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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:07,975 --> 00:00:10,209 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:10,311 --> 00:00:14,046 Narrator: They were, they thought, the third reich's racial elite. 3 00:00:16,751 --> 00:00:18,817 Men superior to others. 4 00:00:19,854 --> 00:00:23,455 Ready to do anything for the triumph of national socialism. 5 00:00:28,062 --> 00:00:30,429 Men hitler could count on to the death. 6 00:00:35,169 --> 00:00:40,372 To apply their racial theories, they were prepared to eliminate their adversaries, 7 00:00:41,542 --> 00:00:44,476 To decimate the jewish people, 8 00:00:45,546 --> 00:00:49,715 To massacre civilian populations. 9 00:00:55,456 --> 00:00:58,991 Over 70 years later, some of them are still living among us. 10 00:01:02,396 --> 00:01:05,664 -One people, one reich, one führer! That was our motto. 11 00:01:06,967 --> 00:01:09,468 Eberhard: I felt anti-semitic. 12 00:01:11,372 --> 00:01:13,772 Herbert: We wanted a pure state. 13 00:01:14,575 --> 00:01:17,543 No jews in the third reich! 14 00:01:20,114 --> 00:01:25,784 Narrator: This is the story of ss fanaticism, bloodlust and terror... 15 00:01:28,489 --> 00:01:32,424 (theme music plays) 16 00:01:37,098 --> 00:01:40,499 Told from the inside. 17 00:01:55,416 --> 00:01:57,649 Summer 1941. 18 00:01:59,420 --> 00:02:02,488 Hitler invades the soviet union. 19 00:02:03,691 --> 00:02:09,328 A war of a kind that has never been seen before, to conquer "living space" and exterminate 20 00:02:10,664 --> 00:02:14,299 The "judeo-bolsheviks," as he calls them. 21 00:02:18,906 --> 00:02:23,842 Alongside the regular army the wehrmacht, the führer has at his disposal more than 22 00:02:23,944 --> 00:02:29,815 100,000 men who have sworn loyalty to the death: The ss. 23 00:02:37,925 --> 00:02:41,226 This horrific scene was filmed behind the lines. 24 00:02:44,899 --> 00:02:48,066 Jewish men were assassinated and buried in the sand. 25 00:02:51,305 --> 00:02:55,574 Just one of the terrible consequences of the indoctrination of the 1930's. 26 00:02:58,679 --> 00:02:59,945 (gunshot) 27 00:03:04,518 --> 00:03:07,486 Hans friedrich was in the first ss infantry brigade. 28 00:03:09,557 --> 00:03:14,393 A few months before his death in 2005, he confessed on film to his part in the 29 00:03:14,495 --> 00:03:16,895 Murder of several thousand jews. 30 00:03:23,404 --> 00:03:29,441 Hans: They were in such a state of shock 31 00:03:32,179 --> 00:03:36,315 And so scared that we could do what we 32 00:03:36,417 --> 00:03:39,651 Wanted with them. 33 00:03:40,154 --> 00:03:43,422 Try to imagine, there's a ditch. 34 00:03:46,794 --> 00:03:48,927 On one side, there are people. 35 00:03:49,029 --> 00:03:52,030 And opposite, there are soldiers. 36 00:03:52,132 --> 00:03:53,432 That was us. 37 00:03:53,567 --> 00:03:55,500 And we shot. 38 00:03:56,937 --> 00:04:00,772 The ones who were hit, fell in the ditch. 39 00:04:04,745 --> 00:04:08,080 Interviewer: What were you thinking and feeling while you were firing? 40 00:04:08,616 --> 00:04:10,482 Can you tell us? 41 00:04:11,585 --> 00:04:16,755 -Nothing. I just thought... 42 00:04:19,693 --> 00:04:22,728 Aim well. 43 00:04:24,732 --> 00:04:28,967 So they'd be killed with a single shot. 44 00:04:29,603 --> 00:04:32,838 That was my only thought. 45 00:04:32,940 --> 00:04:34,740 Interviewer: That was your only thought? 46 00:04:34,842 --> 00:04:38,844 You didn't have any feelings for the jewish civilians you were executing? 47 00:04:42,449 --> 00:04:44,082 (sighs). 48 00:04:44,184 --> 00:04:45,684 -No. 49 00:04:45,786 --> 00:04:47,319 -And why not? 50 00:04:47,421 --> 00:04:52,324 -Because my hatred of the jews was too strong. 51 00:05:00,901 --> 00:05:06,972 -The hardened ss who took part so enthusiastically were mad. 52 00:05:09,576 --> 00:05:15,013 They wanted to be "super-nazis." and this meant exterminating non-stop. 53 00:05:18,652 --> 00:05:22,854 In terms of public opinion, when you talked to people about the jews, 54 00:05:22,956 --> 00:05:27,259 Many would say: "the only thing we can do is exterminate them." 55 00:05:32,066 --> 00:05:36,902 Narrator: The extermination: Not all took part but many agreed with it. 56 00:05:40,708 --> 00:05:45,711 In order to kill jews, the nazis had been employing special units they used for 57 00:05:45,813 --> 00:05:47,846 The invasion of poland. 