- 07/07/2025
Documentary, The World at War S01E01 - A New Germany- 1933-1939
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LearningTranscript
00:00Transcription by ESO. Translation by โ
00:13Down this road, on a summer day in 1944,
00:18the soldiers came.
00:22Nobody lives here now.
00:30They stayed only a few hours.
00:34When they had gone, a community which had lived for a thousand years was dead.
00:43This is Avedour-sur-Glane in France.
00:49The day the soldiers came, the people were gathered together.
00:54The men were taken to garages and barns.
00:58The women and children were led down this road.
01:04And they were driven into this church.
01:08Here they heard the firing as their men were shot.
01:14Then they were killed too.
01:17A few weeks later, many of those who had done the killing were themselves dead in battle.
01:30They never rebuilt Avedour.
01:32Its ruins are a memorial.
01:37Its martyrdom stands for thousand upon thousand of other martyrdoms in Poland, in Russia, in Burma, in China, in a world at war.
01:49The End
01:50The End
01:54The End
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02:02The End
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02:05The End
02:06The End
02:07The End
02:08The End
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02:26The End
02:27The End
02:28Germany, 1933.
02:55A huge, blind excitement fills the streets.
03:02The National Socialists have come to power in a land tortured by unemployment, embittered
03:07by loss of territory, demoralized by political weakness.
03:12Perhaps this will be the new beginning.
03:20Most people think the Nazis are a little absurd here, too obsessive there.
03:25But perhaps the time for thinking is over.
03:33Adolf Hitler did not seize power.
03:36He was offered it just as his voting strength was declining.
03:40The politicians who made Hitler Chancellor argued, we are hiring him.
03:46Their figurehead was the ancient president von Hindenburg.
03:51The Communists and Socialists tried to take Hitler coolly.
03:57This wouldn't last, they said.
04:00Conservative anti-Nazis took comfort from the fact that their old war leader Hindenburg,
04:04still head of state, was known to despise the vulgar little corporal.
04:08They said, no, no, no, no, no.
04:27With mock solemnity, Hitler and his lieutenants
04:39walked to the ceremonial opening of Parliament.
04:43The party's strength had been built up by revolutionary violence.
04:47They had never imagined that they could take office legally.
04:51When the old Reichstag building was mysteriously gutted by fire,
04:55Hitler seized his chance to suspend all civil liberties.
05:00His followers could hardly believe their luck.
05:08The old Hindenburg, the symbol of apparent continuity,
05:12presided as they turned office into power by acts of sham legality.
05:17In March, when the Reichstag voted to allow Hitler to govern without Parliament,
05:22Hindenburg made no comment.
05:26The legal chancellor marched irresistibly into the role of the legal dictator.
05:32Hitler proclaimed the new Germany
05:53and meant it to last a thousand years.
05:57The new Germany began to round up its enemies.
06:04Communists, socialists, impertinent journalists,
06:08even Reichstag deputies.
06:14At Oranienburg concentration camp, just north of Berlin,
06:17conditions were at first crude rather than brutal.
06:20At this time, the camps were run by the Sturmabteilungen, the S.A.
06:30They bullied more than they murdered.
06:32From the first moment, Hitler unleashed his promised campaign against the Jews,
06:52the S.A. organized boycotts of Jewish-owned shops.
06:55The real point was to encourage the German people to think and act anti-Semitic as a matter of cause.
07:05The outside world was horrified.
07:06But there were those, including many German Jews,
07:10who thought the anti-Jewish campaign the work of Nazi extremists,
07:14something Herr Hitler would put a stop to when he felt more secure.
07:18There was to be a cultural revolution, too.
07:25German culture would be purged of the Jewish Bolshevist taint.
07:40The books flew into the fire.
07:42Many of those who flung them were students and teachers.
07:48And as the sparks rose, the intellectuals fled,
07:52writers and scientists,
07:54to give their talents to Western Europe and America.
07:59A hundred years before,
08:02the German-Jewish poet Heiner,
08:04whose books now went into the fire,
08:06had warned,
08:07where one burns books,
08:10there one eventually burns people.
08:18Some of Hitler's most earnest followers
08:21found new ways to show loyalty.
08:23They married or got married all over again
08:25under a Nazi ritual.
08:26The Nazis had mass support among the unemployed,
08:42but less among the organised workers.
08:46The left wing of the party
08:47wanted to start a workers' movement inside the factories,
08:51but Hitler took a simpler course.
08:52He granted the unions the May Day holiday
08:55they had always demanded.
08:58Next day, he abolished the unions.
09:01Nazi supporters were basically middle class,
09:05shopkeepers ruined by the Depression,
09:07clerks who had lost their savings,
09:09craftsmen squeezed out by mass production.
