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The
20th of July, 1944.
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The Wolfsschanze,
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Germany's headquarters
on the eastern front.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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Nestled away in the
deep forests of Poland,
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Adolf Hitler is drawing up plans
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that he believes could
secure his victory in Europe.
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The führer strategies
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are interrupted by
a knock at the door.
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Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg,
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Hitler's trusted chief
of staff walks in
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holding a briefcase.
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But Stauffenberg is not
here to talk battle plans,
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he's here to kill Hitler.
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There were lots of
plots to kill Hitler,
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and he survived so many
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that it made Hitler feel
that he really did have
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this kind of divine
providence behind him
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that made him survive.
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The most celebrated
plot against him
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was the July bomb
plot of July, 1944,
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in which you've got this kind
of cadre of senior officers
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all over the Third Reich
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who have been meeting in
secret for many years actually.
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On the 20th of July, 1944,
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Claus von Stauffenberg
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made a serious attempt
on the Führer's life
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by bringing a bomb into the
briefing room where Hitler was,
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placing it under his desk
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and hoping that it
would kill Hitler.
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Adolf Hitler,
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the most notorious dictator
of the 20th century.
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Outraged by the
Treaty of Versailles
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and Germany's humiliation
in the first World War,
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Hitler fiercely campaigned
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to rescue the
Fatherland from ruin.
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The mood in Germany at
the end of World War I
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was that of a humiliated and
defeated people and nation.
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This fight had been
going on for four years.
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Millions of people had died
and no one had got anything,
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or no one had got anywhere.
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It was a mood of revolution,
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a mood of deep dissatisfaction,
a mood of instability,
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and it felt like the country
was on the brink of collapse.
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His
mesmerizing public speeches
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called for a new
order in Germany,
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one which would cast off the
weakened incompetent structure
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of the Democratic regime,
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and instead install a
supreme national leader.
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Citizens from all
corners of the country
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fell for the relentless
promotion of his ideology,
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and Hitler successfully recast
himself as Germany's savior.
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What Hitler is absolutely
amazing at is speechmaking.
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And to begin to
understand Hitler,
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you've really gotta understand
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that he was the most
amazing demagogue.
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Hitler's speeches
are really vitriolic,
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but they're very effective,
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and they attract
regular audiences,
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and he's really good at
using populist themes.
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And labels scapegoats
for losing the war.
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You name it, Jews, communists,
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you know, whoever Hitler hates,
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that given moment,
he'll lay into them.
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Listeners are listening
and watching this,
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and they're thinking, yes,
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these are the reasons for
our economic hardships.
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And Hitler's also got this
huge personal magnetism,
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and he's got this
instinctive understanding
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of the psychology of crowds.
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And of course,
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you know, like any really
brilliant public speaker,
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he's going to use
that to his advantage.
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It's like a conductor
with an orchestra.
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Like many
dictators before him,
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he became insistent on
protecting his godlike image
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and divine right to power.
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The Führer kept himself away
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from the more violent and
brutal aspects of the regime.
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He promoted
anti-Jewish propaganda,
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but refused to
bloody his own hands,
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relying instead on
his loyal circle
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to rid Germany of
its enemies me.
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So the issue of
how Hitler managed
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to keep his popular image clean
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while the final
solution was underway
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is obviously a very interesting
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and a very difficult question.
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But I suppose the essence
of it is two things.
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First of all, that
those mass shootings
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that were taking place in the
USSR were not on German soil.
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And of course, the second part,
the most important part too,
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that the death camps, all of
those were on Polish soil.
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So they were out of the
immediate frame of sight
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or reference of the Germans.
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So again, in some way, they
were happening elsewhere
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and not really in their
immediate field of vision.
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Hitler is always
mindful of public opinion.
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I think that it's
always important to
remember that Hitler,
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you know, does
always worry about
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what the German people
think about him.
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He doesn't just sort of seize
power in 33 and then not care.
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You know, he wants to be
liked, he wants to be popular.
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He's a political
leader after all.
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And all political leaders,
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democratic, or fascist or
otherwise, want to be liked.
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However,
Hitler and the Nazis
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were not entirely immune
to the consequences
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of their dark agenda.
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Feelings of
disillusionment and disgust
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built up amongst
certain individuals.
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And by 1944,
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Hitler faced the biggest
threat to his life yet.
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Out of Hitler's Nazi regime,
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spilled not only a
drive to preserve
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the country's economy
and global status,
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Nazism also meant
the annihilation of
Germany's enemies.
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And in 1935, the creation
of the Nuremberg Laws
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set its sites firmly on the
most hated group in Germany,
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the Jews.
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So we know that
from as early as
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Hitler's writings
in "Mein Kampf,"
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that he was personally
antisemitic.
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So we see his
personal antisemitism
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translated into state policy.
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There were many different
measures, legal measures
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taken against the Jews, and
also illegal measures as well.
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So very early on,
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there was a boycott of
Jewish shops and businesses.
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Very early on too, there
was a civil service law,
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which essentially threw
out Jewish civil servants
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from their positions.
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The Nuremberg Laws
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really put into place
some legal parameters
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for how the situation would
be with Germany's Jews.
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But what they did
really was to turn
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Germany's Jews into
second class citizens,
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really to take away their
equal citizenship rights.
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And also to forbid marriage
or sexual relations
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between Jews and Aryans.
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Many citizens
bought into the ideology
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that the very presence of Jews
threatened the German people.
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Ordinary people everywhere
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began practicing
antisemitic views
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and encouraging the idea that
Jews were an inferior race,
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separate to the
superior Aryan Germans.
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Before long, such
poisonous rhetoric
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turned into violent action.
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And on the 9th of
November, 1938,
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the Nazi regime coordinated
a wave of attacks
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across the country.
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You suddenly get this
thing called Kristallnacht,
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the Night of Broken
Glass in 1938,
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where the Nazis just
literally set fire
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to synagogues everywhere.
