All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S09E13.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[und]

[narrator] A site
in Azerbaijan

shattered by rivalry

A whole city is forced
to leave their homes.

[narrator] A once
Socialist site founded by
the ultimate capitalist.

He was known as
Europe's Rockefeller.

[narrator]
And Gothic horror
in the mid-west.

[Onyeka] This seemingly
Old World European castle

became the very seed

and cesspool of deviants.

and cesspool of deviants.

[narrator] Decaying relics,

ruins of lost worlds,

sites haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

[narrator] In the shadow
of the Caucasus mountains
in Azerbaijan,

[narrator] In the shadow
of the Caucasus mountains
in Azerbaijan,

is a ghost town
with a desolate past.

[Dominic]
Nestling among green trees
are hundreds of buildings,

but they've been annihilated

with only their shells
remaining.

[Wise] It's an eerie sight.

It looks like something
out of a disaster movie.

The roads and streets
are deserted.

There's no one to be seen
anywhere.

But there's this one building
that survived.

But there's this one building
that survived.

The mosque gives a clue
to the heritage of this place.

[narrator] As does another
unexpected find.

[Jim] In the middle
of all this rubble

is a beautiful painted mural.

Maybe it foreshadows
some kind of revival

of this shattered city.

[narrator]
What disaster struck
this once-bustling city

[narrator]
What disaster struck
this once-bustling city

and displaced over
half a million civilians
from this remote region?

[narrator] The disputed
territory of Karabakh
is difficult to access.

Here, war correspondent
Emin Ibrahimov

knows only too well
the dangers that come
with his job.

In October 2020
I was covering
the Karabakh war

between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

Fortunately I had a dashcam
that was able to capture
everything.

One day I got a chance to
go to a village

that was just
recently liberated.

And it was going to be
an exclusive,

I was supposed to be
the first, uh,

the first journalist
to go there.

So I took my car
and on the way,

I saw a rocket
just in front of me,

[bleep]

Passed just above the car,

and I felt an impact,

and I felt an impact,

a shockwave from the impact
just behind me.

[narrator] Emin was
caught up in a war

that has plagued
this part of the world
for decades.

[Ibrahimov]
So I really stepped on it,
trying to go

as fast as can
without losing

control of the car.

I found some cover,
got out of the car,

and, uh, it's probably
only then that I realized
that I just

barely escaped, uh, death.

[Dominic] The border region
of Karabakh

has been the center
of a dispute

in a tug of war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.

[narrator] In the last
three decades alone,

the conflict has taken
tens of thousands
of human lives.

Yet, it's relatively unknown.

[Jim] People didn't hear
much about this conflict

[Jim] People didn't hear
much about this conflict

the way they do
about conflicts

in other regions.
It happened

in an area that most
Westerners don't know
much about.

And between two groups
of people who are often

overlooked by history.

[narrator] Whole cities
were annihilated

in two bloody wars
in the early 1990s

and 2020.

And it has left
a deadly legacy.

[Ibrahimov] Today,
you can only travel

on the main roads
because of the danger
of the mines.

on the main roads
because of the danger
of the mines.

If you wanna step off
the main road,
you actually

have to have
a team of deminers

check the area before you do.

[narrator] This region
was once riddled with
nearly 100,000 mines.

[Ibrahimov] We're on
the central square
of the most popular place

among city residents.

Um, behind me used to be

uh, City Hall
and this building,

or what is left of it,
used to be a drama theater,

uh, which was built
in the '50s.

uh, which was built
in the '50s.

It was the cultural center
of the region.

[Dominic] You wouldn't believe
that this was once a thriving,
bustling city

with people living
normal lives here.

[narrator] Amid the rubble,
is a stark reminder

of those who lived here.

[Ibrahimov]
The beautiful mural
depicts three attributes

of Azerbaijani culture.

The woman is holding
a tray with the symbols
of Novruz holiday.

The singer is holding a saz,

The singer is holding a saz,

an Azeri instrument.

And, uh, a woman with a child
is wearing a shawl

called Kelaghayi.

All three are protected
by UNESCO

and are parts of
the intangible heritage
of the humanity.

[narrator] This is
the Azerbaijani city
of Agdam,

once, the cultural hub
of the region.

Agdam was a very
modern, progressive
city for this area.

Agdam was a very
modern, progressive
city for this area.

