"The Nazis: A Warning from History" (1997) TV mini-series

Director:

Laurence Rees

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

8 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History | War

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Uniform | Nazism | Nazi | Genocide | Holocaust

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Samuel West

...

Narrator (6 episodes, 1997)

Series Directed by
Tilman Remme		(1 episode, 1997)
Laurence Rees		(unknown episodes)

Series Writing credits
Laurence Rees		(6 episodes, 1997)

Series Produced by
Laurence Rees	....	producer (6 episodes, 1997)
Detlef Siebert	....	assistant producer / associate producer (5 episodes, 1997)
Tilman Remme	....	associate producer (4 episodes, 1997)
Corina Sturmer	....	assistant producer (2 episodes, 1997)
Wanda Koscla	....	assistant producer (unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Martin Patmore		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Alan Lygo		(4 episodes, 1997)
James Hay		(2 episodes, 1997)

Series Production Management
Ann Cattini	....	unit manager (6 episodes, 1997)

Series Art Department
John Kennedy	....	graphics (2 episodes, 1997)
Juliet Savigear	....	graphic artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Stephen Barnham	....	sound (2 episodes, 1997)
Richard Manton	....	sound (2 episodes, 1997)
Michael Narduzzo	....	sound (2 episodes, 1997)
Brian Biffin	....	sound (unknown episodes)
Bryan Showell	....	sound (unknown episodes)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Martin Patmore	....	photography (6 episodes, 1997)

Series Editorial Department
Paul Farmer	....	post-production (unknown episodes)
Paula Gilder	....	post-production (unknown episodes)

Series Other crew
Harriet Rowe	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 1997)
Venita Singh Warner	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 1997)
Friederike Albat	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Mark Alden	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Victor Beylakov	....	film researcher (unknown episodes)
Christopher Browning	....	additional consultant (unknown episodes)
Laura Davey	....	production team (unknown episodes)
Hans-Jürgen Döscher	....	additional consultant (unknown episodes)
Camilla Geddes	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Robert Gellately	....	additional consultant (unknown episodes)
Michael Geyer	....	additional consultant (unknown episodes)
Kate Gorst	....	production team (unknown episodes)
Victoria Greenly	....	production team (unknown episodes)
Stephanie Harvie	....	production team (unknown episodes)
Ian Kershaw	....	historical consultant (unknown episodes)
Volker Knopf	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Katerina Kohoutkova	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Marita Krauss	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Lin McConnell	....	film researcher (unknown episodes)
Birgit Neunert	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Jeremy Noakes	....	additional consultant (unknown episodes)
Deirdre Nolan	....	production team (unknown episodes)
Volker Riess	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Stuart Russell	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Gabriele Sohar	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Corina Sturmer	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Alexandra Umminger	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
James Walker	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Peter Witte	....	additional consultant / researcher (unknown episodes)
Oliver Wurzer	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Alicia Zukauskaite	....	researcher (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

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

Distributors

• BBC Worldwide (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Divisa Home Video (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• History Channel

Other Companies

• Frameline Productions  rostrum camera

Also Known As:

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | French | Polish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Goofs:

Factual errors: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Features Das Erbe (1935)

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.