Original subtitles

Berlin early July 1945 since the end of

the housing war in Hitler's Center of

power the Soviet authorities have

determined the future of the city two

months after the end of the War the

British and Americans are allowed to

move into their agreed sectors a camera

crew of Hollywood director George

Stevens Ventures into the Soviet

occupied part of the city at the

Brandenburg gate

at Parisa Platz the men first filmed the

badly damaged Hotel Adlon before the war

one of the most fashionable abodes in

Berlin it was a military Hospital during

the battle for the capital

shortly after the surrender the building

caught fire and has been uninhabitable

ever since

just around the corner winter Den Linden

a ruin is collapsing

Brandenburg gate George Stevens poses in

his Jeep just as he's used to doing in

the Dream Factory

he would have loved to have been there

with his cameras and Hitler's downfall

but Allied reporters are not allowed to

enter Berlin until July to document the

lives of the defeated after 12 years of

Nazi Rule and six years of war

[Music]

[Music]

Berlin's former Boulevard is now

passable again bicycles are a luxury as

a means of transport

debris is being removed and tied it up

everywhere

the last weeks of the war the bombing

raids the excesses of the Soviet

conquerors seem almost forgotten

it's not yet clear how things will

continue in a little over a week the

Victorious Powers will discuss this in

Potsdam

Moscow the 24th of June 1945. six weeks

after the German surrender the Soviet

Union celebrates its victory over the

fascist Beast

[Applause]

here before the walls of the Holy

Kremlin the country greets its sons who

have returned from Victory Heroes of

unprecedented battles on all fronts of

the Patriotic War

from Lenin's Mausoleum Joseph Stalin

receives the homage of his subjects and

oversees the red Army's Grand parade in

Red Square

[Music]

for four years the generalissimo

demanded everything of his people to

drive the German Invaders out of the

country the Soviet Union suffered 27

million casualties in the Great

Patriotic War

the Red Army celebrates itself

and its victory over Hitler the symbols

of Nazi rule are thrown on the ground in

front of the red dictator in camera

ready fashion Stalin is at the height of

his power with the help of the Red Army

he will consolidate the Soviet Union

status as a superpower

foreign

[Music]

1945 a flight over a desert of rubble

50 000 tons of explosives fell on Berlin

during the war off the buildings in the

German Capital 48 000 are destroyed 23

000 severely damaged and 172

000 slightly damaged

after visiting the destroyed German

Capital British Air Force Marshal Arthur

Tedder described it this way

Berlin as a city is completely destroyed

the ruins of what was once Berlin should

be preserved as a modern Babylon or

Carthage a monument to Prussian

militarism and the horrors of the Nazi

regime the city is completely dead you

drive kilometer after kilometer through

abandoned ruins and fight nothing

habitable Berlin can never be rebuilt

[Music]

the New York Times in the summer of 1945

hopes that the obliteration of Berlin

could Herald the beginning of a renewed

civilization of Germany and a visitor

believes that very few people would

regret The Disappearance of this

unlovable parvenu among European

capitals

the American journalist William Shearer

describes Berlin in his diary

how shall one find words to portray

truthfully and accurately the picture of

a great Capital destroyed beyond

recognition the image of a once powerful

nation that has ceased to exist the

image of a conquering people who only

five years ago when I left here behaved

in such a brutally arrogant Manner and

were blindly convinced of their mission

as a master race

[Music]