Any Westerner could have
strolled through the streets
and visited

the cafes and felt
right at home.

And yet, all of that
was swept away

in a relatively short
period of time.

[narrator] Until 1991,

Agdam and the region
known then as Nagorno-Karabakh

had been under Soviet control
for over 70 years.

[Dominic]
During the Soviet era,

Nagorno-Karabakh was part
of the Soviet Republic
of Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh was part
of the Soviet Republic
of Azerbaijan.

But 77 percent
of the area's population
were Armenians.

And they, naturally,
wanted the area to come
under the control

of the Soviet Republic
of Armenia.

[Jim] As it did
in other republics
that it controlled,

the U.S.S.R.

was able to enforce

a kind of peace in this
sometimes fractious region.

[narrator] But as the collapse
of the Soviet Union
looked imminent,

tensions began to rise.

tensions began to rise.

[Jim] This is a common thing
we see when

a superpower controlling

regional nationalistic
ethnic groups

in some kind of harmony,
when that superpower recedes,

all those tensions
and conflicts and divisions

can flare up again.

[narrator] With guns
at the ready,

Agdam was at the flashpoint
between Armenia

and Azerbaijan.

In 1993,
Armenia was convinced

In 1993,
Armenia was convinced

that Azerbaijan
was about to launch
an offensive

and they quickly reacted.

[Dominic] Thousands of
Armenian troops

tore through Agdam
and shelled the city
to smithereens.

The skeleton Azerbaijani army
had no chance against
a force this big.

It was an incredibly bloody
and a heart-breaking affair
for the residents.

Forty thousand
of the city's population

and half a million
Azerbaijanis in the region

and half a million
Azerbaijanis in the region

were forced to leave
their homes.

[narrator] And it wasn't
just the fighting
taking civilian lives.

[Jim] Not everyone
got out safely.

Some residents fled to
nearby forests

and in the harsh winter
quite a few froze to death.

[Jaega] By 1994, Armenia
had captured the region

including the city of Agdam.

[narrator] But amid the rubble
of the annihilated city,

there was one small
glimmer of hope.

[narrator] In the Caucasus,
the inaccessible ghost town
of Agdam

has been pummeled by
centuries of bitter dispute.

Yet one building has survived
the obliteration.

The only building
that was still standing

was an old mosque
built in the 1870s.

Armenians actually used it
as an observation tower,

Armenians actually used it
as an observation tower,

a barn
and to correct
the artillery fire.

[narrator] The Armenians
had controlled Agdam
since 1993.

Although the city sat deserted
for more than 25 years,

neighboring Azerbaijanis
kept it in their sights.

The Azerbaijan army

wanted to retake terrain

that had been lost
in the 1990s' conflict.

that had been lost
in the 1990s' conflict.

And then in 2020,

the conflict ignited again.

While the rest of the world
was dealing with
the Coronavirus pandemic,

Nagornoh-Karabakh

was dealing with
another battle.

A war that raged in the region
for 44 days.

[narrator] This time,
the Azerbaijanis were armed
with a new military device.

This is thought of as
the first war in history

This is thought of as
the first war in history

in which drones played
a critical role

in its outcome.

This drone-led assault
helped the Azerbaijanis

score a decisive victory.

And by November 2020,

Agdam was back in their hands.

But for the city's residents,
the struggle is not over.

[Dominic] The guns
may have fallen silent,

but it's still
a traumatic time
for civilians on both sides.

but it's still
a traumatic time
for civilians on both sides.

For the Azerbaijanis
who can't return
to their homes,

and for the Armenians,
who've once again,
had to be uprooted.

[narrator] Agdam
remains derelict.

But something surprising
has survived the carnage

giving hope for its future.

There's hardly anything left
of Agdam.

But one thing, incredibly,
is still alive.

But one thing, incredibly,
is still alive.

The city's football team.

They play in
the Azerbaijan
football leagues,

but now based, of course,
in the nation's capital, Baku.

The fact that they're still
existing as a team
associated with the city

shows you that there's a hope,

that this city
will come back to life.

[narrator] There's a chance
they'll be able to play
in Agdam again,

as the government announced
plans to turn the ghost town

into a super
modern metropolis.

The master plan of a new Agdam
has been approved
in May, 2021

The master plan of a new Agdam
has been approved
in May, 2021

and the renewed city
will have a population
of 100,000 people.

