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A brutal Soviet fortress
overlooking the baltic sea.

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You could expect to lose yourself
in those cold, horrible walls.

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An extensive bunker system built

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in the extreme altitude
of the French alps.

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Why would anyone build something
like this so high up in the mountains?

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A deserted jungle
highway that leads nowhere.

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If I was wandering around
the rainforests in Brazil,

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I think the very last thing
I would expect to see

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is a massive piece of concrete.

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And a little-known complex
at the heart of the American

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immigration story.

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To say that this
place is atmospheric

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would be an understatement.

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It's really creepy.

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Once, they were some of the most

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advanced structures
and facilities on the planet,

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at the cutting edge of
design and construction.

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Today, they stand abandoned,
contaminated and sometimes deadly.

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But who built them and how?

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And why were they abandoned?

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Near the southeast coast of Brazil,
amongst the mountainous peaks

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of the serra do mar, is
an imposing structure.

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Emerging out of the morning mist
and reaching across the rainforest

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is what appears to be a
huge section of highway.

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It's misty. There
is clouds rolling in

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and, when you focus, all of a sudden
you see this huge concrete structure

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and it's just growing up out of
the jungle and then disappears.

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It's as though a giant
just picked up a huge

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concrete piece of lego
and dropped it there.

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See, if I was wandering
around the rainforests in Brazil,

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I think the very last thing
I would expect to see

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is a massive piece of concrete.

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And forget just a massive
piece of concrete but an actual

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abandoned piece of flyover.
That would be really, really bizarre.

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Who built this domineering
flyover on the side of a mountain?

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And where does it lead?

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In the 1950s, the Brazilian
government began constructing

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a trans-coastal highway.

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Known as the br-101 freeway,

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it would eventually form
Brazil's longest highway,

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stretching nearly 3,000
miles north to south.

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Yet this segment of the 101
appears to be deep in the jungle,

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far from the stunning
beaches of Brazil's east coast.

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Brazilian engineer Newton Jose
cavalieri knows the freeway well.

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(Speaks foreign language)

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This section was left unbuilt.

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But in the 1970s, Brazil's
military government invested

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heavily in massive
infrastructure projects

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and plans to bridge this
mountainous strip were renewed.

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The original plan was to take
the freeway over the mountains.

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Now, that had all sorts
of inherent challenges

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so they looked
for an alternative.

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Through the jungle?

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That's gonna be difficult.

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But how about over
the top of the jungle?

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They decided to follow
existing dirt roads built by

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the state-owned petrobras oil
company to maintain their oil pipeline

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that ran through the jungle.

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In the midst of an economic boom,
known as the 'Brazilian miracle',

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engineers forged the
most direct route possible

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with the help of
tunnels and viaducts.

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And one of the key pieces of this
ambitious highway puzzle was this,

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the petrobras viaduct.

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(Important music)

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It would help to bypass
over 30 miles of coastal road

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that looped around
the peninsula.

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You can imagine how
difficult this was to construct.

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First of all,
you're in a jungle.

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It's inhospitable, it's hot, it's
humid, there's trees and insects.

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Despite the challenges of building
a viaduct that was over 130ft tall

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and 1,000ft long in
these harsh conditions,

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Brazil's military government
had good reason for investing

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in this jungle highway.

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It was linked to their
nuclear ambitions.

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To advance their
nuclear capabilities,

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they began building reactors and
this section of highway became vital.

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(Speaks foreign language)

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As Brazil entered
the atomic age,

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they needed an escape route
to the south of Rio de Janeiro,

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in case of nuclear disaster.

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So the br-101 had to
be completed before

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the nuclear reactor went online.

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Various teams worked along
the route on different sections,

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some faster than others,
but all faced an array

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of engineering challenges whilst
also in a race against the clock.

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So, when you're trying
to build quite a complex

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road network and that might
have tunnels, it might have

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flat pieces of road and it
also might have these flyovers,

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what you want to do really is to
do the most complex pieces first.

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They're the most expensive.

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They're gonna take the longest
and they need the most amount

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of investment in
order to get them built.

