All language subtitles for Rise.of.the.Nazis.S02E03.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Stalingrad is a really
major setback.

Really, I think,
it has an effect on him.

It makes him doubt,
I think, inwardly,

his ability to...to lead Germany.

The physical and mental stress
on Hitler is absolutely immense.

He has insomnia,

he finds it difficult to sleep.

He doesn't quite know what to do.

For once, there is no masterplan.

Hitler leaves it to the men
around him

to pull Germany back from the abyss.

This is the story of the Eastern
Front of the Second World War,

which many see as its
defining conflict.

It was a campaign that saw some
of the most brutal and inhumane

warfare in all of history.

Our interest is the psychology
of that war.

What is the enemy up to?
Can you deceive him?

The minds of dictators and
the morality of those around them.

Hitler always needed people
around him saying,

"You are a genius. You are
our leader. You are the Fuhrer."

To tell this story,
we've asked some of the world's

most eminent historians and experts

with different kinds of insight

to each take us inside the mind
of one of the key protagonists.

He wanted to be the architect
of Germany's reality.

In some ways, the only truth-teller.

Nazi rule relies on
quiet complicity.

Ultimately, it's a study
of why dictatorships are flawed,

and how those who rule through fear
and terror

can never trust even the people
closest to them.

He'll then lose everything
and bring Germany down with him.

Requiem in D Minor
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

In 1943, the war has been raging
for over three years.

On the surface, Germans remain
united behind the Nazi regime,

but war fatigue is setting in.

And the crucial pact between
the Nazis and the public

is starting to come under strain.

Their charismatic leader,
Adolf Hitler, is nowhere to be seen.

Hitler's absence
creates a power vacuum.

Senior Nazis go into competition
to prove themselves

as Hitler's most valuable deputy.

Each has a different strategy.

Hitler's principle of rule

was what's been called
"managerial Darwinism".

He would appoint different people
and different organisations

to do more or less the same thing,

let them fight it out
between themselves

and whoever came out on top, in his
view, would be the most effective.

Master of Nazi spin,

Joseph Goebbels,

believes he is the man to return
Hitler to his former strength.

Joseph Goebbels is the person
that has made the lies so palatable.

Goebbels is the author of
your reality in 1940s Germany.

He created the hero-worship cult
of Hitler,

the idea of
the Fuhrer's infallibility.

To Goebbels,
Hitler isn't just a hero,

he's the incarnation
of National Socialism.

But Stalingrad represents a total
disaster for the Nazi regime.

He's getting regular reports
from intelligence

about people's feelings.

It was Hitler's reputation,

and especially his infallibility,
that took a hit.

Because, you see,
the thing about infallibility

means that you never fail.

If you fail once, the whole myth
is liable to collapse.

Everything Goebbels had built
is at stake.

With Hitler in retreat, Goebbels
attempts to do damage control.

He unrolls a barefaced lie...

..spinning the defeat in Stalingrad
as a heroic sacrifice

on the part of
Paulus and the 6th Army...

..proclaiming generals, officers and
troops battled shoulder to shoulder

until the last bullet was fired.

"They died, so that Germany
could live."

Within the top echelons
of the Nazi Party,

Goebbels is not
the most powerful man.

And he's constantly thirsty
for more power.

Hitler's withdrawal provides
Goebbels with an opportunity

to prove his intellectual
superiority,

to inspire confidence.

Confidence that the war can be won.

Goebbels' radio broadcast
is heard across the country.

But there are some Germans who see
through the smoke and mirrors.

Nazi rule relies on
quiet complicity.

It relies on people
turning a blind eye.

But Sophie Scholl clearly cares
deeply about right and wrong,

and believes that this is
an active pursuit.

That there is an obligation
to take a stand.

For months, 21-year-old student
Sophie Scholl

has been questioning
the actions of the Nazi regime.

Her boyfriend, Fritz, has been
fighting on the Eastern Front,

and sends her regular updates

on the realities of the war
with the Soviets.

