Original subtitles

[narrator] Italian ruins that brought war

to the big screen.

[Lynette] And the fear must've been

reeking out of everybody's pores,

they weren't in Hollywood anymore.

[narrator] A striking relic

hidden in a Scottish forest.

[Jim] You come upon

this, kind of, mind blowing set of buildings

that don't look like anything you would expect to see here.

that don't look like anything you would expect to see here.

[narrator] And an isolated desert town in Chile

where progress turned to horror.

[Alicia] Over time that isolation

was mobilized for different

and more sinister purposes.

[intense music playing]

[narrator] Decaying relics.

Ruins of lost worlds.

Sights haunted by the past,

Sights haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting to be revealed.

Hidden deep within a Scottish forest

is an enchanting structure with uncertain origins.

[tense music playing]

[Sascha] As you approach through the forest

and across this old bridge,

and across this old bridge,

you start to catch glimpses

of something massive and stark.

[Rob] And then out of the foliage

emerges something almost otherworldly.

[narrator] It's bold design and strange mix of spaces

seems to defy explanation.

[Jim] With its stacks of concrete floors,

part of it looked a little bit

like a high-tech parking garage

like a high-tech parking garage

but maybe one that survived a neutron bomb.

[Sascha] These semi-dome structures

looked like fingers pointing upwards,

almost as if their hands

cradling the structure from each side.

[Rob] At the end of this large open hall,

with a dappled light beaming in,

it really does feel like

a magical spiritual space.

[Diane] The architects wants it to become a work of art

[Diane] The architects wants it to become a work of art

rather than just a utilitarian structure.

[narrator] But was it cursed right from the start?

[Sascha] This was a place of great hope

but it barely lasted a blink of an eye

before it was abandoned.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] Today, this place is known to many

as nothing more than a spellbinding ruin.

Architectural historian Diane Watters

has spent 25 years uncovering its lost story.

[Diane] What it is now

is so unrelated to what it originally was.

It has become like a mythical romantic ruin

of international status

and it's become a focus of artist,

and writers, and historians.

[Rob] This is one of, if not,

the most famous modern buildings in Scotland,

the most famous modern buildings in Scotland,

yet a few people even know

what it was used for.

[narrator] Amongst all the angular concrete

and cavernous interiors,

there were something here that feels out of place.

[Sascha] Right at the back of the main structure

are these foundations of what looks to have been

quite a grand building

but they seemed strangely close together.

but they seemed strangely close together.

[Diane] You know, I first came here in 1994

while this building was still standing.

Then after 1994 it was actually

burnt down completely.

And then, once this building had gone,

the design rationale for the whole extension

had disappeared

and then modern extension stands on its own.

[narrator] These two disparate structures

were linked by a great belief.

Well, this is where the story

of St. Peter's Cardross began in 1948

of St. Peter's Cardross began in 1948

when it was the first home of the training of the priests

for the Catholic Church.

[narrator] After the Second World War,

the number of young men signing up

to a life in the church was on the rise.

[Jim] It was decided that they needed

a new bigger school

for all the people they expected

to be training for the priesthood.

[Sascha] And there was an immense sense

of optimism amongst church officers.

of optimism amongst church officers.

And this structure was meant to be

the physical embodiment of that future.

[narrator] Construction began in 1961

but behind this futuristic design

lies an ancient concept.

The layout is actually based on the historic building.

So the idea was to create a cloister,

uh, kind of Medieval-like cloister

around the historic building.

This function seems almost ancient and monastic

This function seems almost ancient and monastic

and its architectural forms

are stunningly modern.

So this just kind of contrast

between the style

and the function of the building.

[Sascha] The main building is a key element

that forms a courtyard

with the wings angling off of it.

And all the different parts of the college

were supposed to interact with this original building.

[narrator] The first trainee priests

[narrator] The first trainee priests

arrived here in 1966.

Much of their time was focused

on contemplation and prayer.

[Diane] These are what are commonly called the fingers

but actually they are site chapels

for the trainee priests

to have private prayer.

[narrator] And this cavernous space

at the heart of the complex

was devoted to the main service,

mass.

[solemn music playing]

[solemn music playing]

[Diane] Here we are in the middle

of what was the chapel, the main chapel,

what the architects called "The Colonel"

of the whole complex.

The sites here, we would have the trainee priests

sitting in pews along here

with the focus on the main altar.

[solemn music playing]

[Jim] And that's the most dramatic space in the complex

highlighted by these remarkable stone altars.

highlighted by these remarkable stone altars.

