The fate of the Reich depends on me. As long as I live, I will think only of victory. I will annihilate all those who oppose my will. April 30, 1945, in his bunker beneath the ruins of Berlin. Adolf Hitler commits su***de. I die happy, conscious of our infinite achievements and of my extraordinary contribution to the history of mankind.

For 12 years, Hitler dominated the German people. And he almost led them to a new world order. Hitler started a world war that claimed the lives of 50 million people. Contrary to Jewish belief, this war will not end with the annihilation of the German people. with the annihilation of the Aryan people, on the contrary, it will end with the extermination of the Jews.

I am not playing at wars. I will not allow any general to tell me what to do. With an iron will, I will decide when to attack. That is my mission. Based on testimonies gathered from diaries, letters and recently discovered color films. The war in color. Hitler. After the First World War, the German people are still reeling from the consequences of a catastrophic defeat.

Almost half of the working-age population is unemployed. One of these unemployed is Hans Backe. Thousands of factories closed their doors. Many honest Germans were forced to steal in order to eat. We all longed for better times. Like many, I lost all my possessions. So I joined the National Socialist Party.

The National Socialists, the Nazis, have been in power for 20 months. On September 15th, 1934 in Bückeburg, 750,000 Germans come to see their new leader, Adolf Hitler. The misery to which our people have been driven is horrible. We must put an end to unemployment. Germans, give us 4 years, and may Almighty God bless our work.

Professor Louise Solmitz: Excitement gripped the crowd. They were going to see the Führer. The exaltation of the moment gave way to an enthusiastic clamor. There were many who saw in him their savior, a Redeemer who would deliver them from unbearable poverty. Our duty is to make sure, that in the end we can tear out of German history the pages that speak of our disintegration as a nation.

Out of want, misery and wretchedness a new lightning will rise. Hitler’s rise to power gives way to a new breath of optimism. Testimony of a Jewish doctor Ertan Atarov: Hitler has been appointed chancellor. People are euphoric. There is no talk of anything else. Many are overflowing with happiness, others show concern on their faces.

But everyone believes him when he says, “Now things will change.” Hitler progressively transforms the lives of Germans. Unemployment is almost non-existent and workers enjoy vacations abroad largely subsidized by the state. Herman Schutz: Who would have thought that one day we German workers would be able to go to the Italian Riviera? We will return to Germany full of gratitude and will be able to work doubly hard to fulfill the Führer’s objectives.

At home in Germany, the Nazis eradicate all political opposition. The police and the courts of justice are controlled by the Nazis. All powers are concentrated in the figure of Adolf Hitler. Not all of you can see me. Yet I perceive you and you perceive me. The miracle of our time is that you have found me.

And fortunately for Germany, I have found you. September 1935. Hitler announces new laws making Germany’s Jews second-class citizens. Children receive new textbooks with lessons in racial education. You can easily recognize a Jew by his nose. It is reminiscent of the number 6. His lips are usually thick. You will see in his eyes that he is not to be trusted.

If you have a good sense of smell, you can smell the Jews. All opposition to Hitler is ruthlessly eradicated. Tens of thousands are imprisoned. The journalist Stephan Lorenz dared to criticize the Führer. I am writing from cell number 24. Outside, a new Germany is being created. Millions of people are enthusiastic.

Hitler is promising them everything they want. I believe that when they wake up from that drunkenness, they will discover that he has led them astray and duped them with lies. On August 1, 1936, Adolf Hitler opens the eleventh Olympic Games in Berlin. The Führer is very clear. These games are to be a mirror of the new Germany.

Jewish Professor, Victor Klemperer. The Olympics are hateful to me. They have banned the chanting of slogans in the streets. The siege of the Jews, malicious sentiments and offensive attitudes have disappeared from the newspapers. They are trying to focus the attention of our guests to focus solely and exclusively on the pleasant and peaceful way in which things are going on here.

At the end of the Games, the Germans top the medal table. It is a personal triumph for Hitler. The 1940 Olympics will take place in Tokyo. But from then on, they will always be held in Germany. 3 weeks after the Olympics, Hitler received David Lloyd George, former British Prime Minister, at Berghof, his mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria.

Next to Hitler is his interpreter, Paul Schmidt. Hitler was delighted with the visit of this famous statesman. We sat at a table by the window. He began to talk vehemently about his experiences as a humble soldier during the Great War. I often clashed with the English, he told him. Lloyd George was so impressed with Hitler that he published his reflections in the Daily Express.