58 00:05:48,182 --> 00:05:54,019 The einsatzgruppen, detachments of killers made up of ss members, 59 00:05:55,022 --> 00:05:58,657 Police and locally recruited auxiliaries. 60 00:06:01,228 --> 00:06:05,864 Here is one of their leaders, ss general jeckeln. 61 00:06:07,368 --> 00:06:12,938 He would be hanged by the allies in 1946 for the murder of more than 100,000 people. 62 00:06:16,844 --> 00:06:21,480 His method of execution: Sardine packing. 63 00:06:23,016 --> 00:06:27,219 He applied it here, in the babi yar ravine, where he executed more 64 00:06:27,321 --> 00:06:30,322 Than 30, 000 jews. 65 00:06:32,292 --> 00:06:35,193 They were laid on top of one another and shot, 66 00:06:35,963 --> 00:06:39,498 Then buried in layers like sardines. 67 00:06:41,902 --> 00:06:45,537 Men, women, children. 68 00:06:48,842 --> 00:06:53,211 -A woman with a child fell to the ground and begged: 69 00:06:55,149 --> 00:06:58,183 "shoot me! Shoot me!" 70 00:06:59,353 --> 00:07:05,357 The ss soldier, a ukrainian, took the child's head, 71 00:07:07,861 --> 00:07:12,230 Placed it next to the woman's head and shot through it. 72 00:07:13,567 --> 00:07:15,934 And he said: "one bullet!" 73 00:07:19,406 --> 00:07:23,341 Narrator: The paradox was that the ss didn't see themselves as criminals, 74 00:07:24,077 --> 00:07:25,777 But as victims, 75 00:07:25,879 --> 00:07:28,480 Soldiers defending themselves. 76 00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:34,085 Oskar gröning is one of the last auschwitz ss men still alive. 77 00:07:36,323 --> 00:07:40,158 He believed at the time that it was the jews who had brought the world to 78 00:07:40,260 --> 00:07:42,194 Wage war against germany. 79 00:07:43,897 --> 00:07:48,166 This twisted racism meant he believed that they deserved their fate. 80 00:07:52,072 --> 00:07:56,608 -We were convinced, and this was our vision of the world, that we germans had been 81 00:07:56,710 --> 00:08:01,546 Betrayed by the whole world and that there was a huge jewish conspiracy against us. 82 00:08:04,918 --> 00:08:08,587 Children weren't our enemies at that point. 83 00:08:09,156 --> 00:08:12,457 The enemy was the blood, which flowed in them. 84 00:08:12,893 --> 00:08:16,895 But the children would grow up and become potentially dangerous jews. 85 00:08:19,399 --> 00:08:22,133 That was why the children were included. 86 00:08:27,774 --> 00:08:31,676 Narrator: Executioners, victims. 87 00:08:32,412 --> 00:08:36,114 Switching the roles authorized every crime. 88 00:08:44,124 --> 00:08:49,494 In the view of ss chief himmler, those who killed jews were carrying out 89 00:08:49,596 --> 00:08:52,531 Indispensable work for the survival of the country. 90 00:08:56,670 --> 00:09:02,307 He wanted to attend a massacre and see for himself hundreds of bodies piled up in a ditch. 91 00:09:04,511 --> 00:09:09,514 He is said to have felt queasy seeing the blood spurt from bullet wounds. 92 00:09:09,850 --> 00:09:13,485 But his demands for executions only increased. 93 00:09:15,789 --> 00:09:18,990 Listen to his voice as he speaks to his generals. 94 00:10:23,256 --> 00:10:27,292 Narrator: To wipe out 11 million european jews, according to the ss's own 95 00:10:27,394 --> 00:10:31,630 Calculations himmler appointed a technocrat of crime, 96 00:10:35,168 --> 00:10:38,169 Ss member reinhard heydrich. 97 00:10:38,271 --> 00:10:41,773 "the man with the iron heart," as hitler called him. 98 00:10:44,578 --> 00:10:47,212 The genocide, it's him. 99 00:10:50,550 --> 00:10:56,421 A former officer expelled from the navy, he ran the rsha, the reich's central security 100 00:10:57,491 --> 00:11:03,895 Office in charge of all state security. 101 00:11:04,665 --> 00:11:10,902 One of his sons gave us his family films, notably these holiday movies. 102 00:11:14,141 --> 00:11:17,075 Married to an aristocrat from northern germany. 