All language subtitles for A.E.S15E05.1080p.WEB.h264-CODSWALLOP_track3_[eng]

A compound in Seattle, rocked by
a high-profile military scandal.

There was tremendous pressure
on the American government

to assure the world
that they would get justice.

A concrete shell in London,

devastated by the city's
largest explosion.

Innocent lives were sacrificed
in the name of war.

It was a tragedy that should never
have happened.

A rural structure in Wisconsin

linked to the founding
of an American institution.

It was a kind of hotbed
for political movement

that would profoundly affect
the country.

And an isolated stronghold in Greece

that incurred a sultan's wrath.

Tens of thousands were killed,
enslaved or forced to flee.

In Seattle, Washington,
on the edge of the Puget Sound,

a scenic park bears traces
of a miscarriage of justice

during a national crisis.

It's a 534 acre expanse
of hiking trails and wilderness.

But across the site
are these smart properties

that don't look like
your typical park buildings.

The houses are boarded up,
the windows are boarded over,

this is a neighbourhood
that has been shut down.

Inside, the buildings are in a
really bad state of disrepair...

..there's peeling paint,
holes in the walls

and exposed rafters in the ceilings.

Trying to piece together what this
place was used for isn't easy.

One of these buildings
has got cages in it.

Big cages.

These cells would hold men accused
of a breakdown of order,

and a brutal killing -

but not all was as it seemed.

This starts as a scuffle,
and it turns into a riot,

and then a murder.

The court martial
brings in its verdict -

guilty.

But what we were able
to discover was,

it was an absolute
travesty of justice.

In 1985 I was a young news reporter

and I was assigned to one of the
most dull, boring assignments

you could have at that age.

The local community was trying
to decide what to do with

a sewage treatment plant.

But there was more here
than just a sewage plant.

When a park ranger
pointed out a strange headstone

in the military cemetery,

it sent Jack Hamann on a
decades-long hunt for the truth.

It says Guglielmo Olivotto,
Italian soldier,

and it said that he died
on August 14th 1944.

What was an Italian soldier

doing being buried
in an American graveyard

in World War II?

When you see something like this,

it just piques your curiosity.

I had no idea
how big it would become.

When the United States Army began
construction here in 1898,

many considered it a remote outpost.

That would soon change.

At the start of World War II,

after the bombing of Pearl Harbor,

this was one of the main avenues
for soldiers and material

to be sent across to the Pacific.

Port companies, which were
American soldiers

trained to on-load and off-load
ships in combat zones

were preparing in Seattle

to deploy to the war in the Pacific.

This is Fort Lawton.

20,000 troops, including these port
companies, were stationed here...

..but, reflecting wider society,
they were not all treated equally.

More than one million
African American men and women

served during World War II,

but at this point in history,

the military is still
legally segregated.

The United States Army

tried to keep black soldiers
in subservient roles

and away from combat.

Merely because of their race
they were seen as manual labour.

And so you see a large number
of black men

assigned to the port companies.

In 1943, following the Allied
victory in North Africa,

huge numbers of Italian soldiers
were captured.

Many of them were brought
to Fort Lawton as POWs.

This building would have had not
just Americans,

but a considerable number
of Italian prisoners of war.

Those who were willing to pledge
allegiance to the Allies

were given the opportunity to work
in return for pay

and they formed what were called
Italian Service Units.

The Italian soldiers for the most
part absolutely loved being here.

Italy was poor, it was at war,
but here they were given meals,

they were treated pretty well.

But the gravestone
in the fort's cemetery

hints that relations
at the base were strained.

Guglielmo Olivotto, now buried here,

was part of the 28th Italian Service
Unit stationed at Fort Lawton.

They lived in barracks in a remote
corner of the base,

right next to the segregated black
American port companies.

August 14th 1944 was a big day
for these black soldiers,

because on August 15th
they were supposed to ship out.

As soldiers and sailors have done
since the dawn of time,

here are some soldiers who are
going to cut loose in town

before shipping out.

At the very same time,

Italians, too,
were able to leave the base

and do much the same thing.

When both groups returned
to the fort that night,

it would result in a tragic
confrontation.

A couple of drunken black soldiers

and a couple of drunken Italian
soldiers crossed paths in the dark.

