Original subtitles

[Kasper Michaels] Abandoned but not forgotten.

Neglected, yet known the world over.

Sites made famous by global icons.

[Sascha Auerbach] It was here where

someone who truly become known as the greatest.

[Fran Scott] You'd never guess who once lived here.

She's probably the most famous woman in the world.

[Kasper] Where the repressed took a stand for justice.

[Kasper] Where the repressed took a stand for justice.

[Mitchell] It's not just a place of infamy,

but a place of regeneration and reconciliation.

[Kasper] And where leaders inspired generations to follow.

[Dr. Alicia Gutierrez-Romine] When you know who spoke here,

you feel a certain weight of history.

[Kasper] Derelict shells where legends were made

and tyrants were born.

This is a gold-plated room built for a dictator.

He had thousands murdered or otherwise disappeared.

He had thousands murdered or otherwise disappeared.

[Kasper] Good or evil,

they've left a lasting legacy.

These are the top ten abandoned haunts

of heroes and villains.

[Kasper] Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sites haunted by the past.

Their secrets waiting to be revealed.

[Kasper] Number ten in the list of sites

to have hosted a hero or villain

is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Here are the remains of an outlandish legacy.

[Dr. Gutierrez-Romine] At the entrance of this complex is

this really peculiar looking Chinese pagoda.

Whoever originally created this

obviously did so at great expense.

[Mitchell] There's also a more stately building

and you wonder whether it was commissioned and built

to house very important visitors.

[Kasper] In the country's nearby capitol,

a rundown stadium could reveal more.

a rundown stadium could reveal more.

[Auerbach] At this site,

in the heart of tropical Africa,

one of the greatest sports heroes of the 20th century

took center stage.

[Kasper] What worldwide spectacle connects

the heroic gladiators who fought here

to one of Africa's most despotic leaders?

[Kasper] Kazuza Bin Kandolo

has worked here since the 1970s.

has worked here since the 1970s.

[speaking other language]

Now it's very dirty

because it's been abandoned.

When it was inhabited it was clean.

Now, no one lives here.

That's why it's covered in grass.

[Kasper] This grand edifice was built by a man

who seized power in 1965,

just five years after the Congo broke

from colonial rule.

His name was Joseph Desire Mobutu.

His name was Joseph Desire Mobutu.

[Jim Meigs] Coming out of the chaos of

the post-colonial era

arose this new country with a new name, Zaire,

and a new leader, Mobutu,

who at first seemed like a very inspiring man of the people.

[cheering]

[Kasper] Mobutu was determined to bring

his newly-independent country of Zaire to global attention.

[Dr. Gutierrez-Romine] To his people, Mobutu was a savior of sorts,

but it wouldn't be long

before their opinions of him would change.

[Kasper] Mobutu was a man

who would stop at nothing for power.

The first signs of his increasing megalomania

are scattered around this site.

[Meigs] He wanted a conference center,

housing blocks,

foreign dignitaries were going to come from all over.

He even had a four lane highway

He even had a four lane highway

built to it from the airport.

He was the father of the nation.

So everything he did was on a huge scale.

[Kasper] This is Nacelle Palace,

Mobutu's presidential domain.

Covering almost 2,000 acres,

the compound is overlooked by the magnificent pagoda,

allegedly paid for by the Chinese.

[Mitchell] He has a certain type of politics and nonalignment

[Mitchell] He has a certain type of politics and nonalignment

where he really is just looking to attract resources to Zaire

and he's not really caring where it's coming from.

[Kasper] Mobutu's said about luring VIPs

from all over the world

with the luxuries on offer at this bizarre retreat,

but he also fashioned himself as a man of the people.

[Kazuza] During the Christmas and New Year's festivities

[Kazuza] During the Christmas and New Year's festivities

we all gathered here

and the president invited the workers to celebrate together.

[Mitchell] What was meant to be a show of power

and wealth and tremendous natural resources and beauty

actually disguised things that were far more terrifying.

[Kasper] Behind the scenes,

Mobutu was said to be committing atrocities

such as rape and torture,

but he still wanted to attract international attention.

[Kasper] And in 1974,

Mobutu found what he wanted in an unexpected arena,

the world of heavyweight boxing.

[Meigs] When it was announced that

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were gonna fight,

Mobutu stepped forward,

volunteering the country of Zaire.

[Kasper] The people's president stopped at nothing

to get what he wanted.

to get what he wanted.

[Auerbach] Despite the fact that people throughout Zaire were starving,

each of the fighters was going to get paid $5,000,000.

Mobutu cared far more about

how Zaire was perceived by the West

than he did about the sufferings of his own people.

It's going to be a big, big, big surprise, this fight.

A big surprise, big shock,

I'll be declared as the greatest of all times.

Listen.

The name they came up with for the fight was,

"The rumble in the jungle."

"The rumble in the jungle."

[Kasper] Mobutu ensured his compound would be

fit for a king,

and he invited both Ali and Foreman

to dine with him in this palace.

[Kasper] The boxers lived and trained in buildings

at the edge of the compound

where the press were invited to watch them train.

The boxers were staying over there,

on the other side of the hill.

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

They lived up there.

[Auerbach] They worked hard every day

to be ready for this titanic contest.

[Kasper] The people of Zaire adored Muhammad Ali

for his love of Africa.

[Ali] I fight in Africa because I'm fighting in my homeland.

America is not my original homeland,

my original homeland is Africa.

my original homeland is Africa.

[Kasper] Back in the U. S.,

Ali had fallen from grace.

Many people had loved Muhammad Ali

because of his skill and the boxing ring

and his bravado.

[Auerbach] But he was also villainized by some

for his outspoken ways,

for his resistance to the Vietnam draft,

and for his association with the Nation of Islam.

[Mitchell] This fight is really important for Ali

[Mitchell] This fight is really important for Ali

because it's a chance for redemption,

quite literally.

[Kasper] But at seven years younger,

George Foreman was a formidable opponent

and favored to win.

[Kasper] Muhammad Ali was having none of it.

[Ali] Only last week I murdered a rock.

Injured a stone, hospitalized a brick.

So mean I make medicines sick.

-[man laughs] -Bad, fast.

[Kasper] Then things took a dramatic turn.

[Kasper] Then things took a dramatic turn.

[Mitchell] During training,

George Foreman gets a horrible cut above his eye.

A bout cannot happen until that cut heals.

[Auerbach] Mabuto refused to let Foreman leave the country for treatment.

He was worried that once he left, he'd never return.

[Kasper] The compound was teeming

with the world's press,

and Mobutu ensured he controlled what they saw.

And with the fight fast approaching

his efforts extended beyond its walls.

The contest would take place

in the capital's largest stadium.

Mabuto was determined to show his country

as a crime-free paradise.

