Original subtitles

MAN: (ON RADIO) This is London calling. Here is a newsflash.

The German radio has just announced that Hitler is dead.

I'll repeat that.

The German radio has just announced that Hitler is dead.

NARRATOR: Adolf Hitler.

Today, we know him as the embodiment of evil,

guilty of the worst crimes known to humanity.

But it didn't start out like this.

There was a time when people worshipped him...

..went to war for him...

..and were willing to die for him.

Now, with populist leaders thriving once again...

..we're looking at Hitler from a different perspective...

..through his friends, his admirers,

his enablers.

Only then can we learn the lessons from history.

MAN: And...mark it.

NARRATOR: So we've unearthed interviews

with the people who knew him best...

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

..from a former classmate

to those who were by his side

when he tried to conquer the world.

MAN: OK. Camera's running. (BEEP)

NARRATOR: Most are Nazis...

..some complicit in war crimes.

Few can be trusted.

I do not want to excuse myself.

I just want to...

..an old man has no other interest but the truth,

the historical truth.

NARRATOR: But when we see Adolf Hitler through their eyes,

perhaps we can grasp who he was and what made him possible.

(SHOUTING)

(BELLS TOLL)

MAN: The first time I called on him, it was in the morning.

I walked through this very cold entrance hall, a winding staircase,

and then somebody opens the door.

Then I came into this little room.

It was very, very narrow, incredibly narrow.

There was just enough to put a wall and pretend it's a room.

And there you saw him.

He wore a...a brown wool jacket and...and, uh, felt shoes, yeah,

and he, uh, "Kommen Sie doch herein," "Come in here."

NARRATOR: This is the voice of Putzi Hanfstaengl,

a wealthy businessman, and a major player in the rise of Adolf Hitler.

Their first encounter comes soon after Hitler has become leader

of the far-right party...

..the Nazis.

There are now very few people alive who knew him intimately,

but there is one such person,

who night after night across many years

played Wagnerian music for Hitler in his flat.

Now, tell me, Dr Hanfstaengl, what first attracted you to Hitler?

When I...

..heard this man for the first time

in a very noisy meeting, I...

..in his trench coat

and with the entire perfume of, uh, the past struggle in him,

and his language and his gestures,

I absolutely felt myself irresistibly drawn to him.

(CHEERING)

The trouble was, Germany has never been known for its orators,

and Hitler was the superbest man to address hungering troubles.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: He crushed any man with his voice.

He had a wonderful, uh, resonance up here.

And that will never be repeated in 10,000 years.

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: After defeat in the First World War, Germany is at rock bottom.

Hitler calls for a national renewal.

(CHEERING)

Putzi and his wife, Helene,

are impressed by his charisma and conviction.

They throw open their doors to him.

MAN: This is the very room Hitler came to visit you

many times, I believe.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: Yeah, surely.

It's...uh, um, believe me,

it's very often that I think he's...he's still in the room.

MAN: Whereabouts did he sit?

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: Usually at the opposite of the fire.

PEOPLE: Heil! Heil! Heil!

Heil!

NARRATOR: By 1923, the Nazis are still a minor party, one of many,

but Hitler dreams of turning it into a national force.

Putzi, who's been to college in America,

provides inspiration from an unlikely source.

MAN: One of the things Hitler learned from you, I believe,

or you told him about... the cheerleaders at Harvard.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

These...these, uh, were essential, I think,

to get the audience to underline your propaganda.

No?

"Ra, ra, ra, ra, ra! Whoo, whoo!

"Harvard! Harvard! Harvard! Whoo!"

And so it, uh, became...

MAN: He was impressed?

Well, yeah.

One evening, I played this here for a change to Hitler.

(PLAYS ROUSING TUNE)

Ra! Ra! Ra!

# 'Gainst the line of crimson... #

At that moment, Hitler jumped up and said,

"Hanfstaengl... (SPEAKS GERMAN) That's what we need for our march."

(ROUSING MUSIC)

NARRATOR: Now with its rousing anthem and a bold Nazi banner,

disillusioned young men flocked to the military wing of the party...

..the Stormtroopers.

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: Like many Germans,

Hitler has been radicalised by defeat in the First World War.

He has spent four and a half years as a frontline soldier

and had been shattered by news of Germany's surrender.