in this pile of rubble there are also

berliners with confidence journalist

root Andreas Friedrich writes in her

diary on the 7th of July 1945

the whole city lives in a frenzy of

expectation one wants to tear oneself

apart with eagerness to work to have a

thousand hands and a thousand brains the

Americans are here the English the

Russians the French two are said to be

in the offing maybe they've already

moved into their occupation area

we don't know all that for sure rumors

abound are defended and refuted it

doesn't matter at all all that matters

is that we are at the center of the

activity

2.8 million people live in Berlin Rubble

women dominate the cityscape they take

Stone after Stone out of the mountains

of rubble for reconstruction cleanup

work that will take years and most of

the men have been killed or unprisoned

in Berlin at this time cameramen from

special film Project 186 are also on the

move on the 9th of July 1945 Captain

Carter shoots this footage of Berlin

women and children who are apparently

being adequately cared for

refugees from the east on the other hand

have a particularly hard time U.S

reporter William Shearer starving human

beings with no will purpose in life or

goal reduced to animalistic functions

like finding food and shelter to get

through the next day alive

rations Amiga the best offer heavy

workers and workers in unhealthy

factories this also includes cultural

and artistic workers then come the

categories for blue and white collar

workers Rubble women and children those

who do not work only receive ration card

number five for non-working family

members and the rest of the population

in the vernacular it is called the

hunger or Cemetery card

Captain Carter's real job is to document

the bomb damage in the capital

on this 9th of July he's particularly

interested in historic buildings that

played a special role in the rise and

fall of Adolf Hitler

the kaiserhoff hotel on wilhelmsplatz

was the first luxury hotel in Imperial

Berlin in the 1920s The Operators

sympathized with right-wing nationalist

circles from 1932 Hitler lived

exclusively in this hotel when he

visited Berlin

from his suite he planned the Takeover

of Germany

on the 30th of January 1933 he traveled

from here to president Hindenburg who

appointed him right Chancellor

the kaiserhof is just as much a ruin as

the Berlin Sports Palace on potsdama

Strasse it was here that Hitler gave his

first major speech as head of government

in February 1933 announcing the crushing

of the Communist party and declaring his

anti-semitic inflammatory slogans to be

State Doctrine ten years later on the

18th of February 1943 propaganda

Minister Joseph goebbel shouted do you

want Total War into the arena for

thousand fanatical party comrades

cheered him and chanted previously

rehearsed slogans

it took only two years for Total War to

finally reach Berlin Hitler's rice

chancellory was also badly damaged in a

heavy bombing rate in February 1945.