Germany intimidating Europe is not part of Hitler’s new vision. The Germans are absolutely determined not to confront us again. As soon as Lloyd George left, Hitler submitted a secret memorandum to his ministers. The world is heading for a new conflict. Making the German army the world’s leading army is of vital importance.

If this does not happen, Germany will be lost. We must prepare to go to war within 4 years. Adolf Hitler’s personal pilot, SS Commander Hans Bauer, accompanies him on a parade to celebrate 2000 years of German culture. Bauer has been authorized to engrave his Führer with his own cape. Ingeborg Weber, 14 years old.

The 4 years the Führer asked us to fulfill his promises have already passed. And what great things has he achieved? The communists have disappeared from Germany. There is no more unemployment. The Führer has given us back our self-esteem. I feel it. I understand it. I am afraid, they scare me, I do it in my pants, I prefer to take care of my own welfare, I do not want to sacrifice myself.

At the head of the French State, the governments succeed each other without a clear policy in relation to Germany. 3 years after Hitler came to power, France relaxed its armament programs. But its military doctrine seems to have been superseded, as Charles de Gaulle implores, a colonel still unknown to the general public.

The military corps was locked in conformism, the army remained anchored in ideas that predated the last war. Its chiefs were growing old in their posts, clinging to oaths that had once brought them glory. Munich, July 1937. Adolf Hitler’s personal pilot, SS Hans Bauer, accompanies him to a parade organized for the 200th anniversary of German culture.

Bauer is authorized to film Hitler and the crowd cheers. Ingeborg Weber, a 14-year-old Nazi. The 4 years that the Führer had asked us for have passed. Things have changed in Germany. The communists have disappeared. There is no more unemployment. Thanks to the Führer, we have found our pride. For the last 6 years, Adolf Hitler has hidden something from the German people.

Far from all eyes, except for those closest to him, lives his mistress Eva Braun. The weather is wonderful. And I, the mistress of the most important man in the world, am sitting here, looking at the sun. With a camera that Hitler himself had given her, Eva Braun records her private life. That he loves me so much makes me tremendously happy.

I pray that it will always be so. During all this time, he has only had a head for politics. The time has come for him to relax a little. Hitler only allows his closest circle of people to meet Eva. One of those people is his good friend, the architect Albert Schperr. I have never met anyone who shows so little of his feelings.

Even with Eva he is not completely relaxed and human. Hitler and Eva avoid anything that might suggest an intimate relationship. The only thing is that late at night they go up to their quarters together. This woman, who was so close to Hitler, I began to like her almost out of pity. Eva, 25 years old, belonged to a very traditional Catholic family.

When Hitler bought Eva an apartment, her father wrote her a letter. Your Excellency, I find myself in the extremely awkward position of having to express my discomfort to you. I believe that parental supervision of their children until the time of their marriage is a sacred principle. This is my code of honor.

Please advise her to return to her family. Respectfully yours, Friedrich Braun. Eva intercepted the letter. It would never make it to the closing. Eva always seemed happy. She was the center of attention. Although the only surviving fragments of her diary reveal quite a different story. When he says he loves me, it just means he loves me at that very moment.

It’s like those promises he never keeps. I’m so unhappy. I should go out and buy sleeping pills. Then I wouldn’t think about all this so much. Eva had already made 2 suicide attempts. But Hitler still refused to marry her. A man of superior intelligence should not share his life with a primitive and stupid woman.

Imagine if I had a woman who interfered with my work. In my spare time I want peace. I could never get married. It would happen to me like movie actors. When they get married they lose something for the women who adore them. They cease to be their idols. September 28, 1937.

The people of Berlin prepare for the state visit of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Hitler is building a new military alliance in Europe. In rearming Germany we do not intend to create a military instrument of aggression but on the contrary. We want to create an instrument exclusively for defense and peacekeeping. Hitler deploys his new army against Mussolini.

Standing next to the 2 dictators is Hitler’s interpreter, Paul Schmidt. I had the opportunity to observe them closely. Hitler’s voice was coarse, often hoarse. Sometimes his eyes sparkled. His laughter always had a sarcastic touch. There was an interesting ceremony during which Mussolini made Hitler an honorary corporal of the Fascist militia.