He sent a gruesome warning to its criminal population

to ensure no foreigners were attacked

while the world's press was watching.

[Mitchell] He rounds up a thousand criminals.

They're housed in, in the bowels of the stadium.

And then randomly,

100 of them are selected and executed randomly.

[Kasper] The boxers and the press were unaware

of Mobutu's brutality

below the very stadium

where the fight would soon take place.

[Meigs] On the night of October 30, 1974

the two men met in the ring at 4:30 a.m.

[Mitchell] Mobutu himself didn't attend the fight

because he was afraid that he might be assassinated in public.

[Kasper] Ex-boxer Kadima Ibraham was there.

Along with most of the 60, 000 strong crowd

he was rooting for Ali.

[Kadima speaking other language]

[Kadima speaking other language]

People were shouting,

"Muhammad bomaye, Muhammad bomaye,"

which means, "Ali, go on, kill him" in our language.

"Muhammad bomaye.

That was how the supporters expressed their joy.

[Kasper] A global TV audience of almost a billion

watched as the bell rang out

and the two massive men collided.

[Kadima] So the fight started.

First round,

Muhammad Ali was just covering himself with jabs,

tried to make Foreman fall using hard sharp punches.

[Meigs] Ali called that strategy "rope a dope".

He didn't look like he was really fighting.

He was just allowing himself to get pummeled.

[Kasper] For seven punishing rounds,

Ali absorbed Foreman's murderous barrages.

Ali absorbed Foreman's murderous barrages.

So would the disgraced sports icon be able

to redeem himself in Mobutu's multi-million dollar bout?

[Kasper] In 1974 in the Congo,

the dictator Joseph Mobutu watched from afar

as the sports legend Muhammad Ali

battled in the fight of his life.

Ali had been on the ropes for most of the match

and looked set to lose.

But by round eight, his opponent, George Foreman,

was tiring.

was tiring.

Ali seized his chance.

The moment came when Muhammad Ali

decided to finish the fight

and he started to rain blows on Foreman.

And then he threw the punch

that terminated the fight.

A hard right.

[Kadima] Foreman fell

and the fight was over.

and the fight was over.

[Kasper] Victory changed everything for Muhammad Ali.

[Dr. Gutierrez-Romine] After this fight,

Ali was seen as an American champion.

He had been despised and loathed

through much of the '60s.

But suddenly he was a victor for the American people

and he was even invited to the White House.

[Kasper] Back in the Congo in 1997,

Mobutu was finally overthrown

and his palace ransacked in the ensuing unrest.

He fled the country, taking millions of dollars with him.

[Kasper] Today,

the shattered presidential domain and shabby stadium

are fitting monuments to Joseph Mobutu's corrupt rule.

But these buildings will always be associated

with Muhammad Ali's sporting greatness.

This is a site that epitomizes the contrast of history.

On one side, you have a terrible villain,

a person guilty of tremendous crimes,

and on the other side you have a hero,

a man who stood up for his principles and who fought,

one way or another, every day of his life.

[Kasper] At number nine,

[Kasper] At number nine,

30 miles from London,

is a subterranean world where pagan rituals,

dark arts, and scandalous depravity

attracted a hero known simply as

"The first American".

There's this incredible Gothic entrance,

but you end up in these sinister looking caves.

[Dominic] Dark chambers with heavy metal gates,

almost like cells, are hidden away.

It has this incredible history of debauchery.

[Fran] There was one very famous American

who was prepared to travel a rather long way

to join the party.

[Kasper] What stories make these caves infamous

and how would one of America's founding fathers

become embroiled in the controversy?

[Kasper] The origins of these subterranean passages date back to the mid-1700s.

[Kasper] The origins of these subterranean passages date back to the mid-1700s.

Jack Orr is a historian at the site.

[Jack] These caves go a quarter of a mile underground

and it's completely 100 percent man made.

[Kasper] The underground warren is known as "The Hellfire Caves",

home to one of the most secretive societies in British history.

[Dominic] The Hellfire Club was made up of

some of the most famous and respected men of the age.

It was whispered that men practiced all manner of black magic

It was whispered that men practiced all manner of black magic

and satanic rites in these caves.

[Fran] It wasn't just dark satanic worship.

They also knew how to party.

[Dominic] Women were brought in from London

to join the frolics dressed as nuns

and comely local nymphs were hired

and allegedly laid out on altars

so men could lick holy wine from their navels.

In the Hellfire Club's days,

there would have been curtains across beds inside this chamber.

there would have been curtains across beds inside this chamber.

If you look at the back wall,

we still have the original tally marks

from where the men were keeping score

when they took their prostitutes inside here.

[Kasper] The exclusive club attracted eminent men

from across the Atlantic.

[Fran] Benjamin Franklin,

one of the founding fathers of the United States,

would frequently visit the U. K., and when he did,

would frequently visit the U. K., and when he did,

he would attend these scandalous parties deep underground.

Franklin loved the fun,

prankish nature of the club that he found here.

He often wrote home to his friends in Philadelphia about the club.

[Kasper] Word of the nefarious activities of these powerful men

soon leaked out into the wider world.

[Dominic] The public outrage took its toll.

So in 1766, the club was closed down.

So in 1766, the club was closed down.

[Kasper] With all his talk of virtue,

Franklin's association with these caves was hidden from view,

but the Hellfire Club left an indelible mark.

[Jack] Because of the dark debaucherous history of the Hellfire Club,

they have left this lingering legacy behind

and now we are meant to be one of the most

haunted sites in all of England.

[Kasper] At number eight,

on the Mediterranean island of Malta,

the back streets of the capital

hide a portal to a majestic world.

[Dominic] The buildings here all look pretty similar.

They're the same color and they blend into each other

in these tightly packed streets.

[Fran] But behind that door is something

[Fran] But behind that door is something

quite spectacular and rather unexpected.

It's like a palace lost in the streets of the city.

When you step inside, you can see

this used to be a beautiful home.

[Kasper] Further investigation reveals

a hidden garden out back.

[Polly] The gardens are overgrown

and the pillars are starting to crumble.

There's a balcony outside that stretches out to open vistas.

There's a balcony outside that stretches out to open vistas.

[Kasper] Who left behind these traces of decadence?

[Fran] The way this place looks now,

you'd never guess who once lived here.

[Dominic] This was once home to a powerful and influential couple

who are famous the world over.

[Kasper] The Villa Guardamangia was largely built in 1900.

[Kasper] The Villa Guardamangia was largely built in 1900.

Heritage experts Kenneth Gambin

knows how grand this dilapidated place was

during its heyday in the mid-20th century.

[Kenneth speaking]

This was a place that was designed for entertaining

and for status.

[Kasper] The strategic location of Malta

is the first clue to this building's importance.

[Polly] It's got a maritime history that stretches back

thousands of years that's full of dynamic change.