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So it's a good idea to get
the hard bits finished first

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and then what you can do later,
more easily, is just to join the dots.

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So that's the kind of
typical way that you would

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build something, even though
it sounds really counterintuitive.

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(Speaks foreign language)

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There are a lot of things that
can make your life very difficult.

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That can start from the
ground being quite wet,

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having lots of
roots of trees there.

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You're thinking about,

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"how do I bring the material to
that location to actually build it?"

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How are you gonna
get cranes there?

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And then if it's hot and
humid, to add to that,

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that makes things
even more difficult.

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Despite the precarious
working conditions,

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jungle humidity does have
one engineering benefit.

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So, strangely enough, the one thing
you don't really need to worry about

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is the concrete going off
because you've got the humidity

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there and actually, having
quite a humid environment

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means that the concrete cures
better and it gains its strength

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really nicely and uniformly
across its whole body.

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However, this
supposedly key component

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of the freeway system
would never fulfil its purpose.

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With the nuclear plant
suffering construction delays

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and defects well into the 1980s,

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the Brazilian economy was slowing,
exacerbated by a global oil crisis.

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With funds dwindling,
the freeway was scrapped

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and left standing
where it remains today.

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Demolishing a viaduct can
actually be more expensive

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than the construction cost
itself and so, many times,

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it's easier to leave a
structure like that in place.

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The petrobras viaduct is a
sad reflection of poor planning

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at a time when Brazil's economic
miracle came to a shuddering halt,

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replaced by turmoil and crisis.

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Never linking up with the
angra nuclear power plant,

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it was simply left to be
consumed by the jungle.

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Today, this concrete freeway
is rooted to the rainforest floor

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and is rarely visited.

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The petrobras viaduct just
imposed itself on this jungle.

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So I think it's somewhat
ironic but completely fitting

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that nature is now consuming
it back from whence it came.

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And I think that's a fitting end to
something that probably shouldn't

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have been there
in the first place.

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In Europe, on the coast
of Estonia's capital city,

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Tallinn, is a structure
with a very dark past.

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Spread over 180,000 square feet,

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this ominous
three-storey fortress,

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battered and salt -
sprayed by the sea,

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once housed thousands of people.

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The really peculiar thing

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is this triangular-shape
masonic-looking sort of structure

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that protrudes from the centre
of it and it just defies explanation.

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Then when you get close up
to the site, you realise, "hang on!

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What's all this
barbed wire about?"

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Inside the building,

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miles of winding corridors pass
hundreds of empty, rotting cells.

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You walk along the halls
and you're instantly struck by

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how cold and
stark this place is.

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It was never constructed to give
whoever it was that inhabited it

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any sense of comfort.

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Why was this stark facility
constructed in Tallinn?

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And who was imprisoned here?

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(Serious music)

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(Gunfire)

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Russia's long domination of
Estonia stretches back to 1700

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and the great northern war.

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Over the centuries, Estonia,
on the edge of the baltic sea,

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provided an excellent strategic
location for Russia's military

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and intelligence services

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and provided their Navy
with access to baltic waters,

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close to its European enemies.

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After Joseph Stalin's rise to
power, the ussr increasingly expected

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the baltic states to bow
down to the communist regime.

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Opposition was
often brutally crushed.

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(People screaming)

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Ussr was this huge
controlling monolith.

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There was no opposition allowed.

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If you were a leader of some of
those baltic states like Estonia,

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there was only one thing
that was gonna happen to you.

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You would be
locked away in prison,

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pretty much the key
would be thrown away.

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This former Russian naval
sea fortress was built in 1840.

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But in 1919, it was turned
into what would become

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one of the most dangerous
institutions in the communist world.

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Patarei prison.

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Patarei prison was a
branch of the kgb in Moscow.

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It was the hell of the most
ruthless intelligence agency

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in the world.

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Patarei gained a fearsome
reputation as a place of terror.

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Anyone who resisted Russian
expansion would likely end up here.

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00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,760
Curator Martin andreller

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00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,320
is an expert on what life was
like for prisoners inside these walls.

