1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,767 [narrator] A Moroccan stronghold governed by a ruler with friends in high places. 2 00:00:06,767 --> 00:00:08,300 [intense music playing] 3 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:10,767 [Bell] Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, 4 00:00:10,767 --> 00:00:12,567 General George Patton. 5 00:00:12,567 --> 00:00:14,767 They all came to pay homage. 6 00:00:14,767 --> 00:00:17,900 [intense music continues] 7 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:19,400 [narrator] In the Czech Republic, 8 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:23,600 a place of hope in an age of tyranny. 9 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,367 [Dr. Nusbacher] He was watching the Holocaust happen. 10 00:00:27,367 --> 00:00:31,967 He had to move people to where they might have 11 00:00:31,967 --> 00:00:35,700 a fighting chance of survival. 12 00:00:38,367 --> 00:00:41,100 [narrator] And an Amazonian paradise 13 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:45,000 that fell victim to the lure of reality TV. 14 00:00:45,967 --> 00:00:47,867 Celebrities and dignitaries 15 00:00:47,867 --> 00:00:51,166 all made the same trip to this stretch of jungle 16 00:00:51,166 --> 00:00:54,734 that proved to be both a blessing and a curse. 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,400 [intense music playing] 18 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,333 [narrator] Decaying relics... 19 00:01:04,166 --> 00:01:07,100 Ruins of lost worlds... 20 00:01:07,967 --> 00:01:11,000 Sites haunted by the past... 21 00:01:11,967 --> 00:01:14,467 Their secrets waiting... 22 00:01:14,467 --> 00:01:15,900 to be revealed. 23 00:01:24,567 --> 00:01:27,500 High in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, 24 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:31,467 an isolated settlement appears like a mirage, 25 00:01:31,467 --> 00:01:34,133 straight out of The Arabian Nights. 26 00:01:35,467 --> 00:01:37,467 [dramatic music playing] 27 00:01:37,467 --> 00:01:43,867 Large areas are in ruins, but it is a pretty imposing structure. 28 00:01:43,867 --> 00:01:47,467 It has high walls and narrow windows. 29 00:01:47,467 --> 00:01:51,567 It doesn't shrink into the landscape, it dominates it. 30 00:01:51,567 --> 00:01:54,333 This place was clearly fortified. 31 00:01:55,266 --> 00:01:58,100 [narrator] Yet, behind the mud brick ramparts, 32 00:01:58,100 --> 00:02:02,800 a labyrinth of unexpected grandeur awaits. 33 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:08,166 Every passageway leads to something completely different. 34 00:02:08,166 --> 00:02:12,033 Either a crumbling ruin or a beautiful room covered in mosaics. 35 00:02:13,166 --> 00:02:17,100 [narrator] Built by a dynastic family of great influence, 36 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:23,300 it evolved into the lavish outpost of an enigmatic leader. 37 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:28,767 Up here, a mountain warlord rose to become one of the most powerful men in Morocco, 38 00:02:28,767 --> 00:02:31,200 and one of the wealthiest in the world. 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,667 [narrator] Yet hubris would lead to his downfall. 40 00:02:34,667 --> 00:02:40,900 To some, he was a pragmatist who saw the imperial tide crashing in and adapted. 41 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,567 To others, he was a traitor to his country. 42 00:02:45,567 --> 00:02:48,300 [intense music playing] 43 00:02:53,767 --> 00:02:56,266 [narrator] Brice Bexter is directly descended 44 00:02:56,266 --> 00:03:00,667 from the powerful clan that once occupied this site. 45 00:03:00,667 --> 00:03:03,667 [Bexter] I first came here in March 2020 46 00:03:03,667 --> 00:03:06,667 in order to discover where I was from. 47 00:03:06,667 --> 00:03:09,066 It does give me goosebumps. 48 00:03:09,066 --> 00:03:15,200 My ancestors started our family's name and our family's legacy here. 49 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,667 [narrator] Yet, under the rule of Brice's controversial great-grandfather, 50 00:03:19,667 --> 00:03:21,100 Thami El Glaoui, 51 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:23,500 the family's legacy was tainted. 52 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:25,367 [Bexter] It is... 53 00:03:25,367 --> 00:03:29,200 undeniable our name comes back a lot in the press, 54 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,367 whether it's positively, whether it's negatively. 55 00:03:32,367 --> 00:03:36,166 I don't think my great-grandfather was a perfect person. 56 00:03:36,166 --> 00:03:38,400 Uh, definitely not. 57 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,300 But I also always tell people to not judge their history 100 years later. 58 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,266 [narrator] This is Kasbah Telouet, 59 00:03:48,266 --> 00:03:51,867 the extravagant seat of power of the El Glaoui family 60 00:03:51,867 --> 00:03:57,634 that first rose to prominence in this region 200 years before Thami took control. 61 00:03:58,767 --> 00:04:03,133 A kasbah is essentially a fortified residence for a ruler. 62 00:04:04,567 --> 00:04:06,767 [Luke] They often house key buildings 63 00:04:06,767 --> 00:04:10,700 like garrisons for troops, mosques, and residences. 64 00:04:11,900 --> 00:04:17,100 They also guarded trade routes which is why this one is located here. 65 00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:19,467 [Bexter] That's how the family slowly and surely built 66 00:04:19,467 --> 00:04:21,667 its strength by controlling taxes 67 00:04:21,667 --> 00:04:26,400 and caravans as they were coming through ins and outs of Morocco in the south. 68 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,500 [narrator] By 1860, the El Glaouis had amassed enough money 69 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:34,367 to build this commanding symbol of dominance. 70 00:04:34,367 --> 00:04:39,400 As their wealth increased from salt, saffron, and the olive trade, 71 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,166 so too did the size of their kasbah. 72 00:04:42,166 --> 00:04:46,867 Over the centuries, every one of my ancestors added their own touch 73 00:04:46,867 --> 00:04:49,900 and you can see the evolution of all the different time periods. 74 00:04:50,767 --> 00:04:54,667 [narrator] The biggest change was still to come. 75 00:04:54,667 --> 00:05:00,166 In 1893, a rare event provided the family an opportunity 76 00:05:00,166 --> 00:05:04,100 to elevate their status even further. 77 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:09,500 At the time, Brice's great-grandfather, Thami, was 14 years old 78 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:13,500 and served as second-in-command to his older brother, Madani. 79 00:05:14,467 --> 00:05:17,467 The sultan of Morocco was in the Atlas Mountains 80 00:05:17,467 --> 00:05:22,400 when he and his men were caught in an unexpected snowstorm. 81 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,166 My great-grandfather and his brother brought them back here 82 00:05:27,166 --> 00:05:31,900 until the harsh winter passed, so they had to feed an army of 3,000 people 83 00:05:31,900 --> 00:05:34,467 as well as the king himself. 84 00:05:34,467 --> 00:05:38,700 In return for their hospitality, the family was given political power 85 00:05:38,700 --> 00:05:42,967 over Morocco, south of the Atlas Mountains. 86 00:05:42,967 --> 00:05:47,266 He gave the Glaoui a 77-millimeter Krupp cannon. 87 00:05:47,266 --> 00:05:53,867 And this was the only weapon of its kind in Morocco outside of the Imperial Army. 88 00:05:53,867 --> 00:05:58,767 The Glaoui used this weapon to subdue rival warlords. 89 00:05:58,767 --> 00:06:03,500 The whole region was mostly in their hands during that time. 90 00:06:03,500 --> 00:06:06,367 [narrator] The El Glaouis' stronghold grew to reflect 91 00:06:06,367 --> 00:06:09,600 their unrivaled wealth and authority. 