[narrator] In the state
of Missouri,

on the outskirts
of Downtown Kansas City,

is a curious structure
that looks like
it doesn't belong.

[slow instrumental
music playing]

[Katherine] This is
a modern metropolis,

[Katherine] This is
a modern metropolis,

lots of people,

great jazz,
even better barbeque

and yet, on the edge
of this very modern
mid-western city,

is this castle that looks like
it's been plucked
out of the 1600s.

[Onyeka] It seems completely
out of place.

It seems to not only be
in the wrong time period,

but to be
in the wrong continent.

This Rouen castle
isn't out in the moors
of Scotland somewhere,

This Rouen castle
isn't out in the moors
of Scotland somewhere,

it's in Kansas City, Missouri.

[narrator] Inside,
modern features hint at
the stone fortress' true age.

[Jim] It looks like
it could be hundreds
of years old,

then you notice
the steel beams
holding parts of it up.

So, clearly it's somewhat
more recent than

the castles of Scotland.

[narrator] Yet,
the neglected remains
yield little indication

of the building's
original purpose.

of the building's
original purpose.

The windows are boarded up,
there's graffiti on the walls.

[Jim] There's trees growing
out of the ruins,

the roof is missing.

Clearly, this building
has been unoccupied
for a very long time.

This is a place
that is stripped bare
of human habitation

and yet, the graffiti,
the signs and symbols show

that at one time,
people did live here.

that at one time,
people did live here.

Who were they?

[narrator] In Kansas City,
Missouri,

property developer,
Vewiser Dixon,
is breathing new life

into an other-worldly
building.

[Vewiser] I remember
as a child
growing up here,

I was a little afraid
of that building

because that was
where they kept

some of the bad guys.

[narrator] Vewiser is
the current owner
of the castle-like structure.

When he was young,
the building
was already abandoned.

Well, I had friends
that went over there,
you know,

and they'd come back
and tell cool stories.

Like, place was haunted,
you know, uh...

Different things like that.

But I wouldn't go.

[narrator] The origins
of the bizarre castle
can be traced

to an era when alcohol
was considered
the scourge of America

and to a particular quirk
of Kansas City's geography.

and to a particular quirk
of Kansas City's geography.

When you go back
to the late 1800s,

around 1881, you've got

two Kansas Cities
and you still do to this day.

You've got
Kansas City, Missouri
and Kansas City, Kansas

and they're split
by the Missouri River.

[Jim] Kansas
outlawed alcohol in 1881,

almost 40 years before
the federal law
went into effect.

That made Kansas a dry state.

That made Kansas a dry state.

It also made Kansas City,
which is right next door
in Missouri

a very popular place

for all kinds of people
who wanted to
have a good time.

There were bars and brothels
and entertainment joints

and people came from all over.

This is what eventually
led to the demise
of Kansas City's reputation.

[Katherine]
With all these changes,
it becomes a center for

crime, petty crime
and vagrancies.

crime, petty crime
and vagrancies.

And the authorities
at the time just didn't have

the resources
that they needed

to take care of the problems.

[narrator]
As criminality soared,

the police had
nowhere to house
the drunks and drifters

now littering
the city streets.

The solution was this.

The Kansas City Workhouse.

Its doors first opened
in 1897.

This was the front entrance
going into
the administrative side

This was the front entrance
going into
the administrative side

to be admitted
into the prison.

This whole area right here
was basically where they kept

about 100 men.

All this area right here.

[Jim] Technically,
this is not a prison,
it's a workhouse.

And the concept
of a workhouse
goes back centuries.

The idea is that

The idea is that

someone who's a petty criminal
or simply very poor

and homeless,
could be sent to this place

where they work
their way back to society.

They perform labor.

And in fact,
the Kansas City Workhouse

worked inmates a lot.

[Onyeka] Sometimes,
this work was functional
and had an economic benefit

for the prison managers.

But sometimes,
work would be manufactured,

But sometimes,
work would be manufactured,

that had no purpose
except to employ labor in.

[Vewiser] The prison itself
was, uh, quarried by,

uh, prisoners themselves.
They cut the rock.

I don't know if you've heard.

Working on the chain gang,
where they quarried
all the yellow limestone

that this particular building
and other buildings
around Kansas City

were built in.

So, they had hard labor.

[narrator] Yet,
none of this explains

why a facility
to house petty criminals

why a facility
to house petty criminals

looked like a medieval castle.