Drunken insults are exchanged

and an Italian soldier
hits the black soldier

hard enough to knock him out.

Other black soldiers
started to shout out

"Hey, we've just been attacked!"

There were people who were
not just being hit

but beaten and stabbed,

there are serious head injuries.

For 40 minutes,

40 long, long minutes,

it was just an all-out melee,

that should have ended quickly,

but it took an extremely long time

until the rest
of the military police

finally found out
that something was going on.

The military police were finally
alerted to the riot

taking place in this secluded part
of the base.

They restored order...

..but it soon became clear
that someone was unaccounted for.

Early in the morning,
one Italian soldier was found

hanging on some wires
on the assault course.

It was the body of
Private Guglielmo Olivotto,

and he had been lynched.

The prime suspects were
the African American soldiers

of the port companies.

400 port company soldiers
were imprisoned,

while the authorities tried to
determine who to charge

with rioting and murder.

This is the guardhouse.

The biggest suspects
would be housed here,

which was the most secure place.

A formidable military lawyer
named Leon Jaworski

was bought in to prosecute the army's
case against 43 black soldiers.

Unlike a civilian trial in America,

where you would have 12 jurors
of their peers,

military courts
were made up of officers,

and at that time
they were all white,

and they were there to sit in
judgment of these black soldiers

who were much lower than them
in rank.

Just four months
after Olivotto's death,

the court reached its verdict.

They found, of the 43 defendants,

28 of them guilty of rioting...

..and two of them guilty
of manslaughter.

The sentences ranged
from six months in prison

to 25 years of hard labour.

All but one of the black soldiers
convicted

were dishonourably discharged.

It seemed that justice
had been done.

But when you look closer,

you see that that is not what
happened here.

It turned out that an important
piece of evidence

was omitted from the court martial
proceedings.

During their research,
Jack and his wife discovered

that another branch of the army

had investigated the riots
and the murder.

Their findings were handed over to
the lead prosecutor, Leon Jaworski,

but, crucially, not the defence.

My wife came across this amazing
report by General Cooke

that was classified for 50 years,

and in that big report,
we were able to find

that the army had every reason
to know that these black soldiers

pretty much didn't do what they were
being accused of,

and beyond that,
the reasons the riot went on

had all been completely covered up
by Leon Jaworski.

Jaworski was a guy who was
determined to get a victory,

not necessarily justice.

He had convinced this military trial

that black soldiers were upset
about Italians

because they were being given
no better rights

than these former enemies,
these prisoners of war.

But there was more evidence
of animosity

between white GIs and the Italians

which boiled down to white Americans
being resentful of Italian soldiers

dating local white women.

They attracted the attention of a
lot of the young ladies in Seattle,

many of whom's boyfriends
or husbands were overseas

and it was a story,
really, all across America

of an increasing resentment

of, "Why are these Italians
being given so much freedom?"

The classified Cooke report

proved Jaworski had withheld evidence
of these tensions from the defence...

..allowing him to present
a one-sided story

of these black American soldiers

being guilty beyond a shadow
of a doubt.

It also revealed
explosive new evidence

about who really murdered Olivotto.

We suddenly realised
who had the means,

the motive and the opportunity.

One white MP in particular,
by the name of Clyde Lomax,

a man we later learn
was himself quite racist,

who disliked the Italians.

He was the one who came across
the beginnings of the riot,

who decided not to immediately
intervene or call for help.

He was the one who disappeared
when Olivotto was found missing,

and he was the one
who "found" Olivotto

at five o'clock the next morning.

And the US Army has told us since
that if he were still alive,

they would have prosecuted him
for Olivotto's murder.

Jack and his wife published their
findings in 2005,

shedding new light on the mistrial
and scapegoating

of all 30 black American soldiers.

In 2007, the US Army review

decided to drop all of the charges.

The army also granted honourable
discharge to the men -

but at the time of the ruling

only two of the defendants
were actually still alive.

I can't speak for the families,
except to say

that some of them were clearly
and understandably overjoyed

to know that their husband,
or father, or grandfather

had been exonerated from this.

But, for many others,
it was delayed justice,

and delayed justice is not the same
as real justice.

In the 1970s, most of Fort Lawton
was converted into a city park.

For more than 30 years,
citizens of Seattle enjoyed it

with little idea of the miscarriage
of justice that took place here.