09:12These were Hitler's worshippers.
09:31To this army of those who had come down in the world
09:34belonged the small farmers, the peasants.
09:37Hitler had enlisted them during the Depression.
09:39Now he told them that their blood and their soil
09:43were Germany's treasure.
09:45He passed laws to give them safe possession
09:47of their fields,
09:49and he gave them bread.
09:50The treaty of Versailles in 1919
10:09had bitten deep into Germany's frontiers.
10:15Alsace-Lorraine and the Saarland had been lost.
10:19East Prussia was cut off by the new Polish state.
10:23Silesia cut in two.
10:25Danzig, a League of Nations city.
10:31To every patriot,
10:34Germany could not be free while Versailles stood.
10:38Hitler alone seemed the saviour foretold
10:41by the monuments at the border.
10:42Never, German, forget what blind hate stole from thee.
10:50Wait for the hour that avenges the bleeding Frontier cry.
10:55Abroad, there were some who admired the way
11:06this new Germany stood up for herself.
11:09In America, we've had many reports against your new government,
11:12and in most cases, this has caused hasty demonstrations everywhere.
11:16I can now say to you that the American people today
11:19realise that these stories are untrue and without foundation.
11:23I find that there's a new, fresh vitality here in Germany
11:26under your great leader and Chancellor, Adolf Hitler,
11:30whom I'm a great admirer.
11:32The new Germany will live,
11:34for you have the best centralised government in the world today.
11:38In fact, the new Germany was a bundle of different interests
11:42and grievances held together by the strap
11:44of the National Socialist Party.
11:45And the buckle of the strap was Hitler.
12:08We want to fight, and never harm, and never humiliate,
12:15and never deny, and never doubt.
12:21It lives our movement, it lives our German people!
12:27Well, really, it was the only party that promised
12:31to get us out of the hole.
12:33And their idea was principally
12:36that that would only be possible
12:41if we developed as a nation
12:44a team spirit, a solidarity,
12:48and pulling all on the same rope,
12:52instead of quarreling about pity differences of opinions
12:56in foreign politics and social politics and so on and so forth.
13:01What did he promise?
13:07Work and bread for the masses,
13:09for the millions of workers who were unemployed and hungry at that time.
13:15Nowadays, in our prosperous society,
13:18work and bread doesn't mean anything anymore.
13:21But then, it was an absolutely basic need.
13:25And this promise, which wouldn't make any sense today,
13:30then, then it sounded like a promise of paradise.
13:33All this seemed ideal ground for a prophet to say,
13:43I will lead you to the promised land.
13:46I will deliver you from evil.
13:49Anyone who said that would be greeted with enthusiasm.
13:51Of course, there were people who said this is a false prophet.
14:03But who used to know whether they were right or not?
14:06At that time, no one did.
14:09Christmas 1933, one year of Hitler's Reich.
14:25Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.
14:29The concentration camps were full,
14:32parliament a rubber stamp,
14:34political parties and trade unions abolished,
14:36the Jews out of the civil service,
14:39a free press strangled,
14:41personal liberties destroyed.
14:48Germany lived under a permanent state of emergency.
14:59Adolf Hitler's state was all-powerful,
15:03even almighty.
15:06But he still felt threatened.
15:16He feared his old conservative rivals.
15:19He feared the army.
15:22And he feared those sections of his own party,
15:24which were still revolutionary,
15:26like the leadership of the stormtroopers.
15:29The army, too, hated the S.R.
15:32Hitler saw how he could conciliate the generals
15:36and clear his own path.
15:40The head of the S.R.
15:42was one of his oldest comrades,
15:45Ernst Rรถhm.
15:47On June the 30th, 1934,
15:50Rรถhm was arrested
15:51and shot.
15:54His S.R. commanders
15:56and more than a hundred others
15:57dragged from their beds
15:58were shot, too.
16:02Murder exploded across Germany.
16:06The killers
16:06were the new force in Germany,
16:09the S.S.,
16:10Hitler's bodyguard,
16:12which now became his personal instrument of terror.
16:14Goering gave a press conference
16:19at the propaganda ministry.
16:22Goebbels was the minister of propaganda,
16:24but Goebbels had wisely stayed with Hitler at that time
16:27because Goering hated his guts.
16:30He might have taken the opportunity
16:32to bump him off if he'd been in Berlin.
16:35Goering had that press conference
16:37for the foreign press.
16:39Before that,
16:40the telephones had been cut off
16:42to all foreign countries.
16:44Goering came striding in
16:46and said,
16:47well, I know you boys
16:49always like to have a story.