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This was the place and synonym

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00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:07,520
for the communist terror
that was made in Estonia.

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How many prisoners the
Soviets kept here, we don't know.

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But in the cells, there were
around 80 persons per one cell.

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You would have one toilet
and cold water by design.

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You'd have a blanket, that's it.

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00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,360
The whole intent was to
dehumanise you, to make you feel

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00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,760
as though you're not worth
anything better than this.

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00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,120
It was a nasty place.

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00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,360
Former prime ministers,

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00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:49,560
politicians, diplomats, they
were also held here in patarei.

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00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,920
And all the routes towards
Siberia or towards the graves

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00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,000
started from this building.

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00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:05,200
Patarei was used as a staging post,
a place where thousands of prisoners

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00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,160
and forced labourers would stay

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00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:11,520
whilst en route to the gulags in
Siberia thousands of miles away.

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00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,400
The Soviets were willing to
deport thousands and thousands

201
00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,000
of Estonians to Siberia
just for being Estonian.

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00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,000
And the conditions
in patarei were severe.

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00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,200
(Serious music)

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00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:36,520
Patarei was a way of bringing
the frozen hell of Siberia,

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00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,160
the ruthless
exploitation of Moscow,

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00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,880
right into the
centre of Tallinn.

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00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,960
Yet this inhumane
Soviet treatment

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00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,240
of prisoners would ultimately
contribute to its downfall.

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00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,280
Methods of physical and
psychological torture employed

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00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,560
at the prison and elsewhere

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00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,560
led to a deep-seated hatred amongst
Estonians for all things Russian.

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00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,880
And it ignited strong resistance
against their old enemy

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00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,440
from a group called
the forest brothers.

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00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,840
We first find the
phrase, 'forest brothers',

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00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,160
in the baltic region around the
time of the Russian revolution,

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00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,400
around 1905, and supposedly
it comes from school teachers

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00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,800
and peasants taking
refuge in the forest,

218
00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:34,240
hiding against the
occupation by Russia.

219
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:38,120
It turns into a real
political movement

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00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,000
where partisans of
all the baltic states are

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00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,320
willing to fight for their lives
against the Russian occupation.

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00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:52,560
Following the Soviet invasion
during world war ii, as many as 50,000

223
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:58,520
forest brothers across Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania took up arms

224
00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:03,120
and employed guerrilla tactics
to resist and disrupt Soviet forces.

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00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,480
You don't even have
to take to the forest

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00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,160
with a gun in your hand
to be sent off to Siberia.

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00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:18,680
So when they get genuine
insurgence into their hands,

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00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,600
the Soviet security
services are horrible to them.

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00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,560
They're cruel, they're
ruthless and they try their best -

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00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:34,320
the kgb does - to make it impossible
to continue to oppose Soviet rule.

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00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:40,800
In patarei prison,
there have been

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00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,200
numbers and numbers
of famous prisoners.

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00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,720
One of the leaders of the
Estonian partisan movement

234
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,480
against the Soviet
regime, 'ants the terrible',

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00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:50,600
as it was his nickname,

236
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,760
was also kept here in
patarei before his execution

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00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:55,760
in the start of 1950s
by the Soviets.

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00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,920
Numerous members of the
forest brothers partisan movement

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00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,160
ended up here, condemned to
a life of a solitary confinement.

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00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,880
The Soviets were
excellent at manipulating

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00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:19,160
uncertainty in order to
divorce prisoners from reality.

242
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,720
They took away
your sense of time

243
00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:25,480
by taking away natural light.

244
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,240
They took away your
sense of biological time

245
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,240
by feeding you at
irregular intervals.

246
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,920
You could expect to lose yourself
in those cold, horrible walls.

247
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,600
During the cold war, there's a
real interest in any groups who were

248
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,600
resisting that Soviet rule,
and the forest brothers were

249
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:54,400
secretly getting support
from both MI6 and the CIA.

250
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,240
Each of which had a vested
interest in the forest brothers' success

251
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:01,680
'cause they wanted to see

252
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,920
Russia and communism
stopped in its tracks.