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The world really
noticed Kristallnacht,
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you know, this
absolutely horrific
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destruction, slaughter, violence
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carried out by the state
against its own people.
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It showed the world
what Hitler was.
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He was effectively a
gangster and a murderer.
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The violence
was supposed to look
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like an unplanned outburst of
popular anger against Jews.
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But in reality,
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Kristallnacht state-sponsored
vandalism and arson.
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Nazi leaders actively
coordinated it
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with Adolf Hitler's support.
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There's no doubt
about the centrality
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of antisemitism to
Hitler's worldview.
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There's absolutely
no doubt about that.
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But what he seemed
to be trying to do
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was sort of stay in the shadow
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so that when we get
a pogrom like this,
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that the public, the German
public and the population
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were quite affronted by it.
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Maybe not because they
particularly supported the Jews,
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but because it was a kind of
a sort of flagrant violation
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of law and order and sort of
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a kind of very violent,
violent affair across the land.
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So, you know, it wasn't
popular in that respect.
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So there's that idea then
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that Hitler was sort of
staying in the shadows
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and not being
associated with that.
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I think he managed to
maintain his popularity
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during this time,
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first of all, because he
was staying in the shadows
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of more unpopular policies.
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And there was certainly
that sentiment
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among the German population
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because of this myth that
surrounded the führer,
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that well, if there were
unpleasant things going on
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or policies that
they didn't like,
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then somehow that Hitler
couldn't know about it,
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that he wasn't
associated with it,
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that it had to be one
of the other leaders.
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Universal
approval of the violent pogroms
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was not a reality for Hitler.
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In fact, opposition lurked
in unexpected places
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and arose from
unexpected individuals.
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Major general
Henning von Tresckow
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absolutely despised
the Nuremberg Laws
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and the violent
Kristallnacht attacks.
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From as early as the 1930s,
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the Nazi officer had been
plotting Hitler's overthrow
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and gathering a trusted
circle of people
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to assassinate the Führer.
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Tresckow's disgust towards
extreme antisemitism,
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consequently spurred him on
to become a key architect
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of Operation Valkyrie.
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Meanwhile, at the graveyard
attached to the institution,
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bodies are exhumed for autopsy.
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20,000 are buried here,
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00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:05,800
15,000 who died in
a lethal gas chamber
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were cremated and
their ashes in turd.
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00:12:08,867 --> 00:12:11,200
Death books found hidden
in the wine cellar
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of the Hadamar institution
revealed part of the story
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of the mass killings.
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The bulky volumes contained
thousands of death certificates.
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Profession unknown,
nationality unknown
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was written after each name.
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Feelings of
disenchantment, however,
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did not halt with Hitler's
anti-Jewish policies.
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In 1939, one of the darkest
programs of the Nazi regime
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came into existence.
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Aktion T4.
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Where Hitler's popularity
starts to take a real dent
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is his association,
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or the Nazi association with
what is called the T4 program.
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Now, the T4 program
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is named after the address in
which it was headquartered,
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Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin.
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And it really was the
most repellent form
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of kind of Nazi quote
unquote "medicine"
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that you could imagine.
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Because it was this idea
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that you have to treat
a people as a body.
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But what if you've got part
of your body as a population
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that is considered to be weak,
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i.e. sort of
cancerous or deformed,
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00:13:18,133 --> 00:13:21,100
or has hereditary illnesses?
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Well, why don't you just
chop them off as well?
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Because if you can
get rid of them,
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i.e. people with
congenital problems,
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you are gonna stop those
bad genes being passed on.
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And that's essentially
what the T4 program is.
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It is basically chopping
people out of life.
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You're killing them.
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You're killing
children with epilepsy.
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You're killing people who've
got mild spinal deformities.
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You're killing people
who've even got stutters
252
00:13:50,533 --> 00:13:53,467
because you are saying
they're genetically weak
253
00:13:53,467 --> 00:13:55,000
and we don't want them,
254
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,133
if we're gonna make this
strong, blonde Aryan race
255
00:13:57,133 --> 00:13:59,833
full of perfect super humans.
256
00:13:59,833 --> 00:14:02,833
It's kind of pseudo
medicine, it's pseudoscience.
257
00:14:05,767 --> 00:14:08,267
The unlawful
system of mass murder,
258
00:14:08,267 --> 00:14:10,500
outraged many German citizens,
259
00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:12,867
particularly Protestants
and Catholics,
260
00:14:12,867 --> 00:14:16,900
who led protests against
the exterminations.
261
00:14:16,900 --> 00:14:19,733
Relatives of patients
everywhere frantically panicked
262
00:14:19,733 --> 00:14:21,767
with many, withdrawing
their relatives
263
00:14:21,767 --> 00:14:24,733
from asylums to care
for them at home.
264
00:14:24,733 --> 00:14:26,867
In some places, doctors
and psychiatrists
265
00:14:26,867 --> 00:14:28,800
also cooperated with families
266
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,000
to have patients
discharged or transferred
267
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,233
to private clinics
beyond the reach of T4
268
00:14:39,733 --> 00:14:42,167
Führer Chancellery
Director Phillip Bouhler
269
00:14:42,167 --> 00:14:45,700
and physician Karl Brandt
led the killing operation.
270
00:14:47,067 --> 00:14:49,900
Under their leadership,
T4 operatives established
271
00:14:49,900 --> 00:14:52,900
six gassing
installations for adults
272
00:14:52,900 --> 00:14:54,933
as part of the
euthanasia action.
273
00:14:57,333 --> 00:15:00,400
For every person killed, a
death certificate was prepared,
274
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,133
giving a false, but
plausible cause of death
275
00:15:03,133 --> 00:15:05,133
to hide the evil reality.
276
00:15:07,933 --> 00:15:11,233
Hitler publicly canceled
the program in 1941
277
00:15:11,233 --> 00:15:13,700
after outcry from
the German people.
278
00:15:14,767 --> 00:15:16,767
However, the killings
in fact, continued
279
00:15:16,767 --> 00:15:19,367
until the end of the war.