Hitler also signed a pact with Japan. With the formation of this new axis, he was ready to take the next step. March 12, 1938. Hitler announces the Nazi annexation of Austria. Born in Austria, Hitler had always dreamed of the reunification of Austria with the German Reich. Karl Tizian was a soldier in the Austrian army.

We have been told that we must offer no resistance to the entry of German troops. God save Austria. People have taken to the streets. And there are spastic flags everywhere. In theory, Germany has saved us from the communists. Now everyone is on the side of the victors. In the town of Thornbirn, 10,000 people celebrate on the renamed Adolf Hitler Square.

I believe it was God’s will that a boy from here was sent to Germany, where he grew up to become a leader and to give back to his homeland, to the Reich. This is the moment of greatest glory in my life. Within weeks, the Jews of Vienna begin to feel the true impact of the arrival of the Savior of Austria.

A 24-year-old Jewish student, Edith Hahn. The Nazis are graffitiing Jewish stores, so that people will no longer shop there. Anyone who resists will be beaten, killed or sent to a concentration camp. Everyone around us has gone mad. They were born hating us, they grew up hating us, and now the veneer of civilization that protected us from their hatred is fading.

High in the Bavarian Alps, in their mountain hut, Hitler is already planning his next conquest. Diary of Nazi propaganda chief Josef Goebbels. Now it is Czechoslovakia’s turn. The Führer is fantastic, a real genius. He spends hours sitting in front of the map, turning it over and over. The Führer is delighted with the stubbornness of the Czechs.

All the more reason to tear them to pieces one of these days. They have no idea what is in store for them. Poor idiots. Hitler claims that the Germans living in the Czech province of Sudetenland are oppressed. The German newspapers are full of invented stories, of violence and abuse. Reports of German troop advances convince the Western Allies, Britain and France, that this distant border struggle could end in war.

During the annual Nazi party rally, it is announced that negotiations with the Czechs have broken down. As Hitler begins his closing speech, the whole world listens. I demand the right of self-determination for the 3.5 million Germans and the Czechs. They have the right to decide to which country they belong.

Stop, no! I demand that the oppression of those German citizens in Czechoslovakia cease! We have achieved! A path of our own to achieve it, just like any other people! The right to self-determination for the 3.5 million Germans in the Sudete region! It is up to them to decide freely to which country they belong! I demand! No oppression of the Germans of Czechoslovakia! 2 weeks later, the fate of Czechoslovakia is decided during the meeting of Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamber.

The agreement signed last night symbolizes the will of our two peoples never again to face each other in war. I believe this means that there will be peace. Hitler’s troops entered the Sudetenland without a single bullet being fired. I have made sacrifices and shown great forbearance. This is the last territorial demand I make.

June 12, 1939. Adolf Hitler visits the place where he spent his childhood, the small Austrian village of Fischenham. Son of a local customs official, Hitler brings flowers to his parents’ grave and later visits their former school. Within weeks, the Jews of Vienna begin to feel the true impact of the arrival of the Savior of Austria.

It was here that my first ideals were forged. My association with the bad boys turned me into the very opposite of a homebody. Even then, my gifts as an orator developed into violent arguments with my classmates. Forests and meadows were then my battlefields. At this moment Hitler is 50 years old. On his birthday, a woman wrote to a local newspaper.

My children see in the Führer the man who gives all the orders. For them, the Führer is the creator of the world. Schoolchildren even learn a new song. Adolf Hitler is our savior, our hero. He is the noblest being in the whole world. For Hitler we live, for Hitler we die. Our Hitler rules a brave new world. All over Germany, thousands of new recruits swear allegiance to their Führer.

Hitler’s adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Schmont. The Führer says that the solution to our problems demands courage. It will be a question of expanding in the east. We see no other cracks in Europe. We have no alternative but to attack Poland. At the first opportunity. This time, Britain and France warn Hitler that if he attacks Poland, they are prepared to go to war.

The Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels. We know for a fact that the British are too weak and cowardly to stand in our way. The Führer says that Great Britain has at present the most deplorable government one can imagine. Believe me, things will develop as they did last time. A war of nerves, but one in which they will be the ones to surrender.

Hitler has to deal with a possible threat before launching his attack on Poland. He sends a secret telegram to the Soviet leader. Herr Stalin. The tension between Germany and Poland has become intolerable. The crisis will break out at any moment. It would be advisable to review the terms of our relationship.