253
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,320
But the design of the prison meant
that only three escape attempts

254
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,840
were ever made from
patarei and all ended in failure.

255
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,080
Alongside the presence
of the much-feared kgb,

256
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:24,240
this was one of the most
secure sites in Europe.

257
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:28,840
Of course, it was
very hard to get out.

258
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,800
The walls itself is based
around a naval fortress.

259
00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:33,920
They were very thick, over 2m.

260
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,640
And of course, the systems
of the internal security,

261
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,440
all the doors and so on, so it
was basically not possible to do

262
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,400
that if you didn't have the inside
help from the prison guards.

263
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:45,840
Otherwise, you couldn't get out.

264
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:53,600
The last execution at
patarei took place in 1991,

265
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:56,280
the same year that the
Soviet union collapsed.

266
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,560
The Russians may have
left, but patarei continued

267
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,280
to function as a
prison until 2002.

268
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:10,360
This building, soaked in tragedy,
lies derelict and abandoned.

269
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,480
A dark reminder
of a haunted past.

270
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,240
You can go and really see
what that Soviet oppression

271
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,760
was all about for anyone
who was imprisoned there.

272
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,400
It's almost an opportunity today
to still look behind the iron curtain.

273
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,400
Its future, however,
looks brighter.

274
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:38,880
Plans are afoot to regenerate the
complex, potentially as a museum

275
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,600
dedicated to the memory of those
who suffered inside these walls.

276
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,840
Off the coast of New York City,
at the mouth of the Hudson river,

277
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,480
is a gateway to america.

278
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,040
But not the one
you might expect.

279
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:10,360
In the shadow of lady Liberty lies
a 28-acre manmade landmass...

280
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,040
Scattered with 22 red
brick buildings that contain

281
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:19,720
a deadly past.

282
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,240
To say that this place is atmospheric
would be an understatement.

283
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,640
It's really creepy.

284
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,200
There's vines growing on the
walls, there's bars on the windows.

285
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,240
All you can hear is dead silence

286
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,920
and the occasional, sort of,
seabird crying in the distance.

287
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,040
It's no wonder it brings about

288
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:49,240
images of horror movies and
experiments kind of gone wrong.

289
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:53,920
The collection of decaying
buildings that you see

290
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,200
looks almost military, as if
it was to house a Garrison

291
00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,440
of troops ready to
defend the coast.

292
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,040
Dappled light and sea-air
stream through the large windows

293
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,600
of this dilapidated complex.

294
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,840
Yet it sheds little light
on its original purpose.

295
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,040
If you were to find yourself
walking down the corridors

296
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,080
of this place, you would ask
yourself, "what's going on?"

297
00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:27,000
These huge, iron-clad doors
with these sealed tight sort of locks.

298
00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:30,600
"Is this a prison?
What is this place?"

299
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,680
Why was it necessary to
create a new landmass?

300
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,080
And what was the purpose
of this sprawling complex?

301
00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:49,240
In 1892, Ellis island opened
its first immigration station.

302
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,000
700 immigrants passed through
its doors on the first day alone,

303
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,960
as people came from
all corners of the globe.

304
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,280
In total, the 12 million immigrants
who would pass through New York

305
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,760
were taken to Ellis island
to clear immigration checks.

306
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,000
They brought different cultures,
languages and much-needed labour.

307
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,720
But that wasn't all they
were bringing with them.

308
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:19,240
America had opened its doors

309
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,920
and that sounds great but
the dark side, the flip side,

310
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,680
the concern that no-one
really probably thought through

311
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:30,880
is that you're welcoming disease
from all over the rest of the world.

312
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,560
There were no shots, there
were no antibiotics you could

313
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,200
give people as they
walked through the door.

314
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,400
You had no idea what
they were bringing with them

315
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,360
and this created the
need for a hospital.

316
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,520
This was Ellis island
immigration hospital,

317
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,240
america's first line of
defence against disease,

318
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,120
and one of the largest public
health hospitals in us history.

319
00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:02,160
Its job was to stop a dangerous
outbreak of disease from spreading

320
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:03,400
across the country.