103 00:11:17,177 --> 00:11:23,815 He embodies the ideal ss man: A cold-blooded, athletic and efficient nazi. 104 00:11:29,423 --> 00:11:34,492 With his secret police force, he had files on millions of germans, notably the jews, 105 00:11:36,363 --> 00:11:41,700 Whom he divided into several racial groups: 100% jewish, mixed blood, etc. 106 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,840 It was a formidable system, 107 00:11:48,942 --> 00:11:51,710 And the first step towards extermination. 108 00:12:01,021 --> 00:12:05,256 ♪ ♪ 109 00:12:06,526 --> 00:12:10,261 For his services, hitler made him head of bohemia-moravia. 110 00:12:12,299 --> 00:12:17,302 You can see him here at home in prague castle, the former residence of the 111 00:12:17,370 --> 00:12:20,305 Austro-hungarian emperor. 112 00:12:22,843 --> 00:12:26,177 A king surrounded by his court. 113 00:12:34,855 --> 00:12:39,724 When she learned of his nomination, his wife lina was overcome: 114 00:12:43,096 --> 00:12:46,264 "I was submerged by a feeling of exaltation", 115 00:12:46,366 --> 00:12:48,099 She wrote. 116 00:12:48,201 --> 00:12:52,370 "I said to myself I was no longer a mere mortal but a princess, 117 00:12:53,473 --> 00:12:57,108 And that I was living in a fairy tale." 118 00:13:04,484 --> 00:13:07,986 Many people benefited from the war. 119 00:13:08,288 --> 00:13:12,423 These waffen ss soldiers, for example, who crisscrossed 120 00:13:12,526 --> 00:13:15,026 Europe from one conquest to the next. 121 00:13:15,128 --> 00:13:18,263 For them, it was like a great adventure. 122 00:13:19,699 --> 00:13:21,933 In France in particular. 123 00:13:25,705 --> 00:13:29,707 When I had a chance, I went to buy butter from a farmer and, of course, 124 00:13:30,243 --> 00:13:31,876 I paid for it. 125 00:13:31,978 --> 00:13:34,445 That was my state of mind. 126 00:13:34,548 --> 00:13:37,482 I didn't feel like the soldier of an occupying army. 127 00:13:38,351 --> 00:13:41,786 I always had normal human relations with people in France. 128 00:13:42,622 --> 00:13:44,589 Not military ones. 129 00:13:56,536 --> 00:13:58,703 ♪ ♪ 130 00:13:58,805 --> 00:14:04,275 Narrator: As the jewish people gradually disappeared, the ss profited and dreamed. 131 00:14:08,181 --> 00:14:12,083 Himmler had promised them the brightest of futures. 132 00:14:17,457 --> 00:14:21,092 The third reich will last 1,000 years, he tells them. 133 00:14:23,997 --> 00:14:29,133 As greece fought rome, as rome conquered carthage and jerusalem, 134 00:14:31,104 --> 00:14:35,039 So germany will crush the judeo-bolshevik ussr. 135 00:14:38,578 --> 00:14:43,481 It is the last war, he tells them, so we may as well win it swiftly. 136 00:14:48,321 --> 00:14:52,557 It will put an end to centuries of racial strife. 137 00:15:02,535 --> 00:15:05,303 ♪ ♪ 138 00:15:05,405 --> 00:15:09,140 These are arguments that hit home. 139 00:15:10,343 --> 00:15:15,313 The ss wanted to believe that in conquered soviet land, himmler would give them vast 140 00:15:15,415 --> 00:15:20,885 Agricultural holdings where thousands of slav workers 141 00:15:21,888 --> 00:15:24,789 Would work for them, as slaves. 142 00:15:27,961 --> 00:15:32,997 Like the teutonic knights of old, the new lords would defend german civilization 143 00:15:33,967 --> 00:15:37,402 Against the barbarians. 144 00:15:43,576 --> 00:15:47,679 While history has proven himmler to be a murderous monster, 145 00:15:48,181 --> 00:15:52,684 Some of his ss followers still see him as their hero. 146 00:15:55,588 --> 00:16:00,291 Egon: The ideology was: Out with the jews! Get out! 147 00:16:01,728 --> 00:16:06,864 We can see the state of mind of himmler, the biggest bastard of all time. 148 00:16:09,402 --> 00:16:13,604 -Himmler was a decent man, a man of honest character. 149 00:16:16,176 --> 00:16:19,577 Himmler wanted the best for the german people. 150 00:16:21,114 --> 00:16:23,915 Narrator: And apparently not only for the german people. 151 00:16:26,619 --> 00:16:31,956 From 1940, with the aim of founding a german empire, he opened the doors of the ss to 152 00:16:32,993 --> 00:16:36,294 The inhabitants of several defeated countries. 