I would appreciate a prompt reply from you. Adolf Hitler. 48 hours later, Stalin agrees not to interfere in Hitler’s plans in exchange for participation in the partition of Poland. More than 2 million men await orders from the Führer. Never again will anyone be able to win the confidence of the entire German people.

Everything depends on me. Our enemies have second-class leaders. Those I saw in Munich are nothing but worms. Close your hearts to pity. Act with brutality. When a war starts, the important thing is not to do the right thing, but to win. Early in the morning of September 1, 1939, the German army invades Poland.

The news is broadcast in Germany by Hitler himself. Werner Hartz, in Berlin. The streets are empty and no troops are seen. The people have not taken to the streets in jubilation as when the Great War began. The war has broken out quietly, as if it were a coincidence. 2 days later, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.

Adolf Hitler has started World War II. An airfield seized outside Warsaw. The Nazi invasion only began 3 weeks ago, but the Poles already face defeat. A jubilant Hitler arrives to congratulate his troops. Endless columns of the Polish army end up as prisoners of war. The survivors must surrender and hand over their weapons, otherwise they will be destroyed.

The Red Army invades eastern Poland as part of Stalin’s secret pact. When the Poles refuse to surrender, the Germans raze the city of Warsaw to the ground. Armored infantryman, Gejar Mare. We meet hordes of refugees in wagons. The people leave the city. Our artillery has made the most of it. We have razed everything to the ground.

People are standing by the roads, staring at us with hatred. The defeat of Poland results in 70,000 dead. As a nation, Poland ceases to exist. Hitler hopes that the destruction of Poland will serve as a warning to Britain and France. He makes them an offer of peace. When they reject it, Hitler is furious. Joseph Goebbels: The Führer believes that England needs to be dealt a crushing blow.

Right now Britain’s power is a myth, not a reality. All the more reason to crush her. Until that day, there will be no peace in the world. May 10, 1940. Having invaded Scandinavia, Hitler launches his blitzkrieg in the west. It takes the Allies completely by surprise. Private Hans Gotthard: My dear wife, how could I begin to describe this experience? On all 4 sides we hear thousands of soldiers marching.

The roar of artillery never ceases, and we merely follow its echo. In just 2 weeks, the German army puts the Allies to flight. In declaring war, France has made the greatest mistake in its history. The test will soon be made. Many French military men are also convinced of victory. Since the Great War, they have the reputation of being the best soldiers in the world.

2 million men are going to join the border and the fortifications of the Maginot line, reputed and unassailable. Behind, the women who replace them to work in the field are dared by the news from the border. For several months, the fighters remain with the gun at their feet. The soldier and writer Claude Jamais invents a new expression, the rare war.

It is a rare war, without hostility. Nothing, certainly nothing, since the state of war has been officially declared. Not a coup de canon, not a single stroke of fire, by no means. Some officers, like General Lafargue, worry. Our units go in to execute without defined objective. They are approached to mount the guard, waiting for permission to relax.

These fears are justified. May 10, 1940. Hitler launches the Blitzkrieg, the war is clear to the West. A massive attack, long-standing concerted. The German navy contours the Maginot line and moves northward from France. The Allies are surprised. The German soldier, Hans Gotthard wrote to his wife. My dear wife, how can I describe what I saw? From all sides, we guessed the advance of our armies.

We constantly heard the shooting. We followed the explosions. In a few days, the German navy has put the Allies in defeat. After the rare war, it fades away. The errors of the General Staff reinforce the panic. The French planes are as numerous as the Germans, but they are diminished on the front line. The aviation fades in a few days.

In the streets of the north and west, the French soldiers suffer the noise of the German compressor. Jean Cazin, 87th Infantry Division. For 2 days now, the Bosch have been attacking with opinion. They are young guys arriving from Belgium. We are a band without defense thanks to the planes. A few kilometers from there, the artilleryman René Chal is located.

We hear the cars coming. The airplanes are continually overhead dropping their bombs on us. And mithralizing afterwards. It is the save that can. The ships that we pass are in fire. I hear the officers cry like children. More than 100,000 Frenchmen will die in combat. Nearly 2 million will be prisoners. At Dunkirk, more than 340,000 men of the British and French armies are forced to leave France.

Peter Zuff is one of the first German soldiers to reach the beach. It is difficult to describe the panic of the British. Imagine a picture of absolute chaos on the beaches. Weapons and machine guns abandoned. And countless vehicles and tanks. With the fall of Dunkirk, the entire French and Belgian coast is in our hands.