[Kenneth speaking]

[Polly] Malta was the premier overseas naval base for the British Empire.

It was from here that they had a point of entry

to the Middle East, to India, and beyond.

[Kasper] It had long been the headquarters

of the British Navy's Mediterranean fleet.

of the British Navy's Mediterranean fleet.

And by the Second World War,

Malta had become an important base for the allied powers.

[Dominic] Submarines were launched from here.

Aircraft, ships.

This was the Allies' key base

in the middle of an Axis controlled sea.

[Kasper] The importance of the island

didn't stop at the end of the war.

That naval foothold remained key.

[Kasper] And it's the British naval base

that brought the Villa Guardamangia's

world famous resident to the island's shores.

[Polly] The Royal Naval Base drew none other

than the newly wedded royal couple themselves,

Elizabeth and Philip.

[Kasper] But how long could the future queen of England

enjoy this peace

with tragedy and the call of duty looming

over the horizon?

over the horizon?

[Kasper] In the late 1940s,

a tucked away villa on the island of Malta

was preparing to host

one of the most famous icons on Earth,

the future queen of England,

along with her new husband Prince Philip.

[TV Narrator] The royal highness has been staying

with Vice Admiral Lord Mountbatten

and Lady Mountbatten at their residence,

and Lady Mountbatten at their residence,

the Villa Guardamangia, and most attractive it looked.

[Kasper] When they arrived here in 1949,

little did the royal couple know

that duty would soon call Princess Elizabeth

back to serve her country.

But for the time being,

this clandestine place

allowed them to step out of the media spotlight.

[Polly] Monarchy in the 20th century

was becoming more public.

The extremities of war drew the royal family out

The extremities of war drew the royal family out

so that they were in touch with the ordinary people

like never before.

[Dominic] Elizabeth and Philip married just after the war

in 1947,

when the country was still a wreck.

[Dominic] People wanted a lift.

[Polly] Young Elizabeth was warmhearted,

she was hardworking,

understated, extremely dignified.

Philip was personable, relatable, handsome,

had a great sense of humor, and he made her happy.

The couple had been bombarded

by press photographers

throughout their recent honeymoon

and were determined that this trip abroad

would be different.

[Kasper] The villa Guardamangia

suited their desire

to step away from the spotlight.

The rooms of this ramshackle ruin

The rooms of this ramshackle ruin

were unlike those of the grand palaces back home.

The most striking feature of this site is the walkway.

It's not safe anymore.

[Dominic] But you can imagine back in the time

how you would have walked out of the first floor onto it

and just been greeted by this extraordinary view.

and just been greeted by this extraordinary view.

[Kasper] The great and the good

passed through this place.

[Dominic] It's where they threw private parties.

And you can just imagine how liberating

this must have been for Elizabeth.

She'd grown up in the formal, protocol heavy,

She'd grown up in the formal, protocol heavy,

stultifying atmosphere of the British royal palaces.

And now she was free, free to have her own home,

throw her own parties, have her own life.

[Fran] It was a sad turn of events

that brought it all to a swift end.

In September 1951,

King George had surgery at Buckingham Palace

to remove his left lung.

[Dominic] Someone had to take on the role

[Dominic] Someone had to take on the role

that he could no longer fulfill.

So Elizabeth increasingly assumed royal duties

and that meant that there was no more time for her in Malta.

[Kasper] Queen Elizabeth has been in the public eye ever since,

steering her nation over its choppy course.

Following her father's death,

Elizabeth's coronation in 1953

was the first to be broadcast live around the world.

[Fran] Queen Elizabeth has basically broken

[Fran] Queen Elizabeth has basically broken

every record there is.

She's the longest lived

and longest reigning British monarch.

Plus, she's probably the most famous woman in the world.

[Kasper] Malta achieved independence in 1964.

In the years following

the villa Guardamangia was left to rot

under the ownership of a reclusive old lady

who couldn't afford to maintain it.

[Kasper] Queen Elizabeth has been

back to the island a number of times,

but in her later visits

it's alleged that the owner

denied her access to this hideaway villa.

[Kasper] This abandoned home is the only place

outside of the UK

that a British monarch has resided,

so since the government of Malta took ownership in 2019,

it's been keen to preserve it.

it's been keen to preserve it.

[Kenneth speaking]

[Kasper] Still to come,

a compound where both triumph and adversity reigned.

And an abandoned auditorium in California

where the words of heroes once rang out.

[Kasper] Coming up in the list of deserted sites

with traces of heroes and villains,

a revolutionary industrial complex

that fell victim to a dictator.

And a jumble of ruins that paint a terrifying picture.

[Kasper] Number seven sits on the outskirts

of the Cuban capital of Havana.

Here,

the shattered dreams of two freedom fighters

lie in ruins.

These buildings are so fantastical.

There's hardly a right angle in the entire place.

[Kasper] Few clues as to the site's original purpose

appear to have survived the ravages of time.

So what happened to crush this romantic vision?

So what happened to crush this romantic vision?

These swirling structures were born

out of political upheaval.

[James] In the 1950s,

Cuba had been under the dictatorship

of Fulgencio Batista.

It was an incredibly corrupt country.

And a small group of revolutionaries

started a war against the government.

started a war against the government.

[Kasper] Led by Fidel Castro

and his loyal lieutenant, Che Guevara.

Their victory may have divided opinion,

but it broke the stranglehold

of Batista's corrupt government,

and gave them control of places

like Havana's elite golf club.

[Sascha] They hatch a very ambitious plan

to change this golf course

into something else entirely.

[Kasper] The result was Cuba's National School of Art.

[Kasper] The result was Cuba's National School of Art.

Built in the 1960s,

this series of ambitious structures

was designed to nurture excellence in ballet,

modern dance, visual arts, music, and drama.

[Kasper] Local Jose Villa Soberon

came to this otherworldly place to study sculpture.

[Jose speaking Spanish]

[Jose] I started studying when I was 16.

[Jose] I started studying when I was 16.

To a boy who wanted to study art

it was like discovering a brand new world.

[Kasper] But the idealistic campus,

its vaulted structures

reflecting the optimism of the time,

soon began to look outdated.

[Kasper] Soviet influence in Cuba was growing and a storm brewing.

It culminated in the Cuban missile crisis,

a nuclear standoff between the Soviet Union and the USA.

a nuclear standoff between the Soviet Union and the USA.

[Sascha] After the Cuban missile crisis,

the country was forced to start prioritizing defense

over other considerations.

And suddenly this grand project faced a cash flow problem.

[Kasper] Construction was soon stopped

and the school closed down before it was completed.

[Kasper] Today,

the school is experiencing a renaissance

as international architects once again

celebrate its unique and optimistic design.

celebrate its unique and optimistic design.