16:52He used the English word,
16:54I've got a story for you, all right,
16:57and described how
17:00that previous night
17:02and that morning
17:03he and Hitler
17:05had acted
17:05against dissident forces
17:09both of the right
17:10and of the left
17:12that Rome had been shot,
17:16that a second revolution
17:17had been quashed.
17:20And he also made
17:21a rather obscure reference
17:23to General von Schleicher
17:25who had preceded Hitler
17:28as German Chancellor.
17:31Then he left Rome,
17:33came back again
17:33in a few seconds
17:34and said,
17:36it's been suggested to me
17:37that I didn't make myself
17:38quite clear
17:39about General von Schleicher.
17:41General von Schleicher
17:42was shot dead this morning
17:43while resisting arrest.
17:45The 30s of June,
17:471934,
17:49was a very,
17:49very important day
17:51because it became obvious
17:53that this government,
17:56as a government,
17:57started to become a murder.
17:59You remember that they shot
18:01a great number of people
18:04without any bringing them to court.
18:08They just killed them.
18:10And not only
18:11direct enemies
18:15of Hitler in that moment,
18:18not only Rome,
18:20the head of the SR,
18:22but also other people
18:24who they felt were unpleasant.
18:26and they just did it
18:29at the same time.
18:38That summer,
18:40another rival disappeared.
18:45President Hindenburg
18:46died in his bed
18:47on August the 2nd.
18:48While the old man
18:53was still breathing,
18:54Hitler had abolished
18:55the office of President,
18:56proclaiming himself
18:57Fuhrer and Chancellor,
19:00head of state
19:00and government.
19:08And before his corpse
19:09was laid to rest,
19:11Hitler usurped
19:12his command over the army.
19:13The armed forces paraded
19:16to swear a new oath.
19:18Where once they had sworn
19:19loyalty to the Constitution,
19:21now they pledged themselves
19:23to Hitler,
19:24personally,
19:25by name.
19:25For German officers,
19:53an oath was almost
19:55physically real.
19:59Hitler had trapped them.
20:02Now they could not
20:03disobey him
20:03without disobeying
20:05the fatherland.
20:06I swear,
20:08I swear,
20:10my God,
20:11Adolf Hitler,
20:16Adolf Hitler,
20:18Adolf Hitler,
20:20Adolf Hitler,
20:21Adolf Hitler,
20:24Adolf Hitler,
20:24Adolf Hitler,
20:24Adolf Hitler,
20:24Adolf Hitler,
20:26Adolf Hitler,
20:28Hitler kept up the pace.
20:31That same month,
20:32the Germans had to go
20:32again to the polls
20:33to approve his assumption
20:35of state and government
20:36powers.
20:38By now,
20:38the machinery of ballot
20:39management by threat,
20:41propaganda,
20:41forgery and fraud
20:42was functioning excellently.
20:44Hitler had a 90%
20:53ja.
20:554 million
20:56still voted
20:57nine.
20:59Hitler proclaimed
21:00for the next
21:02thousand years
21:03there will be
21:04no other revolution
21:05in Germany.
21:06the Nazis preached
21:13the doctrine
21:13of folk community,
21:15of learning to be
21:16Germans
21:17one of another.
21:20Winterheld,
21:21the main street
21:21collection for charity,
21:23was one symbol
21:23and the leaders
21:25of the party
21:25for the benefit
21:26of the cameras
21:27showed themselves
21:28as folk comrades
21:29too.
21:30Goering displayed
21:33himself,
21:35a war hero,
21:36a man who laughed
21:37and enjoyed life,
21:39a moderating force
21:40in the party
21:41was believed.
21:43Josef Goebbels,
21:44the little propaganda
21:45minister,
21:46whom the back street
21:47called poison dwarf,
21:49his sharpness
21:50was feared
21:51but respected.
21:58The deputy
21:59fuhrer Rudolf Hess,
22:02a puzzling figure
22:03to the crowds.
22:05The Nazi way
22:06of ruling
22:06was to be remote
22:07but to seem
22:09not to be.
22:11All classes
22:12were encouraged
22:12to relish
22:13the same meal,
22:15the soldier,
22:16the boss,
22:16the worker,
22:17the banker.
22:18The party believed
22:19in community
22:20but the industrialists
22:23stayed rich.
22:25They had financed
22:25the Nazis
22:26when they seemed
22:27likely to win
22:27and now they
22:29submitted
22:29to Nazi direction
22:30without too much
22:31distaste.
22:33Business was
22:34picking up fast.
22:37The economy
22:38was reviving
22:39when the Nazis
22:40came to power
22:41but they
22:42reaped the credit,
22:43speeding recovery
22:44with an enormous
22:45public works
22:46program for the
22:47unemployed.
22:49Other nations
22:50where mass
22:51unemployment
22:51persisted
22:52watched Germany
22:53by the end of the day.
