Rise of the Nazis

Rise of the Nazis Series 4

Episode 1: Most Wanted
In the aftermath of World War II, the Allies uncover the true scale of the Holocaust. At the end of the Second World War, after the defeat and death of Hitler, British troops are confronted with the true horrors of Nazi crimes when they discover the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Preparations begin for a trial at Nuremberg, but not all high-ranking Nazis have been captured. The job of hunting them down and capturing them falls to exhausted Allied soldiers.

Episode 2: The Ratline
As the Cold War grows, Nazi hunting is abandoned. Some seamlessly slip into normal life. The most senior-ranking Nazis have been executed or imprisoned following the international trial at Nuremberg, but many of the worst criminals are still at large. As America shifts its attention to containing communism, it takes its eye off wanted Nazis like Klaus Barbie, before making him an extraordinary offer to work as a US agent, hunting communists in return for his freedom.

Ep 3: The Reckoning
In the 1960s and 70s war is a distant memory, but a few are determined to keep hunting. In the late 1960s, West Germany is a prosperous democracy. Kurt Kiesinger is the chancellor. But a young German woman, Beate Klarsfeld, knows that Kiesinger is a former Nazi, and she decides to tell the world by publicly slapping him in the face. Beate is one of a handful of people who, more than two decades after the war, are determined to bring Nazis to justice for the murder of millions.

Rise of the Nazis Series 3

The war is almost lost. The Nazi regime is collapsing. After suffering huge losses, all Hitler can do is drive Germany further into the abyss. The once indominable Führer is forced to hide in an underground bunker, a tired and defeated old man. This fascinating history documentary takes a forensic look at Hitler’s final days and tries to explain the choices he made as the inevitable end drew near.

Rise of the Nazis Series 2

In 1940, Hitler’s plan for world domination appeared to be gaining momentum. Countries fell and enemies were vanquished with ease. But his decision to open an Eastern Front and attack Russia was the beginning of the end for the Nazis and the war. This innovative history series looks at the reasons why Germany’s plans were changed and the disastrous consequences of their actions.

Rise of the Nazis Series 1

How did a nation like Germany allow, and even welcome, the destructive and disturbing ideas of Nazism to take hold? Told by those closest to the Nazi propaganda machine, and those desperate to stop it, the rise of Hitler and his stranglehold on power are compellingly told. Was fascism something that had to happen, and what lessons can be learned to stop it happening again?