[Kasper] In Johannesburg, South Africa,

an eerie sight once caged a world changing hero.

[Sascha] If these high, thick walls could talk,

they would talk of injustice.

they would talk of injustice.

[Kasper] Three sinister compounds

make up the site,

each with its own distinct character.

[Polly] It's bleak and threatening,

and designed to be soul destroying.

This is an imposing edifice,

a visible symbol of oppression.

There are watchtowers, there's heavy barbed wire,

There are watchtowers, there's heavy barbed wire,

and there's bolted doors.

[Kasper] But those once trapped here

went on to symbolize freedom.

[Michele] It's not just a place of infamy,

but a place of regeneration and reconciliation.

[Kasper] So what happened at this ominous site,

and how did it take one man from villain

to the world's most revered hero?

[Kasper] This complex of notorious prisons

is Constitution Hill.

Sibongile Mkhabela was once incarcerated here.

It's very difficult today to tell you

what would happen in these courtyards.

And the cruelty.

Because I think to a large extend,

Because I think to a large extend,

the brain kind of shuts it off

for otherwise you wouldn't survive.

[Kasper] This site was designed to enforce a system

of racial segregation.

[Sibongile] It's strange that as I come back now,

I still feel the anger, the unfairness.

This is a place where so many women were held here.

They would become criminals,

surely because they were the wrong color

surely because they were the wrong color

and they were criminalized for who they are.

It must have been over 60, 70 women,

all on top of each other in one small place

that was not even properly ventilated.

I could hear their noise. I could hear their pain.

I could feel them.

[Kasper] The first prison was built here in 1893.

But Sibongile and many of her fellow inmates

But Sibongile and many of her fellow inmates

were victims of racist laws brought in many years later.

It was known as apartheid.

[Alicia] It defined a system of segregation

in this country that extended itself to education,

and hospitals, and even beaches.

[Michele] The system of apartheid that was created

was thorough, it was total, it was complete.

It was absolutely complete.

[Sascha] The black South African

woke up to find himself

a stranger in the land of his birth.

[Alicia] And so we're going to see a massive influx

of these people in these prisons.

[Kasper] Today, Dawn Robertson runs

this 100 acre site,

which the apartheid system turned into a place

of terror and humiliation.

So this prison complex

So this prison complex

is really a microcosm of South Africa

in terms of our history.

[Kasper] The prisons at this site were segregated

along apartheid lines.

The buildings of the old fort held white male prisoners.

Prison number four, black men.

While women, segregated inside the building,

were held in the specially built women's block.

were held in the specially built women's block.

[Sascha] These walls might be a symbol

of segregation and oppression,

but one of those contained within them

would rise to become a global symbol

of racial justice and freedom.

[Kasper] So how did this one time prisoner,

Nelson Mandela,

come to be a heroic icon of forgiveness and hope?

[Kasper] In the mid 20th century,

Constitution Hill in Johannesburg

filled those subjugated by apartheid with dread.

The infamous South African police

trawled the city's impoverished townships,

hunting down those breaking the country's racist laws.

[Dawn] The people from the townships

would have driven through this tunnel,

this door would have been opened up,

and they would have been brought into this space.

They wouldn't know where they were.

It was in absolute pitch blackness.

And the only light they would actually see

would be the lights that came out of these little turrets.

And on the other side of these turrets

would be wardens with guns.

[Kasper] Ahead lay an uncertain fate.

[Kasper] Ahead lay an uncertain fate.

[Dawn] So now we are in number four prison,

which is probably the most notorious prison

in South Africa.

[Dawn] This is the black male prison.

[Kasper] In the 1960s, with apartheid going full throttle,

this place was packed.

[Alicia] Number four was designed to hold

997 prisoners,

when it held over two thousand.

And so you can get a sense of how overcrowded it was.

[Kasper] Conditions at number four were appalling,

but the most brutal punishments

were carried out in the prison's hospital.

The law stated that you could not lash anybody

without the district Sergeant being present,

and the district Sergeant would have had his officers up here.

So the lashing room was up here.

[Dawn] It was this place where, you know,

you would be lashed and tortured.

This is a space that is cruel, it's terrifying,

This is a space that is cruel, it's terrifying,

and it's traumatizing.

[Kasper] Many were flung in prison number four

for contravening an apartheid policy called

"The Pass Laws".

The pass laws severely limited the movement of

black South Africans.

This was a legacy of the slavery period.

[Sascha] Anyone caught without their pass book

could be immediately imprisoned.

could be immediately imprisoned.

[Kasper] By far, the most famous was Nelson Mandela,

whose protests led to the accusation of treason.

Nelson Mandela is a key activist.

He becomes very prominent in the 1940s.

[Alicia] He advocated peaceful resistance

against the National Party's racist laws.

[Kasper] Mandela's position of non-violence shifted

following the barbarous Sharpeville massacre.

following the barbarous Sharpeville massacre.

[Michele] On March 21, 1960,

in front of the Sharpeville police station,

you had around 7,000 black South Africans

who were meeting and amassing.

[Sascha] Police forces responded

to a demonstration with a hail of sub machine gun fire.

You can just see dozens of bodies on the ground.

And these people were shot in the back as they were running.

They were fleeing, and these were peaceful protesters.

They were fleeing, and these were peaceful protesters.

[Polly] In response to this,

Mandela publicly burned his pass.

Thousands followed, marching to police stations,

burning their passes.

[Kasper] 1962.

Nelson Mandela is arrested

and brought through the forbidding gates

of Constitution Hill.

Mandela was not taken down to the number four prison

where other black male prisoners were held.

where other black male prisoners were held.

He was rather held up here in The Old Fort,

which is a white male prison.

[Michele] They didn't want him to serve as

a model or an inspiration to other prisoners.

So this is the courtyard of Mandela's cell

where he was held.

On the right here is an old hospital ward.

And this was the place where Mandela was held.

He talks about the fact that

the guard actually gave him a hospital bed.

[Kasper] In 1964,

[Kasper] In 1964,

Mandela was sentenced to life in prison.

He would not see freedom again for 26 years.

[cheering and applauding]

[Kasper] He was released in 1990,

by which time South Africa was a very different place.

And four years later, Mandela was elected president

in the country's first multiracial election.

[Dawn] Mandela is the father of our nation.

The fact that he was incarcerated here

is significant.

Not many people realize that, you know,

this was a very, very significant space for him.

[Kasper] While President,

Mandela oversaw plans to turn this site,

once known for its notorious injustices,

into the new constitutional court of South Africa.

[Dawn] It symbolized everything

that we'd been through as a nation.

Because that's the place of the worst indignity

that this country has suffered.

But it's going to be the place of hope.

[Kasper] Coming up,

abandoned sites hold hints

of a brutal dictator installed by President Nixon,

and an activist who tackled police brutality head on.