92 00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:13,700 [Bexter] This is the main entrance to the kasbah. 93 00:06:13,700 --> 00:06:17,500 And so, when my ancestors used to welcome the people, 94 00:06:17,500 --> 00:06:22,166 they were always coming through this courtyard first. 95 00:06:22,166 --> 00:06:27,100 [narrator] The farther in you went, the more exclusive the spaces became. 96 00:06:27,100 --> 00:06:32,000 So we're in the riad. In Morocco, riads are open courtyards. 97 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,367 All of our houses always have, like, a common area 98 00:06:35,367 --> 00:06:37,867 with most of the time, a fountain in the middle. 99 00:06:37,867 --> 00:06:40,667 Well, here, you don't have much left of it. 100 00:06:40,667 --> 00:06:44,800 But you can get an idea of what it used to look like. 101 00:06:46,867 --> 00:06:50,667 [narrator] Below ground, Brice finds the quarters of the servants 102 00:06:50,667 --> 00:06:53,133 who supported the family above. 103 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,400 You can hear the bats. 104 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:03,266 So, we're under the main room here. And it's not always safe. 105 00:07:03,266 --> 00:07:06,000 But it gives you access to the upper parts, 106 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,400 and ways for all the employees to get around the palace. 107 00:07:11,266 --> 00:07:16,767 [narrator] By 1909, although Thami had not ascended to be head of the El Glaoui, 108 00:07:16,767 --> 00:07:20,166 he had still made full use of his family's influence 109 00:07:20,166 --> 00:07:26,500 to secure the coveted position of governor, or pasha, of Marrakech. 110 00:07:26,500 --> 00:07:31,200 Three years later, the world outside the kasbah walls was changing 111 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,700 and Thami's time would come. 112 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,867 In the European scramble to divide up Africa, 113 00:07:37,867 --> 00:07:42,166 Morocco lost its independence to France in 1912. 114 00:07:42,166 --> 00:07:45,667 [Bexter] The French quickly understood that in order to do anything 115 00:07:45,667 --> 00:07:49,800 in southern Morocco, you would have to ally yourself with the pasha. 116 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:54,367 For the younger El Glaoui brother, this was a moment of reckoning. 117 00:07:54,367 --> 00:07:56,667 He could either fight for independence, 118 00:07:56,667 --> 00:08:00,634 or cast his lots with the new European powers. 119 00:08:05,467 --> 00:08:09,367 [narrator] In 1912, after the French conquest of Morocco, 120 00:08:09,367 --> 00:08:12,800 Thami El Glaoui, the Pasha of Marrakech, 121 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,900 was left facing a stark choice. 122 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:20,567 To join the foreign invaders or stand by his country against them. 123 00:08:20,567 --> 00:08:24,400 For a man of his ambition, there was only one option. 124 00:08:25,300 --> 00:08:27,567 El Glaoui sided with the French. 125 00:08:27,567 --> 00:08:33,266 And in return, gained rule over a large swathe of Southern Morocco. 126 00:08:33,266 --> 00:08:38,100 [Bexter] My great-grandfather was quickly associated as a collaborator with the French. 127 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:44,033 So, obviously, he was considered a traitor by most of the people. 128 00:08:45,567 --> 00:08:50,667 [narrator] Then, in 1918, after the death of Thami's older brother, Madani, 129 00:08:50,667 --> 00:08:55,467 the French further repaid his support by appointing him as head of the family, 130 00:08:55,467 --> 00:08:59,100 instead of his siblings' sons who where the rightful heirs. 131 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:04,567 Over the next two decades, Thami leveraged his position to consolidate his wealth 132 00:09:04,567 --> 00:09:08,600 and become one of the world's richest men. 133 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,367 [Bell] This was the pinnacle of his power and influence. 134 00:09:12,367 --> 00:09:16,300 And this was a man who enjoyed flaunting it. 135 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:22,233 This was built by my great-grandfather back in the 1930s. 136 00:09:23,667 --> 00:09:25,867 Of course, he liked to show off. 137 00:09:25,867 --> 00:09:29,100 You know, like anyone who's successful in life at some point, I guess like... 138 00:09:29,100 --> 00:09:35,100 You wanna show, you know, the extent of that success, so yeah, it was a statement. 139 00:09:35,100 --> 00:09:41,467 He amassed so many riches that everyone either wanted to see or be seen with him. 140 00:09:41,467 --> 00:09:45,567 [Luke] Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, and General George Patton 141 00:09:45,567 --> 00:09:49,800 all came to the kasbah to be hosted by the Pasha. 142 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,467 [narrator] But as the 20th century wore on, 143 00:09:52,467 --> 00:09:57,567 Moroccan nationalist tension grew under continued French rule. 144 00:09:57,567 --> 00:10:01,100 El Glaoui, still aligned with the colonialists, 145 00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:04,600 was about to make a fateful decision. 146 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,967 And no amount of powerful friends could save him. 147 00:10:08,967 --> 00:10:14,667 In 1953, he conspired with the French to overthrow Sultan Mohammed V. 148 00:10:14,667 --> 00:10:16,667 [Bexter] It was intense. It was a lot of pressure. 149 00:10:16,667 --> 00:10:19,400 And that came from the French being around 150 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:24,200 and wanting to keep their, their hands on Morocco as long as possible. 151 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:28,867 [narrator] Thami El Glaoui had misread the mood of the nation. 152 00:10:28,867 --> 00:10:32,767 [Luke] An independence movement to Morocco was simmering under the surface. 153 00:10:32,767 --> 00:10:35,767 The next two years was an eruption of violence 154 00:10:35,767 --> 00:10:38,900 and a unified demand for the return of their sultan. 155 00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:44,800 In 1955, the French were forced to concede and bring him back to Morocco. 156 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,867 And this spelled disaster for the Pasha. 157 00:10:48,867 --> 00:10:52,667 In an extraordinary scene, the Pasha was publicly shamed 158 00:10:52,667 --> 00:10:58,200 when he was brought to Paris and forced to beg and grovel at the Sultan's feet. 159 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,000 It was the end of a stunning fall from power. 160 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,800 The Pasha died just months later. 161 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,367 [narrator] In March 1956, two months after Thami's death, 162 00:11:10,367 --> 00:11:12,467 Morocco gained independence. 163 00:11:12,467 --> 00:11:17,000 The impact on Kasbah Telouet proved fatal. 164 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,367 That's when most of their palaces, most of their goods, 165 00:11:21,367 --> 00:11:24,066 and most of their fortune was seized. 166 00:11:24,066 --> 00:11:27,800 We did get the place back in the late '80s. 167 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:32,166 But I mean, the state of the kasbah was already totally degraded. 168 00:11:32,166 --> 00:11:36,600 So, we were left with almost everything you see today. 169 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,000 [intense music playing] 170 00:11:43,500 --> 00:11:46,700 [narrator] Now reunited with his family's property, 171 00:11:46,700 --> 00:11:51,567 Brice must come up with inventive ways to keep the kasbah standing. 