After the defeat of the British army, France is left alone. Hans Bagua, Hitler’s pilot, records the triumphant arrival of the Führer in France. Soldiers of the Western Front, you have not disappointed me. The most reckless strategy in the whole history of warfare has been made possible by your unparalleled courage.

Our victory is for our enemies a lesson in history. June 22, 1940. The French formally surrender. However, for some German soldiers the price of victory is too high. Private Hans Cotter. My dear wife, I am terribly shocked. Our soldiers act childishly and cruelly. I can already imagine the excited speeches at home once we have won this war.

They will talk of our leadership and the spirit of the troops. I must tell you it’s all lies. We will only have won. Thank you, our wickedness. Our armies now behave with childish cruelty. When we win the war, I imagine all the enthusiastic speeches they will entitle us to, about the qualities of the General Staff and about the morale of the armies.

But nothing is more false. If we have won, it is not only our cruelty. It is with great regret that I tell you today that we must stop the fight. Last night I spoke to the adversary. On 17 June 1940, the new head of the government, Marchéchal Pétain, turns to the French. He comes to demand the armistice from Hitler.

The German army enters Paris. The police commissioner, Fernand Dupuy, attends the first hours of the occupation. The first Nazi divisions make their appearance on the star. Here are in our eyes these famous German soldiers, mostly blond, all clean-shaven and with greenish uniforms. Some onlookers look annoyed at the spectacle.

The black years have begun. The romanciera Simone de Beauvoir. It was hell. Victory was inscribed in every German look. Each French glance was a screaming defeat. 6 o’clock in the morning of July 28th. Hitler enters the defeated French capital. In just 6 weeks of heroic combat, our soldiers have put an end to the war on the western front.

Their exploit will go down in history as the most glorious victory of all time. I have ordered the flags to be flown throughout the Reich and the bells to be rung for 7 days. Only Great Britain stands in the way of Hitler’s total domination of Europe. A week later he returns to Berlin. Hundreds of thousands take to the streets to welcome him.

You make a new peace offer to Britain. Mr. Churchill should put his trust in me. If this war continues, it will end in the complete destruction of one of our two nations. I know it will be Great Britain. This is another appeal for sanity. Winston Churchill declines the offer. I knew what Nazism was. I told myself that I should not tolerate it in our house.

I decided to continue the fight anywhere. I listened to De Gaulle and I said to myself, this is the way to go. Back from the French campaign, Hitler is greeted by thousands of cheering Germans. He renews his peace offer to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The British must listen to me.

The prose of war will bring the total destruction of one of our two nations. But I know it will be Britain that will disappear. One last time, he is right. Wilson Churchill rejects this offer. England begins. Hitler knows that his pilots will have to eliminate the RAF before any possible invasion. This time they face a formidable enemy. Fighter pilot, Ulrich Steingma.

I report that I have shot down my fourth Spitfire. But I have lost an excellent pilot. The day before yesterday we had 3 more casualties. My wing man is also down. Only 12 of the old crew remain. The British have a new engine in their Spitfire and we can hardly catch up with them. A week later, Ulrich Steingma is shot down over British soil.

When Churchill orders the bombing of German cities, Hitler forgets about the air forces and orders to attack the people at Nips. If the RAF drops 2000 or 4000 bombs, we will drop 200,000 or 400,000, even a million bombs in a single night. Hitler’s pilots bomb Britain day and night. Over the next 9 months, they capitulate.

The Luftwaffe is beginning to suffer heavy casualties. Fighter-bomber pilot Peter Stamm. October 16th. Our losses have been four bombers and their crews. It has been a heavy blow. And tomorrow, the official communiqué will say that our brave pilots have inflicted devastating damage on vital targets and that our casualties have been minimal.

Our men are about to lose their nerve. In May 1941, Hitler has already lost the Battle of Britain. For the first time he hits the nail on the head. I am not a man to give up the battle once it has begun. I have proved it throughout my life and I will prove it to Churchill. In Hitler’s new eastern provinces, victory has brought with it a brutal regime.

The Poles have a thin Germanic layer, under which is hidden something repugnant. The Jews. The most disgusting beings ever imagined. If Poland had held out longer, everything would be crawling with lice. Here, what is needed is a evil and authoritarianism. Hitler demands that all Jews be marked with a special armband.