When you think about it,
the Kansas City
Workhouse Castle

is kind of an oxymoron.

A workhouse is a place
for criminals or the destitute

and a castle is a place
for the aristocracy.

But here in Kansas City,
they put 'em together.

[Katherine] When you hit
the late 1800s in Kansas City,
you have this tendency to

kind of romanticize
the idea of architecture

kind of romanticize
the idea of architecture

and wanna go back to

old European-style
architecture.

So that when
they're sitting down
to design this prison,

the idea is,
"Well, what's more European
than a castle?"

[narrator] The Workhouse,

originally built on the ideals
of reform and rehabilitation,

offered inmates a route
back to society.

Any misbehavior
was dealt with severely.

[Vewiser] If you acted up

in the program,
some kind of way

in the program,
some kind of way

they would put you
in solitary confinement.

If you come here, you'll see
actual prison bars
they're still standing today.

So, I'm thinking
that could have been
where you had to stay

if you got really bad.

[narrator] But before long,

the supposed reformatory
was embroiled in controversy.

The workhouses
are being created
to prevent deviants,

but they became the very seed
and cesspool of deviants.

but they became the very seed
and cesspool of deviants.

[narrator] In Kansas City,
Missouri,

is the ruin of a workhouse,

constructed as a last-chance
saloon for drunks
and petty criminals.

Under the stewardship of those
trusted to help
vulnerable prisoners,

it quickly transformed
into a den of inequity.

The superintendent
of the Workhouse

The superintendent
of the Workhouse

was a man by the name
of Patrick O'Hearn.

He was particularly corrupt

and so, didn't run
a very tight ship.

[Vewiser] From what I hear,

a lot of illicit activities
going here.

If you were a prisoner
and if you was a big gangster

or if you was somebody,
you could get

all the,
kind of drug paraphernalia.

Maybe a woman or two.

[Jim] This was not
a great environment
to rehabilitate

these petty criminals,
or alcoholics,
or homeless people.

It was dirty,
the food was bad.

It was dirty,
the food was bad.

It was easy to get your hands
on drugs or alcohol.

So, as a social experiment
in rehabilitation,

you can't say
it was a success.

[Katherine] Things got
so bad that

the Mayor of Kansas City
opened up an investigation

in 1909.

And after that investigation,

they very quickly fired
the superintendent.

[narrator] Two years later,

the male inmates were moved
to a newly-built
workhouse farm,

the male inmates were moved
to a newly-built
workhouse farm,

less than ten miles away.

The female prisoners remained,

but the castle's days
as a reformatory

were coming to an end.

[Katherine] Despite
he changes that were put
into place after 1909,

things just weren't
going well.

And so, by 1924,

they completely
shut down the castle

and the inmates were sent
to other places.

[Jim] As often happens
with old prisons,

or other abandoned
public buildings,

or other abandoned
public buildings,

they found a few uses for it
over the years.

They used it for storage
for a while,

it was used as a Marines
training facility for a while,

but it was finally,
completely abandoned
in the 1970s.

[Katherine] For decades,
the castle stood empty,
uh, filled with graffiti

and broken windows
and all sorts of trouble.

and broken windows
and all sorts of trouble.

Uh, just a horrible space.

[narrator] That is,
until Vewiser Dixon

stepped in with some big plans
to transform the castle

and build new homes
on the land

to create fresh opportunity
for his local community.

[Vewiser] This
particular building,
we wanna make it

into a museum boutique hotel,

where you can come here
and have a different

kind of a wild experience.

kind of a wild experience.

I'm the steward of the land.
The Promised Land,
is what we call it.

A place where we can live,
work and play
for entrepreneurs.

[narrator] In Sicily's,
Belice Valley

are the remains of a bold
architectural statement.

It looks like the whole town
was just dropped

It looks like the whole town
was just dropped

onto the landscape,
completed one day.

The angles are brutal.
It feels strikingly modernist.

It isn't completely empty,
but it's very close to it.

[narrator] On the hillside,
just a few miles north,

lies another sprawling ruin.

[Dominic] Narrow,
winding streets,
a crumbling church.

This is or at least it was

a traditional Sicilian town.

It's as if a bomb
went off. Bang!

[narrator] It's completely
devoid of life,

except for the occasional
stray dog hunting
around the streets.