Elisabeth Popp is one of a handful of friends

who knew Hitler before the war.

She remembers the effect it had on him.

NARRATOR: Hitler's bitterness has been stirred up

by a popular conspiracy theory.

The war wasn't lost in battle.

Left-wing politicians and Jews were to blame

for the surrender and the humiliating peace agreement that followed.

Hitler vows to avenge this betrayal.

NARRATOR: In November 1923,

Hitler, Putzi and the Nazis try to overthrow the left-wing government.

They stage an insurrection in a Munich beer hall.

Violence breaks out.

The revolt is put down.

But Hitler is now a wanted man.

MAN: On the day of the Putsch, when it was all over,

and a disastrous failure, Hitler fled to your house?

Yes. Without telling me a word about it.

Why did he come to you?

Oh!

The magnetic influence of, erm...

MAN: Your wife?

Female beauty. Yeah.

MAN: He was injured, was he not, though?

Yes. He had a...a hanging shoulder.

It was...uh, this, uh, collarbone

was broken.

But when the police surrounded the whole, uh, house

and when...uh, when the game was up and out comes the revolver,

and he said, "Oh!

"I'll be damned if I go and surrender.

"I'll make the end," and he had this revolver,

and my wife, knowing the jujitsu...

Uh, I'll show you.

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

See? You have the revolver. Yeah.

And she looks up in the sky.

See?

That is...that is the, erm...

See? That's the way it's done then.

MAN: I would like to make a...

..uh, state a direct question to you, Mr...Mr Hanfstaengl.

Uh, you, or your wife, uh, were the means of saving Hitler's life.

I get the impression that you're proud of that.

But as...from our point of view,

you can imagine it would have been a very good thing if Hitler HAD died.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: To be sure, at the time, I felt...

..I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't felt I was saving Germany.

I...I tried to save the man who appeared to me as the one saviour.

NARRATOR: The Hitler that Putzi and Helene recall

is given to self-pity and melodrama.

But he also has a dream.

And they love him for it.

NARRATOR: To understand the appeal of Adolf Hitler,

we are seeking out his friends.

This is one of them,

filmed after the Second World War, undergoing a denazification program.

Winifred Wagner was the daughter-in-law

of the famous German composer Richard Wagner

and was once one of Hitler's closest confidantes.

For decades, she refused to speak publicly,

but one day, in 1975, she finally breaks her silence.

MAN: Winifred Wagner... (SPEAKS GERMAN)

(LAUGHS) (SNAPS FINGERS)

NARRATOR: Winifred first meets Hitler in 1923.

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: Hitler's charm is working for him.

And it's about to pay dividends.

In 1924, Hitler stands trial for his violent insurrection.

He delivers a rambling 4-hour monologue from the witness stand.

But his supporters hang on every word.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: He was the victor over the judges.

Oh, my! (LAUGHS)

He just wiped the floor with that, uh...the whole bunch.

By force of argument or force of...?

By force of argument, of personality, of spunk!

(SPEAKS GERMAN) All that!

NARRATOR: Hitler's stand against the establishment

makes him a household name.

The judge, a Nazi sympathiser,

hands him the minimum possible sentence.

He'll spend just nine months in jail.

Far from finishing him,

Hitler's legal woes have elevated him in the eyes of his followers.

Nazi Party member Ilse Hess is a regular prison visitor.

NARRATOR: Photos smuggled out of prison keep Hitler in the public eye

while Winifred Wagner rallies round.

NARRATOR: Hitler's book, Mein Kampf,

is his vision for creating the perfect Germany,

and it's packed with extremist and racist views.

One idea is to sterilise the mentally ill,

another to eliminate so-called inferior races.

His main target - Jews.

Hitler's followers go along with it,

while his propaganda team,

including journalist Joseph Goebbels,

spread the word.

Working in Hitler's publicity department is Hermann Esser.

PEOPLE: Heil! Heil!

Heil!

Heil! Heil!

NARRATOR: In these early days,

friends claim to remember a collaborative Hitler.

But he sees himself as a man of destiny.

(MAN SPEAKS GERMAN)

PEOPLE: Heil! Heil!