They are grouped together and forced to live in ghettos. The largest of these ghettos is in the former Polish capital of Warsaw. 400,000 Jews are confined within its walls. Mary Beck, 17 years old. There are more and more people in the ghetto. There is a constant flow of new refugees. The people, dressed in rags and barefoot, have the tragic look of those who are starving to death.

Hunger alone kills 40 to 50 people every day. I saw a little girl crying. She has looked at me with her blue eyes and said, “I am hungry”, “Why doesn’t anyone help us?” “How long are they going to keep us here?” Joseph Goebbels. The Führer prophesied that if the Jews unleashed a new world war they would be annihilated.

The Second World War has broken out. The extermination of the Jews is its necessary consequence. Hitler’s final solution has begun. It is to be implemented throughout occupied Europe, particularly in France. In market trains like this one, more than 70,000 Jews were deported to Hitler’s concentration camps with the support of the French authorities.

2500 of them will return from the camps. Since October 1940, Marichal Pétain has chosen a line of collaboration with Hitler. France accepts to figure in the new Europe, where the Nazis dream. France is divided in two. The Vichy regime maintains control of the free zone in the south. The Nazis occupy the north and the Atlantic facade.

They behave as victors. Through their permissions, they film France as they would like to see it, as an underlying nation and as a host. Hitler’s army appreciates the good fortune of living in the French way. But the reality is more shadowy. The writer Jean Guéhenno: The air becomes more and more unbreathable.

In some neighborhoods the police blockade the streets. Jews are arrested, Communists are shot, we are being threatened with death, the occupier organizes terror. Young rebels are hanged in their villages. Every day we learn new horrors. After his defeat at the hands of the RAF, Hitler abandons his plans to invade England.

He prepares the strategy for a new war, this time against his ally, the Soviet Union. General Halta, Chief of the General Staff: The Führer says that if we succeed in defeating Russia, England’s last hope will be gone. He believes that a campaign against the Soviet Union will be child’s play. Some of Hitler’s generals begin to question his leadership.

General Warlaman, chief operations officer. This means that we are provoking a 2-front war. Something we’ve been lucky enough to avoid so far. What we need is someone to stand up to the Führer, but there is no one who dares. A war to put an end to communism has been Hitler’s dream for 20 years. Communism is a huge threat to our future.

We must forget any idea of comradeship between soldiers. This is going to be a war of extermination. Sunrise, June 22, 1940. More than 3 million German soldiers cross the border into the Soviet Union. The peace treaty between Hitler and Stalin is broken. Operation Barbarossa begins. Cardfux is a gunner in the 7th Division, Palfen.

The war is not half as bad as it looks. There are retreating Russians everywhere. I destroyed a Russian tank yesterday. If I destroy another one, I’ll get my first stripes. Those Bolshevik pigs are going to find out who’s in charge here. I wish you could see me now, all tanned by the sun. We all believe in an early victory.

An officer of the 105th military police battalion writes home. Dear Hanna, the number of prisoners we make is increasing day by day. Our battalion must take care of us. From time to time we shoot some of them. If you think about the fact that these men have killed German soldiers, it’s not so hard for you to shoot.

Please, don’t read this to our son. When this war is over, more than 3 million Soviet prisoners of war will have been killed. August 26, 1941, Hitler visits the eastern front. With the Red Army in full retreat and large parts of the Soviet interior in his power, his plans for the creation of an eastern empire begin to take shape.

Russia is to us what India is to England. May she succeed in making the German people understand what this territory means for our future. Let us learn from the British that it is all about dividing up a big cake which we will first govern, then we will administer. And finally, we will exploit. But Hitler and his generals do not manage to defeat the Red Army before the arrival of the harsh Russian winter.

They are forced to interrupt Operation Barbarossa. Then, on December 7, Hitler receives the news that his allies the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor. Adolf Hitler faces a new enemy, the United States. No power will make us tremble. I am Führer of a Reich that will last 1,000 years. Churchill and Roosevelt are sitting there in their plutocratic little world.

Behind the scenes the Jews pull their strings. I am pulled by my people. When winter ends, Hitler launches a new offensive. He is convinced that the Red Army is on the verge of disintegration. Lieutenant Wilhelm Prula. We are back in our element. It is we who are taking the initiative, Mr. Stalin. You and your beasts will be able to stop us.