[Kasper] Among the top ten sites

were the malevolent roamed or the valiant triumphed,

a collection of curious structures

provides the backdrop to evil.

And the Amazonian rain forest

grows over a heroic attempt to tame it.

[Kasper] First, at number five,

[Kasper] First, at number five,

a conflicted American hero

leaves traces in the San Francisco Bay Area,

where a forgotten gem hides in plain sight.

[Alicia] In the midst of Oakland's urban sprawl

is this massive white building.

[Jim] It's this huge,

hulking structure almost like

a giant concrete aircraft hangar.

[Alicia] At first you might mistake it for a warehouse,

but it's too ornate for that.

but it's too ornate for that.

[Kasper] Nicias and statues are now surrounded

by fencing, graffiti, and boarded up entrances.

As ornate as the outside is,

the inside is in total disrepair.

It looks like it's been abandoned for years,

possibly even decades.

[Michele] You can see seats that are still intact,

but you can see also trash in other places.

You can see signs of a very recent fire,

that it's been vandalized and broken into.

that it's been vandalized and broken into.

[Sascha] And, given the scale of this place,

you have to think that there were

some pretty iconic figures

who must have spoken to an audience this large.

[Billy] The atmosphere in the whole arena

was like that all the time.

It was like electricity here.

[Kasper] Heroes to some, villains to others,

which revolutionaries took center stage here

and shook American society to its core

and shook American society to its core

in a fight that started as a stand

against police brutality?

[Kasper] Historian Billy Jennings

has been given access to this complex

that he first visited in the 1960s

to see The Godfather of Soul.

[Billy] Nobody had a ticket,

and so we decided we were going to jump the turnstile,

we would dodge security, and we found empty seats.

[Kasper] Billy would return to this arena many times,

but he was no longer dodging security.

He was the security

for an organization that would take Oakland by storm.

[Kasper] And its roots were sowed here in this arena.

It opened in 1915 as the Oakland Auditorium,

but it wasn't long before this gathering place

brought the city's racial divisions into sharp focus.

brought the city's racial divisions into sharp focus.

[Michele] In the 1920s it actually hosted

a massive Ku Klux Klan rally.

[Alicia] At this rally, Klans members came together

for a ceremonial cross burning.

[Kasper] During the Second World War,

Oakland's burgeoning shipyards drew an influx

of African-Americans from the South.

Into the racially charged years of the 1960s,

tensions between Oakland's predominantly white police force

tensions between Oakland's predominantly white police force

and its black population were sky high.

[Kasper] So when one of America's greatest orators

took to this stage,

his words fell on fertile ground.

[Michele] In late 1962,

Martin Luther King gave a speech there commemorating

the one hundredth anniversary

of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Part of his speech was addressing the need

to boycott local companies that refused

to hire people of color.

[Kasper] King's focus that day was Wonder Bread,

one of America's most famous food brands.

King was an incredible public speaker,

he really knew how to engage his audience.

But he also knew how to turn a phrase,

and he had a good sense of humor.

And what he said was,

"We're going to make Wonder Bread

wonder where the money went."

[Kasper] The speech had a dramatic impact

on one young man sitting in the audience that day.

on one young man sitting in the audience that day.

His name was Bobby Seale.

But Seale would take a less mainstream view than King,

and he used this stage

to deliver a revolutionary message.

[Kasper] And this passionate firebrand

would soon earn the unwelcome attention of the FBI.

[Kasper] In the 1960s,

sitting in the stalls of this neglected stadium,

the civil rights activist, Bobby Seale,

was prompted to change the world

when he witnessed Martin Luther King speaking.

[Jim] Seale was very moved by King's words,

but he took that message in a different direction.

And a few years later, he would found

And a few years later, he would found

the revolutionary group, The Black Panthers,

which was headquartered in Oakland.

[Michele] That moment, that speech, that space,

he himself,

Seale himself, acknowledged,

was absolutely foundational and instrumental

in his own emergence as an activist.

[Kasper] Bobby Seale founded the Black Panthers

with college buddy, Huey Newton, in 1966

to tackle the issue of police brutality.

Following the killing of an unarmed young black man

Following the killing of an unarmed young black man

in the Bay Area,

they decided to take matters into their own hands.

[Alicia] At its core,

The Black Panther Party advocated

freedom by any means necessary.

[Michele] So they're carrying guns in public.

They're wearing leather, they're wearing berets,

they're wearing black.

They're wearing military boots.

[Sascha] Was their vision radical? Absolutely.

Were The Black Panther Party members rightly accused

of violent crimes?

of violent crimes?

Yes, they were.

But, and we have to remember that this is a time

when beatings and extrajudicial murder

of black people in America were an everyday experience.

[Kasper] The auditorium and this area of Oakland

would become the focal point for a new black power movement

with the Panthers at its heart.

But soon,

Huey Newton was arrested for the shooting of a police officer,

an allegation that would be overturned two years later.

an allegation that would be overturned two years later.

[Kasper] In the meantime, in 1968,

Bobby Seale and The Panthers descended on the auditorium

to campaign for his release.

This room was more or less a dressing room,

a green room for Bobby being back here

in preparation of his speech.

[Kasper] Seale took the opportunity to take

to the now dilapidated stage

and reiterate The Black Panthers manifesto.

and reiterate The Black Panthers manifesto.

[host] Bobby Seale. Bring him on.

[Bobby] Brothers and sisters, I want to tonight

have the chance to tell you in large mass

something about the organizing of a black people's party

that dealt with black people's problems.

We want an immediate end to police brutality

and murder of black people.

[applauding and cheering]

[applauding and cheering]

That alignment on that stage right there

kind of put this Oakland auditorium on the map.

That brought together an alignment of black leaders that

America had never seen before.

After that conference

and during his trial,

The Black Panther Party enjoyed a tremendous growth,

like we went from one to two officers

to 40 officers throughout America.

[Kasper] But that brought with it unwanted attention.

[Kasper] But that brought with it unwanted attention.

[Billy] We had to beware of provocateurs.

We had to beware of people that are in trouble,

and we had to beware of undercover police

coming in to start trouble, you know.

So you hand to be on our toes when we were down here.

[Kasper] J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI,

wasted no time making The Panthers

public enemy number one.

They really went after The Panthers with a vengeance.

[Kasper] Seale was soon in court himself

[Kasper] Seale was soon in court himself

for the famous trial of the Chicago Seven

on trumped up charges of inciting riot.

[Kasper] And while in court,

two fellow Panthers were assassinated

by Hoover's henchmen.

After Seale was released from the trial,

the FBI had him charged with murder and again,

the charges were dropped.

And Billy remembers Seale's triumphant return

to this stage in 1971.