153 00:16:37,897 --> 00:16:43,768 The danes, the norwegians, the dutch: They were all germanic, said himmler. 154 00:16:48,174 --> 00:16:52,677 As the war continued, the ss opened up also to the french-speaking belgium's, 155 00:16:53,780 --> 00:16:57,548 The french themselves and the italians, latin peoples, 156 00:16:58,785 --> 00:17:02,387 To whom himmler gave the hope of entering into the nazi elite. 157 00:17:08,528 --> 00:17:11,529 -Joining the waffen ss was a promotion for us. 158 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:15,099 I was in germany. 159 00:17:15,201 --> 00:17:19,470 I'd heard that the germans were underfed, but this was false. 160 00:17:19,939 --> 00:17:22,673 And badly dressed, not true. 161 00:17:25,311 --> 00:17:28,813 Everything I saw in germany was much better. 162 00:17:30,083 --> 00:17:32,917 For me, it was an excellent model. 163 00:17:34,854 --> 00:17:37,922 Costamagna: The national socialist party had done a lot of good in germany for the 164 00:17:38,458 --> 00:17:42,627 Workers by giving them jobs, getting them 165 00:17:42,729 --> 00:17:46,197 Involved, building them houses and gardens, etc. 166 00:17:48,068 --> 00:17:50,101 We thought it was a model, yes. 167 00:17:50,203 --> 00:17:52,336 Exactly. 168 00:17:52,439 --> 00:17:55,807 My dream was to see germany win the war. 169 00:17:55,909 --> 00:17:58,743 For me germany was the supreme nation in europe. 170 00:17:58,845 --> 00:18:02,847 When I joined the waffen-ss, I considered myself to be one of them. 171 00:18:05,852 --> 00:18:08,186 Narrator: An illusion. 172 00:18:08,254 --> 00:18:14,025 None of these non-germanic, latin or here muslim slav peoples would ever actually 173 00:18:14,127 --> 00:18:16,527 Belong to the black order. 174 00:18:17,730 --> 00:18:21,466 Attracted by the wages and the family allowances, 175 00:18:21,568 --> 00:18:25,770 They wore the uniform but were cannon fodder. 176 00:18:29,409 --> 00:18:33,244 "for every foreigner who dies," said the head of recruitment, 177 00:18:33,513 --> 00:18:36,414 "no german mother cries." 178 00:18:44,424 --> 00:18:47,725 The führer's residence in bavaria. 179 00:18:48,795 --> 00:18:52,196 Here are the architects of the final solution: 180 00:18:52,599 --> 00:18:56,534 Himmler the cynic in the company of reinhard heydrich, 181 00:18:56,870 --> 00:18:59,704 His dark shadow. 182 00:19:02,175 --> 00:19:04,709 Confidence on their faces. 183 00:19:05,445 --> 00:19:11,883 In 1942, the nazis controlled a large part of europe and were putting into practice 184 00:19:11,985 --> 00:19:13,784 Their racial theories. 185 00:19:16,256 --> 00:19:19,557 They believed they would soon defeat the ussr. 186 00:19:22,929 --> 00:19:27,431 They knew, however, that their death machine would not be sufficient to 187 00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:30,368 Complete the extermination. 188 00:19:31,538 --> 00:19:34,906 And that some of their men were disgusted by the tasks they were 189 00:19:35,008 --> 00:19:36,941 Being asked to perform. 190 00:19:52,592 --> 00:19:59,230 Narrator: In 1942, there were still some ten million european jews left to kill, 191 00:19:59,332 --> 00:20:02,400 According to heydrich's calculations. 192 00:20:05,205 --> 00:20:09,707 After several experiments, the ss leaders believed they'd found the solution. 193 00:20:11,110 --> 00:20:14,812 How to kill far more people while sparing their troops. 194 00:20:17,417 --> 00:20:19,951 Death camps. 195 00:20:22,388 --> 00:20:27,491 This amateur footage shot by ss guards shows the inside of the posen camp, 196 00:20:29,462 --> 00:20:32,263 One of the first in occupied poland. 197 00:20:33,666 --> 00:20:39,003 Interning undesirables as in the 1930s was no longer enough, 198 00:20:39,105 --> 00:20:42,006 They were to be killed. 199 00:20:42,742 --> 00:20:47,278 In the greatest secrecy, the ss tested toxic gas. 200 00:20:48,248 --> 00:20:52,650 In a specially built gas chamber hidden behind these outer walls, 201 00:20:54,187 --> 00:20:58,923 They had already eliminated 400 mentally ill prisoners by 1939. 