Heil! Heil! (ENGINE STARTS)

(HORN HONKS)

(SHOUTING)

NARRATOR: Hitler knows that children make the easiest converts

and the most loyal followers.

Joining the Hitler Youth in 1925 is teenager Baldur von Schirach.

Later, he'll go on to lead the organisation,

overseeing the indoctrination of millions of Germans.

This is von Schirach being released from prison

after serving 20 years for crimes against humanity.

MAN: Recording number 2009,

part one, take one.

(THEME MUSIC)

NARRATOR: No-one knew better than him

where the seductive powers of the Fuehrer could lead.

MAN: Baldur von Schirach, leader of the Hitler Youth,

founder member of the inner court of Adolf Hitler,

is alive and well and living here in secluded estate

in south-western Germany.

And tonight for the first time, he talks fully

about the years with Hitler that led to that sentence.

Herr von Schirach, I want to start by talking, if we can, about

Adolf Hitler as a man,

in the sense that when you first met him, for instance,

what were the qualities he had

that immediately impressed themselves upon you?

I met him in the opera.

And, uh, my father,

who, uh, once, uh, directed, uh, the opera in Weimar...

..was interested in Hitler,

who was, uh, brought into our box and presented to my father,

erm, because he was so well informed about music.

And he invited him to tea for the next day.

That's how it started, yes?

And what were the first things you noticed about Hitler?

In the theatre,

he was dressed very correctly in a dinner jacket.

And, uh...

..uh, he was, uh, very...

..uh, impressive in...

..a certain shyness that he had.

Good manners.

A little bit shy.

And, uh, he, uh...

..uh, really, in many ways...

..during my...

..first start in politics,

always advocated me

and, uh, treated me like, uh...

..I should use this expression, a political father, yes?

MAN: Mmm.

He really did? He was capable of acts of friendship like that?

Yes, he was very capable of friendship

and very true to his friends.

If you had to give a 1-sentence or a 2-sentence summary

of Hitler's life, or of Hitler...

..what would be the most important thing you feel you would want to

say about him and his life?

This, Mr Frost,

is a very difficult question to answer in one or two sentences.

Yes. I shall try it.

A man...

..without measure...

..a man...

..with great gifts...

..a man who in some ways

could be considered a genius.

But because he had no sense of measure...

..he could not succeed.

That's the answer.

It, uh...

..it was a difficult question.

But I do not know how else

I could make a sort of summary

of, uh, this, uh...

..fabulous monster, yes?

NARRATOR: Even after 20 years behind bars,

Hitler Youth boss Baldur von Schirach is happy to praise his former mentor.

Others play a cannier game.

Meet Albert Speer,

another old Nazi who has done time for war crimes.

As a young architect,

he helped Hitler realise his grand ideas,

and during World War II, he was head of Hitler's war machine.

MAN: Albert Speer, reel three.

(CLAPPERBOARD CLAPS)

(THEME MUSIC)

NARRATOR: Although he denies it, he was also Hitler's best friend.

Welcome to Heidelberg Castle for this special edition

of The David Frost Show.

Herr Speer, it's so fascinating to talk to you,

who was close to this monster whom I cannot understand,

but what were his good points?

I wouldn't say you can find very many points but, uh,

only a few points.

For instance, uh, a point which is good for every human being

is to have close friends.

He hasn't had any close friends.

When did you first see Adolf Hitler, Herr Speer?

I saw him first, erm, in an audience before students in Berlin.

It was, uh, about 5,000 students, and he made a speech there,

a very impressive speech, because, uh, he, uh...

..erm, was not the normal demagogue he usually was.

NARRATOR: In a different interview,

Speer elaborates on this first encounter with Hitler.

(FEET STAMP)

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: Like many who will go on to follow him,

Albert Speer is drawn to Hitler at a time of desperation.

After the global financial crisis of 1929,

spiralling unemployment plunges millions into poverty.

Germany is the worst-hit country in Europe.

WOMAN: The despair was so...

..terrible as...as I can't describe.

You had everywhere beggars.

Wherever you went in Berlin, you had beggars.

And then people come onto the courtyards

and were singing and singing just for...for a penny.

I supported Hitler because he,

after having seen all that depravity, all that poverty, here,

was the only one who could do social justice to the people here.

They were in a terrible misery.