"For eight days,
we have been in constant retreat.

"The situation here
is pretty hopeless.

"It is frightening how heartlessly
my commander talks about

"the slaughter of all the Jews
in occupied Russia.

"He remains completely convinced

"of the justice of this action."

During the Nazi era,
and especially during the war,

it was difficult to get access
to information that was credible.

There was no freedom of press.

The country was saturated
with Nazi propaganda.

Sophie sees the personal suffering
of Germans

through this needless warfare,

and she also gets the sense of

the lies that the Nazi regime
is propagating.

At this point in her life,

she decides she's going to expose
the truth about the Nazi regime.

Sophie has joined an underground
resistance movement -

the White Rose.

Based in the Nazi heartlands
of Munich,

they have been producing
and distributing

anti-Nazi material
across the country.

Just walking down a street
in Nazi Germany

feels like a precarious thing to do.

There are so many reasons
for which you could be questioned,

interrogated, arrested.
People were spying,

they were informants everywhere.

So imagine in that context,
taking leaflets,

the discovery of which would
certainly lead to your death.

Carrying them on trains,

trains that are full of
Gestapo, guards.

It would really feel like
carrying a bomb.

Sophie realises the defeat
in Stalingrad

is the opportunity
she has been waiting for.

Many ordinary Germans
are starting to question

the regime's lies and propaganda.

People are finally ready to hear
the message of the White Rose.

They draft a damning leaflet,

calling on the youth of Germany
to rise up

and overthrow Hitler
and the Nazi Party.

They decide that to make
maximum impact,

hundreds of leaflets
will be distributed

at their university campus
during school hours.

Goebbels knows he must keep
close control of the public mood.

He believes Hitler needs the fervour
of the nation to propel him forward.

But Hitler has another deputy
who is working on his own strategy

to get the nation, and his Fuhrer,
back on track.

In many ways, Heinrich Himmler
is the quintessential Nazi.

Coldblooded and extremely brutal.

And everyone in Europe
is afraid of this man.

He is the mastermind of genocide,

he's the mastermind
of the racial war,

he's the architect of the Holocaust.

Here is someone who wants
to be the chief protagonist

of the racial re-engineering,

the racial reordering of Europe.

He knows how powerful he is,

and he knows that he's only
becoming more powerful.

At only 42-years-old,

Himmler has risen to become the main
architect of terror

in the Third Reich.

He is chief of all German police
units, and his vast SS network

penetrates nearly every corner
of German society.

Now, Himmler has a plan -

to turn the tide of the war
by extending his tentacles

to the one area of German life
currently out of his reach -

the military.

To the ire of the Army High Command,

Himmler has been building a special
military branch of his prized SS.

The Waffen-SS has become
famed for their brutality.

Himmler's main insecurity is

that in 1918, he's too young
to fight

on the front line
in the First World War.

And he really wants to prove himself
as a political soldier.

And he hopes to impress Hitler

with the performance
of the Waffen-SS.

Himmler viewed the Wehrmacht
with some suspicion.

He thought that their main loyalty
was not towards Hitler.

The whole history of Hitler's
relationship with the senior

generals and field marshals of the
army is a rather fraught one.

Senior generals,
with their long tradition

of Prussian military conduct,

were less susceptible
to Hitler's charm.

The German Army is in retreat,

facing relentless setbacks in
North Africa and the Soviet Union.

But the Waffen-SS are proving
their worth on the battlefield.

Himmler's troops score their own
independent victory

against Russian forces,

taking back the city of Kharkov
from the Soviets.

As the Waffen-SS began to score
some victories,

Hitler found this was
absolutely the right way to go.

These were noted
for their fanaticism,

their total devotion to Hitler.

And the army might be failing him,

but Himmler and the SS were not.

Hitler does not like listening
to many other people...

..but Himmler has Hitler's ear.

He knows that if he can produce
the desired lethal results...