These strikingly
different towns
share the same name.

It must be connected,
but it's hard to see how.

[Sascha] It began with
an unavoidable tragedy,

but it ended with something
much more insidious.

[narrator] Girolamo Cangelosi,

has lived the in Poggioreale
since it was built.

He has been the town's mayor
for four years.

[Girolamo speaking
foreign language]

This square
was designed by architect,
Paolo Portoghesi.

Sometimes,
it was used to
put on productions

by local Sicilian
theater companies.

So it played a role
in supporting
Sicilian culture.

So it played a role
in supporting
Sicilian culture.

So this place
is intended to bring together

the community of Poggioreale.

[narrator] The unifying vision
behind the central square,

was part of a bold plan
for the entire town.

[Dominic] Instead of
being densely packed,

and with narrow streets.
It would have wide boulevards

and with narrow streets.
It would have wide boulevards

and large open
communal spaces.

[Amma] But circular streets
were the nuclei of the town,

and each was supposed
to have a significant building
in the center.

Public services
were going to be
more easily accessible,

and more available
to everyone who lived there.

[Sascha] All of these
different design concepts
and ideas

they hoped would come together
to bring the residents into

the modern world.

the modern world.

[Amma] You might think
that this is all a good idea,

but as you can see,
it didn't work out so well.

[narrator] The story of how
this once visionary settlement
became a faded memory,

begins with
the sprawling ruin
two miles north.

This is the original town
of Paggioreale.

Calogero Petralia
was born here in the 1950s,

Calogero Petralia
was born here in the 1950s,

and spent his childhood
amongst its once busy streets.

[Calogero speaking
foreign language]

That was the primary school
and near the school's
municipal theater,

we even celebrated
the carnival there.

[narrator] But Calogero's
peaceful life here
would soon be shattered.

A series of disasters

would lead to not one
but two ghost towns.

[Dominic] Death, destruction,
organized crime
and corruption.

[Dominic] Death, destruction,
organized crime
and corruption.

What these people went through
is harrowing.

[narrator] In Sicily's
Belice Valley,

lie the shattered remains
of Poggioreale.

Calogero Petralia, lived here
until he was 18 years old.

[speaking foreign language]
We can't go any further
because it's too dangerous.

[narrator] The heart
of the town is strictly
off limits to the public.

[narrator] The heart
of the town is strictly
off limits to the public.

[Amma] The walls look like
they could come down
at any moment.

The floors look like
they could collapse
at any moment.

To this day,
it's a complete death trap.

[narrator]
On January 14th, 1968,

the destruction began.

[Girolamo speaking
foreign language]

It started at noon.

We were about to have lunch,

We were about to have lunch,

and the tables
started trembling.

The glasses were shaking.

Then the old people shouted,

"This is an earthquake.
It's an earthquake."

So, we rushed to leave town.

[narrator] Most of
the residents managed
to evacuate

before the worst
of the destruction began.

But, that was just the start
of the suffering.

The danger doesn't cease
when the earthquake stops.

The danger doesn't cease
when the earthquake stops.

The aftermath
can be just as devastating.

[narrator] Overnight,
the entire population
of the town

became homeless.

The government relief effort
was slow, disorganized,

and underfunded.

Eventually, temporary housing
was set up for the residents.

But, it was only tents
and prefabricated barracks.

[narrator] Finally, a plan was
put in place to permanently
rehouse the victims,

in a new city built
just down the hill.

Well, you wouldn't believe
just how long it would take.

[Dominic] Not a single house
was built until 1976,

which is eight years
after the earthquake.

[Sascha] And there's
only one thing
that can explain that:

corruption.

[Dominic] It's appeared that
the money earmarked

for the reconstruction
of the town had been
siphoned off

into the pockets of
politicians and the mafia.

into the pockets of
politicians and the mafia.

[narrator] Residents moved
into the new town in 1982,

fourteen years
after the earthquake.

Girolamo Cangelosi,

was one of the first
to arrive.

[Girolamo speaking
foreign language]

For me,
it was like a rebirth.
We now have larger rooms.

Each of us had our own room,
whereas in the barracks,

we had all
been sleeping together,

we had all
been sleeping together,

in one crowded room,
the whole family.

[narrator] Beyond simply
rehousing people,

the architects were pushing
a social vision.

The futuristic design
of the town was intended to

bring the inhabitants
into the modern world.