280
00:15:19,367 --> 00:15:23,067
By 1945, the Nazis
had callously murdered
281
00:15:23,067 --> 00:15:26,367
as many as 300,000
innocent people.
282
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,433
The T4 euthanasia program
283
00:15:34,433 --> 00:15:36,900
represented in many
ways a rehearsal
284
00:15:36,900 --> 00:15:40,700
for Nazi Germany's subsequent
genocidal policies.
285
00:15:41,567 --> 00:15:43,533
Planners of the final solution
286
00:15:43,533 --> 00:15:45,900
later borrowed the
gas chamber method
287
00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:48,333
to eradicate the Jewish
and Roma populations
288
00:15:48,333 --> 00:15:52,000
on a scale never
before seen in history.
289
00:16:50,300 --> 00:16:53,567
Two years into the largest
conflict in history,
290
00:16:53,567 --> 00:16:56,833
Adolf Hitler devised
his riskiest move yet,
291
00:16:56,833 --> 00:16:59,000
Operation Barbarossa
292
00:17:00,300 --> 00:17:04,500
Hitler despised Bolshevism
and Stalin's regime.
293
00:17:04,500 --> 00:17:07,233
Intent on wiping out
the Soviet Union,
294
00:17:07,233 --> 00:17:10,633
he ordered Nazi troops to invade
Russian occupied territory
295
00:17:10,633 --> 00:17:12,767
on the 22nd of June, 1941.
296
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,467
Hitler had assured
the high command
297
00:17:37,467 --> 00:17:40,633
that we have only to
kick in the front door,
298
00:17:40,633 --> 00:17:43,700
and the whole rotten edifice
will come tumbling down.
299
00:17:44,533 --> 00:17:46,900
But Russia was not France.
300
00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:51,667
Despite the serious losses
inflicted on the Red Army
301
00:17:51,667 --> 00:17:53,900
and extensive territorial gains,
302
00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:56,567
the mission to completely
destroy Soviet fighting power
303
00:17:56,567 --> 00:17:58,767
was not achieved.
304
00:17:58,767 --> 00:18:02,233
The Soviets were not
going to go down easily.
305
00:18:02,233 --> 00:18:04,233
Had Hitler stopped
306
00:18:04,233 --> 00:18:06,100
after he'd successfully
conquered France
307
00:18:06,100 --> 00:18:07,167
and the low countries,
308
00:18:07,167 --> 00:18:10,500
and not decided in June, 1941
309
00:18:10,500 --> 00:18:12,067
that he was going to invade
310
00:18:12,067 --> 00:18:14,667
this really quite big
country called Russia,
311
00:18:14,667 --> 00:18:16,167
he may have stayed in power.
312
00:18:21,967 --> 00:18:24,100
But of course, what Stalin's got
313
00:18:24,100 --> 00:18:25,767
is a lot of room to fight him,
314
00:18:25,767 --> 00:18:28,967
because he can retreat and
retreat and retreat and retreat,
315
00:18:28,967 --> 00:18:33,267
and you've still got thousands
of miles of Russia behind you
316
00:18:33,267 --> 00:18:34,633
that you can fall back on.
317
00:18:36,133 --> 00:18:39,767
But also what Stalin does is
he's very good at regrouping
318
00:18:39,767 --> 00:18:41,767
and getting his
forces back together.
319
00:18:41,767 --> 00:18:45,900
Germans use a lot of
overdesigned tanks,
320
00:18:45,900 --> 00:18:48,567
overdesigned uniforms,
overdesigned weapons.
321
00:18:48,567 --> 00:18:50,100
What the Russians
are good at doing is
322
00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:52,967
just getting things together
in a kind of makeshift way.
323
00:18:52,967 --> 00:18:55,267
But that works.
324
00:18:55,267 --> 00:18:56,400
You know, everything
Russians have,
325
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,767
uniforms, tanks, weaponry,
326
00:18:58,767 --> 00:19:00,200
really simple,
really easy to use,
327
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,167
really easy to mass
produce very, very quickly.
328
00:19:03,167 --> 00:19:05,933
German kit takes
ages to produce.
329
00:19:05,933 --> 00:19:09,000
So this is another real problem
that's faced by the Germans.
330
00:19:10,933 --> 00:19:13,800
1942 would
be an even worse year
331
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:15,600
for Hitler's fight in the East.
332
00:19:18,533 --> 00:19:19,733
The Führer hoped to take
333
00:19:19,733 --> 00:19:22,967
the strategic city
of Stalingrad easily,
334
00:19:22,967 --> 00:19:26,500
but the well-armed Red Army
and the fierce Russian winter
335
00:19:26,500 --> 00:19:29,667
made German soldiers'
lives absolute hell.
336
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,467
By mid-November,
337
00:19:42,467 --> 00:19:45,267
the Germans found themselves
outnumbered, outgunned,
338
00:19:45,267 --> 00:19:48,400
extremely low on food
and medical supplies,
339
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,600
and surrounded by Russians.
340
00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:54,000
But Hitler refused
to withdraw troops.
341
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,633
He placed prestige over
lives and commanded
342
00:19:57,633 --> 00:19:59,967
they hold their
positions to the last man
343
00:19:59,967 --> 00:20:01,733
and the last round.
344
00:20:02,767 --> 00:20:05,067
He also promised
additional provisions,
345
00:20:05,067 --> 00:20:07,700
provisions that never arrived.
346
00:20:07,700 --> 00:20:11,433
So when the tide of
the war turned in 1943
347
00:20:11,433 --> 00:20:13,100
with a battle of Stalingrad
348
00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:15,233
and then the fortunes
went the other way,
349
00:20:15,233 --> 00:20:17,367
then that sort of question
of the infallibility
350
00:20:17,367 --> 00:20:21,033
of the Führer came to
be called into question.