[Billy] He came back to Oakland as a hero,

[Billy] He came back to Oakland as a hero,

and when he announced

that he was going to run for mayor of Oakland

and took off his hat and threw it into the arena

as a symbol of "I'm entering this race".

That was chilling.

-[finger snapping] -People was electrified,

you know, because one of them theirs,

somebody they knew,

was going to change the city, the whole arena went crazy.

[Michele] The party was trying to turn towards

an embrace of electoral politics

an embrace of electoral politics

and doing voter registration drives.

[Kasper] Seale used the auditorium

to focus on his work for the community.

On this stage, Bobby Seale, he asked everybody

to get in the single-file line

and we had Panthers lined up,

maybe about 10 Panthers

handing out bags of groceries to people.

But at the same time,

back here, in this area,

we had tables set up to register people to vote.

we had tables set up to register people to vote.

[Sascha] They tested for sickle cell anemia.

They held workshops for young people known as

Panther Cubs.

They even gave away free groceries.

[Kasper] Seale narrowly lost his mayoral campaign,

but his efforts brought about lasting change.

Next election you had Asians running,

you had Mexican-Americans running,

and you had women running. Bobby opened the door.

A young girl who worked out of my office during the campaign,

A young girl who worked out of my office during the campaign,

she's a House of Representatives right now.

[Kasper] However,

splits in the party fostered by the FBI

soon followed,

and public support gradually waned.

Just over a decade later, the party dissolved.

The Oakland Auditorium,

later renamed "The Kaiser Convention Center",

experienced a similar decline.

[Kasper] Today,

the future of the Oakland Auditorium may be uncertain,

but The Black Panthers' message

has never been more relevant.

[Billy] The difference between the Black Panther Party

and Black Lives Matter is that we had a program.

We're not just focused on the police department,

we was dealing with hunger, health care, education.

But we commend people in the Black Lives Matter

for standing up and doing the right thing.

All about the people.

[Kasper] At number four, a bizarre complex

hidden in a neighborhood of North Philadelphia

once housed America's Most Wanted.

Surrounded by high stone walls,

this foreboding place is undoubtedly a prison.

From the air, its design looks innovative,

From the air, its design looks innovative,

but the interior is anything but.

[Andrew] You could smell the paint peeling off the walls

and the damp concrete.

It's really, really eerie.

[Kasper] Yet the cell of one disreputable inmate is almost luxurious.

[Sarah] At least one of the cells we know of

was in a place called Park Avenue.

So that gives you the idea that he had

more of a celebrity treatment here.

[Kasper] So which infamous villain

[Kasper] So which infamous villain

nicknamed "Scarface" ended up here?

Sarah Jane Elk is president

of this once imposing building.

Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829,

and it was an experiment in reform.

[Kasper] At the time,

Eastern State Penitentiary was the most famous

and expensive prison in the world.

Hundreds of jails copied its innovative design.

Hundreds of jails copied its innovative design.

[Andrew] The design is effectively a wagon wheel,

a central hub,

where the guards can look out in every direction

and see the cells going off in the distance.

[Jim] It meant that a small group of guards

could keep an eye on the whole prison

from that one location.

Each inmate has their own cell.

[Kasper] But cells designed for one

soon housed two or three.

soon housed two or three.

So by the end of the century,

the notion of reflective solitary confinement

was replaced with overcrowding,

and harsh, unsanitary conditions.

Although in 1929,

an exception was made for one of the most

notorious villains of all time.

[Sarah] When Al Capone came here

he was already a famous man.

He was brought here from the county prison for his protection.

He was brought here from the county prison for his protection.

[Andrew] He described his time there as easy.

Well, it would be easy when you have your own sofa,

your own bookcase, and your own record player that you play waltzes on.

[Kasper] Capone's arrest came at a time

of escalating mob violence,

and he was often accused of intentionally hiding in prison.

An allegation he always denied.

Wherever the truth lies, Capone was not for reforming.

In March 1930,

In March 1930,

he walked out of the penitentiary's gates as a free man,

only to be jailed again a year later.

And this once revolutionary prison

closed due to overcrowding in 1971.

Today, the Eastern State Penitentiary

is a national historic landmark and museum,

which includes a tour of Al Capone's cell.

[Kasper] Still to come,

[Kasper] Still to come,

a heroic endeavor in the Brazilian rain forest

leaves behind a curiously out of place sight.

And a nefarious quest for world domination

results in a macabre set of ruins.

[Kasper] Some sites touched by history's villains

lie far away and long forgotten.

At number three, on the outskirts of Santiago,

capital of Chile,

epic warehouse style structures

dominate the San Bernardo suburb.

[Jim] The centerpiece of this neighborhood,

what you can't miss, is this huge concrete building

what you can't miss, is this huge concrete building

about 500 feet long.

[Rob] If you think that's big, it used to be a lot bigger.

This site was once so large

that the original entrance was a thousand feet away.

Way on the other side of the neighborhood.

[Kasper] An inscription above these main gates

gives some indication of this site's original function.

Over the entrance carved the words "Maestranza".

Over the entrance carved the words "Maestranza".

Which in Latin America usually means

"machine shop" or "repair shop".

[Jim] If this was a machine shop,

it was designed to handle something enormous.

[Kasper] Dappled light illuminates design features

within the central structure.

[Jim] Along the floor are these gigantic pits

big enough for a man to stand up in.

[Kasper] Once impressively engineered,

the site appears to have long been stripped bare

and the life squeezed out of this neighborhood.

The fate of this compound is intimately connected

to the ambitious U.S. backed dictator,

General Pinochet, and his chilling legacy,

the ongoing mystery of Chile's so-called "disappeared".

[Kasper] Derek Hyland is passionate about the machines

[Kasper] Derek Hyland is passionate about the machines

that once rolled through this site.

And the first clear indication of what they were

is provided by the remains of a circular structure outside the main shed.

[Derek] A turntable is like a bridge

which is pivoted at its center.

It would allow an engine to come in

and be turned in any direction.

In this case, it would be turned

so it can be placed into the main workshop.

[Kasper] The design of this complex

revolved around one thing,

trains.

[Derek] This place in particular

is the neck of the railways for this country.

And this transformed the life of this town.

This is basically, was the heart of this town.

[Kasper] This is Maestranza de San Bernardo,

once the second largest train workshop in South America.

once the second largest train workshop in South America.

[Derek] This is the Roundhouse.

It has 11 stalls where the stone locomotives once were repaired,

the engine would come in here.

We'd have little steps before,

so you could actually get under the engine,

basically very similar to an inspection pit for a car.

[Kasper] The need for a facility of this kind

came from the rapid development

of the country's rail network in the late 19th century.

of the country's rail network in the late 19th century.

[Geoff] Chile is a long, narrow, thinly populated country.

So harnessing railroads was key

to connecting its far flung regions.