172 00:11:51,567 --> 00:11:55,667 I was lucky, I guess, to bring a movie set here 173 00:11:55,667 --> 00:12:00,600 that had this Arabian Nights feeling to it and it was beautiful to be able to see 174 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,400 what was it like to live again like this and to be able to imagine 175 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,033 what it would have looked like back in the days. 176 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,300 [narrator] In the Czech Republic, 100 miles east of Prague, 177 00:12:15,300 --> 00:12:18,900 a rundown facility tells an extraordinary tale 178 00:12:18,900 --> 00:12:23,166 of deception and survival. 179 00:12:23,166 --> 00:12:25,266 [Onyeka] This looks like an ordinary Czech town 180 00:12:25,266 --> 00:12:30,100 but in the center, there appears to be abandoned warehouses 181 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:33,767 configured around a central courtyard. 182 00:12:33,767 --> 00:12:36,000 What was its purpose? 183 00:12:36,967 --> 00:12:39,900 [Selwood] Inside, you see raised concrete plinths 184 00:12:39,900 --> 00:12:42,367 and sturdy pillars holding up the floor, 185 00:12:42,367 --> 00:12:45,400 all of which suggest that this place was once filled 186 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,467 with heavy machinery of some sort. 187 00:12:48,467 --> 00:12:52,467 [Dr. Nusbacher] You see there are sacks of fiber and there are bobbins. 188 00:12:52,467 --> 00:12:55,800 So clearly, there's some textile industry going in here. 189 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:02,300 This structure seems to be part of an operation that's been forgotten by history. 190 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:06,300 [narrator] Yet within these walls, an improbable savior 191 00:13:06,300 --> 00:13:10,567 risked everything to defy a ruthless killing machine. 192 00:13:10,567 --> 00:13:14,900 [Onyeka] He was an entrepreneur, a spy, and a playboy. 193 00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:19,400 And he conned one of Europe's most dangerous regimes. 194 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,467 There's no doubt, it's one of the most important stories of the 20th century. 195 00:13:23,467 --> 00:13:28,000 [Selwood] The events that took place here inspired an Oscar-winning movie 196 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,400 known as Schindler's List. 197 00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:35,033 [intense music playing] 198 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,900 So I first came back in 1973 when I was very young and with my father. 199 00:13:41,567 --> 00:13:43,467 This was my grandfather's factory. 200 00:13:43,467 --> 00:13:46,467 This is where he worked with his two brothers. 201 00:13:46,467 --> 00:13:51,367 [narrator] Dr. Daniel Low-Beer is the custodian of this site today. 202 00:13:51,367 --> 00:13:55,266 In the early 1900s, this was the beating heart 203 00:13:55,266 --> 00:13:58,500 of his ancestors' thriving textile business. 204 00:13:59,567 --> 00:14:02,467 [Daniel] Our family had been here for many hundreds of years. 205 00:14:02,467 --> 00:14:05,066 And they felt very much part of this land. 206 00:14:05,066 --> 00:14:06,967 They were accepted in Czechoslovakia. 207 00:14:06,967 --> 00:14:10,900 This is where the Jews could express themselves fully culturally. 208 00:14:12,367 --> 00:14:16,400 [narrator] But in 1938, the rise of a terrible evil 209 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:22,600 left Daniel's grandfather, Walter, staring into the abyss. 210 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:28,467 So, from one day to the next, Czechoslovakia is one country and then it's split into two. 211 00:14:28,467 --> 00:14:31,800 And the border goes along the stream that goes through our factory. 212 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:36,000 And my grandfather wakes up and on the other side of the river 213 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,266 is a battalion of Nazi soldiers who had come in 214 00:14:39,266 --> 00:14:43,467 partly to invade, partly to loot, partly to find what they could. 215 00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:46,400 He said, "You can't come over this river. This is the border. 216 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,567 Go and check your orders and your borders." And he held them up. 217 00:14:50,567 --> 00:14:55,133 A Jew on that border, holding up the Nazis for three days. 218 00:14:58,066 --> 00:15:03,166 [narrator] Walter was just one man standing against an entire army. 219 00:15:03,166 --> 00:15:06,567 Shortly thereafter, the Low-Beers were forced to flee, 220 00:15:06,567 --> 00:15:09,567 leaving their life's work behind. 221 00:15:09,567 --> 00:15:11,500 In the early years of the Second World War, 222 00:15:11,500 --> 00:15:13,867 a variety of companies worked at the factory, 223 00:15:13,867 --> 00:15:18,367 producing textiles and armaments for the German war effort. 224 00:15:18,367 --> 00:15:24,567 [narrator] Then, in 1944, the site underwent a horrifying transformation. 225 00:15:24,567 --> 00:15:26,600 [Daniel] This was a concentration camp. 226 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,300 So you first of all have to imagine the barbed wire which closed it off. 227 00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:33,767 The watchtowers which would be looking over this place. 228 00:15:33,767 --> 00:15:36,467 There was 80 to 100 armed SS guards here, 229 00:15:36,467 --> 00:15:38,767 some of them extremely dangerous. 230 00:15:38,767 --> 00:15:42,066 [narrator] Around 1200 Jewish captives were transported 231 00:15:42,066 --> 00:15:45,200 from Poland to work in this labor camp. 232 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:50,934 But the Nazi industrialist who brought them here had an extraordinary secret. 233 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,166 [Dr. Nusbacher] What this place produced was hope. 234 00:15:56,166 --> 00:15:59,900 And that's a precious commodity in dark times. 235 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,967 [narrator] In the Czech Republic, is the site of an old textile factory. 236 00:16:09,967 --> 00:16:13,567 During World War II, it was seized by the Nazis 237 00:16:13,567 --> 00:16:17,100 and turned into a labor camp to make weapons. 238 00:16:17,100 --> 00:16:19,467 But for the man in charge of the facility, 239 00:16:19,467 --> 00:16:22,867 it had a hidden purpose. 240 00:16:22,867 --> 00:16:24,367 [Onyeka] He certainly was no saint, 241 00:16:24,367 --> 00:16:27,300 he didn't regard himself as an humanitarian, 242 00:16:27,300 --> 00:16:32,367 but even ordinary people can behave in extraordinary ways. 243 00:16:32,367 --> 00:16:35,100 [narrator] His was Oskar Schindler. 244 00:16:35,100 --> 00:16:40,667 And this was to be a safe haven to protect a people under siege. 245 00:16:40,667 --> 00:16:46,767 At the start of the war, his motivation could not have been more different. 246 00:16:46,767 --> 00:16:51,867 Schindler is getting rich taking over factories that belonged to Jews. 247 00:16:51,867 --> 00:16:58,867 Schindler is coining money, he was stuffing his pockets 'cause he's a Nazi, 248 00:16:58,867 --> 00:17:03,867 he's friends with Nazis, there's Nazi money to be made. 249 00:17:03,867 --> 00:17:07,233 And Schindler is living well. 250 00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:14,000 But somewhere or sometime during the Second World War, 251 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,300 he began to change his perspective. 252 00:17:17,567 --> 00:17:22,467 People are being taken from Poland's ghettos 253 00:17:22,467 --> 00:17:25,000 to Poland's death camps 254 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,000 and they're being murdered on a wholesale basis. 255 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,900 Schindler was watching the Holocaust happen. 256 00:17:34,867 --> 00:17:36,867 [Selwood] It seems that it was during this period 257 00:17:36,867 --> 00:17:39,967 that Schindler's motivations changed. 