[narrator] But with its striking form

came a problem.

[Rob] The building looks incredible

and almost space-age in style

but practically speaking

it was in many ways a disaster.

[solemn music playing]

[Diane] Those fantastic accounts

in the student magazine of coming down

and this whole central area of the...

of the chapel being underwater.

of the chapel being underwater.

[Jim] What you also see here is something that

isn't that uncommon with groundbreaking architecture,

they still had a few bugs to work out.

The heat didn't work that well,

the windows were cold and drafty,

there were leaks, it was damp, kind of moldy.

[narrator] Yet it wasn't design flaws

that spelled disaster here.

As if cursed from the very beginning,

a once in a millennium decision

would bring it all crashing down.

would bring it all crashing down.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] In Scotland,

a bold relic with a holy history.

[Rob] This was a priest training center,

a sanctuary where trainee priests could live,

study, and worship secure from the outside world.

[narrator] But a momentous decision

made over a thousand miles away,

doomed St. Peter's Seminary

doomed St. Peter's Seminary

before it even opened its doors

and it came from the very top.

[Sascha] During the Second Vatican Council

which ran from 1962 to 1965,

it was determined that the training of priests

would be more a visible part of the community.

[Jim] They decided they should be learning among the people

they would ultimately serve as priest.

So St. Peter's Seminary didn't really reflect that.

So St. Peter's Seminary didn't really reflect that.

[narrator] As vast cultural changes

swept across Europe in the 1960s,

the Catholic Church moved to bring themselves

more in line with the modern world.

But with construction already underway,

St. Peter's would be left behind.

[Jim] It was here out in the woods,

in this beautiful quiet setting

but it certainly wasn't

part of the community

part of the community

and engaged in public life,

the way that priest were now expected to be.

[Diane] I interviewed priests who taught here

and what they said from the very beginning is that

there were far too many altars,

the ideas from the Second Vatican Council

had been that you were to preach together

with the community and groups of priests

rather than solitary praying.

So they almost became redundant

So they almost became redundant

from the very beginning.

[Rob] By the time it was finished,

it was already out of date

and basically doomed to failure.

[narrator] St. Peter's limped on

as a seminary for only 14 years.

After it was abandoned

and the old house at its heart burned down,

it became its best known self,

the beguiling ruins in the forest.

[Rob] It attracts visitors from all over the world

[Rob] It attracts visitors from all over the world

curious about its original purpose

and it has a cult status among architects

and urban explorers alike.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] Today, after years of campaigning

to preserve this iconic structure,

hope is on the horizon.

[Jim] What do you do

about a work of architecture

about a work of architecture

that was really groundbreaking

and important in its time

but never really delivered its purpose,

do you repurpose it? Do you save it?

Do you turn it into something new?

Not every ambitious building succeeds

in its initial purpose

but that doesn't mean they all need to be torn down.

[Rob] Currently a charitable trust

is trying to develop a new vision

with education at its core.

[narrator] In the Italian mountains

is a quiet town made famous

on the silver screen.

[tense music playing]

[Jim] It all looks exactly like what you'd expect

central Italy would look like,

olive groves, rolling hills, mountains,

and beautiful old historic villages.

[Geoff] Except for this Italian village

it is a ghost town,

we see the remains of a battle-scarred church,

we see the remains of a battle-scarred church,

and we see a sort of tumbled down homes and shops

along these old winding lanes.

[Lynette] As you move to the village

you can see that the old stone houses

have been absolutely smashed.

You can still see fragments

of what must have been roof beams,

or furniture,

everything has become a sort of chaotic ruin.

everything has become a sort of chaotic ruin.

[narrator] The story of this place

is tied to a man who came here

80 years ago.

[Lynette] He was used to bending

other people to his will.

He was the ruler of the crew

and assaulted the surrounding mountains.

[narrator] This chaotic village

and its hard-nosed visitor set the stage

for an audacious deception,

one that would cement this place

one that would cement this place

in history forever.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Historian, Gaetano De Angelis Curtis

has come to tell the story of this place

he knows so well.

[Gaetano] This place is so famous.

Everyone in the region knows it.

And I heard about it from the elders in the family

And I heard about it from the elders in the family

and others since I was a child.

It was a story that gripped me

because it was about the region I am from.

[narrator] This place that captured

Gaetano's imagination

is the site of a fierce battle,

one that was witnessed by millions

through a groundbreaking documentary.