202 00:21:09,202 --> 00:21:13,404 Gassing was a gentler form of death, they said. 203 00:21:13,906 --> 00:21:17,074 Particularly for the killers. 204 00:21:20,046 --> 00:21:24,715 And so the ss now used this technique to re-launch their killing machine, 205 00:21:27,086 --> 00:21:30,054 Targeting against all european jews. 206 00:21:33,192 --> 00:21:36,160 -Where the nazis were very smart was with the extermination in the 207 00:21:36,262 --> 00:21:38,763 Concentration camps. 208 00:21:39,032 --> 00:21:41,999 They managed to keep it all perfectly secret. 209 00:21:43,102 --> 00:21:46,170 There were a lot of people to exterminate. 210 00:21:48,741 --> 00:21:51,842 Narrator: Most would be sent to the slaughterhouse. 211 00:21:51,944 --> 00:21:55,179 Notably to auschwitz. 212 00:21:57,650 --> 00:22:00,584 These photos, taken by an ss guard, 213 00:22:00,753 --> 00:22:04,755 Show the arrival of prisoners and their sorting by ss doctors. 214 00:22:07,927 --> 00:22:11,696 On one side are the young and healthy who will work. 215 00:22:12,098 --> 00:22:15,700 On the other, those who will be killed in the coming hours. 216 00:22:18,738 --> 00:22:23,140 Once they were designated, the ss guards avoided them. 217 00:22:23,843 --> 00:22:28,646 They merely supervised the killing process, dropping toxic gas canisters into the 218 00:22:28,748 --> 00:22:31,916 Gas chamber via a hatch. 219 00:22:32,752 --> 00:22:36,721 Then other prisoners removed and burnt the bodies in ovens. 220 00:22:41,427 --> 00:22:46,797 The only ones willing to speak about auschwitz are members of the waffen ss, 221 00:22:46,899 --> 00:22:49,433 Who weren't even there. 222 00:22:49,502 --> 00:22:53,637 Yet, despite the indisputable facts of history, astonishingly, 223 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,075 They hold on to the myth that the holocaust never happened. 224 00:23:00,980 --> 00:23:04,849 -Everything that's been said about the massacres, I've heard it all. 225 00:23:06,185 --> 00:23:08,285 But I didn't believe it all. 226 00:23:08,388 --> 00:23:10,988 And even today, I don't believe it all. 227 00:23:11,491 --> 00:23:14,892 Herbert: What happened to the dead from auschwitz? 228 00:23:14,994 --> 00:23:18,195 Where are they? 229 00:23:18,297 --> 00:23:21,599 Kaisergruber: If hitler had really wanted to annihilate the jewish people, 230 00:23:21,701 --> 00:23:24,435 Don't you think he would have succeeded? 231 00:23:24,537 --> 00:23:26,337 It wouldn't have been hard for him. 232 00:23:26,439 --> 00:23:29,640 -For me, the word auschwitz doesn't exist. 233 00:23:29,742 --> 00:23:31,909 I just don't recognize it. 234 00:23:32,178 --> 00:23:37,681 Whether there were mass graves or not, or they were killed with this product or that, 235 00:23:38,351 --> 00:23:43,187 Or gassed or shot, the subject's of no interest to me at all. 236 00:23:47,627 --> 00:23:51,662 Narrator: Holocaust denial is shocking and offensive to our ears, 237 00:23:52,064 --> 00:23:55,433 And it is against the law in some countries. 238 00:23:55,668 --> 00:24:00,104 The terrible truth that these men refuse to accept is that the nazis, 239 00:24:00,273 --> 00:24:05,142 With the ss at the helm, committed genocide against the jewish people and 240 00:24:06,078 --> 00:24:09,246 Others they condemned as undesirable, 241 00:24:10,116 --> 00:24:14,151 Resulting in the loss of millions of lives. 242 00:24:14,253 --> 00:24:18,055 A fact of history that cannot be negated. 243 00:24:22,695 --> 00:24:26,831 Herta bothe could not deny the existence of the camps. 244 00:24:28,067 --> 00:24:31,869 She worked in several before moving to bergen-belsen. 245 00:24:34,974 --> 00:24:37,675 Herta: My first impression wasn't bad. 246 00:24:38,678 --> 00:24:43,113 Right away, a ss sergeant said: "oh, here's my little blondie!" 247 00:24:45,585 --> 00:24:48,586 I thought that was nice for a young girl. 248 00:24:50,923 --> 00:24:54,024 I got on well with the ss men. 249 00:24:55,962 --> 00:25:00,664 They wanted to be important, and they did what they wanted with the prisoners. 250 00:25:04,937 --> 00:25:08,939 There was one guard, kopp, she was a madwoman. 251 00:25:12,812 --> 00:25:17,948 Her fiancé was adolf hitler's driver; she thought she had every right. 