The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997– )

An examination of how a cultured people could have allowed Hitler's rise to power.

Stars:

Samuel West, Fritz Arlt, Artur Axmann

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Samuel West	...	Narrator (6 episodes, 1997)

Storyline

An examination of how a cultured people could have allowed Hitler's rise to power.

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Plot Keywords:

uniform | nazism | nazi | genocide | holocaust | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German French Polish

Release Date:

8 February 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Natsit - historian synkkä varoitus

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&E Television Networks, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the "Chaos and Consent" segment, the tune "Happy Days Are Here Again" which is associated with drinking (it was FDR's Prohibition-repeal campaign song) is played while showing Hitler raising a glass stein within a crowd of stein-holding pub visitors. The visuals, music, and certainly the narration imply that Hitler might have been a drinker, yet (as cited in non-fiction histories by William Shirer and by Albert Speer) he was a well-known alcohol-abstainer.

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Quotes

Narrator: A Hungarian woman in Hitler's entourage looked at the sky and then turned to speak to her Fuhrer.

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Connections

Referenced in The 50 Greatest Documentaries (2005)

User Reviews

New insight into the development and functioning of the Nazi state

Six 45-minute episodes are arranged chronologically, from the NSDAP rise in the context of the social and political turmoil which followed the first world war to Hitler's suicide in April 1945, and arranged thematically, dealing with the origins of the party, the road to the Chancellery, Anschluss, resettlement in the East, the death camps, and finally the Reich's collapse.

The first episode mentions the workers revolution that briefly took control of München, and shows how the number of Jews among the Communist leadership supported widespread theories of a Jewish-Communist alliance. Street-fighting between Communists and reactionaries is chronicled, explicating the German populace's understandable desire for law and order.

Local operation of the Gestapo, the surprisingly low count of actual employees and the extent to which surveillance by neighbors led to non-conformant citizens' denunciation and imprisonment is illustrated through a brief look at a case in Nürnberg. The informant who sent her innocent neighbor to die in a camp is interviewed.

The Wild East chapter illustrates the great variance in regional Nazi commanders' approach to Germanization of Poland and how Hitler's management style facilitated bureaucratic fiefdoms.

Too often documentaries demonize the Nazis and assume individuals somehow sprang fully formed from the gates of hell. In contrast, each of the well-crafted installments of The Nazis: A Warning from History offers new insight into the development and functioning of the Nazi state and enables us to intelligently consider the lives of its supporters. In calling for a more sophisticated understanding of totalitarianism the warning is very much that of Resnais' Night and Fog.