NARRATOR: Hitler channels people's fear and anger.

He continues to blame Germany's problems

on the First World War surrender

and the humiliating peace agreement, the Treaty of Versailles,

that followed.

MAN: Why do you suppose it was

that so many Germans stood by and let this thing happen

and even supported it?

I think the atmosphere in Germany was one of great poverty.

There's no doubt about it.

It was very distinguishable when one even came from England,

which wasn't in a very good way either.

They'd lost everything.

They'd lost the First World War.

They'd lost every bean they had in the inflation.

And Hitler gave a little peace to every one of them.

He told them they'd been dishonoured by losing the war

and had never really lost it

and that the politicians and the Jews

were responsible for the inflation,

and he promised to give them back an army, their honour.

He knew exactly how to speak to those kind of people.

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: 1932.

Election time in Germany.

Hitler's following is growing.

But to win power, he needs to get his message to the masses.

(ROUSING MUSIC)

AUDIENCE: Heil!

(SPEAKS GERMAN)

(CHEERING)

(SPEAKS GERMAN) (AUDIENCE SPEAKS GERMAN)

(CHEERING)

(CHEERING AND SHOUTING)

NARRATOR: Record numbers flock to Hitler's rallies,

keen to hear the strongman on the side of the people.

The whole atmosphere grew more and more hysterical.

Women began screaming.

It was like a mass religious ceremony.

And I feeled more and more excited.

I feeled I was a member of all those believers.

(INAUDIBLE)

MAN: I could see what effect his speech was having

on the mass of people below,

and it was quite extraordinary.

They were at best expectant when he started,

but he had them in a near frenzy before long,

and he kept them there, in waves, again and again.

Right after this speech,

we all went to the Brown House,

and we went into a room, and I was told by my father,

"Go over there on this chair, sit down and keep quiet."

Then the transcript of the speech just delivered began to be

brought into the room by messengers.

And Hitler withdrew to a desk,

sat down, with Goebbels looking over his shoulder,

and I was impressed by the utterly...

..calm, rational, critical way

in which Hitler went through that manuscript with Goebbels...

..quietly saying, "This went over very well, let us play that up,

"this, we'll cut," and so.

(INAUDIBLE)

NARRATOR: While Hitler plays to his base,

he gives people an enemy to fight against...

..his political opponents, the communists.

There were political marches taking place

between the Nazis on the one side, the communists on the other.

And there were fights and deaths, shootings,

practically every weekend.

All of a sudden, everybody was a Nazi, Nazi, Nazis everywhere.

Like mushrooms, they just came up, you know.

Overnight, there is a swastika flag in every window, except ours.

We didn't realise the seriousness of it,

but one night, we saw

a young man being beaten by about 12 Nazis in uniform,

and there we were, unable to do a thing.

NARRATOR: Riding alongside Hitler is his friend and backer

Putzi Hanfstaengl.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: A few things in which are always omitted

in the films of today,

that is the violence from the other side.

For instance, when we, uh, got out of the, uh, motor cars,

there are so many Red people, semi-armed and whatnot.

"We'll have to storm the hall."

And then it started.

It was simply...

..live or die.

I remember Hitler standing up there with a horsewhip.

(IMITATES WHIPPING)

He beat one fellow, huh?

Uh, screamed, uh, "Moscow!"

He beat him right across the face.

CHRISTABEL BIELENBERG: I think the ordinary person was

absolutely, uh, tired of this situation

and was on the lookout for someone who would come along

to clean up the place.

"Anything is better than this

"situation that we're in in the moment."

NARRATOR: July 1932.

13 million Germans vote for Hitler.

Though short of a majority,

the Nazis are now the largest political party.

And after six months, Hitler is handed the levers of power.

Such is his cocktail of charisma, stagecraft and populist message

that he's pulled off a staggering political manoeuvre.

He'd openly campaigned on a promise

to dismantle democracy and install himself as dictator.

Now, with his friends and accomplices behind him,

he's going to deliver on it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL: Now, Hitler, he came into power by legal ways,

and we all expected him to become a respectable, sensible creature.

But hardly was he in power, he start his revolution,

and on it went and on it went,

and the train was not only the wrong train

but it went faster and faster and faster, so nobody could jump off.

Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2025