Soviet artillery did the rest

on the 1st of May Reich Chancellor

Joseph gobbels committed suicide here

clearing the way for the unconditional

surrender of the capital Red Army

soldiers immortalized themselves on the

sign with vulgar slogans

the fate of Adolf Hitler remains unclear

on this 9th of July 1945. German

propaganda had declared that the fura

was killed in action fighting for

Germany against bolshevism to his last

breath

but this is a bold-faced lie in the

bunker Under The Garden of the right

chancellery the dictator shot himself in

the head on the 30th of April

his last loyal followers carried the

body to this bunker exit and doused it

with petrol

former security officers will soon

testify that they watched the burning

from a watchtower

they say that the charred remains of

Hitler and his wife Ava were then buried

in a bomb crater but what happened to

the bodies

as early as the 5th of May 1945 Soviet

Secret Service agents found the grave

within a short time Hitler could be

identified by his teeth

Joseph Stalin was informed but the

Kremlin ruler keeps the news to himself

because he wants to keep his Western

allies in the dark

with heavy losses the Red Army has

captured Hitler's Power Center

on this 9th of July 1945 another U.S Air

Force cameraman meticulously documents

the bullet holes in Albert speer's

Monumental architecture which for six

years symbolized the German delusion of

invincibility

the Red Army put a bloody end to this

hubris

throughout

Victors put up posters with mottos by

Joseph Stalin

the strength of the Red Army consists in

the fact that it does not and cannot

Harbor racial hatred against other

peoples not even against the German

people as it is educated in the spirit

of equality of all peoples and races in

the spirit of respect for the rights of

other peoples

such words are sheer mockery even for

opponents of the Nazis in view of

looting and countless rapes in the first

weeks after the surrender

journalist root Andreas Friedrich writes

in her diary

how little do trained politicians

understand the simple trick that you

only win peoples if you offer them

better than before the crowd hails The

Liberator the Savior from Evil because

they added to their misery the

inhabitants of the East Zone hate the

Russians today

the Americans will do it differently the

English too they will correct the

psychological blunders of the first

occupying power and restore Justice and

Trust

a symbol of Hope is the almost intact

Victory column affectionately called the

golt Elsa by berliners it stands beyond

the Brandenburg gate in the British

sector of Berlin where the Union Jack

has been flying since the 1st of July

thank you

Hollywood director George Stevens also

took his camera crew to Wilhelm Strasser

to visit Hitler's Reich chancellery

after the so-called Angeles of Austria

and the victory over France the Germans

cheered their Fury here

now most of them don't want to hear

about it anymore these men are glad that

they survived the war and were not taken

to the Soviet Union

George Stevens has special permission

from the Soviet occupation authorities

to also visit and film inside the

building

State guests were once received in the

cordoner Albert spare went all out for

crude effects

when the diplomats see this they will

learn to fear it Hitler Hitler said to

have one set to his architect

the Hollywood director is also

interested in the dictator's whereabouts

that the body was burned here in the

garden is only a rumor at this point

what is certain is that Josef grebels

and his wife Magda took their own lives

here

their chart bodies were also recovered

here by the Soviet Secret Service

but in this case Stalin's propaganda had

already informed the world public about

the find

[Music]

George Stevens drives with his team to

the sites from the Germans Imperial past

at the National Monument to Kaiser

Wilhelm the first the American reporters

meet a group of Red Army soldiers

the Soviets have already made a German

prisoner of war flown in from Moscow the

police chief of Berlin in May

and thanks to the anti-fascist attitude

of Paul Markov control the newly

established police units one of the

tasks is to combat Black Market

trafficking

directly at the Brandenburg gate is the

largest Black Market in occupied Berlin

the place is ideal for illegal business

because the tier Garden is nearby and

the Soviet sector begins only a few

meters away

many berliners sell their last

belongings that survived the bombing War

for food officially the Allied

authorities disapprove of the barter

trade and occasionally tried to crack

down on it with raids

the Western allies are suspicious of the

mark half police from the start rightly

suspecting that the men are the extended

arm of communist functionaries who have

already arrived in Berlin from Soviet

Exile in early May

the Communist Party of Germany banned by

the Nazis was already readmitted by the

Soviets on the 11th of June 1945

most berliners still don't care they're

not interested in the slowly emerging

conflict between the Victorious Powers

but in the daily struggle for survival

on the 10th of July 1945 Captain Carter

of special film Project 186 shoots this

scene of Rebel women clearing mountains

of rubble for 72 fanix an hour and a

better ration card

[Music]

every brick that is still halfway usable

will be the basis of new housing for

Berlin's population which has

overwhelmingly made up of women and

children

[Music]

[Music]