And you've got the Atacama Desert in the far north

and you've got Patagonia in the far south,

Santiago right in the middle.

And so the rails are a perfect way

to connect up this big landmass.

[Kasper] Construction began in 1916.

Eight pavilions sprawled across 111 acres

with additional buildings and maneuvering yards.

The country's industrialization

went hand in hand with its railway development

and the Maestranza would become its beating heart.

[Dominic] You can't overstate the importance of the Maestranza

to the town of San Bernardo.

Without the Maestranza there would be no San Bernardo.

The town was built around it

The town was built around it

and almost every household

had at least one person working in the Maestranza.

The scale was extraordinary.

The locomotives would come in by rail,

they would be lifted up

by vast cranes fixed to the ceiling

and then put down into the relevant area of the workshop

where they could be investigated,

dismantled, repaired,

and then sent out again on the rails.

[Jim] The shop was set up initially

for repairing trains,

but over time they began

but over time they began

to design and build their own steam locomotives.

[Derek] Maestranza was designed to service

approximately 500 engines a year.

That's nearly 10 engines a week.

[Jim] And it was skilled work. You needed a workforce

that really knew how to handle this machinery.

[Geoff] These were not only blue-collar workers,

but these were local heroes.

These were men who were earning good wages,

These were men who were earning good wages,

learning skilled positions,

expanding the Chilean economy.

This was really a kind of

engine of Chilean growth at the time.

[Kasper] The Maestranza workers were proud

to form a union,

but later in the century, that would be their undoing.

Seismic change was coming to Chile

and the Maestranza would find itself in the firing line

of the dictator, General Pinochet.

[Kasper] A train repair shop

on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile,

was once the pride of a nation.

But in the early 1970s,

the workers at this facility were about to pay the price

for standing up for their rights.

[Geoff] In 1973, the Chilean people elect

Salvador Allende, a socialist, to be president of Chile.

Salvador Allende, a socialist, to be president of Chile.

And there's great resistance

inside the highly conservative Chilean armed forces

commanded by General Augusto Pinochet.

[Kasper] General Pinochet instigates a violent coup

against Allende.

Despite planning to overthrow

a democratically elected government,

Pinochet had outside help from the U. S. government.

[Geoff] The Nixon administration

[Geoff] The Nixon administration

and national security adviser, Henry Kissinger,

look at the rise of Allende

as, as dangerous as the rise of Castro in Cuba.

And, so, they give the green light to Pinochet

to move against Allende.

And they oust Allende.

[Kasper] Pinochet attacked the presidential palace

and Salvador Allende killed himself to escape capture.

[Dominic] Coming from the political right,

Pinochet was ideologically opposed

to socialism and its ideas of large state run enterprises.

to socialism and its ideas of large state run enterprises.

[Rob] And you couldn't get a government run scheme

much bigger or more expensive

than the national rail network.

[Dominic] In the days after the coup,

there was confusion and fear.

Nobody really knew what to expect of this new dictatorship.

[Kasper] Thousands of people, and especially union members,

were accused of communist leanings

and began disappearing from workplaces up and down the country.

and began disappearing from workplaces up and down the country.

Pinochet soon turned his attention on the Maestranza.

You had all of these skilled workers,

all of them unionized,

all of them left leaning in their politics.

So he sees the Maestranza

in the city that's grown up around it,

the company town, as being a hotbed of communist

and socialist activity.

[Kasper] September 28, 1973, Pinochet's men arrive.

12 members of the Maestranza

were taken away by the military and shot.

were taken away by the military and shot.

The community was in shock

when they heard about these news.

[Kasper] Across Chile,

more than a thousand others were disappeared

during Pinochet's reign of terror.

[Kasper] The Maestranza itself continued to operate,

but it finally closed in 1984.

[Dominic] When Pinochet was able to point to the fact

that it was making a loss,

that was enough for him to pull all of the funding.

And that sparked the beginning of the end for the Maestranza.

And that sparked the beginning of the end for the Maestranza.

[Kasper] The dictator's reign of terror lasted until 1990,

but he never faced retribution for human rights violations

against more than 30,000 people.

Thanks to enthusiasts like Derek,

this complex survives as a lasting memorial

to Chile's once booming rail industry

to Chile's once booming rail industry

and those who lost their lives at the hands of Pinochet.

[Derek] On the 6th of October every year,

the Railways Workers Day is commemorated

in remembrance of these 12 workers that were killed here.

I feel deeply motivated and proud

of what we achieved.

[Kasper] At number two,

in the Amazon rain forest down the Tapajos River in Brazil,

is a Utopian dream frozen in time.

An American-style water tower dominates the landscape.

Further exploration uncovers replicas of a Midwestern town.

Who undertook this epic endeavor?

Who undertook this epic endeavor?

[Kasper] The roots of this town can be traced back

to the technological revolution

at the dawn of the 20th century

and a giant of American industry,

Henry Ford.

[Andrew] Henry Ford is the consummate businessman.

He's producing cars.

Cars require tires and rubber's expensive.

[Kasper] Ford's expansion of the motor industry

was hampered by a global monopoly

on the rubber he needed for his tires.

on the rubber he needed for his tires.

[Andrew] So he has this idea.

I'm going to cut out the middleman

and create my own rubber factory

in the Brazilian rain forest. [chuckling]

[Kasper] This is Henry Ford's American Dream,

Fordlandia.

[Kasper] In 1928,

Ford began his ambitious plan

to create the largest rubber plantation in the world.

[Raimundo speaking in Portuguese]

This was a factory warehouse, a sawmill, a workshop.

They also generated electricity here for the town.

It was the center of the whole thing.

[Kasper] The facilities of Fordlandia were unprecedented.

But Henry Ford's insistence

on a puritanical Midwestern lifestyle

didn't go down well.

The discipline was military style.

Everything was very strict, very disciplined.

[Kasper] Ford's dream quickly became

a repressive nightmare for the town's residents.

And it reached boiling point in 1930.

[Andrew] There is mutiny.

They had simply had enough.

The Brazilian army has to come in and sort things out.

The Brazilian army has to come in and sort things out.

[Kasper] The rubber plantation fared little better.

Ford's bid to industrialize the biological world ended in catastrophe.

[Andrew] They planted the trees side by side.

That's not how you do it.

They're prone to disease and there's a domino effect.

When they're too close together they all die.

The whole thing just wasn't very well thought out.

[Kasper] Ford's high hopes for Fordlandia

fizzled out with the rise of synthetic rubber

fizzled out with the rise of synthetic rubber

and more efficient production elsewhere.

[Kasper] In 1945,

Fordlandia was sold back to the Brazilian government

and left abandoned.

For all of Henry Ford's $20 million investment,

virtually no rubber was produced.