[classical music playing]

[classical music playing]

[man] From the end of October 1943

until the middle of December,

San Pietro and the surrounding grounds

was the scene of some of the bitterest fighting

on our 5th Army flank.

[Jim] Nothing like this had really been seen.

This kind of combat footage,

you know, raw and honest including

the death and destruction.

No one had really seen anything quite like this.

[Geoff] And the film was, uh, replete with,

you know, scenes of heroism

you know, scenes of heroism

and it showed, you know, gritty American GIs

struggling against heavy German fire.

[Lynette] So for Americans, this was a good story

because they saw American boys

succeeding in defeating the Nazis in Europe.

And for Italians,

this was a story of getting back

their national self-respect.

[narrator] The movie was praised

[narrator] The movie was praised

by Hollywood's best.

But this documentary...

was a lie.

Two years earlier,

an American serviceman came to Italy

with a very special assignment.

His name...

was John Houston.

[Geoff] John Houston was an interesting figure, you know.

He was a guy who had been working in Hollywood

after drifting around America

as a boxer, a painter, an actor

but then he really finds his metier in Hollywood.

but then he really finds his metier in Hollywood.

[narrator] Houston's first movies had been a success.

So in 1943,

he was deployed to Italy to make documentaries

of the Allied victory.

[Geoff] Though Houston says,

"I'm gonna go up into the mountains.

I got to go to a place like San Pietro

where the fighting is heaviest

and I'm gonna film the battle there

for the American home front.

But he missed it.

[narrator] When Houston arrived at San Pietro

his crew were bombarded by German shelling.

his crew were bombarded by German shelling.

[Geoff] The Germans have already withdrawn

but it's a careful tactical withdraw

just to the northern rim of hills beyond the village.

So there's still firing on San Pietro,

German artilleries still in position.

[narrator] His crew took cover

with the sheltering residence.

[Gaetano] When John Houston sought refuge

from the American and German bombings in San Pietro,

he and his crew went into a shelter

with some of the civilians.

Inside he realized that one of his cameramen was in shock.

He was shaking,

so he tried to talk to him and calm him.

But the intensity of the bombings

only increased the cameraman's fear.

[narrator] After several long hours,

[narrator] After several long hours,

the bombing stopped.

[dramatic music playing]

[Lynette] So once the Germans have covered their retreat

to their next defensive line,

the German artilleries switches off.

And at that point,

the villagers of San Pietro

are able to move back out into the fresh air

and John Houston and his crew

are able to move out with them.

[narrator] The Battle of San Pietro was over.

Houston had missed his moment.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] In 1943,

Director John Houston was ordered to make a documentary

of the Battle of San Pietro.

But when he arrived,

the battle was already over.

[Geoff] so Houston has the idea,

"Okay. I've got all these GIs milling around

that have been through the battle

that they remember what it was like

and the experience is fresh in their minds."

and the experience is fresh in their minds."

"Okay. I'm gonna recreate the Battle of San Pietro."

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] Armed with a stock of film

and a cast of soldiers,

Houston's cameras started rolling

on a reconstruction

of the Battle of San Pietro.

[Geoff] So they're firing their weapons,

they're taking cover from incoming German fire,

they're fleeing grenades.

He took care that, you know, it was concussion grenades,

not fragmentation grenades

but the viewer can't tell the difference.

but the viewer can't tell the difference.

And he kinda recreates the harrowing mood of the place.

He instructs these GIs to occasionally turn

and look directly at the camera

so as to, like, communicate the stress they're under,

the strain of battle.

And it gives it a really immediate effect,

all of which become trademarks of this,

you know, award-winning Battle of San Pietro film.

[man] Some 200 yards forward,

they encountered mines

and automatic fire from pill boxes.

[Lynette] In the heat of battle,

[Lynette] In the heat of battle,

the camera pans,

an Allied soldier is shot,

he falls,

everyone in the cinema is shocked.

They have just watched

the extinction of a human life.

And then Houston shouts, "Cut."

And the guy gets back up again.

[narrator] But not everything that Houston captured

at San Pietro was fake.

[Lynette] The grim toll

of The Battle of San Pietro

was caught on film.

And real soldiers

being wrapped up

and eventually shipped home.

That was part of the reality of war

being communicated

to Americans back home.

[Jim] The military brass initially didn't like that.

They kept pushing him to change it, to soften it.

They kept pushing him to change it, to soften it.

They didn't want the people back home

or the troops in training to see

these images of young Americans

who had been cut down in this battle.