252 00:25:29,929 --> 00:25:32,897 Narrator: Most of the ss guards in the camps experienced a 253 00:25:32,999 --> 00:25:35,199 Feeling of power. 254 00:25:36,769 --> 00:25:40,304 Many were delighted to be appointed there. 255 00:25:42,508 --> 00:25:49,079 The camps were a safe haven, the staff were not risking their lives and himmler had 256 00:25:49,649 --> 00:25:52,716 Made sure they'd be comfortable. 257 00:25:53,686 --> 00:25:58,022 Like here, at the reischof camp, 120 miles from auschwitz. 258 00:26:01,394 --> 00:26:04,528 The auschwitz camp itself was much sought-after. 259 00:26:05,464 --> 00:26:11,168 It was here, to this 470-acre complex, that oskar gröning was sent 260 00:26:12,271 --> 00:26:15,272 As an accountant in 1942. 261 00:26:18,711 --> 00:26:21,579 Oskar: The main camp at auschwitz was like a small town, 262 00:26:21,981 --> 00:26:24,682 With its gossip and rumors. 263 00:26:25,151 --> 00:26:28,852 There was a grocer's where you could buy marrowbone to make a soup. 264 00:26:31,757 --> 00:26:34,258 A canteen, a cinema. 265 00:26:36,596 --> 00:26:39,763 There was a theatre, where they regularly put shows on. 266 00:26:40,933 --> 00:26:44,134 A sports club, where I was a member. 267 00:26:44,604 --> 00:26:48,339 It was joyful and lively, like in a small town. 268 00:26:52,945 --> 00:26:57,081 Narrator: They even had a rural leisure resort, 20 miles from the camp. 269 00:27:04,390 --> 00:27:07,491 -Alcohol was very important. 270 00:27:08,294 --> 00:27:11,829 They gave us a ration every day and sometimes we had serious drinking parties. 271 00:27:20,206 --> 00:27:24,975 Narrator: Oskar gröning was, he claims, disgusted by the massacres and asked for a 272 00:27:25,077 --> 00:27:28,612 Transfer to the front two years after his arrival. 273 00:27:31,283 --> 00:27:35,719 Although he too has retained some fond memories of his times at the camp. 274 00:27:39,358 --> 00:27:45,629 -The particular situation of auschwitz enabled us to forge friendships that I still 275 00:27:45,731 --> 00:27:48,699 Remember with pleasure today. 276 00:27:53,806 --> 00:27:58,475 Narrator: The men and women of the ss, who behaved like monsters, 277 00:27:58,577 --> 00:28:01,145 Were human beings. 278 00:28:03,516 --> 00:28:05,916 And there lies the problem. 279 00:28:16,762 --> 00:28:20,397 Narrator: July 20th 1944. 280 00:28:20,766 --> 00:28:24,034 The beginning of the end. 281 00:28:24,336 --> 00:28:27,604 This time, their idol was almost eliminated. 282 00:28:28,274 --> 00:28:33,610 At a senior staff meeting, hitler's bunker was blown apart by a bomb. 283 00:28:36,649 --> 00:28:40,851 A wehrmacht officer from germany's old elite was behind the attack. 284 00:28:43,255 --> 00:28:46,590 Hitler was only slightly wounded, but everyone was deeply affected: 285 00:28:48,728 --> 00:28:53,430 The third reich, supposed to last 1000 years, was under threat. 286 00:28:57,770 --> 00:29:01,238 The normandy landings are now a month old. 287 00:29:02,208 --> 00:29:06,510 In the east, in the west, everywhere the germans are retreating. 288 00:29:09,682 --> 00:29:14,451 To try to shore up their crumbling front-lines, hitler scales up the deployment of 289 00:29:14,553 --> 00:29:19,423 The waffen-ss: The "frontline firemen, "as they call them. 290 00:29:23,329 --> 00:29:26,630 The ss know they have everything to lose. 291 00:29:30,469 --> 00:29:35,839 Since the 1930s, they've staked everything on hitler. 292 00:29:38,577 --> 00:29:43,447 If he falls, they fall with him. 293 00:29:44,083 --> 00:29:48,418 Ekkehard: That was what the war was about, total war, where the human being 294 00:29:48,721 --> 00:29:50,454 Has no importance. 295 00:29:50,556 --> 00:29:51,889 None. 296 00:29:51,991 --> 00:29:57,294 The only question was: How to win the war? 297 00:29:59,331 --> 00:30:01,865 That was the question. 298 00:30:01,967 --> 00:30:05,903 Narrator: "better kill one thousand russians too many than one too few," 299 00:30:06,138 --> 00:30:08,806 Their leaders on the eastern front told them. 300 00:30:08,908 --> 00:30:13,744 Confronted with a similar insurrection in France, they applied the same terror. 