258 00:17:39,967 --> 00:17:43,400 If he had done nothing, all of his Jewish workers 259 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,333 would have been deported to extermination camps, most likely Auschwitz. 260 00:17:49,667 --> 00:17:52,800 [narrator] It was then that Schindler came up with a plan 261 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:54,800 to outsmart the Nazis. 262 00:17:55,500 --> 00:17:58,467 His path to redemption had begun. 263 00:17:58,467 --> 00:18:02,867 [Onyeka] Oskar Schindler, with the help of his employees, 264 00:18:02,867 --> 00:18:05,000 began to draw up lists. 265 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,767 Lists of people who would effectively be saved 266 00:18:08,767 --> 00:18:11,867 by working at his labor camp. 267 00:18:11,867 --> 00:18:16,567 Schindler told the SS that those on the lists were highly-skilled workers 268 00:18:16,567 --> 00:18:21,200 and essential to setting up and running the factory. 269 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:26,767 [Dr. Nusbacher] Schindler needs to insulate the people he's trying to save 270 00:18:26,767 --> 00:18:32,233 from the deadly, casual brutality of the SS guard force. 271 00:18:33,667 --> 00:18:36,567 By housing the workers inside the factory, 272 00:18:36,567 --> 00:18:38,567 and the guards in a separate building, 273 00:18:38,567 --> 00:18:41,700 he reduced the likelihood of these attacks. 274 00:18:41,700 --> 00:18:45,467 [Daniel] So there's three floors, the first two would be used for production. 275 00:18:45,467 --> 00:18:48,567 And they would have lived above this floor. 276 00:18:48,567 --> 00:18:52,467 This was a relative place of safety. 277 00:18:52,467 --> 00:18:56,166 [narrator] From the very start, Schindler had no intention 278 00:18:56,166 --> 00:18:59,500 of using his factory to make weapons. 279 00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:05,867 Yet, he had to convince Nazi officials of the exact opposite. 280 00:19:05,867 --> 00:19:12,700 Schindler has got to pretend that he is building German armaments 281 00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:15,100 in his factory even though 282 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:20,600 he's producing approximately no German armaments. 283 00:19:22,166 --> 00:19:26,767 It was tense from the morning to the evening. There was danger everywhere. 284 00:19:26,767 --> 00:19:29,667 And when the inspections came, yeah, there would be a huge flurry. 285 00:19:29,667 --> 00:19:33,667 He would have to find munitions, he would have to forge documents. 286 00:19:33,667 --> 00:19:39,767 [Dr. Nusbacher] Every hour, every day, every breath 287 00:19:39,767 --> 00:19:45,700 that those people took was an act of defiance 288 00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:49,367 against the Nazis. 289 00:19:49,367 --> 00:19:54,767 [narrator] Schindler and his workers maintained the deception for over six months 290 00:19:54,767 --> 00:20:01,100 until Germany's total surrender came on May 8, 1945. 291 00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:04,667 But only the Jewish prisoners knew Schindler's secret. 292 00:20:04,667 --> 00:20:08,166 In the eyes of the advancing Allied forces, 293 00:20:08,166 --> 00:20:11,800 he was a wanted Nazi war criminal. 294 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,367 It's at five past midnight that the roles change. 295 00:20:15,367 --> 00:20:19,300 He was in charge of his camp, and then suddenly, becomes the hunted. 296 00:20:20,767 --> 00:20:22,667 [narrator] Some of the workers put together a letter, 297 00:20:22,667 --> 00:20:25,767 explaining that Schindler had done everything he could 298 00:20:25,767 --> 00:20:30,100 to save the largest number of Jewish lives possible. 299 00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:32,467 It also asked anyone he showed the letter to 300 00:20:32,467 --> 00:20:34,400 to help him in any way they could. 301 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,400 [dramatic music playing] 302 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,266 [Dr. Nusbacher] But paper burns, 303 00:20:39,266 --> 00:20:41,000 and ink dissolves. 304 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,967 So they made him a ring. 305 00:20:43,967 --> 00:20:45,200 [Daniel] And there's no gold 306 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:46,967 anywhere, apart from on their teeth. 307 00:20:46,967 --> 00:20:50,567 And so they melt this ring out of their teeth. 308 00:20:50,567 --> 00:20:54,667 But on it, there's a phrase which is taken from the Talmud, 309 00:20:54,667 --> 00:20:59,300 which says, "If you save a life, you save the world entire." 310 00:21:00,567 --> 00:21:01,967 [narrator] While the workers waited 311 00:21:01,967 --> 00:21:04,467 for the camp's official liberation, 312 00:21:04,467 --> 00:21:07,066 Schindler fled west to American lines 313 00:21:07,066 --> 00:21:11,500 with the letter, the ring and a remarkable story. 314 00:21:11,500 --> 00:21:15,200 He had helped save 1,200 people from the Holocaust. 315 00:21:16,467 --> 00:21:19,600 [Dr. Nusbacher] And it is estimated that 316 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,800 the descendants of those 1,200 people, 317 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,300 7,000 to 9,000 people 318 00:21:27,066 --> 00:21:29,767 are alive today, 319 00:21:29,767 --> 00:21:35,300 because Oskar Schindler risked everything 320 00:21:35,300 --> 00:21:39,133 to save the lives of people to whom he owed nothing. 321 00:21:40,967 --> 00:21:42,266 [Daniel] It's not clear why 322 00:21:42,266 --> 00:21:44,567 he did what he did. 323 00:21:44,567 --> 00:21:46,767 But in some ways, that's what 324 00:21:46,767 --> 00:21:47,834 keeps the story alive, 325 00:21:47,834 --> 00:21:50,467 and allows the next generation of children to make 326 00:21:50,467 --> 00:21:51,567 their own mind up. 327 00:21:51,567 --> 00:21:54,500 And then, most importantly, what would you do 328 00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:56,266 in the same situation? 329 00:21:56,266 --> 00:21:59,300 If Schindler could do it, why couldn't more people do it? 330 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:03,400 [serene instrumental music playing] 331 00:22:06,266 --> 00:22:08,367 [narrator] In 2019, 332 00:22:08,367 --> 00:22:10,667 Daniel was able to buy back 333 00:22:10,667 --> 00:22:12,900 his family's old factory. 334 00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:17,767 Today, he is working to turn this site into a museum 335 00:22:17,767 --> 00:22:20,600 dedicated to those who survived here. 336 00:22:21,667 --> 00:22:23,800 [Daniel] In the Jewish sense, when the world is shattered, 337 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,100 you wanna put it back together again. 338 00:22:26,100 --> 00:22:28,467 And I think it's a little bit the impetus we have here 339 00:22:28,467 --> 00:22:29,700 in this ruined factory, 340 00:22:29,700 --> 00:22:32,700 is to put something back together which can tell a story, 341 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,300 and show survival. 342 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,266 [narrator] In Brazil, 343 00:22:41,266 --> 00:22:43,800 deep in the Amazon rainforest 344 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,700 are the neglected remains of a pioneering venture. 345 00:22:52,467 --> 00:22:53,700 [intense music playing] 346 00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:56,166 [Gutierrez-Romine] As you navigate through the waterways, 347 00:22:56,166 --> 00:22:59,967 you come across this ruin that's just 348 00:22:59,967 --> 00:23:02,600 rotting on the side of the jungle. 349 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,100 There is this mess of stilts 350 00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:06,467 and beams, and they 351 00:23:06,467 --> 00:23:08,734 reach up hundreds of feet into the air. 352 00:23:10,367 --> 00:23:12,200 You can see the remains of a boardwalk 353 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,800 and some platforms teetering high above the water. 