22:55And now
22:56one moment
22:57to your
22:59general
23:00education.
23:01It was
23:02an
23:02working
23:03and
23:03employees
23:03in the end of
23:04January
23:051933
23:06The work class built the autobahns, the first motorways in the world binding a still provincial
23:31germany together the autobahns were not least for private pleasure in the fascist notion of
23:38strength through joy and they were presented less as a transport system than as a triumph of
23:45national will linked with other prestige projects like the design for the fuhrer's new berlin
24:01for all mood and gesundheit
24:15glรคubich und ihrer groรen pflichten und aufgaben bewusst
24:19denn sie glรผckliche mรคdel unserer groรen zeit
24:22these were members of faith and beauty which was elder sister to the league of german maidens which
24:31was the girls equivalent of the hitler youth and so on all young people learned party songs
24:39drilled and danced and belonged
24:53each year the farmers and their wives gathered at the buckebell to meet their fuhrer at harvest time
25:00in 1936 those who stood and waited for the leader numbered one million
25:10the leader was late he always arrived late built up tension
25:25was
25:38so
25:38Then he came, letting the excitement spill over.
26:02As he marched through to the rostrum,
26:04the masses were allowed to see him close and even to touch him.
26:07Deliberately, women were placed in the front rows.
26:13When he went up the mountain,
26:16I couldn't understand how it was possible that people could shout so much.
26:23Yet when he came towards our group,
26:26I too came under his spell and shouted Heil, just like everyone else.
26:31But then, when he was really close,
26:36greeting people to his left and right,
26:38shaking their hand and exchanging a few words,
26:42and he also shook my hand,
26:45I suddenly noticed that everybody in his immediate presence
26:49was completely silent.
26:52For the first ten minutes, he wasn't a good speaker.
26:58He just began warming up and finding the words.
27:04But then he turned out to be a terribly good speaker.
27:09He just, I don't know the words in English,
27:14emassered his public.
27:17And the whole atmosphere grew more and more hysterical.
27:29He was interrupted nearly after every phrase
27:35by big applause and women began screaming.
27:42It was like a mass religious ceremony.
27:50And, well, I listened to his speech,
27:55and I felt that more and more excited atmosphere in the hall.
28:03And for some seconds, again and again,
28:08I had a feeling,
28:10what a pity that I can't share that belief
28:14of all those thousands of people,
28:16that I am alone,
28:18that I am contrary to all that.
28:21It was very funny.
28:22I thought, well, he is talking all the nonsense I know,
28:27the nonsense he always talked to,
28:30but still,
28:32I feel it must be wonderful
28:36just to jump into that bubbling pot
28:41and be a member of all those
28:45who are believers.
29:01One lady in our village,
29:04she went to Berlin
29:05to a birthday reception
29:07for Adolf Hitler,
29:09and she came back
29:11and told us
29:12the Fuhrer shook hands with me
29:14and from this time on
29:16she was like a scent
29:18in our village.
29:19Hitler's home life took place
29:42on a ledge in Bavaria
29:43at Berchtesgaden.
29:44These pictures are from the home movies
29:47of Eva Braun,
29:48the discreet young woman
29:49who stayed with him till his death.
29:52To the Berghof for tea and tactics
29:55came the elect,
29:56some a little ill at ease,
29:58some genuinely intimate.
30:00Edelweiss, Adolf Hitlers Lieblingsblume
30:08is that schlichte Edelweiss.
30:15Adolf Hitlers Lieblingsblume
30:21is that schlichte Edelweiss.
30:42Even in private,
30:44Hitler had to correspond
30:45to the image sold to the public,
30:47Adolf with children.
30:51Adolf with dogs.
30:56Adolf with a magnifying glass.
31:06Adolf with friends.
31:13Out for a walk,
31:14like a good Bavarian bourgeois
31:17on a Sunday.
31:25In this closed circle,
31:27Eva Braun posed herself
31:29as the girl who was natural,
31:31healthy,
31:32joyfully physical.
31:33Adolf Hitlers Lieblingsblume
31:38is that schlichte Edelweiss.
31:45Adolf Hitler's Lieblingsblume
31:47Adolf Hitler's Lieblingsblume
32:05is that schlichte Edelweiss.
32:12Up at the Berghof,
32:15there were jovial,
32:16friendly bodyguards
32:17and colder ones.
32:20Heinrich Himmler,
32:22Lord of the SS,
32:24came with Heidrich,
32:25his terrible,
32:26handsome lieutenant.
32:27On formal occasions,
32:36the SS guard turned out.
32:38They were the reality
32:40of the great tyranny
32:41centred in distant Berlin,
32:43their hands soon to be red
32:45with the blood of millions.