This is the story that belongs
to these men

who were here, young,
away from home,

trying to do their duty
in a time of war,

and yet having to have this giant
injustice for their entire life.

On the Greek island of Chios
are clifftop ruins

once the scene of a vicious massacre.

We're just a couple of miles inland,
but we feel worlds away

from the famous beaches
and turquoise waters

this place is known for.

It's arid and craggy,
with steep-sided mountains

and deep ravines
carved into the landscape.

You can't imagine this was ever
an easy place to live.

And then you notice it,

it's a town clinging to the
hillside.

Given how well it blends
with the surroundings,

it's pretty clear that this place

was designed to be secret
and hidden.

Among the devastated remains, there
are few clues as to who lived here.

This must have once been
a bustling settlement -

it's now a ghost town.

All the buildings have been built
right on top of each other,

so the people here were clearly
petrified of something -

but who or what was it?

For centuries,

the residents of this isolated town
stayed concealed...

..but in the aftermath
of a rebellion,

they found themselves surrounded
by a brutal force

hellbent on revenge.

They were there to carry out
the sultan's orders,

complete annihilation.

Archaeologist Olga Vassi
has spent more than 30 years

unearthing the secrets of this place.

But hiding wasn't
their only defence -

the town sits upon a rock face
at 1,300 feet

and on either side
are these really deep gorges,

and there's only one way in and out,

one single gate.

This is the town of Anavatos.

More than two miles inland,

hidden inside
their mountaintop fortress,

the residents were protected from
the frequent coastal pirate raids...

..but their safety came at a cost.

The population built a cistern

to store what little rain fell
in this arid climate.

It was just enough to eke out
an existence.

Cut off from the world,

the people here cared little
about the Italian merchants

who had ruled Chios for centuries.

They continued to speak Greek

and follow the Orthodox faith as
generations before them had done.

For more than 100 years,

life at Anavatos remained
relatively unchanged.

Until 1566, a new empire arrives,
the Ottomans.

The Ottoman Empire
controlled large swathes

of the Middle East and North Africa,

as well as much of modern day Greece.

Its domination of the region
brought a new peace to Anavatos.

They had this really powerful navy,

so the threat of piracy really
dissipated.

This meant that the residents
didn't have to cram inside

the fortified village for safety,

they could start to spread out

and build bigger homes
outside the walls.

For more than 200 years,

Chios was largely at peace
under Ottoman control...

It seemed as if the harsh life
of the residents

was beginning to ease.

..but in the early 1800s

a movement was gathering pace
in mainland Greece

which would change the fate
of the island.

Over the years, revolutionaries
in Greece began to fight

and organise for independence

hoping to overthrow their oppressors
and gain freedom.

But rebellions are expensive,

so they went to wealthy expat
communities in the US,

Britain and across Europe
for support.

After years of gathering resources
and people,

on March 25th 1821,

a national uprising began -

but not on Chios.

There were more than 100,000 people
living on Chios

who were now
in an impossible position.

Their island was more than
100 miles across the Aegean Sea

from mainland Greece,
where the rebellion had launched.

Turkey, home of the Ottoman Empire

was far closer.

Chios is just a little more than
four miles across the water

from mainland Turkey.

If they took up arms
against their occupiers

they're incredibly vulnerable
to Ottoman attack.

But in March 1822

the Greek revolution arrived,
whether they liked it or not.

A band of rebels from the nearby
island of Samos

landed here and began launching
attacks on the Ottomans.

The Ottomans responded

by sending tens of thousands
of troops to the island.

Their orders were to unleash hell
on rebels and civilians alike.

It would become known
as the Chios Massacre.

For two weeks,

their army would massacre,
torture and imprison thousands,

and completely level towns.

Anavatos wouldn't be spared either.

In April 1822,

Ottoman soldiers had made it
to the foot of the mountain.

When they saw them approaching,

the residents terrified, retreated
behind the old fortified walls.

This was now a siege,
with only one way in or out.

The petrified inhabitants had no idea
how long they could hold out.

But a traitor within their ranks

soon crushed their last hopes
of survival.

It's said that someone was bribed

to betray the town
by unlocking the gate.

Suddenly the Ottoman troops
are rushing inside

and their orders are kill or enslave
the population of the town.