354 00:23:15,967 --> 00:23:19,467 [narrator] As more skeletons emerge from the forest, 355 00:23:19,467 --> 00:23:23,000 the extent of this site becomes apparent. 356 00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:25,500 [Gutierrez-Romine] This area is 357 00:23:25,500 --> 00:23:27,767 remote and exposed. 358 00:23:27,767 --> 00:23:30,266 It's not exactly a place where you would 359 00:23:30,266 --> 00:23:33,166 imagine there to be a settlement. 360 00:23:33,166 --> 00:23:36,166 [Michele] This is a footprint of a vast complex. 361 00:23:36,166 --> 00:23:38,467 To build somewhere like this would have required 362 00:23:38,467 --> 00:23:40,800 specialist local knowledge. 363 00:23:41,467 --> 00:23:43,100 [Morgan] It makes you wonder, why 364 00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:44,100 was this created? 365 00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:46,533 Was this some sort of an industrial facility? 366 00:23:47,567 --> 00:23:49,400 [Gutierrez-Romine] This place was built with 367 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,500 one thing in mind. 368 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:54,900 An existential threat to humanity. 369 00:23:58,700 --> 00:24:01,667 [narrator] In the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, 370 00:24:01,667 --> 00:24:05,367 are the fallen remains of a bold enterprise, 371 00:24:05,367 --> 00:24:08,166 conceived with a noble intention. 372 00:24:08,166 --> 00:24:09,500 [Roberto speaking Portuguese] 373 00:24:09,500 --> 00:24:12,567 [translator in English] Everything I have, including my family, 374 00:24:12,567 --> 00:24:16,200 comes from here. Best friends were made here. 375 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,000 So, looking at it now, in ruins, 376 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,634 it's hard to talk about. 377 00:24:22,667 --> 00:24:24,800 [narrator] Roberto Abdias has worked 378 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,667 in the Amazon all his life. 379 00:24:27,667 --> 00:24:30,934 For 17 years, this was home. 380 00:24:31,467 --> 00:24:33,166 [Roberto speaking Portuguese] 381 00:24:33,166 --> 00:24:36,567 [translator in English] As a jungle survival guide, every day there's a connection 382 00:24:36,567 --> 00:24:38,166 with nature. 383 00:24:38,166 --> 00:24:40,200 It is something inexplicable. 384 00:24:43,467 --> 00:24:45,667 [narrator] Today, these derelict ruins 385 00:24:45,667 --> 00:24:49,000 are only accessible by boat. 386 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,200 When first built, a helicopter was 387 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,900 the favorite method of transportation for those 388 00:24:53,900 --> 00:24:55,400 who could afford it. 389 00:24:56,767 --> 00:24:58,166 [Morgan] To see it now, 390 00:24:58,166 --> 00:24:59,867 you wouldn't think that some of the richest people 391 00:24:59,867 --> 00:25:02,934 on Earth came to visit this. But they did. 392 00:25:03,767 --> 00:25:05,467 [narrator] Its story began 393 00:25:05,467 --> 00:25:08,400 with a chance encounter more than four decades ago. 394 00:25:10,367 --> 00:25:12,166 [Gutierrez-Romine] In 1982, 395 00:25:12,166 --> 00:25:13,567 one of the most renowned 396 00:25:13,567 --> 00:25:19,667 explorers, Jacques Cousteau, came and visited this part of the Amazon. 397 00:25:19,667 --> 00:25:22,367 He explored the world, and he brought attention to matters 398 00:25:22,367 --> 00:25:24,867 like the disappearing rainforest. 399 00:25:24,867 --> 00:25:29,066 [narrator] It was while staying at a hotel in the city of Manaus, 400 00:25:29,066 --> 00:25:31,800 Cousteau grew close to its owner, 401 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,266 Francisco Ritta Bernardino. 402 00:25:34,266 --> 00:25:36,400 [Michele] Cousteau made a prediction to his new friend. 403 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,567 He predicted that, within 15 years, 404 00:25:38,567 --> 00:25:40,767 the whole world would be talking about the Amazon. 405 00:25:40,767 --> 00:25:45,734 Not just climate scientists and biologists, but also regular, concerned citizens. 406 00:25:46,767 --> 00:25:47,800 [Morgan] Bernardino 407 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:49,700 was inspired by Cousteau. 408 00:25:49,700 --> 00:25:51,467 In an effort to prevent 409 00:25:51,467 --> 00:25:54,300 further deforestation, he wanted to make a difference. 410 00:25:55,667 --> 00:25:59,567 [narrator] He was also a keen businessman, with an eye 411 00:25:59,567 --> 00:26:01,066 for opportunity. 412 00:26:01,066 --> 00:26:02,600 When Cousteau encouraged him 413 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:06,400 to consider the fast-growing industry of ecotourism, 414 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,900 it seemed like the perfect fit. 415 00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:14,400 This is all that remains of Bernardino's Ariau Towers Hotel. 416 00:26:15,467 --> 00:26:17,867 [Morgan] By establishing a resort like this, 417 00:26:17,867 --> 00:26:19,700 people could come and experience 418 00:26:19,700 --> 00:26:22,300 the Amazon without damaging the Amazon. 419 00:26:22,300 --> 00:26:25,166 They could take away from it memories without 420 00:26:25,166 --> 00:26:26,634 leaving anything behind. 421 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,433 [Michele] This would be 422 00:26:29,433 --> 00:26:32,400 a unique building that would immerse people right into the heart 423 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,900 of this incredible ecosystem. 424 00:26:34,900 --> 00:26:40,066 [narrator] Bernardino began his ambitious project in 1984. 425 00:26:40,066 --> 00:26:43,533 From the beginning, there were challenges to overcome. 426 00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:45,567 For half of the year, 427 00:26:45,567 --> 00:26:47,767 this area is under water. 428 00:26:47,767 --> 00:26:49,367 -[Roberto speaking Portuguese] - [translator in English] He first went 429 00:26:49,367 --> 00:26:50,667 and spoke to the local people. 430 00:26:50,667 --> 00:26:52,367 "Look, you know how 431 00:26:52,367 --> 00:26:54,166 to work with wood like nobody else. 432 00:26:54,166 --> 00:26:56,700 I want to build a hotel on stilts. 433 00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:59,800 And since the water rises and falls every year, 434 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,700 I need a specific wood that can be used on the water 435 00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:04,133 and doesn't deteriorate." 436 00:27:04,133 --> 00:27:07,834 And the local people knew how to do that, because they lived there. 437 00:27:09,467 --> 00:27:11,400 [narrator] After two years of building, 438 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,200 Ariau Towers was ready to welcome 439 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:15,700 its first guests. 440 00:27:16,767 --> 00:27:18,000 [Gutierrez-Romine] What Bernardino 441 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,900 achieved really was this massive 442 00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:23,834 feat of construction and engineering. 443 00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:26,967 He built on stilts 444 00:27:26,967 --> 00:27:29,400 300 rooms, a helipad, 445 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,800 dining rooms and so much more. 446 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,767 [Morgan] There were walkways that linked one building 447 00:27:34,767 --> 00:27:35,900 to the next. 448 00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:37,567 There were catwalks that were 449 00:27:37,567 --> 00:27:38,533 up in the trees, so that 450 00:27:38,533 --> 00:27:40,467 you could experience the part of the Amazon 451 00:27:40,467 --> 00:27:42,100 where most of the life lived. 