Third Reich: The Rise & Fall - Part 1: The Rise

>> narrator: it was 1938.

This footage, never before seen,

Was shot by an american family

Vacationing in germany.

Their home movie captured the

Glory of hitler's third reich.

One nation.

One people.

United behind one leader.

And poised to conquer the world.

>> woman: no longer does a german

Need to be ashamed to be german.

We once again have our honor.

>> narrator: but in the end,

The third reich would bring

Every german eternal shame.

>> man: you mark my words...

If we are defeated...

We will be given no quarter.

We will be starved to death

Or butchered.

That will be the fate of every german...

Whether he is a nazi or not.

>> narrator: these are their words...

Their films.

This is the fall...

Of the third reich.

It was september of 1938.

For weeks, germans like else klamroth

And her family

Have lived under the threat of war.

At the time of her daughter

Wibke's birth, hitler demanded

That a portion of czechoslovakia

Be returned to germany.

Instead of fighting,

On september 29, the european

Powers gave it to him.

Now, wibke's father wouldn't be

Going to war after all.

>> klamroth: hitler has won a

Massive victory without a battle.

Faith and admiration of our

Great fuhrer have strengthened

And deepened even when i thought

That was no longer possible.

>>ebermayer: nobody wants war.

Everyone is doing so well.

We're earning money!

We have a car...

A refrigerator...

A record player.

What is the point of war?

>> man: "do you remember germany

In the days before adolf hitler?

Tens of thousands of factories

Had closed their gates.

Millions of workers lost their jobs.

Now the nations around us look

With amazement when they see the

Unprecedented economic growth

That has occurred in germany

Over the past five years.

The german miracle.

>> narrator: the miracle was

Being financed in part by land

And raw material stolen from

Other countries.

But if you were german, what

Mattered to you was that there

Was regular work and even

State-subsidized leisure.

>> woman: it was our first real holiday.

Six meals a day; lots of courses at lunch

Served by uniformed waiters.

There was music, dancing,

New films and lectures.

Before only the rich could do that.

>> narrator: but not everyone

Experienced the german miracle.

This cruise liner, the st. louis,

Took workers and nazi

Party leaders on excursions to

Italy, norway and the west indies.

Soon, the st. louis would take

Another group of germans on a

Very different kind of voyage.

On november 9, the nazis

Unleashed a 2-day orgy of

Violence on jewish businesses,

Places of worship and jews themselves.

This is one of the few existing

Films of what came to be known

As kristallnacht,

Or 'night of broken glass.'

Here in the town of buehl,

Firemen are seen ignoring the

Burning synagogue and working

Instead to save the aryan homes

And businesses next door.

Meanwhile, the residents of

Buehl stand and watch.

>> fritzch: today, the morning

After, i watched my fellow

Passengers on the train.

Only a few people looked up out

The window to see the burning

Synagogues.

>> friedrich: everyone's

Expression seems somehow to be

Asking forgiveness.

But if everyone is ashamed,

Who smashed those windows?

>> narrator: in may of 1939,

The st. louis sailed from germany

With nearly 1,000 jewish refugees.

3 weeks later, they were turned away

By cuba, the united states and canada.

The st. louis returned to europe.

Within the year, most of its

Passengers would once again be

Under nazi rule.

>> narrator: it was the 20th of april, 1939--

In berlin.

Hitler's 50th birthday.

And this would be the biggest

Birthday celebration in the

History of mankind.

The spectacle here was rivaled

Only by the passion

Of the fuhrer's followers.

>> reck-malleczewen: i witnessed

The festivities.

I heard the clamor...

Saw the enraptured faces of the women.

Through it all, this moronic

Roar of "heil!"

Hysterical females, adolescents

In a trance, an entire people in

The spiritual state of whirling dervishes.

These people...

Are insane.

>> woman: dear fuehrer...

I wish you for the completion

Of your 50th year of life,

God's greatest blessing.

I have never been among those

Who write letters.

But now, the constant thought--i

Should be the fuehrer's wife.

>> girl: i want to give

Uncle hitler something

On his birthday.

But i don't have anything.

Mommy had to write this since

I'm only 4 years old.

>> narrator: it was the summer of 1939.

Here in a small town near

Chemnitz, the wuestner family

Was filming their son konrad and

His little brother in their garden.

The title card here reads,

"konrad wants to go to the party

Rally in nuremberg."

300 miles away, this hitler

Youth troop was filming their

Bike trip to the polish border.

It's likely that they, too, were

Looking forward to the annual

Party rally.

But within days of this trip.

Hitler canceled it.

This year's theme would have

Been "rally of peace."

Instead, germany would wage war

Directly across this border.

During the summer of 1939,

If you went to the movies

In germany, you would have seen

Propaganda films like this:

The nazis claimed that the poles

Were terrorizing ethnic germans

Near the border.

In truth, 21 of these attacks

Had been staged by the nazis themselves,

To justify war.

>> male reporter: we interrupt

This broadcast...

The fuhrer, who has just arrived

To address the reichstag,

Which has been called in

Extraordinary session...

...for the first time this

Evening has shot at regular

Soldiers upon our territory.

for from now on,

Bomb will be met by bomb.

If you were german, you knew

That this, finally, would mean

War with england and france.