These soldiers simply set light
to the church,

burning to death everyone
that was sheltering inside.

But that wasn't the end
of the horror.

It's said that they jumped
to their death

rather than meeting
such a horrible fate.

In the aftermath
of the Chios Massacre,

the population of Anavatos
and the island was decimated.

It's said that 25,000 were killed,

45,000 enslaved,

and tens of thousands more fled.

Four fifths of the
population...gone.

News of what happened here spread
like wildfire around the world,

and rallied support
for the Greek cause.

In 1832, Greece finally gained
its freedom -

but Chios wasn't included
in the treaty.

After the devastating response
to the uprising,

little opposition remained
on the island,

and it stayed under Ottoman control
for another 80 years.

Those who survived continued
to live in Anavatos,

but soon disaster would strike
once more.

Only 50 years after this
horrible massacre,

there was a massive earthquake.

This might have been
in living memory

for those who had survived
the massacre,

and now much of this medieval town
has been reduced to rubble.

In the years after the quake,

some of the town's residents settled
at the bottom of the hill

while others departed for good,

leaving the ancient settlement
to fall further into ruin.

Since 1998, Olga and her team

have been working to excavate and
restore the abandoned old town.

While many of these buildings have
been, for years, devoid of life,

one person was drawn to the quiet
majesty of this ghost town.

Mrs Smaragda first visited Anavatos
as a child in 1949,

long before there were
paved roads here.

Seeking a peaceful retirement,
she returned in the 1990s

to make it her home,

with only her animals for company.

In the heart of London,
on the banks of the River Thames,

stands a towering structure,
witness to the city's darkest days.

In an area of modern skyscrapers

there's this 10-storey
Art Deco building.

It's imposing, striking,

and looks entirely out of place.

It sits right on the waterfront

and you can imagine that the river
was crucial to its original purpose.

But inside the vast edifice,

there is little evidence
of what that purpose was.

It's like something out of a
dystopian movie.

With these massive holes
in the floor,

there are deadly consequences
if you're not careful.

Once a vital lifeline
for the city's population,

this complex became collateral
damage during a brutal war.

But the greatest danger
would not come from afar,

but right next door.

The catastrophe holds the record

for the largest single explosion
in London.

At one time, this was part
of the Port of London

which was the busiest and the most
commercially successful port

probably in the entire world.

Fiona Rule has spent over a decade

studying this historic area
known as Silvertown.

Silvertown was part of
the Port of London,

which was an enormous complex
of enclosed docks,

warehouses and factories

that lay along the banks
of the Thames.

It would become the beating heart

of the capital city's
trade and manufacturing...

..but in the early 1800s,
this future seemed inconceivable.

The Docklands were a radical
solution

to the growing problem
of the Thames.

Goods and materials were flooding in

from every corner
of the British Empire.

Ships were fighting for space.

The Port of London
was thrown into chaos.

Silvertown was uninhabited marshland

which many thought
was impractical to develop...

..but a visionary engineer
named George Parker Bidder

believed it could be transformed
into a dock

capable of handling
hundreds of thousands of tons

of shipping every year.

It would cost more than £120 million
in today's money.

Constructors began to dig deep
to drain the marshland.

The new Victoria Dock
opened in 1855.

It became a hive of activity
providing thousands of jobs.

Over the next 50 years,
many factories were built

and hundreds of thousands of workers

flocked to new neighbourhoods
created in the area.

Among them was the family
that built this structure.

Vernon & Sons wanted
to construct a building

that would be the perfect example
of its kind.

In 1905, they opened
Millennium Mills.

It was one of the largest
bread flour factories in Europe.

When it was in operation,

the grain would have been taken
right up to the top floor,

and then, as it was being processed,
it would come down floor by floor.

The mill was built using a
revolutionary construction material,

reinforced concrete.

Its strength and durability even
under extreme temperatures

guarded against the dangers of the
mechanised flour-making process.

Because of the heat, friction

and very fine particles of grain
dust floating around in the air,

these mills were particularly
susceptible to fires

and even violent explosions.

Despite the owner's best efforts,

a tragic accident would lay waste
to Millennium Mills...

..but it didn't come from inside
these walls.

At the beginning of World War I,

the Ministry of Munitions
were looking for a place

where they could produce
their munitions.