on this 10th of July 1945 the journalist

would Andreas Friedrich reflects in a

diary on the political future of Germany

perhaps part of our Misfortune is due to

the fact that we have too few

personalities

truly endowed with about the same

percentage 10 percent leaders against 90

lead that is to say among 60 million

Germans about 6 million of all classes

who think independently act

independently judge independently

against 54 million who are indifferent

immature and basically followers after

the last 25 years what has remained of

this precious 10 percent

foreign

cameraman Carter's notes say that this

boy's parents are dead and the

nine-year-old is searching for his big

brother

endless Refugee tracks pass through the

ruined City hundreds of thousands of

people who have come from the East with

their few possessions

because Berlin is already overcrowded

most of them have to move on

those who live in Berlin have to

improvise every day

water is a precious commodity the supply

is still provided by public pumps

but some of the groundwater is

contaminated and carries the risk of

Contracting dysentery or typhus

even the obviously better off show up in

the streets and stroll through Berlin

and pretty summer dresses looking for

work barter goods are a flat many of the

undestroyed houses and Villas in the

suburbs of darlam salendorf or

charlottenburg have been requisitioned

by the British and Americans to house

the occupying troops

thank you Lord Andreas Friedrich writes

in her diary

our soldiers have also seized quarters

in Russia and France

only that one obviously feels something

like this much more bitterly when it

happens to oneself

evacuation within a few hours barely the

most Necessary Things allowed to be

taken away

when the flat door click shut behind the

evacuees they can consider themselves

totally bombed out

and as with the totally bombed out the

unfortunates fall without distinction of

person whether Nazi opponent or Nazi

friend Rich or poor Whoever has to get

out has to get out let him then see

where he can find a place to live

foreign

those who were bombed out during the

last years of the war know their

situation on the ruins you can still see

the inscriptions with new addresses for

relatives or friends

many flats have bomb damage but are

still usable

if the facade is missing Family Life

takes place in front of the public

at night people have to be careful not

to fall in the dark

entire streets on the other hand are

uninhabitable on this 10th of July 1945

Captain Carter shoots a tracking shot

for the U.S Air Force

the green of the street trees will not

remain for long most of them are already

cut down in Autumn as fuel for the

winter

although most of the streets have been

cleared There is almost no traffic in

the former Metropolis only a few private

vehicles are registered most of the wide

cars were confiscated by the vermacht or

later by The Victors and so people wait

patiently for the few means of public

transport

like here at alexanderplatz in the

Soviet sector where there are regular

tram connections to the outer districts

again

even an s-bahn line has been back in

service since the beginning of July

George Stevens has gone to the rice spot

felt where Nazi Germany was allowed to

host the 1936 summer Olympics at first

the USA wanted to boycott the event but

when the regime agreed to allow Jewish

athletes to compete American officials

relented

Jesse Owens a black athlete with four

gold medals became the Superstar of the

games

much to the Chagrin of the furo

not only in the USA but also in Germany

many people had hoped that the Olympic

Games would strengthen the dictator's

will for peace but this soon proved to

be a naive illusion

foreign

has been in the British sector since the

arrival of the western allies the new

Masters immediately put the Olympic

swimming Stadium back into operation for

their soldiers

for Germans of course swimming is off

limits

George Stevens and his team also take a

trip to the vansay where only a few

bathers are enjoying themselves in July

1945

[Music]

their occupation soldiers and their

female companions who demonstratively

ignore the ban on fraternization

the relationship between the soldiers of

the Victorious Powers still seems to be

unclouded here

the interest in the German foil lines

unites them

to enter the beach but they're only too

happy to make an exception for

attractive young ladies

[Music]

there is even a golf course at the beach

club of the second U.S Armored Division

the Hell on Wheels

under the command of General George S

Patton the unit has fought its way from

Normandy through the Arden to Germany

and is now stationed in the American

sector of Berlin

German policemen have cleared the square

at the Brandenburg gate for a large

parade by the British the men are

wearing uniforms that were in service

before 1933

especially in the Soviet sector the

police are not too particular about

their past men trained under the Nazis

are also loyally at the service of the

new Masters

on this 12th of July 1945 soldiers of

the British Desert Rats march across

Hitler's East-West access to the

Brandenburg gate

the cameraman of special firm project

186 are on site to film the special

spectacle

the seventh British Armored Division

distinguished itself above all in the

battles of the African campaign

liberating Tripoli and Tunis in 1943.

crossed the Rhine in March 1945 and took

part in the occupation of Hamburg

the border between the British and

Soviet sectors runs right here so this

square is the ideal place to celebrate

the joint victory over Nazi Germany

thank you

but Berliner sense very clearly that

cracks are appearing in the Allied

Brotherhood in arms

journalist root Andreas Friedrich writes

in her diary

they don't seem to love each other our

Allied occupying forces while must not

let this become loud if we cautiously

hint to the Americans and English that

there might have been difficulties with

the Russian occupation their

countenances turn cold as ice

Field Marshal Bernard L Montgomery the

commander-in-chief of the British

occupation forces has arrived from his

headquarters in east-westphalia to

present the victor of Berlin with a high

British Order of Merit

Marshall

joint appearances like this are intended

to deceive the public about the true

state of relations between the allies

[Music]