[Kasper] From sports legends to global icons,

freedom fighters to civil rights activists,

freedom fighters to civil rights activists,

many abandoned places still have traces

of those who've changed the world for the better.

But coming up at number one on the list

is a set of crumbling ruins

created by the most notorious villain in history.

[Kasper] In the countdown of abandoned haunts

of heroes and villains,

the final destination is in Germany.

In the city of Nuremberg

is a vast, overgrown site that appears to have been built

by different empires.

[Dominic] There's this enormous

[Dominic] There's this enormous

white marble structure

that when you look at it,

has the lines and proportions of an altar from ancient Greece.

[Kasper] Another seemingly ancient relic is even more confounding.

[Geoff] It looks like a great amphitheater,

almost like the Roman Colosseum.

[Dominic] These relics all seem to come

from very different eras.

So it's really not clear

what links them all together.

what links them all together.

[Kasper] Elsewhere around the town,

scattered ruins start to paint an ominous picture.

A single stone block beside an extensive man-made lake,

a subterranean room with a gold covered ceiling,

and a monumental road, carving a line between them all.

The extent of this complex

hints at a monstrous abuse of power.

hints at a monstrous abuse of power.

[Lynette] The man who built this

did not think of himself as a villain.

He thought of himself as the builder

of a mighty empire.

This is power madness

expressed in stone.

[Kasper] These are the remains of the crazed vision

of a villain dubbed "the most evil man in history".

of a villain dubbed "the most evil man in history".

But to do all this,

he needed the help of a willing

and ruthlessly ambitious collaborator.

Local expert Alexander Schmidt,

studies the history of this macabre site.

[Alexander speaking]

[Dominic] This enormous amphitheater

was designed to look

like something straight out of the Roman Empire.

[Kasper] But this is not the only epic sized structure here.

Covering an area bigger than 12 soccer fields,

this eerie, overgrown space is known as the Zeppelin Field.

[Geoff] In 1909,

the German Graf Zeppelin who invented

these big dirigible airships

actually landed a Zeppelin here,

which gives you a sense of just how big

the field had to be.

[Alexander speaking]

[Kasper] So what were these tribunes

or grandstands built for?

Nuremberg itself is the first clue to figuring out

what this strange collection of ruins is all about.

Nuremberg was one of the great imperial cities

and it was the center of an ancient Germanic empire.

[Kasper] In the medieval era,

this early Germanic empire was a political powerhouse

this early Germanic empire was a political powerhouse

which dominated Europe for centuries

until its decline in the early eighteen hundreds.

[Kasper] By the 1930s,

its greatness was a distant memory,

but a new ambitious political movement

sought to resurrect its power

in the form of Hitler's Nazi party.

Bavaria, where Nuremberg is, was the most

nazified place in Germany.

nazified place in Germany.

[Lynette] Hitler seeks to build his ritual center

here in Nuremberg.

And all of these structures are designed

for thousands of people to listen

to one man speaking.

[Kasper] It was the work of Hitler's accomplice,

the ambitious Nazi architect, Albert Speer.

[Geoff] Albert Speer sniffed out early on

Hitler's narcissism and megalomania,

Hitler's narcissism and megalomania,

and he kind of tailored his architecture

to suit Hitler's grandiose taste.

[Lynette] He's going to create a Nazi architecture

that subordinates the will of the individual

to the collective will of the German race

expressed through their Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

[Kasper] Together,

they mapped out this sinister series of structures

known collectively as the Nazi Party rally grounds

known collectively as the Nazi Party rally grounds

and the Zeppelin Field lay at its heart.

[Alexander speaking]

[Dominic] The rally grounds were designed to house

some of the most chilling demonstrations of power in history.

[Kasper] The grotesque and crowning glory

of the Zeppelin field is the altar-like tribute.

[Kasper] Beneath the grandstand,

Albert Speer designed an extraordinary golden room

which allowed Hitler to indulge

his sinister delusions.

his sinister delusions.

It's a hole over 20 feet high

with the most spectacular golden designs on the ceiling.

And the idea was for Hitler to rise up

onto his rostrum as if out of thin air.

[Kasper] But Albert Speer had only just started.

He wanted to build a structure

that would dwarf its equivalent in the modern world.

But it would come at a horrifying human cost.

[Kasper] By the 1930s,

the so-called architect of evil,

Albert Speer, had become a key player in Hitler's regime.

He wanted his designs to provide a chilling setting

for Nazi propaganda films,

and he would stop at nothing to get it built.

Albert Speer as an architect,

Albert Speer as an architect,

is a man with no professional integrity whatsoever.

Albert Speer knows what Hitler wants

and he's going to deliver it in every respect.

Albert Speer uses concentration camp inmates.

He works them to death.

[Kasper] But regardless of the terrible toll,

Hitler and Speer will not be stopped.

At the perimeter of the rally grounds

is a foundation stone sitting on the edge

is a foundation stone sitting on the edge

of a mysterious man-made lake.

The only trace of what was going to be

the site's jewel in the crown.

[Alexander speaking]

[Dominic] Speer's design was going to hold 400, 000 people.

[Dominic] Speer's design was going to hold 400, 000 people.

It was going to be built with red and pink granite,

and over 400 feet high.

Had it been finished, it would have been the capstone

to the Nuremberg rally grounds.

[Kasper] The Nuremberg rally grounds

would have radiated out

from Speer's monstrous stadium.

Covering four square miles,

it included the vast Zeppelin Field,

its menacing grandstand,

all linked together by the great road

all linked together by the great road

which lead to the Colosseum-style congress hall.

[Kasper] But while the architecture here was monumental,

the materials used to build it were anything but.

Behind the solid stone facades was just brick and concrete.

[Dominic] The original construction

[Dominic] The original construction

was quick and shoddy.

It was little more than a stage set

but designed to have the most dramatic effects.

[Kasper] Between 1933 and 1938,

Hitler's supporters flocked to this site

for a series of mass Nazi party rallies.

But with the outbreak of the second World War

construction ceased,

and Speer's chilling facade crumbled.

[Lynette] Hitler's empire was supposed to last

a thousand years

but the hasty methods used to create the illusion

of mighty stadiums and gigantic pillars,

they were an illusion just like Hitler's Reich.

[Kasper] At the Nuremberg war crimes trials

that followed the war,

Hitler's sidekick, Albert Speer,

Hitler's sidekick, Albert Speer,

presented himself as a good Nazi.

[Alexander speaking]

[Geoff] Speer gets off pretty lightly,

he only gets 20 years in jail

because of this image, or reputation he had

as the good Nazi who,

sort of reluctantly fell in with Hitler.

[Kasper] Today, the ruins of Albert Speer's ambition

litter Nuremberg.

[Lynette] This is not a monument

to Hitler's greatness or Nazi greatness.

Because when you look at this you can see

what a pile of rubbish Nazi Germany really was.