They identified a building
just a few hundred yards away.

This factory began producing vast
quantities of an explosive called TNT

in the heart of Silvertown...

..surrounded by thousands of homes
and businesses.

It was a risky decision,

but, in the name of the war effort,

the Ministry pressed ahead anyway.

In 1917, a fire broke out,

detonating 50 tons of TNT.

The blast could be felt right
across London

and the shock waves heard
over 100 miles away.

An organist at
the Finsbury Park Empire,

which is some miles away from here

was said to have been
blown off his seat.

Just 350 yards away,

Millennium Mills sat directly
in the blast zone.

Burning debris was sent hurtling
out of the factory

and some of it landed on the mills,

setting fire to the grain silos
and the warehouses.

Many other buildings were also
set alight in the area,

and this overwhelmed the
firefighters -

and the mill was left to burn.

It was London's largest recorded
explosion.

The entire area and the mills
lay in ruins.

The blast tragically killed
73 people,

and injured 400 more.

Thousands of people
were left homeless.

Out of the ashes,

Millennium Mills rebuilt its
operation bigger than ever,

renovating the entire structure...

..but soon it would be caught in
the crosshairs once more.

The mill had recovered from the
Silvertown explosion,

but by the end of the 1930s,
a new war was on the horizon.

The mills would soon fall victim to
the devastating new face of war,

the Blitz.

As German bombers reached
London in 1940,

they set their sights
on civilian targets

to cause as much damage as possible,

and Millennium Mills and
Victoria Dock became prime targets.

The Docklands were the most heavily
bombed part of London,

with over 25,000 bombs
dropped on this area alone.

On the 7th of September 1940,

the Millennium Mills sustained
heavy damage.

Despite the carnage caused by
Hitler's Luftwaffe,

in 1953 the mill was rebuilt
a second time

and it entered a period of great
prosperity and productivity.

Between 1953 and 1980,

peak flour production reached
3,000 tons of flour per week.

However, the boom wouldn't last,

and the next threat
to Millennium Mills

came not as destruction,
but replacement.

The demise of the Port of London
can be summed up in one word -

containerisation.

Once these enormous ships
started to be used,

they were simply too big
to get down the Thames.

With this development,

London's central docks
saw a steady decline.

In 1993 the mills finally closed
their doors for the last time.

For many years these towering
structures remained abandoned

as the modern city
grew around them...

..but their haunting decay

would soon find them a place
on the silver screen.

These ruins piqued the interest
of some big names in Hollywood.

The derelict mills featured

in Stanley Kubrick's
Full Metal Jacket,

The Batman, and many other films.

Today there are plans
to transform them

into a hub of work
and creative spaces

surrounded by thousands of new homes.

These developments will bring
a new chapter

of regeneration to this site,

which has followed the remarkable
journey of industrial Britain.

In the rural town
of Philmore, Wisconsin,

is a compound with links
to a national sensation.

We are in the beautiful Wisconsin
countryside.

It's a small community,

but a look at the graveyard will
tell you this place has deep roots.

By the main road,

a timber-framed structure
appears to stand alone.

This building has almost
a European look to it.

This is the kind of architecture
you'd see in England,

or the German states in the 1600s,

but it's very rare
in the United States.

You see the remains of a large
cellar behind the building.

The product that was made here

would become something of a
sensation across the country.

But the changes it brought about
would shift

the country's political landscape
into what we see today.

Retired history professor
Michael Besch

first visited this
unusual structure in 2019.

I came out here,
looked at the place,

and I got drawn in.

He quickly realised there was more
here than initially meets the eye.

It's become quite a journey.

We're discovering something every
time we come here.

Many of the original buildings
now lie in ruins,

but the central structure
gave Michael

a clear indication of their roots.

It's what we call a half-timber
construction,

so you've got timbers
going crosswise

and then filled in,
in the middle, with bricks,

and then...they also put
stucco over the top.

It was erected by a man
named Ernst Klessig.

He was part of a wave of immigrants
fleeing Europe for Wisconsin

after a series of failed revolutions
in 1848.

In Germany, many residents believed
they would find better prospects

if they could emigrate
to the United States.

By 1854, more than 200,000 Germans
had made the journey to the US.

In fact from 1830
to around World War I,

about 90% of German immigrants

chose the US as their home.