[narrator] And there was something else

that Houston captured for real.

[dramatic music playing]

[Geoff] An aspect of this film is not staged,

it's the relief of the survivors.

You see these children and adults

coming out of hiding where they've been in the caves

to avoid the Allied and German bombardments

to avoid the Allied and German bombardments

and they come into their shattered town

and they're kind of milling around in the rubble

of their old homes, and shops, and church.

But they're beaming, they're happy

because for them at least

the war is really over.

[Gaetano] This spot in the city of San Pietro

is important.

Because when John Houston was filming

his documentary here,

he filmed this very road,

this very spot

this very spot

as it was being freed of the rubble.

And people were attempting to get back

to some kind of pseudo-normality.

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] At the end of the war,

Houston's San Pietro was shown

across the United States and Italy.

Praised for his depiction of a fight to the death

between good and evil.

But John Houston

kept the secret of his documentary

kept the secret of his documentary

to the end of his life.

[Jim] A lot of people criticized Houston

later when it came out.

How little of the film had really been shot

documentary style.

And about his dishonesty and how he portrayed the film

but Director Martin Scorsese later said that

he was working in the service of a greater truth,

a harder truth.

[narrator] In Eastern Germany,

on the outskirts of Berlin,

is an entire village that's fallen silent.

[Rob] The trees do a pretty good job of hiding

just how extensive this site is.

[Geoff] It is a major facility of some kind

surrounded by a great wall.

surrounded by a great wall.

[Lynette] What I see here is

a lot of utilitarian buildings.

Almost as though there are big sheds

up close to each other.

[narrator] And the outside walls are littered

with revealing details.

[Rob] Some of the walls have plaques

or stone carvings on the outside

which hinted how this place might have been used.

[Geoff] You have these beautiful murals

on the various buildings

on the various buildings

all relating to the animal kingdom.

There might be some kind of zoo

or animal husbandry function

to this sprawling facility.

[narrator] So who or what was this site built to house?

[tense music playing]

[narrator] In a German forest near Berlin

lies a decaying compound.

The story of what happened here

has not traveled far even to this day.

It's secrets remain only

in the hands of a few keen locals.

Brigitte Baumann is one of them.

[Brigitte in German]

[narrator] And it's the grand nature of this place

that makes it so intriguing.

[Rob] These buildings are really starting

to fall apart inside

but they still maintain a sense of grandeur.

[Lynette] We've got gorgeous, lavish rooms

clearly built to impress people.

And when you look at them empty,

they made me feel chilly.

they made me feel chilly.

[Brigitte in German]

[narrator] This was once

the Grand Krampnitz Cavalry School.

[Brigitte in German]

[Geoff] A lot of really famous German generals

come through Krampnitz to complete their training.

In the 1936 Olympics,

the Germans get gold and silver medals in events

like show humping and dressage.

like show humping and dressage.

So there's this real cavalry tradition in Germany.

[Brigitte in German]

[narrator] But this luxurious world

would soon be tipped upside down.

With the arrival of the Second World War,

the old traditions here

were supplanted by new technologies.

were supplanted by new technologies.

[Lynette] There needs to be a place to train people

to do the old horse cavalry tasks.

And that's going to be done now by soldiers

in fast-moving reconnaissance vehicles and light tanks

instead of horses.

[narrator] The age of the German tank

known as the Panzer had arrived.

Krampnitz quickly developed to prioritize

Krampnitz quickly developed to prioritize

the training of these new armored vehicles.

[Geoff] In a way the Panzers are attacking in the...

in the style of the old shock cavalry

where you'd have this heavy cavalry

with steel breast plates galloping at the enemy.

[Rob] They could cross ditches

and crush barbed wire.

There was no denying it,

toe-to-toe with a horse,

the Panzer was by far

the meaner beast on the battlefield.

[narrator] These vehicles would play the key role

in a revolutionary new tactic

called Blitzkrieg or lightning war.

[engines revving]

[Lynette] The armor forces in the German army

are not just tanks.

They're fast moving tanks with radios.

That means that a German tank commander

handles his tanks

differently from everybody else.

[Geoff] These armored spearheads that'll

rip through the enemy line

and be followed by infantry

that will come in quickly behind

to consolidate the victory.

[narrator] At first, this achieved great success

but when Hitler turned his tanks

towards the vast expanses of Russia.

Their fatal flaw would be revealed.

[Geoff] Panzers are only as good

as the logistical train that's following them.