452 00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:45,567 They'd be able to see pink dolphins. They'd be able to see 453 00:27:45,567 --> 00:27:47,100 any number of 454 00:27:47,100 --> 00:27:49,400 brilliantly colored birds. 455 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,667 [translator] If those clients wanted more activities, 456 00:27:51,667 --> 00:27:54,567 I would take them to the jungle and spend the night. 457 00:27:54,567 --> 00:27:57,066 It was a spectacular thing that. 458 00:27:57,066 --> 00:28:00,433 Staying overnight in the jungle was something from another world. 459 00:28:03,367 --> 00:28:04,467 [narrator] Ariau Towers 460 00:28:04,467 --> 00:28:07,000 tapped into a growing trend. 461 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,266 And its exclusivity attracted the rich 462 00:28:10,266 --> 00:28:11,567 and famous. 463 00:28:11,567 --> 00:28:12,600 [Morgan] This was built 464 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,767 in an era when problems with the Amazon rainforest 465 00:28:15,767 --> 00:28:17,467 were just becoming 466 00:28:17,467 --> 00:28:19,300 general knowledge, and the way that 467 00:28:19,300 --> 00:28:22,166 that elimination of rainforest was also displacing 468 00:28:22,166 --> 00:28:24,900 tribal people that lived in the Amazon rainforest. 469 00:28:26,166 --> 00:28:28,166 At its height, it wasn't uncommon 470 00:28:28,166 --> 00:28:30,900 to see celebrities or politicians here. 471 00:28:32,300 --> 00:28:34,467 -[Roberto speaking Portuguese] - [translator in English] We had Bill Gates, 472 00:28:34,467 --> 00:28:36,367 Kevin Costner, 473 00:28:36,367 --> 00:28:39,367 Jennifer Lopez, Arnold Schwarzenegger 474 00:28:39,367 --> 00:28:40,600 They came from Manaus 475 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:41,867 to this helipad. 476 00:28:41,867 --> 00:28:43,166 [helicopter hovering] 477 00:28:43,166 --> 00:28:45,667 [narrator] Business was booming, 478 00:28:45,667 --> 00:28:48,700 and Bernardino's investment appeared to be paying off. 479 00:28:49,367 --> 00:28:50,767 [Gutierrez-Romine] In the late '90s, 480 00:28:50,767 --> 00:28:52,767 it is estimated that 481 00:28:52,767 --> 00:28:55,500 revenue was somewhere around $12 million 482 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,166 from the 36,000 guests 483 00:28:58,166 --> 00:29:00,467 it was receiving per year. 484 00:29:00,467 --> 00:29:04,900 [narrator] Then, in 2002, a reality TV juggernaut 485 00:29:04,900 --> 00:29:08,300 came calling, and it seemed like a lucrative opportunity, 486 00:29:08,300 --> 00:29:10,467 too good to miss. 487 00:29:10,467 --> 00:29:13,066 [Gutierrez-Romine] The hit reality series Survivor 488 00:29:13,066 --> 00:29:17,000 was looking for a location for its sixth season. 489 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,667 And Ariau Towers fit the bill. 490 00:29:20,667 --> 00:29:22,000 [Michele] The production went ahead 491 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,133 and they booked out the entire place for months. 492 00:29:24,867 --> 00:29:26,266 [Roberto speaking Portuguese] 493 00:29:26,266 --> 00:29:29,000 [translator in English] I even trained the reality participants. 494 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,700 And, by the way, they paid me very well. 495 00:29:34,367 --> 00:29:37,500 But I guarantee you, I would rather have not earned that money, 496 00:29:37,500 --> 00:29:39,800 and the reality show didn't happen here. 497 00:29:41,166 --> 00:29:44,400 Because it was the reason that bankrupted the hotel. 498 00:29:46,567 --> 00:29:47,867 [narrator] Ariau Towers 499 00:29:47,867 --> 00:29:50,767 was headed toward disaster. 500 00:29:50,767 --> 00:29:52,200 [Michele] It turns out that 501 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,800 interrupting your regular stream of guests for an entire three months 502 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,800 can really be disastrous in the tourism industry. 503 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,700 [narrator] In 2002, the reality series Survivor 504 00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:09,600 chose the Ariau Towers Hotel 505 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,266 as the base for their latest season. 506 00:30:12,266 --> 00:30:15,300 The production's high-profile presence was supposed 507 00:30:15,300 --> 00:30:17,600 to attract new business. 508 00:30:18,567 --> 00:30:20,100 Former hotel employee, 509 00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:23,900 Roberto Abdias, believes it had the opposite effect. 510 00:30:24,367 --> 00:30:25,467 [Roberto speaking Portuguese] 511 00:30:25,467 --> 00:30:26,667 [translator speaking English] Big operators had to 512 00:30:26,667 --> 00:30:28,967 cancel their groups because the hotel was rented 513 00:30:28,967 --> 00:30:30,567 for a television show. 514 00:30:30,567 --> 00:30:32,200 Imagine a group of 100, 515 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:33,867 200 people in a hotel 516 00:30:33,867 --> 00:30:36,300 that could accommodate 700. 517 00:30:37,567 --> 00:30:40,000 The number of visitors began to decline, 518 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,266 and soon there were 519 00:30:41,266 --> 00:30:43,734 staff layoffs that followed. 520 00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:48,867 [narrator] The hotel limped on for another decade. 521 00:30:48,867 --> 00:30:51,567 But the business never recovered. 522 00:30:51,567 --> 00:30:54,266 Operations ceased in 2016. 523 00:30:54,266 --> 00:30:57,533 And the Amazon quickly reclaimed its ground. 524 00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:01,467 [Gutierrez-Romine] All of the locals who helped to build 525 00:31:01,467 --> 00:31:04,467 and operate Ariau Towers 526 00:31:04,467 --> 00:31:07,700 really saw this as their own. 527 00:31:07,700 --> 00:31:10,000 So, when the facility became defunct, 528 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,867 they took the timbers, 529 00:31:11,867 --> 00:31:14,467 they took the beams and the roofs, leaving 530 00:31:14,467 --> 00:31:16,400 very little standing there today. 531 00:31:18,066 --> 00:31:19,900 -[Roberto speaking Portuguese] - [translator in English] I can confess to you 532 00:31:19,900 --> 00:31:22,967 I also have a hotel door in my house, that I will keep 533 00:31:22,967 --> 00:31:25,266 for the rest of my life as a souvenir 534 00:31:25,266 --> 00:31:27,100 of a place that made me so happy, 535 00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:29,900 that made me achieve everything I have. 536 00:31:36,166 --> 00:31:38,367 [narrator] The Ariau Towers Hotel 537 00:31:38,367 --> 00:31:40,166 may have ended in failure. 538 00:31:40,166 --> 00:31:43,166 But Roberto believes it should be remembered 539 00:31:43,166 --> 00:31:45,700 for the good it tried to achieve. 540 00:31:46,667 --> 00:31:47,767 [speaking Portuguese] 541 00:31:47,767 --> 00:31:49,000 [translator in English] The objective of the hotel 542 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,166 was to help preserve the rainforest 543 00:31:51,166 --> 00:31:54,000 and generate income for the local people. 544 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,266 Thanks to the Ariau Hotel, 545 00:31:56,266 --> 00:31:59,200 it educated a whole group that today are still working 546 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:00,700 in ecotourism. 547 00:32:00,700 --> 00:32:02,300 It was the best jungle hotel 548 00:32:02,300 --> 00:32:03,867 in the world. 549 00:32:03,867 --> 00:32:06,000 [instrumental music playing] 550 00:32:08,266 --> 00:32:09,800 [intense music playing] 551 00:32:10,767 --> 00:32:14,200 [narrator] In Germany, just outside of Berlin, 552 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,700 a peculiar collection of buildings litters the countryside. 