The roar around us is deafening, thunderous, blast after blast, an endless inferno. The earth is covered by a dense fog. We thank God that this war is not being fought on German soil. When the Germans reach the Volga River, Hitler orders the capture of Stalingrad. His soldiers are at that moment some 1,600 kilometers from home and dangerously exposed.

When his generals suggest a retreat, Hitler confronts them. Do you think you can teach me what men think at the front? Where were you in World War I? I demand the same fortitude from you as I demand from the soldiers on the front line. Hitler’s orders are no retreat. 3 months later, the Red Army surrounds and traps 250,000 German soldiers at Stalingrad.

In Germany, Christmas is prepared. Some families of soldiers in Stalingrad receive news of the new airplanes. Private Werner Bunnmann writes: My dear son, I hope this will be the last Christmas you celebrate without me. The Russians have dealt us a bad blow. It is less than 30 degrees here. We would be better off in the heat.

I hope to see you next time. By far, your father, Werner. 5 weeks later, 90,000 German soldiers who have survived the siege of Stalingrad surrender. 80,000 will die in Soviet prison centers. Private Berner Bulimann is one of them. Hitler’s war takes more and more German lives. Even old men and children are called upon to fight for their fatherland.

Wolfgang Findeisen’s diary, 15 years old. We have replaced the men so that they can go to the front. Until now these machine guns were manned by soldiers. It’s very exciting. I like this much better than school. Right now we are on duty 24 hours a day. We are no longer boys. We are men now. Hitler’s homeland is being attacked from the air.

The Allies have begun bombing German cities. On July 27, 700 British bombers target Hamburg. Hamburg bombardier, Hans Brunsvig, records the firestorm. The fire rages like a thunderstorm. The heat is unbearable. People are lying on the ground in the streets. I try to help them. But they are already dead. The streets of Hamburg are strewn with corpses.

Many of them so charred that they are nothing more than skeletons. And some have been reduced to small mounds of ash. More than 40,000 people die in Hamburg alone. Hitler’s advisors want him to recall the ruins of the city to boost the morale of the people. Albert Spia, Minister of Armaments. I have tried to convince Hitler on several occasions.

Goebbels tried to put the same idea to him, but in vain. He even spoke enviously of Churchill’s attitude. When I think of the propaganda value of such a visit, he said. Hitler is still hiding in his command bunker on the eastern front. If the Germans have ceased to be strong and are no longer prepared for sacrifice, if they are unwilling to shed their own blood for a better existence, then they deserve to die.

They deserve to be annihilated by a stronger power. If that is the case, I will not shed a single tear for it. Hidden in the forests of East Germany, is Hitler’s secret headquarters. The Wolf’s Lair is a huge complex of camouflaged buildings and subway bunkers. Hitler directs the war from here. His health begins to fail.

He has heart problems and shows the first signs of Parkinson’s disease. General Heinz Guderia. Hitler has aged a lot since I last saw him. His back is arched. His pulse trembles and his eyes no longer have the luster of yesteryear. He loses his temper easily, and his actions and words are unpredictable. Hitler’s ally, the Romanian fascist dictator, Marshal Antonescu, visits him to discuss the escalation of the war and his situation.

Dawn of June 6, 1944. The Allies begin the invasion of Nazi-controlled France, controlled by the Nazis. D-Day. When Hitler finds out, he is delighted. The news couldn’t be better. Had we not left Britain, we would not have been able to reach them. Now we have them where we can destroy. The Allies have already overwhelmed the German troops and have broken through into the interior.

Private soldier, Robert Vox. We only had infantry weapons. We didn’t even have a bazooka. And we were short of ammunition. The Americans were right. They threw leaflets at us in German that said. “Attacked head-on, cut off from retreat and abandoned by Hitler.” And that’s why we have to finish them off. On the night of June 6, 7,000 Allied soldiers died, including Marcellus Labine.

But the Allied armies now impose their rhythm on Hitler’s troops. The French territory suffered from intense bombardments. 20,000 civilians are going to die under the bombs. A little 12-year-old girl, Rejane Leproust, notes her impressions on a school poster. A violent bombing awakens us. Everything vibrates.

We have the impression that the church is going to collapse. It is astonishing. The interior of the house no longer exists. Only the masonry has resisted. Mom says we came here to look for death. But a few days later, when she sees the first Allied soldier, Rejane screams. In a few weeks, hope changes sides. In Germany, news is relayed that a bomb has exploded in the Wolf’s lair, Hitler’s headquarters.