..he can become the most powerful
man in Germany, just after Hitler.

Goebbels is watching
Himmler's rise with frustration.

He is still struggling to get Hitler
to buy into his efforts

to seize the nation's morale.

He plans a stunt, which he hopes
will sway the public mood

and galvanise the Fuhrer.

He gathers thousands
of top Nazi officials

at Berlin's Sportpalast Arena.

On the same day, Sophie Scholl
is making her way across Munich.

The White Rose have decided
that today is the day

to put their plans into action.

They have in their possession
a suitcase, no less,

packed with leaflets.

Putting these leaflets
in visible places.

In corridors, on notice boards,
on doors.

It's incredibly dangerous.

But she knew that what she was doing
was going to, in her words,

"make waves",

was going to be remembered as
something that stood out

in this sea of oppression
and complicity.

As the White Rose
spread their message,

Goebbels' speech
fills the Sportpalast.

HE RANTS

He hopes to renew a sense
of German patriotism

by proclaiming a state of total war.

Total war involves
devoting all national resources

to the conflict.

Britain and the Soviet Union
were the first to do it.

The entire economy became
subservient to the war efforts.

If he can commit every last German
to devote all of their beings,

all of their economic lives,

victory is within grasp.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Are you willing to do
what it takes to survive?

She's just feeling this rush
of adrenaline.

And Sophie acts impulsively.

HE RANTS

He truly believes that if you can
push a perception far enough,

it will become reality.

Requiem in D Minor
by Mozart

CHEERING

APPLAUSE

At this critical moment,

Sophie's actions are spotted
by a caretaker.

He reads the leaflets
and informs the dean.

The local Gestapo are alerted

and officers rush to the university.

As Sophie is brought into custody,

Goebbels' Total War speech is being
broadcast around the building.

SHOUTS OF AGREEMENT

She's brought into Gestapo HQ,

she's fingerprinted,
then she has this mugshot taken.

You really get a glimpse of Sophie.

She looks trepidatious,

but at the same time,
she looks quite resilient.

Defiant, even.

Looking straight ahead,
giving very little away.

Goebbels' speech has failed
to convince the public.

He receives reports from
Security Service agents

who listen in on conversations
across Germany,

revealing that support
for the regime is crumbling.

Goebbels knows that these reports
will be deeply damaging

to his standing with Hitler.

There is only one man
who can help him.

As always, with leading Nazis,

there is quite a lot of jealousy

about who has more access
to Hitler,

who is more important
in Hitler's eyes.

Is it Himmler? Is it Goebbels?

But Goebbels does not want Himmler
to present

the SD reports on public morale
to Hitler

because Goebbels finds them
too defeatist.

Himmler firmly believes
that Hitler needs to know

about what the German people think.

He offers to his arch-rival,
Heinrich Himmler,

to doctor these SD reports together.

This is a fascinating moment
where the minister of propaganda

is actually trying to lie
to his own superiors.

He's trying to doctor reality

even as seen privately
by the regime itself.

How concerning must these reports
have been

for Goebbels to need to conceal them

and doctor them
for Hitler's benefit?

Himmler does not agree,

and Himmler refuses to doctor
the reports

that are going up to the higher-ups,
to Hitler,

about dissent in Germany.

Himmler has a close
working relationship with Hitler,

so in all likelihood,
Himmler still shows

these public-opinion reports
to Hitler.

Hitler steps further back
into the shadows.

Hitler identifies himself
with the German people,

so it obviously becomes
more difficult for him

if he has to admit that people
are beginning to criticise him.

Mingling with ordinary people,
as he'd done so often,

becomes rather less frequent.

And I think he begins to be
a little bit afraid

that he won't get rapturous crowds

giving the Nazi salute
and cheering their heads off.

Himmler is well aware of the need
to reassert authority.

When Sophie Scholl's case
reaches his desk,

he decides to make an example of her
and the White Rose movement.

Germany's most notorious judge
is to oversee a show trial.