321
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,440
People have this image of
immigrants coming through

322
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,920
Ellis island into the us in
this kind of hellish, scary

323
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,320
facility, Ellis island.
And it probably was

324
00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,240
somewhat scary for
people. But in some ways,

325
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,200
it was also very
enlightened and very modern.

326
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,840
An absolute state-of-the-art
hospital that had huge capacity,

327
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,600
highly trained staff.

328
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,320
John mcinnes of
save Ellis island

329
00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:37,080
works to preserve
this historic facility.

330
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:40,840
This hospital opened up and
employed the most modern

331
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,440
medical practices
that existed in its day.

332
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,080
It was purposely designed to
protect the people who worked here,

333
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,440
the people of the United
States and the other immigrants.

334
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,920
This cutting-edge medical
facility was so vast it required

335
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:58,320
its very own purpose-built island,
separate to the immigration centre.

336
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,360
Back in the day, when
you arrived at Ellis island,

337
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,320
you were greeted with a
security check and a health check.

338
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:12,800
It forced the health
community to grow its expertise,

339
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,000
to test for things, to learn,
to become more proficient

340
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,880
and it was really the Genesis of
the American healthcare industry.

341
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,200
In 1898, construction
began on island number two,

342
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,680
which would increase the
total mass to over 15 acres.

343
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,560
But how do you build an
island in a body of water?

344
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,760
We're taking inspiration from
the ancient Roman engineers.

345
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,120
So, what they used to do,
which was quite cunning,

346
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,240
is to create two rings
made out of timber logs,

347
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,880
and then pack the little space
between these two rings with Clay,

348
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,760
pump the water
out from the middle,

349
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,240
and then you've got a
dry space in which to work.

350
00:25:56,360 --> 00:26:00,440
Labourers filled the watertight
framework of the island with rubble

351
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,120
from the newly excavated
New York subway.

352
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,280
On the new island base, six
dedicated hospital structures were built

353
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,320
at a cost of over $23
million in today's money.

354
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,200
By 1901, the hospital was processing
huge numbers of immigrants.

355
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,480
Most of us get nervous today
going through airport security.

356
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,600
But that's nothing compared to

357
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:32,440
the anxiety that immigrants
felt as they arrived at Ellis island.

358
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,720
We've been on planes for hours.

359
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,080
They've been on boats
for weeks in dire conditions

360
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,280
and they don't
speak the language.

361
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,160
You can imagine the
anxiety, the confusion

362
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,400
and the tension on both sides.

363
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:51,720
In 1907, over a million immigrants
passed through Ellis island.

364
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,040
And the medical complex
was overwhelmed.

365
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:03,480
To isolate and control contagious
diseases, they built a third island,

366
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:05,240
200ft across the water.

367
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,320
The hospital buildings were located
on separate islands for good reason.

368
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:14,680
It was in response to
the prevailing germ theory,

369
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,680
the belief that germs could
not travel across a body of water.

370
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,360
One of the reasons
Ellis island was built

371
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,960
on an island in the first
place is because it isolated

372
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,200
the complex from the rest of
the north American population.

373
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,440
If there was some kind of
epidemic or disease, it could be held

374
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,720
on that island and wouldn't
immediately be spreading

375
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:36,400
through the rest
of the population.

376
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:45,200
Consisting of 17 separate buildings,
all dedicated to specific illnesses,

377
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,920
the contagious disease
hospital could seal off

378
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,400
each individual section, preventing
the spread of deadly infection.

379
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,080
You could be brought to a ward
like this. This large, open room.

380
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,800
It's all gonna be likely men, just
like you. You're gonna be here.

381
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,840
Beds are gonna be between each
of the windows, surrounding the area.

382
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,200
Now, this room is
actually a design theory

383
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,600
of Florence
nightingale's from 1860.

384
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,120
She thought there was something
in the air called 'bad air miasma'.

385
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,920
So she had this theory of
getting it out of the room.

386
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,840
And what you see is actually
engineers putting it at work.

387
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,120
Three sides of fresh air
and sunlight coming through.