301 00:30:15,447 --> 00:30:20,117 To dissuade the population from supporting the resistance. 302 00:30:20,786 --> 00:30:26,490 At oradour, the das reich division assassinated 642 people. 303 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,995 Ss soldier guhr was 6 miles away at the time, he says. 304 00:30:33,732 --> 00:30:36,867 -Concerning the village of oradour, I didn't know about it. 305 00:30:39,171 --> 00:30:43,106 When you're a partisan, you must know that it's best not to go up against 306 00:30:43,843 --> 00:30:46,743 Combat troops who are used to responding 307 00:30:46,812 --> 00:30:50,380 Immediately with every weapon available. 308 00:30:58,524 --> 00:31:02,125 -I saw civilians hanging from trees and lampposts. 309 00:31:02,962 --> 00:31:05,429 They said: You see what we do. 310 00:31:05,531 --> 00:31:08,699 If you do anything against us, then we'll hang you. 311 00:31:09,134 --> 00:31:11,501 We'll kill you! 312 00:31:11,604 --> 00:31:14,905 Narrator: Certain waffen-ss soldiers from the das reich division 313 00:31:15,407 --> 00:31:17,708 Were forcibly enrolled. 314 00:31:17,810 --> 00:31:20,978 Nothing like the others who were volunteers. 315 00:31:21,647 --> 00:31:26,683 From the alsace border region, they were born french but the nazis saw them as german. 316 00:31:27,987 --> 00:31:31,455 They were called the "malgré nous," "against our will". 317 00:31:35,060 --> 00:31:37,895 In 1944, as the army withdrew, 318 00:31:37,997 --> 00:31:41,698 They discovered from the inside the pitiless methods of the black order. 319 00:31:44,036 --> 00:31:48,305 -All those who weren't with them were against them. 320 00:31:48,407 --> 00:31:51,508 If you caught traitors, resistance fighters, civilians, 321 00:31:51,610 --> 00:31:54,111 Then you could shoot them and that was that! 322 00:31:54,213 --> 00:31:55,412 Except for the blacks. 323 00:31:55,514 --> 00:31:57,547 The blacks weren't worth a bullet. 324 00:31:57,650 --> 00:32:00,517 You put their heads under your arm and bust their skulls with a shovel. 325 00:32:00,886 --> 00:32:02,619 That's what they told us. 326 00:32:03,255 --> 00:32:06,757 -You could feel the fanaticism in their every move. 327 00:32:14,366 --> 00:32:18,035 They said the whole world was against them but they would win anyway. 328 00:32:19,905 --> 00:32:24,074 -Until now everything had gone fine, they thought it would continue and that hitler would 329 00:32:24,176 --> 00:32:26,343 Do whatever was necessary. 330 00:32:26,445 --> 00:32:30,047 They thought; for now we're retreating, but the time will come when we'll stop them and 331 00:32:30,149 --> 00:32:32,015 We'll be able to advance again. 332 00:32:43,128 --> 00:32:49,032 Narrator: Born and bred on nazism, these ss men couldn't imagine their fuhrer's demise. 333 00:32:51,670 --> 00:32:54,705 Or their own. 334 00:32:56,675 --> 00:33:02,112 Their leaders warned them: German civilization will disappear if the jews and 335 00:33:02,214 --> 00:33:04,781 The communists prevail. 336 00:33:09,755 --> 00:33:13,657 To replace heydrich, executed in prague by the czech resistance, 337 00:33:14,893 --> 00:33:19,429 Himmler appointed another ss officer, kaltenbrunner. 338 00:33:20,032 --> 00:33:23,200 And the reign of terror continued unabated. 339 00:33:26,839 --> 00:33:31,908 For some time now, reality had no longer concerned them. 340 00:33:38,951 --> 00:33:45,055 The reality is what allied troops found in 1945 when they liberated the camps and 341 00:33:46,158 --> 00:33:49,893 Discovered the massacre committed by the ss. 342 00:33:52,631 --> 00:33:55,665 Six million jewish victims. 343 00:33:55,934 --> 00:33:59,503 Hundreds of thousands of political prisoners assassinated. 344 00:34:01,940 --> 00:34:05,942 Homosexuals, priests, gypsies, disabled people. 345 00:34:13,252 --> 00:34:17,654 Only some of the 40,000 ss guards were arrested and identified. 346 00:34:19,291 --> 00:34:24,928 These men who thought they were superior to others looked very ordinary. 347 00:34:25,998 --> 00:34:30,667 Some were disguised as prisoners, in striped uniforms, 348 00:34:31,537 --> 00:34:34,538 In an attempt to pass unnoticed. 