The sentence is death by beheading.

She's allowed one last visit
with her parents.

For Sophie, at that age,

you still feel like you need
and rely on your parents.

And here they are,
having to let you go

to a regime
that's going to execute you.

But even in those circumstances,

Sophie had a serenity about her.

Her mother brought her sweets
and she said,

"Oh, thank goodness,
cos I haven't had lunch".

She projected confidence,
strength of character, integrity.

But on the inside,
she was terrified.

It's important to remember
that fear,

because we would all feel it
in those circumstances.

And I can only understand
her composure

by imagining that she had confidence

that it would mean something
long after she was gone.

Himmler may have eradicated
the White Rose,

but in the summer of 1943,

a new crisis is brewing.

The allies launch
merciless carpet-bombing raids

over major German cities.

Taking out factories, dams,

and the homes
of ordinary German people.

One RAF raid sets Hamburg on fire.

In the space of a week,

over 30,000 men, women and children

are killed in the inferno.

If Stalingrad woke Germans
to the possibility

that a German army
could be defeated,

the bombing of major German cities
showed them

that they were not invulnerable.
Quite the opposite.

They would be killed, their cities
destroyed by the Allies.

It became very obvious
that it was going to hurt,

and it was going to hurt at home.

It was going to invade their lives.

And there is nothing that German
propaganda could do

to soften the blow of the bombing.

In Hamburg, some survivors are moved
to show open dissent

against the Nazi regime.

Swastikas are ripped down

and people dare to refuse
the Hitler salute.

Goebbels' Total War propaganda
is losing its resonance.

Dissent is now coming out
into the open,

and directly linked to the failure
of the Nazi regime

to keep these Germans safe.

But the RAF don't just drop bombs,

they also drop leaflets.

Thousands of them.

Leaflets that have been smuggled out
by the German Resistance.

Leaflets written by the White Rose

and Sophie Scholl.

OPERATIC RECITAL

Interestingly, the White Rose
leaflet mentioned Goebbels by name,

and insulting him, essentially,
claiming that he is lying.

It proved that, unlike Goebbels'
claim in his many speeches,

Germany was not united
behind the Nazis,

and this was not the only
necessary future for Germany.

It shows the power of
these leaflets.

They had so much resonance,
the British saw them as a weapon

against the Nazis in the war.

And to think that a group of
students created that,

I think is just really remarkable.

By this circuitous route,
despite having executed Sophie,

these leaflets actually came back
to haunt the regime

just at the moment
it was most damaging.

And I think that also would have
given Sophie great satisfaction.

Goebbels repeatedly calls on Hitler
to come out

and face down these gestures
of resistance.

But he refuses.

Hitler's never comfortable
with defeat or with attacks.

For him,
war is all about the offensive.

And when Germany is on
the defensive,

he gets rather, I think, isolated.

Doesn't know quite what to do

and certainly doesn't want
to confront the population.

These expressions of dissent
actually scare him quite a lot.

They terrify his sensibilities.

He just keeps refusing to turn up
to events,

keeps refusing Goebbels'
very numerous requests

for Hitler to do it like Churchill
and other leaders,

and visit bombsites,
commiserate with Germans

and be there for his people.

This makes the Fuhrer more distant
from ordinary Germans.

Recognising his authority
now rests with police repression

rather than the adulation
of the masses,

Hitler appoints Himmler
as Reich Minister of the Interior.

Goebbels was disappointed.

I think he probably coveted
that position himself,

and more influence,
but crucially, he also thought

that Hitler was missing
a political opportunity.

This is a very clear signal

that Hitler believes
that this problem will be resolved

not through more propaganda,
not through more consent,

but rather, through more repression
of dissent.

Himmler's methods.

He knows that he's only becoming
more powerful in 1943

with this appointment
as Reich Minister of the Interior.

The party and the SS begin
to increase in power

and to put the screws on
the German people.

Himmler is a very chilling figure.

The cold bureaucrat.