388
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,800
These large windows,
they're gonna be open

389
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,880
about 18 inches throughout
the year, to allow the bad air out.

390
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,296
And then she has
something unique in design,

391
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,040
this coving that you'll
see around the ceilings.

392
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,240
That's gonna
facilitate the flow of air,

393
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,320
allow the air to travel up the
walls, collect the bad air out,

394
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,176
come out the other side, go out the
window the other side of the room.

395
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,320
An advanced theory in 1860.

396
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,280
This was the age of
tuberculosis and cholera

397
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,600
so disease control
was Paramount.

398
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,240
The onsite industrial
laundry processed

399
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,400
3,000 towels and sheets daily.

400
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,840
There was even a giant steel
chamber, called an autoclave,

401
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,200
that used high-pressure
steam to disinfect mattresses.

402
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,520
Doctors and nurses
went to great lengths

403
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,440
to prevent cross-contamination.

404
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:21,400
And the room's gonna be locked

405
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,456
and people are gonna be
here for about three weeks

406
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,640
while they're being treated
for their infectious disease.

407
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:33,360
With few antibiotics available, it
was simply a case of waiting to see

408
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,920
if the patients got
better or worse.

409
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,880
It must have been
a scary process.

410
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,600
You were threatened with being
sent back home if you didn't recover.

411
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,080
The good news is, the
vast majority of them did.

412
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,120
Only about 1% of the
passengers were returned

413
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,080
to their home countries
because of illness.

414
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,560
Ultimately, Ellis island's
medical facility was a success.

415
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:01,040
But modern technology,

416
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,000
along with advancements in
medicine, ironically outstripped

417
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,960
the island's once
high-tech facilities

418
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,640
and it was forced to close down.

419
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,800
After the hospital closes
its doors for immigrants,

420
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:21,000
the island continues to be used by
the FBI, which is quite interesting.

421
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,400
And then as a
prisoner of war facility.

422
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,400
So it had some functional
use after it closed down

423
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,320
as an immigration hospital.

424
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,920
But ultimately, it would
close its doors for good.

425
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:39,840
In 1954, Ellis island and
its hospital were abandoned.

426
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:44,560
Once bursting at the seams,
this medical institution lay empty

427
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,080
and derelict.

428
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,320
But today, thanks to the
save Ellis island foundation,

429
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,080
the hospital is being restored

430
00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:00,480
and has reopened for
so-called hard-hat tours.

431
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:08,040
Immigration centre is a
popular tourist attraction.

432
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,560
They come in droves.
But what they don't see

433
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,480
is the hospital right nearby.

434
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,320
And the hospital, you
know, it should be thought of

435
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,600
as every bit as important
as the immigration centre

436
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,320
'cause this is where the legacy
of American healthcare can

437
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:25,480
really be celebrated.

438
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,960
Over 6,000ft up
in the French alps

439
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,840
are a series of deserted
and mysterious structures.

440
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,040
What race of
beings built this vast

441
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:54,880
encampment, so
much of it underground?

442
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,440
It's like something
out of tolkien,

443
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:58,520
you know, something the
dwarves would have built.

444
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,480
A maze of dark,
desolate corridors

445
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,480
leads into the deepest recesses
of these mountain peaks.

446
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:10,360
Why would anyone build

447
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,360
something like this so
high up in the mountains?

448
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:18,000
Why build these bizarre alpine
structures in this barren location,

449
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,200
only to leave them abandoned?

450
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:32,000
In the 1930s, Nazi Germany was
threatening expansionist policies.

451
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,040
With world war I
fresh in the memory,

452
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,440
France set about protecting
their borders from the old enemy.

453
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,520
They built a set of
defensive fortifications,

454
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,960
now infamous as
the maginot line.

455
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,920
It was a labyrinth of fortification
above and below ground,

456
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,120
considered at the time the
ultimate in military defence.

457
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:57,480
(Explosion)

458
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,880
The idea of the maginot line is,
it's not just one wall or one line.

459
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:06,920
It's a defence in depth.