32:48For that reality,
32:49Hitler would leave
32:50his chinched chair,
32:52his tea parties
32:53and his mistress.
32:56The car was waiting
32:57at the foot of the steps.
33:09If Germany was to be strong again,
33:12Germany must rearm.
33:15A people frightened by war
33:16had to become once more
33:18familiar with arms.
33:21To touch them,
33:23to play its soldiers.
33:45Germany had to train pilots.
33:49Versailles forbade Germany
33:50an air force,
33:51so the League for Air Sports
33:53used gliders
33:53to train men,
33:54still officially civilians,
33:56for the future Luftwaffe.
34:03And the army began to swell
34:04beyond the limits
34:05set by Versailles
34:07from the moment
34:07Hitler became Chancellor.
34:09In secret,
34:10it trebled its strength
34:12in two years.
34:12any foreign military attache
34:29could see what was happening.
34:31But the world did nothing decisive
34:33and in March 1935,
34:35Germany announced conscription,
34:37a peacetime army
34:39of half a million men.
34:40The new tanks came out
34:48into the open.
34:48The new tanks came out
34:50into the open.
34:58The first Luftwaffe squadrons
35:01flew past.
35:01The new German navy
35:12was under way.
35:21Hitler kept Europe bewildered.
35:24Proclaiming Versailles extinct,
35:26He proposed a limit on armaments.
35:30Britain,
35:31the first democracy
35:32to make a pact
35:32with the Nazis,
35:33signed a naval agreement.
35:36Hitler was reassured.
35:38It might be safe
35:39to start tampering
35:39with the hated frontiers.
35:43One part of Versailles
35:44had already been undone.
35:46In January 1935,
35:48the territory of the Tsar,
35:49the little coal mining region
35:51which had been German
35:52before 1918,
35:53voted overwhelmingly
35:55and under international supervision
35:57to return to Germany.
36:07Next door,
36:08the Rhineland
36:09remained a demilitarised zone.
36:11Beyond dispute,
36:12this was part of Germany,
36:13but to recover it
36:14would directly challenge
36:15the Allies
36:16and above all,
36:17France.
36:18The troops rode over
36:21the Rhine bridges
36:21at dawn
36:22on March the 7th,
36:231936.
36:26Secretly,
36:26the commanders
36:27were ready to bolt
36:28back across the river
36:29if France showed
36:30any sign of fight,
36:31but there was none.
36:35The Rhineland city
36:36of Cologne
36:37and all Germany
36:38went wild
36:39with relief and delight.
36:40A part of German honour
36:42had been recovered.
36:44Hitler had taken a chance
36:46and won.
36:49Two years later,
36:50Austria,
36:51Hitler's birthplace,
36:52lay ripe for the taking.
36:55Austrian Nazis
36:56were rioting
36:56for Anschluss,
36:58union with Germany.
37:00To prevent a plebiscite
37:01on independence,
37:03Hitler marched in.
37:04The German troops
37:13were greeted
37:13by hysterical crowds.
37:15Vienna suffered
37:16a Jew-baiting terror
37:17which even Germany
37:18had not yet seen.
37:20Austria became
37:21a province.
37:23Germany's neighbours,
37:24appalled,
37:25uncertain,
37:26unprepared,
37:27once again
37:27did nothing.
37:28Czechoslovakia
37:38was no lost
37:39German province
37:40but an independent nation
37:41allied to Britain,
37:43France
37:43and the Soviet Union.
37:46Within its northern border
37:47lived the Sudeten Germans.
37:50Hitler incited
37:51this minority
37:52which had never been
37:53part of Germany
37:53to demand union
37:55with the Reich.
37:55Europe prepared
37:58for war.
38:00But though
38:01Czechoslovakia
38:02was ready to fight,
38:04Britain and France
38:04gave way.
38:06At Munich
38:07in September 1938,
38:09Chamberlain
38:09for Britain,
38:12Italy's Mussolini,
38:14Deladier
38:15for France
38:15signed with Hitler
38:18the treaty
38:18which stripped
38:19Czechoslovakia
38:20of the Sudeten land
38:21and left her
38:22broken and abandoned.
38:25the Germans
38:40crossed the border
38:41welcomed as liberators
38:42by the Sudeten population.
38:46At home,
38:48the German generals
38:49who opposed Hitler
38:50hoping that a rebuff
38:51over Czechoslovakia
38:53would fatally injure
38:53his prestige
38:54gave up
38:56their plots
38:56in despair.
39:17Hitler
39:17sat with his troops
39:18in the field
39:19and planned ahead.
39:23The Sudeten land
39:24was easily digested.
39:27The next course
39:28could be taken fast.
39:32The shrunken Czech lands
39:34and Slovakia
39:35lay helpless before him.