And that does, with the Gestapo,

cast a kind of chill of fear
among the German population.

Himmler's new position of power

is a frightening move
for almost all of Germany.

But a new threat is brewing
in the one place

that still remains
out of his reach -

the German Army.

Everyone who was ever
in the presence of Stauffenberg

talks about how he's charismatic,

he has a real presence in the room.

He has a way with words.

He makes this impression
on everyone around him.

He's a man of action.

Claus von Stauffenberg appears
every inch the German war hero,

having been attacked by
Allied fighter planes in Tunisia.

He's lost an eye, a hand,
and two fingers.

Unable to return to the front
on account of his injuries,

he has been appointed Chief of Staff

of the General Army Office
in Berlin.

But Stauffenberg is harbouring
a dangerous secret.

He wants to kill Hitler.

Stauffenberg has witnessed
personally

the vast scale of slaughter that has
become central to the war.

The losses on the Eastern Front
are massive.

He sees this everywhere he turns,

and he sees German youth just being
laid to waste for nothing.

And his whole outlook on the world
has changed.

Stauffenberg is part of
an assassination plot

that spans the political
and military corridors of Germany.

Hitler's always had quite
an uncomfortable relationship

with the army.

A lot of them have never really got
beyond the idea

that he's this lowly corporal that
somehow become Commander-in-chief,

and that he's not really
one of them.

So there's this sort of separation
between the two.

Stauffenberg knows Hitler
is a danger to the nation.

He believes that it is his mission
to assassinate him.

Of course, it's a vast undertaking.

He knows that there's a good chance

that he won't survive
the attempted coup.

He'll also suffer the risk
of being criticised

for the rest of history as being a
traitor to his own country.

Despite the risks,
despite the scale,

it's something that he feels
is his duty.

Stauffenberg is in a valuable
position.

His new role puts him within
Hitler's orbit.

He could almost get close enough
to plant a bomb.

Meanwhile, the plotters
will take on strategic roles

within Reserve Army units
across Germany.

Once Stauffenberg succeeds
in killing Hitler,

he will initiate Operation Valkyrie.

Word will go out for
the Reserve Army to start the coup,

arrest all high-ranking Nazis,

and take over
the running of Germany.

Stauffenberg seems to be
the sort of person

who enjoys pressurised situations.

When he's in the military,
he enjoys being on the front.

He enjoys the sort of thrill
of having his life on the line.

This is something, again, where
he finds himself in a situation

where there are dangers
and there are risks,

but this is not a situation
in which he's uncomfortable.

This is the sort of place
he likes to be.

They discussed their plans,
as far as possible,

away from prying eyes
and prying ears.

He's really clear about
the fact that any documentation

should be destroyed.

He tells his secretary
to write in gloves

so there's no fingerprints on it.

He knows the Gestapo
have got their eyes open.

If anyone gets the merest idea that
they're doing what they're doing,

then the likelihood is they'd be
carted off to a concentration camp

and probably executed.

Stauffenberg and his conspirators

must outwardly support
the war effort,

without letting
the Nazi leadership know

that their biggest threat
comes from within.

Meanwhile, the news
on the battlefield

is going from bad to worse.

Sicily is lost,

mainland Italy has been invaded,

and the Allies now have a foothold
in Europe.

At this critical moment in the war,

Hitler refuses to return
to public life.

But Minister for Armaments,
Albert Speer,

has a plan to give Hitler
the psychological boost he needs

to stage a fightback
against the Allies.

The story of Speer

is about admiration...

..belief...

..love.

He owes everything he has to Hitler.

But the weaker Hitler gets,

the stronger is Speer.

Now, more and more,
he relies on this inner circle.

He relies on these
trustworthy companions.

Speer understands that Hitler
is a fantasist,

so he unveils a set of superweapons

that he claims will miraculously
defeat the Allies

and win Germany the war.

Hitler's always looking for a way
out,

and this is what seems to
offer him

the way of reversing the debacle
of Stalingrad

and the disasters of 1943.