351
00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:26,333
So whilst by this
point after Stalingrad,
352
00:20:26,333 --> 00:20:29,067
the cult of the leader
was diminished somewhat,
353
00:20:29,067 --> 00:20:33,367
he'd created this myth
of the Soviet hordes
354
00:20:33,367 --> 00:20:36,700
and this great Soviet
enemy to such an extent
355
00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:40,067
that out of fear and
out of desperation,
356
00:20:40,067 --> 00:20:43,600
both the army and the home front
357
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,400
really worked until the bitter
end before capitulation.
358
00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:51,600
Left
with little choice,
359
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,333
German general Friedrich Paulus
went against Hitler's orders
360
00:20:55,333 --> 00:20:57,867
and surrendered his
weakened troops to Russia
361
00:20:57,867 --> 00:21:00,367
on February the 2nd 1943,
362
00:21:00,367 --> 00:21:03,500
an act which Hitler
later called "treason."
363
00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:07,567
The heavy defeat, punctured
the Führer's power in Europe,
364
00:21:07,567 --> 00:21:09,767
and a lurking feeling
of disenchantment
365
00:21:09,767 --> 00:21:12,200
spread throughout
the German army.
366
00:21:14,167 --> 00:21:16,800
Stalingrad soon became
a major catalyst
367
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,400
for conspirators
across the Third Reich
368
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,267
to join the plot to kill Hitler.
369
00:21:28,667 --> 00:21:31,767
Claus von Stauffenberg
was no exception.
370
00:21:33,467 --> 00:21:36,300
He had witnessed firsthand
the absolute catastrophe
371
00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:37,833
on the eastern front
372
00:21:37,833 --> 00:21:41,267
and became convinced that
Hitler had to be removed.
373
00:21:48,333 --> 00:21:51,767
Stauffenberg was born into
an aristocratic family.
374
00:21:51,767 --> 00:21:53,200
Despite joining the Wehrmacht,
375
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:54,867
he, like many elites,
376
00:21:54,867 --> 00:21:57,633
tended to view the
Nazis with this taste.
377
00:22:02,267 --> 00:22:04,767
However, it would not
just be a class issue
378
00:22:04,767 --> 00:22:06,033
that persuaded Stauffenberg
379
00:22:06,033 --> 00:22:08,600
to turn away from
his divine leader.
380
00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:12,300
His time on the Eastern
front opened his eyes
381
00:22:12,300 --> 00:22:15,233
to the mass murder
of Jews and Slavs.
382
00:22:16,333 --> 00:22:19,233
Outraged, the young
officer openly stated,
383
00:22:19,233 --> 00:22:21,700
"They are shooting
Jews in masses.
384
00:22:21,700 --> 00:22:24,567
These crimes must not
be allowed to continue."
385
00:22:26,433 --> 00:22:28,000
As well as
places like Auschwitz,
386
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,167
which were relatively
easy to keep quite secret,
387
00:22:31,167 --> 00:22:33,700
what people also knew
about from troops
388
00:22:33,700 --> 00:22:35,333
returning from the front,
389
00:22:35,333 --> 00:22:37,333
and especially from
the Eastern front,
390
00:22:37,333 --> 00:22:40,467
was the Einsatzgruppen,
the mobile killing squads
391
00:22:40,467 --> 00:22:43,033
that went behind
the German lines,
392
00:22:43,033 --> 00:22:44,367
killing anybody they regarded as
393
00:22:44,367 --> 00:22:46,833
being an enemy of
the Third Reich,
394
00:22:46,833 --> 00:22:49,533
such as Jews and
communists and so on.
395
00:22:49,533 --> 00:22:52,533
And the Einsatzgruppen
killed millions of people,
396
00:22:52,533 --> 00:22:55,700
and it was impossible
to keep that quiet.
397
00:22:55,700 --> 00:22:58,633
Stauffenberg became
so vocal in his criticism,
398
00:22:58,633 --> 00:23:02,433
his officers decided that he
should be posted to Tunisia,
399
00:23:02,433 --> 00:23:04,033
a move which would
end with Stauffenberg
400
00:23:04,033 --> 00:23:08,000
losing his left eye, his
right hand, and two fingers
401
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,067
in a surprise attack by
American fighter aircraft.
402
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,467
Stauffenberg's
life-changing injuries
403
00:23:17,467 --> 00:23:19,367
did not hinder his mission
404
00:23:19,367 --> 00:23:22,567
to rid Germany of its
ruthless dictator.
405
00:23:22,567 --> 00:23:25,600
Instead, his fate placed him
in an even better position
406
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,533
to implement the plot,
407
00:23:28,367 --> 00:23:30,200
right at the heart of Berlin.
408
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,433
In September, 1943,
409
00:23:54,433 --> 00:23:56,633
Stauffenberg was posted
to the headquarters
410
00:23:56,633 --> 00:23:59,333
of the replacement army
on the Bendlerstrasse.
411
00:24:01,367 --> 00:24:04,700
Here he would be introduced
to two key conspirators,
412
00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:07,167
Major General
Henning von Tresckow,
413
00:24:07,167 --> 00:24:09,600
and General Friedrich Olbricht.
414
00:24:11,067 --> 00:24:14,367
The tide of the war was now
turning against Germany.
415
00:24:14,367 --> 00:24:17,700
The trio had to move first
to implement the plot.
416
00:24:21,733 --> 00:24:25,267
We shall
defend our island,
417
00:24:25,267 --> 00:24:27,700
whatever the cost may be.
418
00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:32,233
We shall fight on
beaches, landing grounds,
419
00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:37,100
in fields, in streets,
and on the hills.
420
00:24:37,100 --> 00:24:39,300
We shall never surrender.
421
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,567
Olbricht put
forward a new strategy
422
00:25:06,567 --> 00:25:08,867
for staging a coup
against Hitler.
423
00:25:08,867 --> 00:25:11,633
The replacement Army had
an operational plan called
424
00:25:11,633 --> 00:25:13,167
Operation Valkyrie
425
00:25:13,167 --> 00:25:16,433
to be used in the event of a
breakdown of law and order.