553 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,867 [Gutierrez-Romine] About 20 miles east of the capital, 554 00:32:25,867 --> 00:32:29,800 this sprawling city gives way to these 555 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:34,467 portions of green and dark patches of woodlands. 556 00:32:34,467 --> 00:32:36,266 [Meigs] Looking through the trees here, we start to see 557 00:32:36,266 --> 00:32:38,500 some strange stone structures. 558 00:32:38,500 --> 00:32:39,767 Some of them look like they might be 559 00:32:39,767 --> 00:32:43,000 churches or maybe medieval forts. 560 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,467 One place we see something that 561 00:32:44,467 --> 00:32:47,700 looks like it could be a temple In Cambodia. 562 00:32:50,767 --> 00:32:53,567 [narrator] Exploring deeper, a confusing picture 563 00:32:53,567 --> 00:32:55,767 begins to emerge. 564 00:32:55,767 --> 00:32:58,333 [Gutierrez-Romine] There are long, dark corridors. 565 00:32:59,100 --> 00:33:00,867 And there are deep holes 566 00:33:00,867 --> 00:33:02,867 that lead to nowhere. 567 00:33:02,867 --> 00:33:04,000 On the lower levels 568 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:08,567 are the remains of railroad track and old carts 569 00:33:08,567 --> 00:33:12,066 It's hard to figure out what we're looking at, 570 00:33:12,066 --> 00:33:14,700 or what was here. 571 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:17,066 [Michele] The rusting metal remains suggest that 572 00:33:17,066 --> 00:33:19,500 this was some sort of industrial complex. 573 00:33:19,500 --> 00:33:20,967 But for what trade? 574 00:33:20,967 --> 00:33:23,800 [narrator] From the fires of this vast complex, 575 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,066 one of Europe's greatest cities was forged. 576 00:33:27,066 --> 00:33:30,567 [Gutierrez-Romine] Just from looking at what is left here, 577 00:33:30,567 --> 00:33:32,500 you would have no idea 578 00:33:32,500 --> 00:33:34,867 of the role that this place played 579 00:33:34,867 --> 00:33:37,600 in the building of modern Germany. 580 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:39,600 [dramatic music playing] 581 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,667 [narrator] Kathrin Jurkat is a historian 582 00:33:46,667 --> 00:33:49,900 who works in the shadow of this towering behemoth. 583 00:33:50,867 --> 00:33:53,000 The ground on which it's built 584 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,400 is the very reason it exists. 585 00:33:56,667 --> 00:33:58,000 So 240 million years ago 586 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,066 at this site, there was an ocean. 587 00:34:00,066 --> 00:34:04,867 There were shells and other animals living inside of it. 588 00:34:04,867 --> 00:34:08,900 These shells, when they died, were transforming into limestone. 589 00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:13,000 Limestone is a really great material to work with 590 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:14,333 as a building material. 591 00:34:14,333 --> 00:34:18,300 It's easier to cut into different shapes than, say, granite. 592 00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:20,700 And it's easier to quarry. 593 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,166 Berlin really is a city of limestone. You can find it 594 00:34:25,166 --> 00:34:26,667 everywhere, from the floors 595 00:34:26,667 --> 00:34:28,767 of the Berliner Dom Cathedral 596 00:34:28,767 --> 00:34:32,700 to the roads of the working class neighborhoods. 597 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,467 [narrator] This is Ruedersdorf. 598 00:34:37,467 --> 00:34:40,100 For over 750 years, 599 00:34:40,100 --> 00:34:41,467 it was at the heart 600 00:34:41,467 --> 00:34:44,834 of an industry that built the German capital. 601 00:34:45,667 --> 00:34:48,100 But this site produced more than 602 00:34:48,100 --> 00:34:49,667 Berlin's building blocks. 603 00:34:49,667 --> 00:34:51,166 It also created 604 00:34:51,166 --> 00:34:54,600 the vital ingredient that held them together. 605 00:34:55,467 --> 00:34:57,767 This is the chamber kiln. It was built 606 00:34:57,767 --> 00:34:58,834 in 1666. 607 00:34:58,834 --> 00:35:01,266 And this is the oldest structure we have here 608 00:35:01,266 --> 00:35:02,800 in Ruedersdorf. It was used 609 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,567 for burning lime. 610 00:35:05,567 --> 00:35:08,600 [Meigs] The cooking of the limestone changes its chemical structure. 611 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,100 If you'd let it cool down, you could crumble 612 00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:13,367 the rocks into a fine powder, 613 00:35:13,367 --> 00:35:15,567 what we call quicklime. 614 00:35:15,567 --> 00:35:17,600 Then, if you add water, 615 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:19,767 and throw in some sand and other things, 616 00:35:19,767 --> 00:35:21,700 you would have cement. 617 00:35:22,367 --> 00:35:23,767 [narrator] Quicklime's impact 618 00:35:23,767 --> 00:35:26,600 on the city is impossible to overstate. 619 00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:30,500 [Gutierrez-Romine] Berlin's population in 1701 620 00:35:30,500 --> 00:35:31,567 had swelled to 621 00:35:31,567 --> 00:35:34,367 over 100,000, and it was growing 622 00:35:34,367 --> 00:35:36,767 in all directions. 623 00:35:36,767 --> 00:35:40,767 As European society advanced, and bigger 624 00:35:40,767 --> 00:35:43,100 and bigger stone buildings were being built, 625 00:35:43,100 --> 00:35:45,767 the demand from these furnaces, 626 00:35:45,767 --> 00:35:47,634 or kilns, was enormous. 627 00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:49,767 [narrator] In order to keep up, 628 00:35:49,767 --> 00:35:52,200 it was the poorly paid labor force 629 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,066 that suffered most. 630 00:35:54,066 --> 00:35:55,867 Can you imagine 631 00:35:55,867 --> 00:35:58,767 just how difficult and dangerous this work was? 632 00:35:58,767 --> 00:36:00,600 They were moving chunks 633 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,600 of rock that were heated to 1,000 degrees. 634 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:04,867 [crackling] 635 00:36:04,867 --> 00:36:06,200 [Gutierrez-Romine] If the burnt lime 636 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,500 came into contact with their skin 637 00:36:08,500 --> 00:36:09,767 or their sweat, 638 00:36:09,767 --> 00:36:11,900 which was inevitable in conditions like this, 639 00:36:11,900 --> 00:36:13,400 it was like acid. 640 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,300 They could get very severe burns. 641 00:36:16,767 --> 00:36:18,400 [narrator] Despite the risks, 642 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,500 there was constant pressure to keep the kilns burning 643 00:36:21,700 --> 00:36:23,367 no matter what. 644 00:36:23,367 --> 00:36:25,967 The entire procedure, however, 645 00:36:25,967 --> 00:36:28,500 was incredibly inefficient. 646 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:31,767 [Meigs] The problem with this method is you have to load the kiln, 647 00:36:31,767 --> 00:36:33,967 build this intense fire for four or five days, 648 00:36:33,967 --> 00:36:36,767 you had to pull the limestone out 649 00:36:36,767 --> 00:36:38,100 and repeat the process. 650 00:36:38,100 --> 00:36:39,467 As demand for cement 651 00:36:39,467 --> 00:36:43,000 increased, this method wasn't fast enough. 652 00:36:44,100 --> 00:36:47,066 [narrator] But that wasn't the only issue. 653 00:36:47,066 --> 00:36:48,767 The fuel that fed the fires 654 00:36:48,767 --> 00:36:51,233 was also in short supply. 655 00:36:52,367 --> 00:36:53,567 [Michele] The chamber kiln 656 00:36:53,567 --> 00:36:54,634 needed wood to run. 657 00:36:54,634 --> 00:36:56,467 But the Brandenburg forest was running out of trees 658 00:36:56,467 --> 00:36:58,200 at an alarming rate. 659 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,800 [narrator] If Berlin's growth was to continue, 660 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,667 Ruedersdorf needed to find a solution. 