With the weapons, it's the same
as with Speer's plaster models

of the Reich capital, Berlin.

It's a vision.

The idea of the Wunderwaffe

was, of course, very attractive
to propagandists,

and it's a kind of a slogan.

Hitler believes in Providence.

He believes that Providence and fate
are steering him towards victory

all the time.
And when things are going badly,

Providence will surely
come to the rescue.

So the wonder weapons,
the miracle weapons, for him,

are another intervention
of Providence.

Speer fuels Hitler's dreams

of a bright and victorious future.

Convinced by Speer's promise
of war-winning armaments,

Hitler finally agrees to do what
Goebbels has been asking for months.

He comes out of the shadows

and addresses the nation.

Goebbels is terrified that
most Germans are losing confidence

in the regime's capacity
and willingness to triumph.

Now, in this set-piece speech,

Goebbels and Hitler are trying
to set the clock back

to believing in the Fuhrer
and having faith in his plan.

He's back to something like
his form.

He gives all kinds of reassurances
to the German people

that it's worth
carrying on with the struggle.

Their sufferings in the bombing
of the cities will be avenged

by the wonder weapons,

and that victory is still there

if only they hold fast
to their beliefs

and their loyalty to Germany
and to him.

Now Speer has sold Hitler
and Germany his vision,

he needs help to make it a reality.

Himmler has a workforce
in his concentration camps.

Speer desperately needs
Himmler's workforce.

For Speer, it's very important
to collaborate with Himmler.

Himmler likes the idea of producing
these weapons

that will finally deliver
the final victory over the Allies.

The SS will make itself
indispensable

in ensuring that the miracle weapons
will actually be built

and that they will deliver
the desired results.

Himmler and the SS have been using
concentration camp inmates

to build an economic empire.

Now Himmler sees an opportunity

to exploit this resource
on a vast scale.

He persuades Hitler
that rocket productions

should come under his control.

The SS built an underground
factory complex

near the Harz Mountains

and put 60,000 prisoners to work.

The conditions were...

..indescribable.

It is hard to imagine
how ghastly and appalling

working conditions were.

It is unspeakable.

Speer works very closely
with Himmler.

For him, it's no problem at all

to work with concentration camp
prisoners.

He knows the conditions.

Himmler is not interested
in collaboration.

This has become another opportunity
to impress Hitler

and extend the reach of the SS.

Remember, without Himmler,

without the repressive apparatus
of the SS and the police,

without the essential contributions
of the SS

to the genocidal war in the east,

Hitler's rule wouldn't be as robust.

But Himmler without Hitler
is almost unimaginable.

Himmler is so powerful
because he enjoys Hitler's backing.

Especially at a time

when the fortunes of war

have turned against Nazi Germany.

The Allied bombing raids increase,

in volume and destruction.

And the German people continue
to question Hitler's leadership.

Hitler's inner circle can see
the writing on the wall.

But deep rifts emerge over
how to protect the nation

and the spirit of the Fuhrer.

By late 1943,
Goebbels no longer believes

that Germany can win this war
on two fronts.

Goebbels has an existential
nightmare in his hands

because his beloved,
worshipped Fuhrer

refuses to see the limitations

of the reality of the war
they're fighting.

At this point, Hitler is ever-less
amenable to having a conversation.

Hitler wasn't a good listener,
that's for sure.

And you took your life in your hands
if you started arguing against him

or opposing him, or suggesting
to him things he didn't want to do.

It speaks to Goebbels' closeness
and confidence with the Fuhrer

that he's able to tell him something
that he does not want to hear.

And that is, we must make peace
with one of the two sides.

Either the Soviets
or the Anglo-American Allies.

This is yet another suggestion
of retreat,

abandoning half the war.

Hitler is certainly not prepared
to countenance this at all.

In his diary, Goebbels writes
that several times,

he has lectured Hitler on the need
to make peace with one side.