[narrator]
But the architect's dream

failed to become a reality.

That simply didn't line up
with what the people
of Poggioreale needed.

That simply didn't line up
with what the people
of Poggioreale needed.

[Sascha] The people wanted
investment and the economy,
they wanted jobs,

rather than money being poured

into this new town,
that was really

more of a work of art
than anything else.

[narrator] The new town
was completed by the1990s.

The Italian government
spent several billion dollars

on reconstruction
across the region.

They had the capacity
to house 10,000 people,

They had the capacity
to house 10,000 people,

but it never saw
a fraction of that.

[Amma] Many of the residents
never made it to the new town.

Just because they had
to wait long periods of time

before being able
to move back home,

and so they just decided
to locate elsewhere.

And the town's fortunes
haven't improved much since.

[Sascha] Today we see
these homes selling
for a pittance.

because, really, who wants
to move into a town
that's dying?

[narrator] Today,
Girolamo hopes to reverse
the fortunes of the new town.

[Girolamo speaking
foreign language]

When I ran
for mayor of Poggioreale,

I ran to be of service
to my town.

and to provide services
to our community.

[narrator]
In the Baltic country
of Estonia,

a red brick megastructure
sits eerily out of place.

[Sascha] The complex is huge.
You have buildings

spread across
this island

and then spilling out onto
the banks of the mainland.

Through these large windows,
rays of sunlight pour in
on a sunny day.

[Dominic] Huge empty rooms
with rows upon rows
of decaying pillars.

[Dominic] Huge empty rooms
with rows upon rows
of decaying pillars.

[narrator]
But these now peaceful halls
belie a troubled history.

The working
and living conditions
were brutal.

Corpses were being carried
all over the streets.

[narrator] What went on here
on the northern edge
of Europe?

In these buildings
that would be more at home
in another land.

This enormous structure
was once referred to as

a bit of England
on Russian ground.

a bit of England
on Russian ground.

But what's
the connection here
to England?

[narrator]
The seeds of the world's
biggest-ever revolution,

were sown right here.

[narrator] This site sits
on the island of Kreenholm,

and sprawls
across the border
between two nations.

One part of the complex
is in Estonia,

and the other part
is in Russia.

and the other part
is in Russia.

[narrator] Here, architectural
restoration expert,
Madis Tuuder,

studies the origins of
these incongruous buildings.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

The architectural style
of this place is very English.

You can really feel
the English spirit.

[narrator] It was built
in the 1850s.

The date hints at why
this English style building
ended up here.

The date hints at why
this English style building
ended up here.

Back then,

Northern Britain was covered
in similar structures

built to house
the cotton mills

that grew out of
the Industrial Revolution.

Industrialization
had not yet reached
the Russian empire.

But that would soon change.

In 1856,

a wealthy German merchant
named Baron Ludwig Knoop,

bought Kreenholm Island.

bought Kreenholm Island.

He was known as
Europe's Rockefeller.

He founded 200 cotton mills
in Russia, England,
and the United States.

But Kreenholm
was going to be
his crowning glory.

[narrator] The Kreenholm
factory complex was built
with one purpose in mind:

to produce cotton.

Kreenholm was the most
modern textile factory

in the Russian empire,
and the largest
in Europe.

in the Russian empire,
and the largest
in Europe.

[narrator] At its peak,
the factory would house

nearly half a million
spindles.

This accounted
for ten percent

of all the cotton
cloth production
in the entire Russian empire.

[narrator] Knoop had lived
and worked
in Industrial Britain.

In keeping
with what he'd seen there,

he stuffed
his latest factory with
state-of-the-art technology.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

Most of the machinery
was brought here
from England and Germany.

So it was quite modern,
quite innovative.

For the time,
it was very progressive.

[narrator] This new technology
wasn't limited
to the cotton mills.

[Sascha] Premises were heated
by hot water and steam,

and there was illumination
through gaslight as well as
a ventilation system.

and there was illumination
through gaslight as well as
a ventilation system.

By 1889,
there even was
a telephone system installed.

[narrator] The complex grew
to accommodate the thousands
who came to work here.

And Kreenholm became
a town in its own right.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

It had its own schools,
kindergartens, hospitals,
and bakeries.

[Madis] And even
its own currency.

[Madis] And even
its own currency.

Kreenholm was
more than just a factory.