The fuel trucks,

The fuel trucks,

the motorized infantry that has to be to be able

to keep up with the Panzers

so they don't get surrounded, and isolated,

and picked apart by anti-tank weapons.

[Rob] The freezing temperatures

also played havoc with all the German vehicles.

The engines just gave up

and turned whatever they were powering

into huge roadblocks.

[narrator] To keep their armies progressing,

the German's relied on some unlikely heroes

to save the day

and many were trained here at Krampnitz.

and many were trained here at Krampnitz.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] In Germany are the ruins of the vast

Krampnitz Cavalry School.

Here an outdated technology was replaced

with a fearsome new weapon,

one that concealed a catastrophic truth.

[Geoff] The German Army in World War II

it's really a great illusion in any respects.

It looks imposing from outside

but if you get right down to it,

but if you get right down to it,

it has these kind of gleaming armored spearheads.

But the rest of it's a...

It's really a 19th Century army.

[narrator] And as Hitler's tanks

known as Panzers

were struggling on the Eastern front in 1942,

it became clear that they would have to rely

on an old kind of power.

[Brigitte in German]

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Lynette] A horse could carry on

as long as you put good shoes on them

they can get on through mud.

A horse didn't need

to have its fuel delivered

from Romania or Germany.

A horse could eat the local grain, the local farm.

[narrator] Despite the Nazi's grand ambitions

for mechanized superiority,

in reality, their armies depended heavily

on horses.

[tense music playing]

[tense music playing]

[Geoff] And one of the greatest ironies

of the war of course is that, you know,

the Panzer gets all the credit

and yet at the end of this long supply lines

the Panzers are often being kept in the field

by long lines of horse drawn fuel trucks.

[narrator] Over 80% of the German combat strength

was pulled by this beasts of burden,

but despite the best efforts

of the 625,000 pack horses

of the 625,000 pack horses

active on the Eastern front.

The Nazi's advance crumbled,

leaving 300,000 soldiers trapped

behind enemy lines at Stalingrad.

[Lynette] The German soldiers

were unable to look after themselves

never mind their animals,

they couldn't keep shoes on their feet

and food in their bellies.

[Rob] So without food

many of the Nazi's soldiers ate

the only things that were available to them.

They ate rats

They ate rats

and of course before that

they ate the horses.

[narrator] Eventually,

the Soviets would push the Nazi forces

all the way back to within 15 miles of here

capturing Berlin and ending the war.

While the common soldier was left to fend for themselves,

the prized horses and trophies at Krampnitz

were handed over to American troops.

Though it was Hitler

who ordered the Nazi armies onto the eastern front

it was not he who suffered there.

[Lynette] Not only did the German soldier die

in the service of their insane Fuhrer

that meant that the German horse

innocently died

in the service of their insane Fuhrer.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] Deep within the Atacama Desert,

isolated from the modern world

sets a time capsule of Chile's past.

[dramatic music playing]

[Alicia] From the dust of this expansive desert

suddenly, there's this sprawling town.

[Dougal] The whole place is derelict

as far as the eye can see.

[Lynette] There's an industrial section,

there is retail,

there is residential.

This is or at least this was

a proper community.

[narrator] Set in one of the most

inhospitable places on Earth,

why would anyone choose to make this their home?

[Lynette] There's a real feeling of utter isolation,

in this town

no one can hear you scream.

no one can hear you scream.

[tense music playing]

[Dougal] There has to be a reason for being there

and these reasons usually revolve

around some sort of resource.

[narrator] This explains the industrial machinery

but there are some things here

that don't add up.

[Lynette] When you look around the perimeter

you see that people took the trouble

to put minefields down.

[Alicia] This place was designed

[Alicia] This place was designed

with a utopian vision of the future

but by the end, it became a nightmare.

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] Local researcher Luis Enrique Silva Guerrero

knows the difficulties of living

in this harsh climate.

[Luis] Looking to the horizon,

the north, south, east, and west

the only thing you see is dryness.

the only thing you see is dryness.

It's very hostile.

[narrator] But if you know what to look for,

the reason for Chacabuco's existence

is in plain view.

Over there, you can see

the deposits of nitrates.

[narrator] In the early 19th Century

it was discovered that nitrates,

known as saltpeter

known as saltpeter

were a miracle fertilizer.

[Dougal] Here,

the concentration of saltpeter

was actually at the surface,

so it was very, very easy to mine.

[Luis] The raw material

went through those tunnels

into the crushing machine

and once it was crushed

in fine pieces

it was transported

to that building over there.

to that building over there.