A war with the Soviet Union
was fundamental

to Hitler's belief system.

But in any case, again,
Hitler thought he could win.

Something was going to happen

that would enable him
to defeat both sides.

Goebbels, here, is trying to face

the very real problem of
the war is being lost.

And he concludes this diary entry
by saying,

"I don't know what the Fuhrer
will do in the end".

Goebbels, the creator of
the Fuhrer myth

of the infallible leader of Germany,

does not know if Hitler
has a solution at all.

Hitler isn't the only one
who wants the war to continue.

Himmler acts quickly to ensure
that senior party members

cannot abandon the regime.

In October 1943,

Himmler gathers high-ranking Nazis
at Posen

for a series of speeches.

They are recorded,

and any absentees are noted.

On this rare occasion,

Himmler talks
openly about the Final Solution.

He coldly describes the mass murder
of Jewish men, women and children.

Himmler assures his audience

that these killings
are morally justified.

But there is another motive
behind these words.

By admitting this giant crime,

Himmler has turned all those present

into accomplices.

As Germany heads to
almost-inevitable defeat,

the Nazi leadership
are locked into their pact.

The war will continue
until the bitter end.

CLICK AND WHIRRING

There's a very eerie movie
that Eva Braun took

where Hitler starts to flirt
with her in front of the camera

and pay her compliments.

And it gives one a very unsettling
feeling that he's flirting with you,

you know, when you look at it
from her eyes and her point of view.

As the final chapter
of the Holocaust is carried out

in his name...

..Hitler withdraws to his official
mountain retreat, the Berghof.

The atmosphere generally
was very relaxed.

People were laughing and joking.

They had conversations,
they looked at the scenery.

It was all very normal.

You weren't allowed to discuss
the extermination of the Jews,

anti-Semitism, the policies towards
the Jews or anything like that.

Particularly over dinner,
and then afterwards,

when they were watching old movies,

he's in his own private world.

He won't have discussions
of the military situation.

That's been dealt with
earlier in the day.

He just holds these monologues

about the old days
and tells stories.

Hitler is here on 6th June, 1944,

when the dramatic news comes in.

A giant armada of warships
has arrived at the Normandy coast,

carrying over 150,000 troops.

D-Day has begun.

It was very difficult
to dent Hitler's self-belief.

He slept late on 6th June
as the Allies were landing.

When he was told after he'd awoken,

his reaction was rather strange,
in a way,

but predictable in another way.

He took it very lightly.

He thought, "This is great.
They're going to be defeated

"and we can make political capital
out of this.

"The German people
will be very angry about this."

But D-Day tips the balance
of the war

irreversibly in favour
of the Allies.

Stauffenberg sees this.

He knows now that Germany is
starting to enter the endgame.

And he also knows that it creates
a time pressure.

If he's going to make this attempt
on Hitler's life,

he needs to do it now.

After months of meticulous planning,
Stauffenberg's chance arrives.

He's promoted into the Reserve Army

and called to the Wolf's Lair,

where he will be face-to-face
with Hitler in a reinforced bunker.

It's the perfect opportunity
to plant a bomb.

So this isn't a practical act
any more, as such,

this is a moral act.
It's an act of conscience.

It's a statement to say,
within this age of terror

and oppression and violence,

there were people who were prepared
to do something about it and to act.

Stauffenberg's briefcase
contains two bombs.

There was a 30-minute window
from priming to detonation,

but no-one knows how accurate
they are.

He will have to be fast and precise.

If anything happens that reveals
his true purpose at this stage,

he risks calamitous harm
to everybody around him.

He knows that he has the eyes
of history on him.

He knows that the events of this day

could become fundamental
to the rest of German history,

to the rest of European history.

When Stauffenberg arrives
at the Wolf's Lair,

he's told the plans have changed.

The briefing has been
brought forward,

giving him less time to prepare.

And the meeting has been moved
to a wooden conference hut.

This is not what they'd planned for.