39:37He struck
39:37on March 15, 1939.
39:40The German troops
39:44reached Prague
39:45the same day.
39:47There was no resistance.
39:50The last democracy
39:52in Central Europe
39:53was wiped out.
39:57The Czechs
39:58would never trust
39:59the West again.
40:02The West
40:02trusted Hitler
40:03no more
40:04and realized
40:05at last
40:06that only force
40:07would stop him.
40:19Berlin?
40:20More cheers?
40:21More worship?
40:23Yet,
40:24what was in the minds
40:25of those who'd cheer?
40:27Very few
40:28wanted wars
40:28of conquest
40:29or hoped
40:30like Hitler
40:31for a German empire
40:32from the Urals
40:33to the Atlantic.
40:34Most thought
40:36they were taking back
40:38what had been robbed
40:39from them
40:40and restoring,
40:41not destroying,
40:42the order
40:43and unity
40:44of Europe.
40:57For these crowds
40:58it seemed
40:59that Hitler's
41:00statesmanship
41:01could never fail.
41:04Others who stayed
41:05at home that night
41:06feared a war
41:06was coming
41:07which might
41:07destroy Germany
41:08itself.
41:10But now they saw
41:11no hope
41:11for a rising
41:12against Hitler.
41:14They were left
41:14with the moral
41:15question,
41:16should one resist
41:17a tyranny
41:18without hope
41:19of success?
41:22Well,
41:22I think it's
41:23difficult,
41:24first of all,
41:25to make up
41:26your mind
41:27that you should
41:29do something
41:29against a government.
41:31government.
41:33This is
41:34very rare,
41:36first of all.
41:37Secondly,
41:38if it is
41:40extremely dangerous
41:41as it is
41:42in a dictatorship,
41:44it's even more
41:46complicated
41:47because everybody
41:48likes his own life.
41:49I think
41:52everything
41:53that came
41:53to us
41:54when we were
41:54living in
41:55Germany
41:55came very
41:57gradually.
41:59That was
42:00part,
42:02perhaps,
42:02of the
42:03way
42:04Hitler
42:04managed
42:06these things.
42:07It came
42:08on us
42:08rather
42:08drip by drip,
42:10rather like
42:11an anesthetic,
42:12one could almost say.
42:13and it was
42:14only when
42:15a specific
42:16thing
42:18that he did
42:19hit you
42:20personally
42:21that you
42:22actually
42:22realized
42:24that
42:24what was
42:26going on.
42:28In my
42:29particular case,
42:31I think
42:32I could say
42:33that it hit
42:33me personally
42:34when
42:36the Jewish
42:37doctor
42:37of my
42:38children,
42:40whom I'd
42:41always had,
42:42came,
42:43he was a
42:44very busy
42:45man,
42:45but he
42:46seemed to
42:46be getting,
42:47having always
42:47more time
42:48to spare,
42:49and I
42:49remember
42:49one night
42:50he came
42:51and spent
42:52the night
42:52looking after
42:53my very
42:53sick child,
42:56and in
42:56the morning
42:57the child
42:58was better,
42:59and when
42:59he left
43:00he said,
43:02asked me,
43:03did I still
43:03want him
43:04to look
43:04after my
43:05children,
43:06and I was
43:07tired,
43:07and I said,
43:08well,
43:08for goodness
43:08sakes,
43:08why not?
43:10And he
43:10told me
43:11that
43:11his clinic,
43:12his children's
43:13clinic,
43:13which he
43:14had started
43:14in Hamburg,
43:17he was going
43:18to be
43:18dismissed,
43:19and that
43:20he'd had
43:20threatening
43:20letters that
43:21if he laid
43:22his hands
43:22on Aryan
43:23children,
43:24he was in
43:25trouble.
43:28In
43:29November
43:291938,
43:31a Jew
43:31shot a
43:32German
43:33diplomat
43:33in Paris.
43:35The
43:35Nazi
43:35leaders
43:36organized
43:36a reprisal.
43:38Synagogues
43:38were burned,
43:40and Jewish
43:40shops looted,
43:41all over
43:42Germany.
43:44On that
43:45crystal night,
43:47named for the
43:48smashed glass
43:48sparkling in
43:49the gutters,
43:50thousands of
43:51Jews were
43:52thrown into
43:52concentration camp.
43:53Do you want
44:04to know how
44:04the night
44:04was?
44:06If you want
44:06to know,
44:07I will tell
44:07you.
44:08We were all
44:09shoved
44:10together,
44:11beaten,
44:12and punched,
44:13and made to
44:14stand in
44:15ranks,
44:16and be
44:16counted,
44:16and so on.
44:19Because I'd
44:20been a soldier,
44:21soldier, I
44:21didn't find
44:22that so
44:22very difficult.