426
00:25:16,433 --> 00:25:19,467
Valkyrie was the perfect way
to mobilize the reserve army
427
00:25:19,467 --> 00:25:21,167
during the takeover.
428
00:25:23,967 --> 00:25:26,067
Tresckow and Stauffenberg
worked tirelessly
429
00:25:26,067 --> 00:25:27,700
to modify Valkyrie
430
00:25:27,700 --> 00:25:30,567
and at the same time
remain undiscovered.
431
00:25:32,333 --> 00:25:36,067
The pair drafted plans
to occupy German cities,
432
00:25:36,067 --> 00:25:39,967
take control of Heinrich
Himmler's SS and Gestapo,
433
00:25:39,967 --> 00:25:42,733
and even arrest the
Nazi leadership.
434
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,300
The plotters finalized
every tiny detail,
435
00:25:47,300 --> 00:25:49,967
even devising a whole
new government structure,
436
00:25:49,967 --> 00:25:51,700
following takeover.
437
00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:57,200
General Ludwig Beck would
be placed as head of state,
438
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,133
the long-term resistor Dr.
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
439
00:26:00,133 --> 00:26:02,567
would become Germany's
new chancellor.
440
00:26:02,567 --> 00:26:06,767
Tresckow would take control of
all German security services,
441
00:26:06,767 --> 00:26:08,667
and either Olbricht
or Stauffenberg
442
00:26:08,667 --> 00:26:11,000
would serve as state secretary.
443
00:26:12,633 --> 00:26:16,967
The only question that remained
was how to kill Hitler.
444
00:26:20,467 --> 00:26:22,633
There were lots of
plots to kill Hitler,
445
00:26:22,633 --> 00:26:25,500
and he survived so many
446
00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:26,800
that it made Hitler feel
447
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:28,400
that he really did have this
448
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,133
kind of divine
providence behind him
449
00:26:30,133 --> 00:26:31,800
that made him survive.
450
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,567
But actually, the most
kind of celebrated plot
451
00:26:35,567 --> 00:26:39,867
against him was the July
Bomb Plot of July, 1944,
452
00:26:39,867 --> 00:26:42,433
in which you've got
this kind of cadre
453
00:26:42,433 --> 00:26:45,433
of senior officers all
over the Third Reich
454
00:26:45,433 --> 00:26:49,167
who've been meeting in secret
for many years actually,
455
00:26:49,167 --> 00:26:51,200
what they wanna do is
to get rid of Hitler.
456
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,733
And they don't want to get rid
of Hitler because he's evil,
457
00:26:54,733 --> 00:26:56,367
that may be part of it,
458
00:26:56,367 --> 00:26:57,633
they want to get rid of Hitler
459
00:26:57,633 --> 00:27:00,200
because they think he's
fighting the war badly,
460
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:01,833
and they just are
fed up with him.
461
00:27:01,833 --> 00:27:03,800
And indeed Hitler is
fighting the war badly
462
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,300
'cause he's a terrible,
terrible strategist.
463
00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:10,433
The conspirators
considered poisoning his food
464
00:27:10,433 --> 00:27:14,200
and even shooting the
Führer at a dinner party.
465
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,567
But by late 1943,
466
00:27:16,567 --> 00:27:19,533
Hitler had become increasingly
paranoid and suspicious,
467
00:27:19,533 --> 00:27:24,067
often abruptly changing
plans or tightening access.
468
00:27:24,067 --> 00:27:27,933
In the end, a time bomb
was the only option.
469
00:27:33,033 --> 00:27:34,533
At the time of planning,
470
00:27:34,533 --> 00:27:38,133
none of the conspirators had
direct access to Adolf Hitler.
471
00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:44,167
However, in 1944, everything
changed for Stauffenberg.
472
00:27:45,733 --> 00:27:47,367
General Friedrich Fromm,
473
00:27:47,367 --> 00:27:49,067
the commander of the
replacement Army,
474
00:27:49,067 --> 00:27:52,700
appointed Stauffenberg
as his chief of staff.
475
00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:55,833
Fromm was the only
officer other than Hitler
476
00:27:55,833 --> 00:27:59,033
who could initiate Operation
Valkyrie with his signature.
477
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,567
Aware of his subordinate's plan,
478
00:28:02,567 --> 00:28:04,200
he made a deal to remain quiet
479
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:06,567
on the condition that
he became a top official
480
00:28:06,567 --> 00:28:09,800
in the new government
after the mutiny.
481
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:11,700
The plan was coming into place,
482
00:28:11,700 --> 00:28:13,733
and Stauffenberg was
now in a position
483
00:28:13,733 --> 00:28:16,767
where he could see Hitler
on a regular basis.
484
00:28:18,467 --> 00:28:19,700
Of all the conspirators,
485
00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:23,367
he was the best placed
to become the assassin.
486
00:28:37,300 --> 00:28:39,067
Time was ticking.
487
00:28:39,067 --> 00:28:41,700
Certain defeat in
the war closed in,
488
00:28:41,700 --> 00:28:43,833
and the coup needed
to take place soon
489
00:28:43,833 --> 00:28:46,667
to save Germany from
total destruction.
490
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,633
The Army had posted Tresckow
to the eastern front
491
00:28:51,633 --> 00:28:54,800
and the original assassin,
General Hellmuth Stieff
492
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,567
had backed down from the plan.
493
00:28:57,933 --> 00:29:01,333
Stauffenberg took total
control of the resistance,
494
00:29:01,333 --> 00:29:02,800
but in doing so,
495
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,367
he placed himself as both the
assassin and the commander
496
00:29:05,367 --> 00:29:07,833
of the Valkyrie
Operation in Berlin.
497
00:29:14,867 --> 00:29:18,467
Hidden away in the dark
shadows of the Masurian woods,
498
00:29:18,467 --> 00:29:20,233
Hitler was gathering
his most trusted offices
499
00:29:20,233 --> 00:29:23,633
for a military conference
at the Wolfsschanze.