It was so large,
it operated more like
a city-state.

[narrator] But life here
was far from easy.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

The workers were not happy
with the conditions

and the low wages.

[Madis] And some
of the managers
treated them badly too.

They wanted better conditions
and that's how the seeds
of protests are sown.

They wanted better conditions
and that's how the seeds
of protests are sown.

[narrator] Kreenholm
was now ripe for revolution.

[narrator]
In the mid-19th century,

the working classes
throughout the Russian empire

were treated like chattel.

And in Estonia,
the large Kreenholm
factory complex,

was no exception.

The Russian empire is one
of the last places in Europe
to industrialize.

They do it very quickly
and they do it
on a massive scale.

They do it very quickly
and they do it
on a massive scale.

So, small surprise,

their issues
with work conditions,
worker's health.

Kreenholm
also used child labor

from an orphanage
in St. Petersburg.

[narrator] In its's heyday,
you would not have wanted
to be one of the workers here.

It was absolutely brutal.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]
The majority of workers

came here from
small Estonian villages.

The working conditions
were really tough.

The temperature, vibration,
noise, and the dust.

The temperature, vibration,
noise, and the dust.

The dust
was the worst,
the most serious.

[narrator] Despite
their horrifying treatment,

peasants of
the feudal Russian empire

had not yet challenged
the system.

But at
the Kreenholm factory complex,
that was about to change.

In 1872,

an outbreak of cholera
fueled the growing unrest.

an outbreak of cholera
fueled the growing unrest.

Many of Kreenholm's workers
fell ill and died.

Corpses were being carried
through Kreenholm in full view
of the factory's population.

And it must
have been grim,

wondering if you would
be the epidemic's next victim.

In light
of the cholera epidemic,

they wanted permission
to return home
to their villages.

But their pleas
to temporarily leave,
fell on deaf ears.

In August, 1872,
they decide enough is enough,
and they go on strike.

In August, 1872,
they decide enough is enough,
and they go on strike.

[narrator] And when
the factory's internal
police force got involved,

it turned into a riot.

It kick-started
a violent confrontation

between the employers
and the workers.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

The army
was called in
to calm things down.

Some people say
that at that time,

it was the biggest protest,
in Russia.

[Sascha]
The epidemic triggered
the most serious labor unrest

that Russia
and Estonia had ever seen.

[narrator] In Kreenholm,
they eventually managed
to quell the unrest.

And the factory
kept on rolling.

[Amma] At the turn
of the 20th century,

an eight-hour working day
was introduced,

and life for the workers
became a little bit easier.

The factory thrived.

[narrator] Yet the touchpaper
of descent had been lit
in the Russian empire.

[narrator] Yet the touchpaper
of descent had been lit
in the Russian empire.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

The protest
had influenced
other industrial cities,

even St. Petersburg,

which is very close to here.

Workers became braver.

They started demanding things
from the government

and from their bosses.

[narrator] Ultimately,
riots around the empire,
like here at Kreenholm,

led to the 1917
Russian Revolution,

that not only spelled
the end of the empire,
but also changed the world.

When Estonia broke away
from Russia,

the island's cotton factories

carried on regardless.

[Sascha]
By the First World War,

the factory
was employing 10,000 people,

producing 17
and a half tons of yarn,

and almost 47,000 miles
of fabric a year.

[narrator] In 1940,
Estonia became part of
the Russian empire once more.

[narrator] In 1940,
Estonia became part of
the Russian empire once more.

This time,
under Soviet rule.

[Dominic] At its height
in the 1970s,

the plant covered 32,000 acres
and employed 12,000 people.

When Estonia regained
it's independence,

Kreenholm was privatized,

but the company continued
to lose money.

The number of its workers
dwindled over the years,

until in 2010,
it went bankrupt.

[Madis speaking
foreign language]

This is the last
of the machinery tools.

This is the last
of the machinery tools.

The rest was sent
to be scrapped

once the factory
had shut down.

This is the only machine
that was spared.

[narrator]
The Kreenholm factory complex
maintains its place

at the vanguard of revolution.

In retrospect,
the speed and conditions
of industrializations there,

In retrospect,
the speed and conditions
of industrializations there,

were creating
a sort of perfect mix

for political radicalism
to spread.

And you can see
the origins of that,

or at least
a foreshadowing of it,

in what happened to Kreenholm.