Hollywood director George Stevens has

also come to Berlin with his team to

document the forthcoming Conference of

the victors Churchill Roosevelt and

Stalin had last met in yolta

after the death of the U.S president

Harry S Truman has become his successor

The Big Three are meeting in Potsdam to

discuss the future of Germany

although Truman sees with concern that

the Red Army controls almost all of

Eastern Europe he still believes in a

future for the anti-hitler Coalition

with the Soviet Union

in the British sector George Stevens

films a red army unit marching through

the tiergarten his president expresses

the belief these days that the Russians

would continue to be friends of the U.S

[Music]

although incidents between GIS and Red

Army soldiers continue to occur in

Berlin Truman sees no reason at this

point not to welcome their friendship

and give them ours

[Music]

July the 14th 1945 Captain Carter of

special film Project 186 shoots this

footage at Parisa plant which is part of

the Soviet sector

what will be the future of a destroyed

defeated and occupied Germany will the

Soviet Union sooner or later extend its

influence further west is Joseph Stalin

counting on the withdrawal of American

troops from Europe as Roosevelt had

announced at the Ulta

or will the British Americans and French

stick to their plan to rebuild the

country and educate the Germans to

become Democrats

after all the president never really

took seriously U.S treasury secretary

Henry morgantel's idea of making Germany

an agricultural country without heavy

industry

morgantown's adversary U.S Secretary of

War Henry Stimson one Truman over with

the view that the only hope for a stable

future in Europe was an economically

strong and productive Germany in his

diary he writes about a conversation

with Truman in mid-may 1945

punished the war criminals severely take

away the weapons for all time

supervised government action until the

Nazi educated generation has left the

stage but don't deprive them of the

possibility of building a contented

Germany at the end interested only in

the non-military methods of civilization

this is exactly what a root Andreas

Friedrich hopes for

that four world powers will meet in our

ruins and that we will prove to the

representatives of these world powers

how serious we are about our Zeal how

boundlessly serious about the effort to

make amends and rise

Berlin is running at full speed

if we are understood and forgiven now

everything will be achieved from us

everything that we renounce Nazism that

we find the new better that we work and

are fundamentally of good will

never before have we been so ripe for

Redemption so tired of Terror fear and

Injustice

only our vectors will keep their

promises to us

templehof airport was one of the first

major projects of the Third Reich when

it was inaugurated in 1941 the

Monumental facility was considered the

largest surface building in the world

however when the U.S Air Force took over

the site on the 2nd of July 1945 the

cleanup work was not complete

so on the afternoon of the 15th of July

1945 three c54 transport planes land at

the British military Airfield in gato

on board they have the American

delegation that the U.S president is

taking to the Potsdam Conference it is

four times the size of the delegation

that had traveled to Yalta in February

[Music]

the notorious prosecutor of the

stalinist show trials Andre vishinsky

and Soviet Ambassador andrigo Miko great

U.S Secretary of State James Burns

various generals and liaison officers

accompany the president plus secret

service security guards Naval cooks and

Military doctors to ensure Truman's

well-being

U.S General George Marshall is one of

The Advocates of Rapid reconstruction

with American help

he will initiate the Marshall Plan for

Europe named after him in 1948

then Truman also leaves his plane in a

letter to his mother and sister before

leaving Washington he had written I have

a briefcase full of information about

previous conferences and suggestions as

to what I should do and say I wish I

didn't have to go there

Potsdam has been sealed off by Soviet

checkpoints for days

in front of the Villa of a German

publisher in barbelsberg called Little

White House President Truman receives

the British prime minister on the

morning of the 16th of July 1945.