500
00:29:24,900 --> 00:29:27,467
It was the 20th of July, 1944,
501
00:29:27,467 --> 00:29:29,133
and Stauffenberg found himself
502
00:29:29,133 --> 00:29:31,233
in the Eastern
front headquarters,
503
00:29:31,233 --> 00:29:34,467
alongside his aide,
Lieutenant Werner von Haeften.
504
00:29:35,667 --> 00:29:37,133
Briefcase in hand,
505
00:29:37,133 --> 00:29:40,233
the Colonel now had the perfect
opportunity to plant a bomb
506
00:29:40,233 --> 00:29:43,267
that could change the
course of history forever.
507
00:29:44,567 --> 00:29:47,100
So on 20th of July, 1944,
everything's in place.
508
00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:51,900
You've got people in Berlin
ready to take over the SS.
509
00:29:51,900 --> 00:29:56,967
You've got various army units
all over the Third Reich,
510
00:29:58,333 --> 00:30:00,267
ready to go, the drop of
the code word "Valkyrie,"
511
00:30:00,267 --> 00:30:03,133
which is gonna say that
Hitler's being killed.
512
00:30:03,133 --> 00:30:04,300
However,
513
00:30:04,300 --> 00:30:07,367
the summer sun had
reared its brutal head.
514
00:30:07,367 --> 00:30:10,000
The atmosphere was
intense and uncomfortable.
515
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,300
And irritated by the heat,
516
00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:14,467
Hitler moved the meeting
from the Führerbunker
517
00:30:14,467 --> 00:30:16,200
to a wooden hut.
518
00:30:20,067 --> 00:30:24,700
At 12:30pm, Stauffenberg excused
himself to a nearby room,
519
00:30:24,700 --> 00:30:27,267
claiming he needed
to change his shirt.
520
00:30:27,267 --> 00:30:30,833
But in reality, the pair
began fussing the first bomb.
521
00:30:32,300 --> 00:30:34,267
A guard knocked at the door,
522
00:30:34,267 --> 00:30:36,233
urging the colonel to hurry.
523
00:30:36,233 --> 00:30:38,267
Haeften and
Stauffenberg panicked.
524
00:30:38,267 --> 00:30:39,800
The Führer was waiting
525
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,600
and no time remained to
fuse the second bomb,
526
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,700
one bomb would have to do.
527
00:30:47,133 --> 00:30:48,833
As the seconds slipped away,
528
00:30:48,833 --> 00:30:51,100
Stauffenberg swiftly
excused himself
529
00:30:51,100 --> 00:30:53,533
under the pretext of
making a phone call.
530
00:30:58,567 --> 00:31:00,433
But unbeknownst to
the would-be assassin,
531
00:31:00,433 --> 00:31:03,300
Colonel Heinz Brandt
positioned next to Hitler,
532
00:31:03,300 --> 00:31:05,833
inadvertently collided
with the briefcase,
533
00:31:05,833 --> 00:31:09,433
deftly nudging it
behind a table leg.
534
00:31:09,433 --> 00:31:13,267
The fate of Europe now
hung in the balance.
535
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,100
At 12:42pm, the bomb detonated.
536
00:31:21,767 --> 00:31:24,900
Shock waves reverberated
through the Wolfsschanze.
537
00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:27,433
Stauffenberg and
Haeften quickly escaped
538
00:31:27,433 --> 00:31:29,067
driving to a nearby airfield
539
00:31:29,067 --> 00:31:32,467
to return to Berlin
and finish the job.
540
00:31:38,067 --> 00:31:42,800
The hopes of resistance crumbled
as the aftermath unfolded.
541
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,733
Stauffenberg, Olbricht,
and Ludwig Beck
542
00:31:48,733 --> 00:31:51,433
rushed to commandeer
various government buildings
543
00:31:51,433 --> 00:31:54,700
and arrested general Fromm
for refusal to cooperate
544
00:31:54,700 --> 00:31:57,700
until Hitler's death
had been confirmed.
545
00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:00,700
But soon came the news
they had been fearing.
546
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,467
Hitler was, in fact,
very much alive.
547
00:32:06,467 --> 00:32:10,100
As it happened, the furniture
took most of the blast,
548
00:32:10,100 --> 00:32:14,700
and Hitler got away with just
very superficial injuries.
549
00:32:14,700 --> 00:32:17,767
And put into place
straight away,
550
00:32:17,767 --> 00:32:22,267
the capture, the arrest,
and then the execution
551
00:32:22,267 --> 00:32:25,900
of all of those who were
involved in that bomb plot.
552
00:32:25,900 --> 00:32:28,933
Had the bomb found
its place to Hitler's left,
553
00:32:28,933 --> 00:32:31,767
had the meeting unfolded
in the Führerbunker,
554
00:32:31,767 --> 00:32:34,867
and had Stauffenberg
triggered both devices,
555
00:32:34,867 --> 00:32:38,100
the assassination success
would've seemed inevitable.
556
00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:42,367
Yet fate intervened.
557
00:32:42,367 --> 00:32:45,200
Hitler emerged with
only limited injuries,
558
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,033
sheltered by a table leg
559
00:32:47,033 --> 00:32:49,667
that absorbed the
brunt of the blast.
560
00:32:49,667 --> 00:32:54,267
The plan had faltered,
the tables had turned.
561
00:32:54,267 --> 00:32:55,800
The dream of a
world without Hitler
562
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:59,367
slipped through the grasp
of those who dared to defy.
563
00:33:04,867 --> 00:33:06,600
Furious and humiliated,
564
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,867
Hitler ordered commanding
officer Otto Ernst Remer
565
00:33:09,867 --> 00:33:13,967
to arrest the conspirators
and bring them to him alive.
566
00:33:13,967 --> 00:33:17,200
But a bitter general
Fromm had other ideas.