A group of army officers has been secretly plotting his downfall. Hitler narrowly escapes. Now I have the proof. The entire General Staff is contaminated. I have the pigs, who have been sabotaging my work for years. Now, I know why, my great plans have failed. They have betrayed me. Hitler orders the immediate arrest of 5,000 people.

200 are executed. With his empire threatened on all 4 sides, Hitler puts all his faith in a new weapon. For more than 12 years, at a secret location in northern Germany, a team of Nazi scientists has been testing an arc-range ballistic missile. They recorded a color film of their first successful launch. The head of the research team, Major General Walter Thorberger, shows it to Hitler.

A strange, fanatical gleam lit up Hitler’s eyes. What I want is to annihilate them, he roared. I realized that I expected that new weapon to be a turning point in the war. Our missile was renamed, V-2, weapon of vengeance. 1300 V-2 rockets were fired at London. They killed nearly 3,000 people. Nothing like the annihilation Hitler demanded.

The Allies begin to surround the Führer’s homeland. Hitler keeps telling his people that the war is winnable. But in private, he is a different man. I know that the war is lost. The superiority of the enemy is too great. I have been betrayed. I should shoot myself. Even so, we will never capitulate. We may fall, but we will take the world with us.

April 11, 1945. The Allies arrive at Buchenwald. One of Hitler’s more than 1,000 concentration camps. Udo Dietmar is one of the few survivors. The situation in Buchenwald had reached the height of horror. People were starving to death. Some of those who could still move, collapsed and died. There were mountains of corpses.

The crematorium and the courtyard were littered with skeletons. General de Gaulle is in Paris. But the war is very nearly over. The fighting is now taking place on German soil. Hitler stubbornly repeats to his people that he can win the war. In private, however, he is a man of rage. I know well that we have lost the war.

The superiority of the enemy is staggering. I have been brought in. I should have a bullet in my head. But they will never capitulate to us. If we must yield, the whole world will yield with us. On April 11, 1945, more than two months after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviets, the Allies enter Buchenwald.

It is one of the 1,000 concentration camps of the Nazi death machine. Udo Dietmar is one of the poor survivors. In Buchenwald. We had reached the bottom of the horror. People starved to death. Those who still had the strength to leave, fell from flooding. There were mountains of bodies. The crematorium furnace and the court were shrouded in corpses.

I can still hear my dead friends. If you survive, don’t forget to tell the world of our fate. I will never forget. The Americans rounded up the inhabitants of the neighboring town and forced them to witness the horrors that had been committed in their name. Renata Simon, 18 years old. I could not believe what was happening.

They had piled up the bodies of the dead. The smell was unbearable. I couldn’t even look, but an American soldier shouted at me, “You, Hitler Freuland, look, look at this!” The Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. January 1945. The Red Army has reached the Oder River, 50 miles from Berlin. From his bunker under the city center, Hitler orders all able-bodied men to defend Berlin.

All soldiers must do their duty. Anyone who fails to do so is a traitor. Arrest and execute immediately anyone who gives you an order to withdraw. The German cause is doomed to failure. For every German soldier there are 5 enemy soldiers. On April 21 the Russians enter Berlin. With a tally to date of more than 20 million Soviet war dead, the Red Army allows its soldiers to celebrate.

Hildegard Kristoff, 24: The Russians came. We were not allowed to lock the doors of the houses. At machine-gun point they drove us into an empty house. They had also taken other girls. Those beasts raped us again and again all night long. They were a battalion. At dawn they disappeared. We enlightened ourselves as best we could to our families.

Many committed suicide. 2 million German women were raped. Hitler’s subway bunker is discovered, among the ruins of the Nazi Chancellery. No one was there. After finally marrying his mistress, Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler commits suicide. To escape the humiliation of surrender, my wife and I chose to flee, my wife and I choose to flee.

We want to be cremated immediately. All they find are a few charred bones. Hitler’s war is finally over. Edelgard Seidel, 17-year-old student: We believed in victory. And now this is the end. Hitler is responsible for the destruction of our nation. We will always have to live with this shame. In Europe 50 million people have died.

Before he committed suicide, Hitler wrote his last words. It is not true that I, or that anyone else in Germany, wanted to go to war. The only guilty ones are the Jews. I die happy, conscious of our infinite achievements and of my extraordinary contribution to the history of mankind.