.

[narrator]
But the daily curriculum

also included harsh activities
intended to build character.

Every morning the boys
had to take a plunge

into the cold sea
or face punishments.

[narrator]
The regime was tough,

but the school's early years

delivered on
Venizelos' promise.

In the 1930s,
future Greek Prime Minister,

Georgios Rallis
was educated there.

[narrator] Yet Rallis would be
the only prime minister
produced here.

Thirteen years
after the school opened,

world events forced it
into a radical new era.

[Bell] Greece
was devastated
by conflict in the 1940s.

First under occupation
by the Nazis

and then by
a three-year civil war.

With the country in a state
of post-war poverty,

parents were
less able to afford
expensive boarding schools.

[narrator] The school
then began to target

a different type of student
to keep its doors open.

The school became
a little bit like the way
some people would send away

a child off
to a military academy,

to get straightened out.

[narrator] Panos
was one of those children.

[Bell] Confined
on this tiny island,

this was almost
a school version
of the Alcatraz.

[narrator] But the school
was running on borrowed time.

As Greek society
became more liberal,

the school's conservative
approach to education

gradually became less popular.

[Selwood] Student numbers
declined in the 1970s.

By 1983
there were only five pupils

attending the massive school.

[Bell] Without enough income

to maintain
the extensive facilities,

it was forced to close.

[narrator] Today,
Leontios and Panos
help run a foundation

which is working
to revitalize the facility.

Their goal is to host
summer schools,

conferences and academies.

Our task is to make
the whole foundation

more popular and attract
more seminars.

All of us, we feel very proud,

we lived a part
of this vision.

[soft music playing]