567
00:33:18,033 --> 00:33:19,633
To hide his involvement
568
00:33:19,633 --> 00:33:22,333
from ordered immediate
court martials,
569
00:33:22,333 --> 00:33:25,567
the conspirators now faced
swift and brutal reprisals
570
00:33:25,567 --> 00:33:29,833
for their bold attempt to
alter the course of history.
571
00:33:29,833 --> 00:33:34,067
Ludwig Beck asked for a
pistol and shot himself,
572
00:33:34,067 --> 00:33:37,600
the first of many suicide
attempts in the coming days.
573
00:33:39,967 --> 00:33:44,233
At 00:10 hours on the
21st of July, 1944,
574
00:33:44,233 --> 00:33:48,033
Colonel von Stauffenberg,
General Friedrich Olbricht,
575
00:33:48,033 --> 00:33:49,433
Lieutenant Werner von Haeften
576
00:33:49,433 --> 00:33:52,633
and another officer,
Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim
577
00:33:52,633 --> 00:33:56,367
were killed by firing squad
in the Bendlerblock courtyard.
578
00:33:59,733 --> 00:34:03,100
On the eastern front, Tresckow
learned of the plotters fate
579
00:34:03,100 --> 00:34:05,100
and committed suicide.
580
00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:08,633
Until the end, he remained
loyal to the cause.
581
00:34:09,933 --> 00:34:14,300
The plot to kill Hitler
was well and truly over.
582
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,800
The 20th of July, plot
583
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,167
serves as a testament
to the bravery of those
584
00:34:22,167 --> 00:34:25,367
who dared to stand
against a ruthless regime.
585
00:34:25,367 --> 00:34:28,667
Even in the face of almost
insurmountable odds.
586
00:34:31,900 --> 00:34:33,300
If the plan had succeeded,
587
00:34:33,300 --> 00:34:36,367
it would've undoubtedly
shortened the war by many months
588
00:34:36,367 --> 00:34:39,000
and saved countless lives.
589
00:34:42,433 --> 00:34:45,200
However, Hitler's days
were still numbered,
590
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,133
and he would face the
looming shadow of death
591
00:34:47,133 --> 00:34:49,400
sooner rather than later.
592
00:34:53,233 --> 00:34:55,767
The Russians move
steadily from the East
593
00:34:55,767 --> 00:34:58,233
whilst the western allies
crossed the Rhineland.
594
00:34:59,933 --> 00:35:04,133
By April, 1945, 3
million Soviet troops
595
00:35:04,133 --> 00:35:06,267
dealt brutal blows
to the last traces
596
00:35:06,267 --> 00:35:08,467
of the German resistance.
597
00:35:11,300 --> 00:35:13,567
With the Russians at
the gates to Berlin,
598
00:35:13,567 --> 00:35:16,600
Adolf Hitler had nowhere to run.
599
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,767
The first half
of 1945 is probably
600
00:35:18,767 --> 00:35:21,767
the darkest six months
in Germany's history
601
00:35:21,767 --> 00:35:24,267
because it being invaded by
602
00:35:24,267 --> 00:35:27,167
the Russians, the Red
Army from the East,
603
00:35:27,167 --> 00:35:29,400
and you've got the other allies
604
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:30,833
coming through from the west.
605
00:35:30,833 --> 00:35:33,567
And it's the Russians
who reach Berlin first,
606
00:35:33,567 --> 00:35:35,400
and when they reach Berlin,
607
00:35:36,533 --> 00:35:38,167
it's a city in rubble,
it's a city in flames,
608
00:35:38,167 --> 00:35:39,867
it's a city in chaos.
609
00:35:39,867 --> 00:35:41,467
It's a city in which
610
00:35:41,467 --> 00:35:43,833
squads of marauding loyal Nazis
611
00:35:43,833 --> 00:35:46,000
are going around hanging people
612
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,200
who are not taking part in
the resistance to the city.
613
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:49,400
It's a city in which
614
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,067
you then got some Nazis
committing suicide.
615
00:35:52,067 --> 00:35:56,367
It is the most benighted,
appalling place you can imagine.
616
00:35:56,367 --> 00:35:57,933
And you've got the Soviet army
617
00:35:57,933 --> 00:36:02,500
literally raping and
pillaging this city.
618
00:36:05,167 --> 00:36:07,333
Towards the
end of the war, of course,
619
00:36:07,333 --> 00:36:10,133
Hitler was spending
more and more time
620
00:36:10,133 --> 00:36:12,867
in his mountain
retreat, The Berghof.
621
00:36:12,867 --> 00:36:15,900
And then people were
seeing less of him.
622
00:36:15,900 --> 00:36:18,700
He was making less and
less public appearances.
623
00:36:18,700 --> 00:36:22,133
And then eventually, in
the last months of the war,
624
00:36:22,133 --> 00:36:24,100
into the Führerbunker.
625
00:36:24,100 --> 00:36:28,200
And this is when public
opinion of the Führer
626
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:29,933
starts to crumble.
627
00:36:29,933 --> 00:36:32,600
Hitler's last
days in the Führerbunker
628
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,900
under the Reich Chancellery
in center of Berlin,
629
00:36:35,900 --> 00:36:40,967
are kind of terrible end
of a Shakespearean tragedy.
630
00:36:42,300 --> 00:36:45,200
As the thunder Russian
artillery all around them
631
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,133
and they're deep,
deep inside this
632
00:36:47,133 --> 00:36:50,400
sort of concrete
underground fortress.
633
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,000
Everybody's sort of kind of
going mad and especially Hitler.
634
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,900
On April the 30th,
635
00:36:56,900 --> 00:36:58,933
he committed suicide
in his bunker
636
00:37:00,967 --> 00:37:04,567
as the city at the heart of
his thousandth year Reich
637
00:37:04,567 --> 00:37:08,233
burned to the ground and
crumbled in ruins around him.
638
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:16,067
The war in Europe ended
forever on May the 7th, 1945,
639
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,100
and Hitler's rule
was finally over.