[Dougal] All of these pipes and networks, and so on,

are part of this process

by which you're able to try and purify the ore.

[narrator] With a global intensification

in agriculture,

the demand for saltpeter sky rocketed.

Chacabuco became a boom town.

And it wasn't just the industry here

that was revolutionary.

[Alicia] This town was created with a sort of

[Alicia] This town was created with a sort of

corporate welfare vision.

That if we can pull the worker away

from cramp living conditions in the city

and provide them

with clean living arrangements

and leisure time

then they might be better workers

and they might be healthier.

[Lynette] They were provided for, they were looked after,

they had lovely houses,

they had shops, they had a church,

they had a community center,

they had a theater.

[narrator] But there is evidence that life here

was not entirely Utopian.

was not entirely Utopian.

[Alicia] What's interesting about the layout of this town

is that it seems, like it's almost designed

to surveil the people there,

that at the center of this community,

you have the tallest buildings

with the tallest rooftops and from there

they can almost see the inner workings

of everything going on in their community.

[Lynette] We now know that the people

who lived in this community

were being watched

and we have records of people's

intimate lives being surveilled

intimate lives being surveilled

by company security.

[narrator] But corporate surveillance

was nothing

compared to what came next.

[Lynette] Before too long

this community became

something very different,

a darker place.

[ominous music playing]

[narrator] Chacabuco Chile,

a once flourishing mining town in the Atacama Desert

that seems to have another story to tell.

[Dougal] The last kind of vestiges of life

that you can see in and around the buildings

is the graffiti.

And this is graffiti of a very political nature.

[Alicia] It's really just tragic to see

[Alicia] It's really just tragic to see

this vision of prosperity descend and decline

into this tragic circumstance.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] In 1938,

the industry here ground to a halt.

And the town was left to the elements.

But in 1973,

everything changed.

Allegedly with support from the CIA,

a right-wing group launched a coupe,

a right-wing group launched a coupe,

their leader...

Augusto Pinochet.

[Lynette] Augusto Pinochet was a...

ruthless dictator.

He controlled Chile

in a way that was brutal,

it was repressive.

[narrator] Anyone that disagreed with the new gente

quickly vanished.

And where better to make people disappear

than in the middle of a desert.

than in the middle of a desert.

[Dougal] So not only where the buildings already there

but you didn't have to go far from the buildings

and you were in the harshest,

driest desert on the planet,

that became the ideal place to lock people away,

away from prying eyes.

[Alicia] And these homes that used to belong to individuals

suddenly became great cells for prisoners.

[narrator] Roberto Sepulveda

is part of the organization

that now preserves Chacabuco.

that now preserves Chacabuco.

[Roberto] I had the opportunity

to walk around this place

back in 1973.

It was exactly like we see

the German concentration camps in the movies.

With electrified fences,

trained dogs,

guard towers

surrounded with minefields,

and tanks and planes

flying over it to prevent prisoners from escaping.

flying over it to prevent prisoners from escaping.

[narrator] From the moment the inmates arrived,

conditions were brutal.

[Roberto] As soon as they got here,

they would have them undressed

and what was later a football pitch,

make them empty their bags,

and have them stand naked in the sun.

[dramatic music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[Alicia] Most of the prisoners faced harassment

and few had enough rations

to barely keep them alive.

[narrator] At its height

over a thousand people were held here.

Most of them... innocent

but their spirit of resistance

is etched into the walls.

[Roberto] In places where the prisoners lived,

they left multiple testimonies on the walls,

if you look in other houses

if you look in other houses

you will find many of them.

[narrator] The concentration camp at Chacabuco was closed

after only two years

and the authorities quickly tried to cover up

what they did here.

[dramatic music playing]

[Lynette] They stripped away

a lot of the evidence

and they tried to purify this place.

[Roberto] All the references

of the assault to human dignity,

of the assault to human dignity,

to the physical and psychological torture

that were left here,

soldiers erased all the testimonies.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator] Today,

Chacabuco lies derelict

but its history of pioneering industry

and cruel repression

leaves a complicated legacy.

[Alicia] It's important to remember

some of the unsavory elements of history

some of the unsavory elements of history

so that we can continue to learn from them,

that we can see warning signs

of authoritarianism

when we see them again.

[Roberto] This is a place that holds lots of emotions.

We want this to be remembered,

we want people to come here,

societies who forget their history

are doomed to repeat it.

[dramatic music playing]