460
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,800
So you have anti-tank
barricades, sections of barbed wire,

461
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,080
you have lookouts.

462
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:14,880
It's not like the
great wall of China.

463
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,960
It's more like a
system of defences

464
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,600
that's layered over
the whole border area.

465
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,680
You should always consider
defence in your strategy. It's like boxing.

466
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:30,240
You don't just punch. You protect
yourself, as well as punching.

467
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,040
Their idea was basically, "let's
build up all the infrastructure

468
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,480
we need to defend our country.

469
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,360
So if the Germans come,
this time we'll be ready."

470
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:45,360
But Germany was not
France's only enemy.

471
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:51,280
They faced a new threat from another
fascist force allied to the Germans.

472
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,560
Benito Mussolini's Italy.

473
00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,720
The French are very mistrustful
of the Italians in any case.

474
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,000
They have long
considered the possibility

475
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,800
that these two great mediterranean
nations may get into a war.

476
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,320
Who's going to trust Mussolini?

477
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,160
(Dramatic music)

478
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:22,280
As tensions with Mussolini's
Italy start to escalate in the 1930s,

479
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,640
the French develop
further fortifications

480
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:27,400
along the alpine line,

481
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,520
along France's
mountainous border with Italy.

482
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,680
Just four miles from
the Italian border,

483
00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:45,000
along the crest of these mountains,
is the highest and most impressive

484
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,000
alpine fortress on this line.

485
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,040
(Dramatic music)

486
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,280
It's called ouvrage restefond.

487
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,800
Even a relatively small outpost
in this mountainous landscape

488
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,240
could play a vital
defensive role.

489
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:12,000
An alpine fortress could control
passes with artillery and make it

490
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:17,000
difficult or impossible, even
under the best summer conditions,

491
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:21,120
for Mussolini's army to come
through the passes into France.

492
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:28,240
Construction began on
ouvrage restefond in 1931.

493
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,760
But miles from anywhere,
access and supply proved

494
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,000
a logistical nightmare.

495
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:41,040
Forts are dug and drilled into
the ground going right down,

496
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:42,640
in many cases right
down into bedrock.

497
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:48,760
French engineers had tremendous
difficulty with the logistics

498
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:55,160
of moving heavy equipment
and concrete up into the alps.

499
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,400
Despite these challenges,

500
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,720
they were built to withstand
heavy bombardment.

501
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,600
They're made of reinforced
concrete. Reinforced concrete means

502
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:09,520
it's concrete poured
over a lattice of steel bars.

503
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,200
So those things could
take incredible punishment

504
00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:14,480
without caving in.

505
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,720
And in these brutal
high-altitude conditions,

506
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,800
how would they effectively
man and defend this position,

507
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,320
isolated for extended
periods of time?

508
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,400
These fortresses had
to be self-contained.

509
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:34,480
They needed their own
power, water supply.

510
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:36,720
They had to have everything
they needed to sustain

511
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,680
hundreds or even as
many as 1,000 troops

512
00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:44,600
through brutal alpine winters
and periods of minimal supply.

513
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:50,280
So food, hospitals, bunk
rooms, everything you would need

514
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:54,840
but all underground, all protected
from bombing, from artillery.

515
00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:00,360
The ventilation systems was
able to vent, not only to protect

516
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,960
the occupants from gas attack,
but also from the diesel exhaust

517
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,440
from their own generators
and from the gasses coming out

518
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,800
of their own artillery pieces.

519
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,840
France's worst
fears were realised

520
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:21,560
in June 1940 when Nazi Germany
and fascist Italy joined forces.

521
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:22,960
(Cheering)

522
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,760
They formed what became
known as the pact of steel.

523
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,760
The French troops were marched
into their modern caves to wait

524
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,280
for the Nazi blitz to smash
itself against the maginot line.

525
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:35,760
(Explosions)

526
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,640
With this Nazi blitz
now on the verge

527
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:44,320
of overwhelming Western Europe,
France was forced to divert military

528
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:48,360
resources to the battlefronts,
away from this alpine region,

529
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,240
leaving it largely undefended and
manned by inexperienced troops.