640
00:37:23,300 --> 00:37:25,933
The question
of how much the Germans knew
641
00:37:25,933 --> 00:37:28,233
about what had happened
to the Jewish population
642
00:37:28,233 --> 00:37:29,567
is very complex.
643
00:37:29,567 --> 00:37:31,233
So certainly they knew
644
00:37:31,233 --> 00:37:34,433
that their Jewish compatriots
were disappearing,
645
00:37:34,433 --> 00:37:36,067
being taken away.
646
00:37:36,067 --> 00:37:37,733
They were being taken
away they believed
647
00:37:37,733 --> 00:37:40,733
as indeed some of the Jewish
people themselves believed,
648
00:37:40,733 --> 00:37:45,467
they were taken away
to work in the East.
649
00:37:45,467 --> 00:37:47,067
During the
war, word leaked out
650
00:37:47,067 --> 00:37:49,600
from people who had
escaped some camps.
651
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,467
There were aerial pictures
taken of places like Auschwitz.
652
00:37:53,467 --> 00:37:55,867
So, you know, by the
middle of the war,
653
00:37:55,867 --> 00:37:59,067
the world at large
had a very good idea
654
00:37:59,067 --> 00:38:01,233
that this slaughter
was being carried out
655
00:38:01,233 --> 00:38:03,133
on an industrial scale.
656
00:38:03,133 --> 00:38:05,800
Yes, some
rumors did circulate back
657
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,333
from soldiers on leave,
658
00:38:07,333 --> 00:38:12,233
and other information did
filter back to the Reich.
659
00:38:12,233 --> 00:38:16,367
But the German population was
busy with facing its own war,
660
00:38:16,367 --> 00:38:20,200
dealing on a day-to-day basis
with the course of the war,
661
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,267
allied bombings,
rationing, food shortages.
662
00:38:26,067 --> 00:38:28,067
There was a deliberate policy
on the part of the Nazis
663
00:38:28,067 --> 00:38:32,100
that this extermination
should take place,
664
00:38:32,100 --> 00:38:35,533
not on German soil so these
death camps were all in Poland,
665
00:38:35,533 --> 00:38:38,100
so they were outta the
direct line of vision
666
00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:40,367
of the German population.
667
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:45,800
When the Germans
fully appreciated
668
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,067
what had been done in
their name by the Nazis,
669
00:38:49,067 --> 00:38:51,267
it took a very long time
for that to sink in.
670
00:38:51,267 --> 00:38:52,867
If you look at public
opinion polls carried out
671
00:38:52,867 --> 00:38:54,700
in the 40s and the
50s in Germany,
672
00:38:54,700 --> 00:38:58,333
there was still a lot of
residual affection for Nazism.
673
00:38:58,333 --> 00:38:59,867
It was felt that
this was something
674
00:38:59,867 --> 00:39:01,867
that had made
Germany great again.
675
00:39:01,867 --> 00:39:05,933
It was something that had
got things moving and done.
676
00:39:05,933 --> 00:39:07,833
Yes, there had been excesses,
677
00:39:07,833 --> 00:39:10,633
the small matter of
the Holocaust clearly.
678
00:39:10,633 --> 00:39:14,333
But people, some
people in Germany were
willing just to say,
679
00:39:14,333 --> 00:39:18,200
if we can divorce the kind
of genocide bit from Nazism,
680
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,300
you know, is Nazism so bad?
681
00:39:20,300 --> 00:39:22,567
Minority of Germans were still
682
00:39:22,567 --> 00:39:26,400
affectionate towards
Nazism and towards Hitler.
683
00:39:35,167 --> 00:39:37,200
The tyrannical
force of Nazi Germany
684
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,433
sent the world into chaos.
685
00:39:41,367 --> 00:39:44,800
An empire of hate,
violence, and discrimination
686
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:48,400
had spread across the
world like a virus.
687
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,467
The atrocities
of the Nazi regime
688
00:39:50,467 --> 00:39:53,567
came to popular attention.
689
00:39:53,567 --> 00:39:55,467
Both the Western and
the Soviet forces
690
00:39:55,467 --> 00:39:58,767
came to liberate the Nazi camps,
691
00:39:58,767 --> 00:40:01,400
and they were absolutely
shocked and horrified
692
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,800
with what they found.
693
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:07,500
And once that became known
to the German people as well,
694
00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:10,467
then they were again absolutely
horrified and appalled
695
00:40:10,467 --> 00:40:12,233
about what had been
carried out in their name
696
00:40:12,233 --> 00:40:14,433
by the Hitler dictatorship.
697
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,633
Hitler's rule
left a mark on history,
698
00:40:18,633 --> 00:40:22,467
a reminder that this behavior
should never be tolerated
699
00:40:22,467 --> 00:40:23,700
and the world should not dismiss
700
00:40:23,700 --> 00:40:26,167
such brutal atrocities again.
701
00:40:27,567 --> 00:40:29,000
Certainly there
are a lot of reasons
702
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:30,933
why you might have voted
for Hitler in the 30s,
703
00:40:30,933 --> 00:40:34,667
not all of which
involved you being evil.
704
00:40:34,667 --> 00:40:36,567
But certainly if you
are a fan of Hitler
705
00:40:36,567 --> 00:40:38,233
after the war still,
706
00:40:38,233 --> 00:40:40,367
and after all the revelations
that have come out,
707
00:40:40,367 --> 00:40:43,600
then I would say you
definitely are evil.
708
00:40:47,933 --> 00:40:50,100
Today the
Valkyrie conspirators
709
00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:52,200
are memorialized as heroes,
710
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,867
even inscribed into the
very geography of Germany
711
00:40:54,867 --> 00:40:56,967
through street names.
712
00:40:56,967 --> 00:40:59,333
A reminder that in
times of darkness,
713
00:40:59,333 --> 00:41:02,633
there will always be those
brave enough to fight evil
714
00:41:02,633 --> 00:41:04,367
even from the inside.
715
00:41:08,233 --> 00:41:09,467
German guns.
716
00:41:10,333 --> 00:41:12,233
German bombs.
53672
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