44:24But the
44:24others, who
44:25didn't fall
44:25in properly,
44:27they were
44:28beaten right
44:28away.
44:32And the
44:32most terrible
44:33thing was,
44:33when somebody
44:34grabbed hold
44:35of a big,
44:35strong man,
44:36he said,
44:37don't grab
44:38me.
44:39What?
44:40I shouldn't
44:41grab you.
44:42And he
44:42hit him.
44:47And this
44:47man was
44:47immediately
44:48overpowered
44:49by three
44:49people,
44:50SS people.
44:53A block
44:54was blown.
44:55He was
44:55tied down
44:56to it,
44:56and the
44:57camp commander
44:58said,
44:59the Jew
45:00Israel,
45:01or the
45:01Jew
45:01Izzik,
45:02I can't
45:03remember
45:03exactly now,
45:05is sentenced
45:05to 25
45:06lashes.
45:07He was
45:07sentenced to
45:0825 lashes.
45:09Then a
45:11huge man
45:11came,
45:12an SS
45:13man with
45:13a huge
45:14horsewhip
45:15and started
45:15to beat
45:16him.
45:17The man
45:18just groaned
45:20a bit at
45:20first,
45:21but then he
45:22shouted,
45:23stop,
45:23stop.
45:25The commander
45:25said,
45:26what do you
45:26mean,
45:27stop?
45:27We'll start
45:28all over
45:28again,
45:29from the
45:29beginning.
45:31But after
45:32three more
45:33lashes,
45:33the blood
45:34was spurting.
45:35Then he
45:35stopped,
45:36and salt
45:36was rubbed
45:37into the
45:37wounds,
45:38or pepper,
45:39I can't
45:39remember.
45:41The man
45:41was dragged
45:42away.
45:43We never
45:43saw him
45:44again.
45:47Of course,
45:48in the
45:4938,
45:51when the
45:52synagogues
45:53were burning,
45:54everybody knew
45:55what was
45:55going on.
45:56I remember
45:57that my
45:57brother-in-law,
45:58the husband
45:59of my
45:59sister,
46:00Lena,
46:00when he
46:02went in
46:02the morning
46:03after the
46:03day of
46:04the
46:05Kristallnacht,
46:06Reichskristallnacht,
46:07Crystal Night,
46:08or how you
46:09say,
46:10he went by
46:12train to
46:12his office
46:13downtown,
46:14and between
46:15the stations
46:15of Savignyplatz
46:16and Zoological
46:17Garden,
46:18there is the
46:18Jewish synagogue,
46:20yeah,
46:20and he saw
46:21that it was
46:21burning,
46:22yeah,
46:23and he
46:24murmured,
46:25Kulturschande,
46:26yeah,
46:26that is
46:27insult
46:28for culture,
46:30shame
46:30to our
46:30culture.
46:32Well,
46:32right away,
46:33a gentleman
46:33in front
46:34of him
46:35turned his
46:36river
46:36and showed
46:36his
46:37party
46:38badge,
46:41yeah,
46:41and took
46:42out his
46:43papers,
46:43that he
46:44was a
46:44man of
46:44the
46:44Gestapo,
46:47and he
46:47had to
46:48show his
46:49papers,
46:50to give
46:50his address,
46:52and was
46:53ordered to
46:53come to
46:55the party
46:55office next
46:56morning,
46:56nine o'clock.
47:07April
47:081939,
47:09the
47:10Wehrmacht
47:10prepares to
47:11celebrate
47:11Hitler's
47:1250th birthday.
47:14They
47:15hope for
47:15the usual
47:16fuhrer
47:16weather,
47:17a fine
47:18day.
47:26The
47:31fuhrer
47:32drives
47:32through
47:32Berlin,
47:33under
47:34the
47:34Brandenburg
47:34Gate
47:35and down
47:35the
47:35Sieger's
47:36Alley,
47:36the
47:36avenue
47:37of
47:37victory.
47:37is.
47:37The
47:38army
47:57lining
47:57his
47:57route
47:57has
47:58increased
47:59seven-fold
48:00in just
48:01four years.
48:02among the
48:14Wehrmacht's
48:1451 divisions,
48:16the new
48:17Panzer
48:17units,
48:18the
48:19instrument
48:19of
48:19Blitzkrieg.
48:20In spite of
48:36appearances,
48:37the High
48:37Command is by
48:38no means sure
48:39that this army
48:39is fit for
48:40war yet.
48:41Hitler is
48:44ready to
48:44overrule
48:45them.
49:06The
49:06word in
49:07every diplomatic
49:08conversation that
49:09summer was
49:10Danzig.