530
00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:02,960
The maginot line is designed
to efficiently use poorly trained

531
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,880
conscripts who only have
a short period of service,

532
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,640
by putting them into positions
where all they have to do

533
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:11,440
is perform one simple task.

534
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:19,560
And all of those soldiers,
augmented by the technology

535
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,600
of the maginot line itself,
are able to defend France.

536
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,480
Yet it's clear today that
the network of bunkers here

537
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:34,960
in France's highest maginot
fortress was never fully completed.

538
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:41,480
While the maginot line is built,
well over a decade in construction,

539
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,720
parts are still being built, of
course, as the war breaks out.

540
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,720
Could this partially complete
line of defences withstand

541
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:51,760
the German advance?

542
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,600
And a potentially
imminent attack from Italy?

543
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:04,280
On 10 June, 1940,
Mussolini, looking to cash in

544
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,960
on their imminent defeat to
Germany, invaded France.

545
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,640
The Italian army
had a lot of alpini,

546
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,520
alpine soldiers, who
were trained in exactly

547
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,280
the kind of warfare you need to get
into France through the mountains.

548
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,560
The passes through these
otherwise impregnable mountains

549
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,600
were the main route into France
for the invading Italian army.

550
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,120
So the French defenders knew
exactly where to aim their guns.

551
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:43,160
You can't underestimate how
powerful even a small fortress can be

552
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:48,040
in denying alpine roads to
a modern mechanised army.

553
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:51,536
Everything had to be engineered

554
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,200
so that they could
have overlapping fire.

555
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,680
They could aim their guns from
several different angles at once,

556
00:39:58,720 --> 00:40:01,320
onto an area where
the enemy might come.

557
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:11,080
The gaping voids in these
crumbling fortifications

558
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:16,000
once held an array of machine
guns, mortars and heavy artillery.

559
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:18,960
Now the only reminders

560
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,040
of its armaments are their
protective dome shells.

561
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,120
The domes that cover each of
the machine gun emplacements

562
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,360
are thick steel.

563
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:37,080
Even German 88mm guns had

564
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:39,880
tremendous
difficulty penetrating

565
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:44,680
the steel domes on top of
those maginot line fortifications.

566
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:52,080
These alpine fortresses succeeded
in halting the Italian onslaught.

567
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,640
The fortifications
held out quite nicely.

568
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:02,360
The invading Italians will
suffer a genuine humiliation.

569
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,440
Relative handful of French
forces will throw back

570
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,040
the overwhelming
forces of Mussolini,

571
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,840
largely due to these
very effective fortifications.

572
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,200
But French success
was short-lived.

573
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,440
Their spectacular victory
against the Italians was all in vain.

574
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:27,960
After just 46 days of fighting,

575
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:33,840
the German war machine forced
France to surrender on the 25 June, 1940.

576
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:38,160
Germany's Italian allies
could now flow through

577
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,160
the partially constructed
alpine defences.

578
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,800
If the French had
managed to build

579
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,600
restefond as powerfully
as it was designed,

580
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,840
it could very well have stopped

581
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:55,720
a lot of Italian combat
power getting into France.

582
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:01,480
No longer useful to the French
and never repurposed by invading

583
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:05,760
fascist forces, ouvrage restefond
was left deserted in the mountains.

584
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:15,280
Today, the remains of
these defensive fortifications

585
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:20,400
carved into the mountainside serve
as a monument to this global conflict.

586
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:24,360
Ouvrage restefond is a testament

587
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,240
to French engineering
skill and military technology.

588
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:35,520
Creating something
that has the staying power

589
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:40,280
to remain there for decades, and
it will remain there for centuries,

590
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:46,720
is very special. It's a
kind of engineering magic.

591
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,120
(Serious music)

592
00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:02,840
Now abandoned, they were
once on the cutting edge

593
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,080
of human engineering.

594
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:10,040
Within these decaying structures
are the echoes of history.

595
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,280
They speak of war and terror

596
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:16,200
but also of exploration
and human endeavour.

597
00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:19,240
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