661 00:37:03,667 --> 00:37:04,900 Fast. 662 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,600 [narrator] Berlin was undergoing 663 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,500 a rapid expansion at the turn of the 19th century. 664 00:37:14,266 --> 00:37:16,567 But the resource that fueled its rise 665 00:37:16,567 --> 00:37:17,900 was under threat. 666 00:37:18,867 --> 00:37:21,200 The city had depleted its supply of timber 667 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:25,800 to fire the quicklime-producing kilns at Ruedersdorf. 668 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,500 An innovation by British-American inventor 669 00:37:28,500 --> 00:37:32,700 Lord Benjamin Rumford in 1802 would prove vital. 670 00:37:34,166 --> 00:37:36,166 The Rumford kiln operates like 671 00:37:36,166 --> 00:37:39,266 a kind of vertical conveyor belt. 672 00:37:39,266 --> 00:37:42,300 Workers bring chunks of lime with carts 673 00:37:42,300 --> 00:37:43,600 to the top of the structure 674 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,834 and they drop it into the central shaft. 675 00:37:46,066 --> 00:37:47,233 [crackling] 676 00:37:47,233 --> 00:37:49,166 There's fires that are kept burning at all times 677 00:37:49,166 --> 00:37:50,600 around the shaft. 678 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:52,567 As the limestone cooks down, 679 00:37:52,567 --> 00:37:55,367 they keep adding more limestone at the top. 680 00:37:55,367 --> 00:37:58,166 But at the bottom, workers can open the shaft 681 00:37:58,166 --> 00:38:00,700 and shovel out the cooked limestone. 682 00:38:01,867 --> 00:38:03,266 Whereas before it had taken about a week 683 00:38:03,266 --> 00:38:05,400 between loading and unloading the kiln, 684 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,567 this one burned continuously. 685 00:38:07,567 --> 00:38:10,100 And instead of burning wood, which was running out, 686 00:38:10,100 --> 00:38:11,400 it used peat for fuel. 687 00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:14,967 [narrator] Peat burns hotter, 688 00:38:14,967 --> 00:38:17,400 and there was an untapped supply in the wetlands 689 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:18,967 around Berlin. 690 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,000 This, combined with the Rumford kiln's ability to operate 691 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:24,033 24 hours a day, 692 00:38:24,467 --> 00:38:26,700 365 days a year, 693 00:38:26,700 --> 00:38:29,367 saw production triple. 694 00:38:29,367 --> 00:38:32,266 The technological leap was good for business, 695 00:38:32,266 --> 00:38:34,166 but did little to improve 696 00:38:34,166 --> 00:38:36,500 the lives of the labor force. 697 00:38:38,567 --> 00:38:40,567 So this great invention of the Rumford kiln 698 00:38:40,567 --> 00:38:41,400 was not so good 699 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:42,767 for the workers. 700 00:38:42,767 --> 00:38:45,000 Before that, they didn't work that long, but now they had to work 701 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:46,233 16 hours a day. 702 00:38:46,233 --> 00:38:49,767 Also, it was very harmful for them to inhale the dust. 703 00:38:49,767 --> 00:38:53,000 A lot of the workers here had a problem with their lungs. 704 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,200 [Michele] This really was not a healthy environment. 705 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,400 And, quite tragically, many workers 706 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,500 never saw the age of 40 as a result. 707 00:39:01,166 --> 00:39:02,767 [narrator] Despite the human cost, 708 00:39:02,767 --> 00:39:05,900 the kilns worked around the clock. 709 00:39:05,900 --> 00:39:07,066 [Gutierrez-Romine] Even though 710 00:39:07,066 --> 00:39:09,667 28,000 tons of quicklime 711 00:39:09,667 --> 00:39:11,700 were being produced every year, 712 00:39:11,700 --> 00:39:14,700 there was always a need for more. 713 00:39:14,700 --> 00:39:17,500 [narrator] Berlin was quickly becoming one of the largest 714 00:39:17,500 --> 00:39:18,700 cities in Europe. 715 00:39:20,066 --> 00:39:22,100 In 1871, with the unification, 716 00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:25,000 Germany became really a great power 717 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:25,834 for the first time. 718 00:39:25,834 --> 00:39:27,700 And that led to a much faster pace 719 00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:30,867 of economic and industrial development. 720 00:39:30,867 --> 00:39:33,667 Berlin had become the capital city of the entire 721 00:39:33,667 --> 00:39:34,567 German Empire. 722 00:39:34,567 --> 00:39:38,667 And its population had reached 800,000. 723 00:39:38,667 --> 00:39:39,900 [Meigs] They needed more raw materials. 724 00:39:39,900 --> 00:39:41,634 They needed more cement. 725 00:39:42,667 --> 00:39:45,000 [narrator] At this time, Ruedersdorf had 726 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,467 five Rumford kilns in constant operation. 727 00:39:48,467 --> 00:39:50,367 It wasn't enough. 728 00:39:50,367 --> 00:39:54,567 The answer was to build something even bigger. 729 00:39:54,567 --> 00:39:56,100 [Jurkat] So this is the shaft kiln battery. 730 00:39:56,100 --> 00:39:58,700 It was finished in 1877. 731 00:39:58,700 --> 00:40:01,467 So, the innovation here is that 732 00:40:01,467 --> 00:40:03,567 they put 18 kilns 733 00:40:03,567 --> 00:40:05,700 right next to each other, so that 734 00:40:05,700 --> 00:40:07,467 it functioned like a factory. 735 00:40:07,467 --> 00:40:08,200 [Michele] This structure 736 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:09,567 was built in a kind of a ditch, 737 00:40:09,567 --> 00:40:11,567 which at the top allowed railcars 738 00:40:11,567 --> 00:40:13,567 to reach the roof, and from the bottom 739 00:40:13,567 --> 00:40:16,266 carts could be loaded straight onto the railway. 740 00:40:16,266 --> 00:40:18,767 [Meigs] This complex, located where it is, 741 00:40:18,767 --> 00:40:21,767 is part of why Berlin was able 742 00:40:21,767 --> 00:40:24,200 to grow as rapidly as it did. 743 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,367 This place helped build a lot of 744 00:40:26,367 --> 00:40:29,066 what remains as kind of iconic Berlin today, 745 00:40:29,066 --> 00:40:30,900 including the Brandenburg Gate. 746 00:40:30,900 --> 00:40:32,700 [narrator] For almost a century 747 00:40:32,700 --> 00:40:34,100 these kilns burned, 748 00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:35,800 producing hundreds 749 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:38,266 of thousands of tons of quicklime, 750 00:40:38,266 --> 00:40:39,567 fueling Germany's 751 00:40:39,567 --> 00:40:42,634 path to become the nation we know today. 752 00:40:43,266 --> 00:40:45,166 But by the late 1960s, 753 00:40:45,166 --> 00:40:48,266 the once cutting-edge technology 754 00:40:48,266 --> 00:40:50,133 was becoming obsolete. 755 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,700 And by 1967, 756 00:40:52,700 --> 00:40:54,900 it had been abandoned. 757 00:40:57,967 --> 00:41:01,867 Today, Ruedersdorf is open to the public. 758 00:41:01,867 --> 00:41:03,900 It provides a unique insight 759 00:41:03,900 --> 00:41:07,367 into a factory that built a city. 760 00:41:07,367 --> 00:41:08,867 [Meigs] It's interesting that it was never 761 00:41:08,867 --> 00:41:11,133 torn down or reused for other purposes. 762 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:12,433 And that's 763 00:41:12,433 --> 00:41:14,467 really great because you can see 764 00:41:14,467 --> 00:41:16,367 what's essentially a museum 765 00:41:16,367 --> 00:41:19,700 and a tribute to all the hard work 766 00:41:19,700 --> 00:41:22,367 and innovation 767 00:41:22,367 --> 00:41:25,667 that went into developing these modern 768 00:41:25,667 --> 00:41:26,700 building materials.