49:11the free city
49:12with its
49:12mixed
49:12German-Polish
49:13population
49:14had been
49:14separated
49:15from
49:15Germany
49:15and made
49:16the
49:16responsibility
49:17of a
49:17League of
49:18Nations
49:18commissioner.
49:22Danzig
49:23and East
49:23Prussia
49:24were now
49:25sundered
49:25from the
49:26Reich
49:26by a
49:27strip of
49:27Polish
49:28territory,
49:29the
49:29Corridor.
49:31Hitler
49:31was demanding
49:32the return
49:32of Danzig
49:33and free
49:34access to
49:34East
49:35Prussia
49:35across
49:36the
49:36Corridor.
49:37Poland
49:38refused.
49:39In
49:39March
49:401939,
49:41Britain
49:42and
49:42France
49:42guaranteed
49:43her
49:43frontiers.
49:45In
49:45August,
49:46Britain
49:46promised
49:47to
49:47fight
49:48if
49:48Poland
49:49was
49:49attacked.
49:51Once
49:52again,
49:53myths
49:53about the
49:54persecution
49:54of a
49:54German
49:55minority
49:55were used
49:56to build
49:56up a
49:57case
49:57for
49:57armed
49:57intervention.
49:59German
49:59refugees
50:00told
50:00piteous
50:01tales
50:01of Polish
50:02brutality.
50:10Nazi
50:10propaganda
50:11filmed
50:12them
50:12greedily
50:12for the
50:13cinema
50:13newsreels
50:14throughout
50:14July and
50:15August.
50:18Hitler's
50:18plan
50:19was to
50:20wipe
50:20Poland
50:20off the
50:21map.
50:22But this
50:23might mean
50:23war with
50:24Soviet
50:24Russia and
50:25he was
50:25not ready
50:25for that.
50:27His
50:28foreign
50:28minister
50:28Ribbentrop
50:29flew to
50:29Moscow on
50:30August
50:30the 23rd to
50:31sign the
50:32Nazi
50:32Soviet
50:33Pact.
50:35Poland's
50:35fate was
50:36sealed.
50:41The new
50:42alliance
50:42stunned the
50:44unsuspecting
50:45waste.
50:50Germany
50:51gloated.
50:54The
50:55Pact
50:56resolution
50:56had
50:57the
50:57coalition
50:57politicians
50:58openly
50:58told.
50:59Foreign
51:00minister
51:00Los
51:00Halifax
51:01explained.
51:02You
51:02will
51:03have
51:03read
51:03the
51:03report
51:03about
51:04the
51:04agreement
51:05reached
51:05between
51:06Russia
51:06and
51:07Germany
51:07which
51:08has
51:08surprised
51:08the
51:09world.
51:11The
51:11life
51:11of
51:11all
51:12nations
51:12depends
51:13in
51:13the
51:13last
51:13resort
51:14of
51:14mutual
51:15respect
51:15for
51:16one
51:16another's
51:16rights
51:17and
51:18reasonable
51:18confidence
51:19that
51:20they
51:20can
51:20each
51:20live
51:20their
51:21life
51:21in
51:22their
51:22own
51:22way
51:22I
51:23would
51:24honestly
51:24help.
51:24The
51:25German
51:26newsreels
51:39tried to
51:39show
51:39Britain
51:40distracted
51:40still
51:41uncertain.
51:42minister
51:43president
51:43chamberlain
51:44verlรคsst
51:45downing
51:45street.
52:00One young
52:02German
52:02left
52:03England
52:03for
52:04home.
52:04I
52:06had a
52:07girlfriend
52:08whom
52:08I
52:08wanted
52:08to
52:09marry
52:09and
52:09I
52:09said
52:11to
52:11myself
52:11well
52:12I'll
52:12dare
52:13go
52:13home.
52:15When
52:16I
52:16came
52:17to
52:17Cologne
52:17I
52:18read
52:19the
52:19first
52:20German
52:20newspapers
52:21and
52:23I
52:24knew
52:24at
52:25once
52:25there
52:27was
52:27great
52:28danger
52:29of a
52:30war.
52:30now
52:31the
52:31tone
52:32of the
52:32German
52:33press
52:33was
52:34absolutely
52:35hysterical
52:36and
52:39I
52:40thought
52:41what a
52:41fool I
52:42was.
52:43I had
52:43just
52:43gone
52:44home
52:44in that
52:44moment.
52:48All
52:49over Europe
52:49the
52:50reservists
52:51got their
52:51telegrams
52:52and the
52:53last
52:53hours of
52:54peace
52:54the
52:55soldiers
52:56put on
52:57uniform
52:57with a
52:58tired
52:59grin.
53:27K
53:52K
53:54K
53:54K
53:55K
53:55K
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54:21
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