When he enters the Wolf's Lair, he's
very much entering Hitler's space.

The people in this environment
are people who are passionately

determined to serve Hitler
with everything they have to give.

And so, whether or not
it's real or imagined,

von Stauffenberg feels these eyes
on him.

And so, the risks and the danger
to him and to the plan

just grow and grow the further into
this space that he moves.

As he's led to the briefing,

Stauffenberg asks for a private room

to change his shirt
before the meeting begins.

This is his window
to prime the bombs.

A staff aide knocks on the door
to hurry him to the briefing.

This rattles him.

And in his haste,

he only primes one explosive.

For Hitler, Stauffenberg was
a real war hero.

The kind of soldier
he always wanted.

Someone prepared to make any
sacrifice for him and for Germany.

And losing an eye and losing a hand

were obvious examples
of his extraordinary bravery.

So Hitler greeted him very warmly.

He has a briefcase with him.

Nobody thinks there's anything
unusual in this.

In this moment, Stauffenberg's
mind must have been racing.

He must have been charged
with a version of excitement.

After years of talking about it
and months of concentrated planning,

it's finally happening.

Next to Hitler is a bomb

with a fuse ticking
that's about to explode.

With limited time to leave the room
before the explosion,

Stauffenberg has a pre-planned
phone call,

ready to make an exit.

He makes his pardons and leaves.

This is the last time
he will ever see Hitler.

EXPLOSION

Von Stauffenberg knows
that the bomb's gone off.

The plot has happened,
it's been successful.

He's killed Hitler.

Stauffenberg hurries to
his waiting plane,

ready to carry out the next phase
of Operation Valkyrie.

But when he lands in Berlin...

..he learns the dreadful truth.

Hitler has survived the bomb.

At the Wolf's Lair, Hitler
is covered in cuts and bruises.

And his eardrums have burst.

Furious at the attempt on his life,

he looks for someone to blame,

and summons Heinrich Himmler.

Certainly, Himmler and the Gestapo
did not look very good

because they'd failed to intercept
Stauffenberg,

or to detect his involvement
in the plot.

Himmler gets his act together
very quickly,

and he talked to Hitler and says,

"We must crush this coup harshly
and swiftly".

This is really the final blow

to Hitler's relationship
with the army officers.

He thought they were incompetent,
cowardly.

Here, now, he discovers
they're trying to kill him.

And so, he gets much more
suspicious, much more paranoid.

From now on, Himmler and the SS

have his trust
to an even greater extent.

Rather than blaming him, Hitler
is persuaded to entrust Himmler

with even more power.

To eliminate further opposition
within the army

as ruthlessly as possible,

he appoints Himmler
as head of the Reserve Army.

Himmler heads straight to Berlin,

sending SS units ahead

to round up conspirators
in the army headquarters.

The SS and Himmler work
in a concerted manner

to crush the resistance attempt.

Extremely speedily
and extremely efficiently,

the suppressions and vengeance
meted out by the SS,

the police
and the German judiciary is brutal.

HE RANTS

Himmler moves to destroy
the Resistance network.

Close to 5,000 people
are rounded up

and are swiftly put on trial.

The loyal Heinrich has proved
himself to be the man

who Hitler can count on to deliver
no matter what.

Himmler is now at the peak
of his power.

Second only to Hitler.

And the coup marks a moment
of resurrection for Hitler.

He is now more convinced than ever

of his own invincibility.

Providence has preserved him
yet again.

So his future is still to guide
Germany to victory.

He sees this as confirmation

of everything that he's done
up to that point.

Hitler will now never concede.

Rallied by the defiance and denial
of his closest aides...

..he pushes Germany on
towards untold destruction.

Hitler now had no boundaries.

Ultimately, Hitler's mission
really becomes

one, literally, of annihilation
or victory.

The result was total destruction.

Death on an almost unimaginable
scale.

This is a kind of absolute nightmare

which has very few parallels
in history.