these scenes are filmed by Kirk B Lawton

who is part of the American delegation

Winston Churchill is a head of

government on call because he lost the

House of Commons elections on the 5th of

July he believes Truman cannot hold a

candle to his late predecessor but he's

impressed from the outset by the

president's tremendous resolve

Truman is apparently less enthusiastic

as his diary reveals he taught me a lot

of nonsense about how great my country

was how much he loved Roosevelt and how

he would love me I think we can get

along if he doesn't butter me up too

much

Stevens drives with his team along the

Autobahn to potstar on the way he films

berliners who have apparently procured

food in the surrounding Countryside in

her diary Andreas Friedrich hopes for

positive news

it was announced on the radio this

evening that Stalin Truman and Churchill

had arrived for a joint conference what

has happened up to now we have to accept

as the aftermath of War including the

rapes the Looting and confiscations

the meeting of the big three will

establish order it will prepare the

ground for good to flourish

George Stevens camera crew is filming in

the old garrison city of the Prussian

Kings now in the Soviet occupation Zone

Stalin has refused to enter Berlin

Graves of Soviet soldiers testified to

the fact that Potsdam was not vacated by

the Vermont without a fight

because of the stage guests the Red Army

marches through the city more frequently

this brings back bad memories especially

for many women

a potstam woman later writes about the

8th of May 1945. how we had longed for

this end but had we now reached a state

we could call Peace

we had not imagined the Soviet

occupation to be as bad as it now

appeared

now what we had sometimes said ingest

during the last months of the war had

become reality enjoy the war peace will

be terrible

although Potsdam was badly hit in an

American bombing rate in the spring of

1945 in Stalin's eyes it was suitable

for the big conference

it is in Soviet occupied territory and

can be better protected than Berlin

the Magnificent buildings from the

Prussian era such as the Nikolai kosher

by Carl Friedrich Schenker are also

damaged

the decision of the upcoming conference

will shape the lives of Germans for

decades

thank you

media representatives from all over

Europe have arrived to cover the major

event

s team proudly presents the Russian pass

for the car the Hollywood director has

an accreditation for the big event

whether he was finally allowed to shoot

there in black and white is unclear

so these scenes remain George Stevens

last color shots before his return to

America

the 17th of July 1945 before the start

of the conference Stalin Pays His

respects to the American president Kirk

B Lawton shoots with his amateur camera

Truman will later describe the most

powerful man in the world as friendly

good-natured and business-like

as honest and insanely smart

at the meeting U.S Secretary of State

Burns casually asks the Soviet dictator

if he knows anything about Hitler's

whereabouts Stalin claims Hitler is

still alive and hiding in Spain or

Argentina

the venue for the Potsdam Conference is

cecilianhof Palace where the German

Crown Prince and his family resided

before 1918.

Luton is allowed to film from the

gallery a Russian camera crew on the

other hand shoots in 35 millimeter color

officially the Soviet Union is still

neutral towards Japan and so the first

Topic at the negotiating table is the

Pacific War

Stalin has already signaled to Truman

during the morning conversation that he

will soon declare war on Japan then

Stalin Truman and Churchill discussed

the drawing of borders in post-war

Europe reparation payments and the

administration of occupied Germany

press meeting of the big three on the

Terrace Truman is in High Spirits

because he has got his hands on a

military instrument with threatening

potential just in time for the start of

the conference

on a military base in New Mexico the

first nuclear weapons test in history

has succeeded a new era has begun that

will soon be called the Cold War

special film Project 186 finishes its

month-long work in Germany with aerial

footage of destroyed Berlin about 80

hours of footage have been shot the

unique material will disappear for

decades in a U.S Air Force Depot there

is no money to edit a documentary film

from it

in Potsdam the victors agree that

Germany will not be partitioned the West

accepts Stalin's demand for the

separation of East Prussia in the areas

east of the order and nicer Rivers the

country is to be completely disarmed and

demilitarized the Germans must pay

reparations

war criminals are to be trialled by an

international Military Tribunal

old Andreas Friedrich is optimistic

big headlines in the newspapers the

Potsdam agreement common policy in all

occupation zones agreement on the peace

order in Europe it took a load off our

minds so no new war

common construction and common order the

final communique emphasizes the

Statesmen leave the conference with the

renewed confidence that the governments

and peoples of their countries in

conjunction with the other United

Nations will ensure the establishment of

a just and Lasting peace it sounds

almost too good to be true

[Music]

the American president is not quite so

confident at the site of the destruction

in Berlin Truman was utterly shocked on

the 16th of July 1945 he wrote in his

diary I thought of Carthage valbeck

Jerusalem Rome Atlantis

thought of Scipio Ramses II and Genghis

Khan

I hope for some kind of peace

fear that machines are several centuries

ahead of morality only when morality has

caught up will there be no more need for

such destruction

[Music]

foreign