Many of these Germans bought
with them the knowledge and skills

for a life in agriculture,

and naturally they wanted
to migrate to the areas

where they could buy the land
affordably.

This bought them to Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota,

the whole Upper Midwest
became a land

where you were as likely
to hear German

in your local market as English.

Ernst quickly settled down
in eastern Wisconsin

and started a family farm in
the image of his previous home.

In 1850, he married another German,

Liberta Poetzsch,

and they began building
Saxonia House.

This construction was common in
the area that the family came from,

which is in Saxonia in Germany,

but it was totally unique
for this part of the country.

It was much more than just
a family home.

The size of the structure reflects
its function as an inn...

..the local church...

..and a space capable
of hosting social gatherings.

At its heart was a product,

the driving force behind
the whole operation.

Tucked away in the trees are
the remnants of this business.

It was actually built by hollowing
out a hillside,

building the archway over the top,

so it's a built cave.

This cave was part of a brewery
Ernst constructed in 1860.

It produced a drink completely new
to many across the United States.

This was a beer produced
at lower temperatures,

and it produced a lighter,
crisper drink, a lager.

German-style lager was
relatively unfamiliar

to the US drinker,

who generally preferred,
until the 1880s,

more British styles, like ales -

but this new refreshing,
effervescent drink

would take the country by storm.

If you look at some of the
famous names in American beer

like Pabst, Schlitz, Miller,

those companies got their start
during this era.

At Saxonia House,
the Klessigs' business

was becoming
a considerable operation,

and they had the capacity to produce
about 1,000 barrels a year.

Saxonia was a social hub
reflecting German traditions

with drinking and dancing -

but this lifestyle
wasn't embraced by everyone.

On one hand there was a lot of
alcohol abuse in the 19th century,

to a degree that might
shock people today -

but there was also a strong
temperance movement

that really descended from the
values of the puritans

who had settled New England.

So a lot of those people
were suspicious

of these hardy immigrants
getting together

and brewing this beer

and enjoying these oversized mugs
of refreshing lager

on a Sunday afternoon.

This tension didn't just happen in
Wisconsin, but across the country,

as German taverns and beer
became more and more popular.

So-called nativist parties

such as the Know Nothing Party
were gaining traction,

running on an anti-liquor,
anti-immigration ticket.

They began to crack down on taverns,

on beer drinking,

and on this kind of culture
in general.

In Chicago in the summer of 1855,

tensions came to a head in what
became known as the Lager Beer Riot.

These riots were a response
to increased licensing fees,

but also Sunday closure laws.

A protest by supporters of eight
German saloon keepers

who had broken these laws

sparked a brutal police crackdown

ordered by the nativist mayor.

It resulted in one death
and several dozen arrests.

These shocking events mobilised
immigrant voters across the Midwest.

Groups began to meet at places like
Saxonia House to discuss politics.

These German immigrant activists
were known as Forty-Eighters,

inspired by the 1848 revolutions
that had swept across Europe.

Forty-Eighters were known in Germany

as people who pushed for democracy
and human rights.

So they found a natural home
here in the US

in a growing political party.

They called themselves
the Republican Party.

The party had formed in nearby
Ripon, Wisconsin,

and the Forty-Eighters were at the
heart of its development.

Their overriding ideal was freedom,
self-expression,

ability to pursue your own interest,

your own desires, your own business.

So those ideas would have been
talked about here.

This Republican Party would become
the driving force to ending slavery,

the conflicts over which,
of course, led to the Civil War.

Through that period, Saxonia House
continued to operate as a tavern,

cos, of course, the Civil War didn't
have as much of a disruptive impact

in regions like this.

Ernst Klessig died in 1864

and his wife took over the running of
the brewery with her new husband...

..but by the early 1900s,
the family had moved on for good.

The building and farm changed hands
several times subsequently.

Eventually it was left vacant
and began to fall into disrepair.

In the late '90s,

the Klessig family's descendants
held a reunion at Saxonia House.

About 400 family members showed up,

and one of the first things
they decided was,

"We have to restore
this whole place."

The Friends of Saxonia House
was created,

and they purchased this land in 1999.

In addition to the house, there are
plans to build and restore

other buildings on the property

to make it a visitor's attraction,

and, of course,
there will be a beer hall.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media