349 00:34:40,813 --> 00:34:45,449 Most of them were identified by the blood group tattoo under their arms, 350 00:34:46,318 --> 00:34:50,353 Stamped when they first joined the ss. 351 00:34:50,456 --> 00:34:55,358 A mark they could never wash off, even if they cut and re-stitched their skin. 352 00:35:05,170 --> 00:35:08,572 Among them were 3000 female camp guards. 353 00:35:09,074 --> 00:35:11,374 Including herta bothe. 354 00:35:14,379 --> 00:35:18,281 For two days, the allies made them bury their victims. 355 00:35:19,751 --> 00:35:24,654 Interviewed over 50 years after the events, herta bothe had not one word to 356 00:35:24,756 --> 00:35:27,724 Say about the dead prisoners in the camps. 357 00:35:30,529 --> 00:35:32,996 She believes she was the victim. 358 00:35:38,770 --> 00:35:45,208 -To go to the toilet, we had to do it on the ground, and wash our hands with urine. 359 00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:50,614 It's true, it's really true! 360 00:35:54,419 --> 00:35:57,921 The concentration camp ruined my life. 361 00:36:01,326 --> 00:36:04,895 I was just a simple guard. 362 00:36:05,497 --> 00:36:09,599 I was there, and I did what I was asked to do. 363 00:36:12,237 --> 00:36:14,404 Interveiwer: Do you feel guilty? 364 00:36:16,542 --> 00:36:20,143 -No. Me personally, no. 365 00:36:20,245 --> 00:36:22,078 I knew I could do nothing for them. 366 00:36:22,181 --> 00:36:25,782 I couldn't help them; otherwise I'd have been locked up. 367 00:36:36,528 --> 00:36:40,497 Narrator: They had been the new lords, they had become pariahs. 368 00:36:45,103 --> 00:36:48,838 Until the bitter end, most of them continued to fight on the front, 369 00:36:50,809 --> 00:36:53,643 Or what was left of it. 370 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,582 Living the legend, remaining pure. 371 00:37:04,790 --> 00:37:07,891 -I remember everyone had to form a semi-circle. 372 00:37:11,697 --> 00:37:17,934 And our leader soberly told us what he'd just heard on the radio: 373 00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:24,841 "hitler has fallen in berlin. 374 00:37:25,644 --> 00:37:29,980 As a result, you are no longer bound by the oath you swore to hitler, 375 00:37:30,082 --> 00:37:33,750 But you are still beholden to the german people." that was it. 376 00:37:33,852 --> 00:37:36,052 Then we dispersed without a word. 377 00:37:46,565 --> 00:37:49,833 Narrator: May 8th 1945. 378 00:37:50,602 --> 00:37:52,969 Germany surrenders. 379 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:59,342 The ss were moved into prisoner-of-war camps where they would spend months, 380 00:37:59,444 --> 00:38:01,611 Even years. 381 00:38:06,618 --> 00:38:11,221 Disguised as a police sergeant, their leader, himmler, hid among the crowd. 382 00:38:12,791 --> 00:38:17,127 After several weeks of wandering, he was arrested by the allies and committed 383 00:38:17,229 --> 00:38:19,729 Suicide with a cyanide capsule. 384 00:38:25,003 --> 00:38:29,039 -I found myself in the pow camp with other ss members. 385 00:38:29,908 --> 00:38:32,709 They were still just as fanatical at that point. 386 00:38:33,478 --> 00:38:36,479 Don't believe they were saying, "what idiots we've been!" 387 00:38:40,519 --> 00:38:44,988 But we germans were so stupid to have compared the jews to rats. 388 00:38:45,957 --> 00:38:48,892 We were so dumb. 389 00:38:51,596 --> 00:38:55,298 Narrator: Some of them were sentenced to death by the allied courts. 390 00:38:56,368 --> 00:39:02,305 Like these waffen-ss soldiers, accused of executing american prisoners in 1944. 391 00:39:06,078 --> 00:39:10,780 Convinced they were right, they refuse to listen to their sentences to the end. 392 00:39:22,928 --> 00:39:26,629 Narrator: "the justice of conquerors," they say. 393 00:39:26,732 --> 00:39:30,967 Because the atrocities committed by the allies, the bombings of japanese and 394 00:39:31,069 --> 00:39:33,870 German cities, went unpunished. 395 00:39:38,744 --> 00:39:41,478 -Why did they bomb dresden? 396 00:39:41,580 --> 00:39:44,013 Why nagasaki? 397 00:39:44,116 --> 00:39:46,116 Why yokohama? 398 00:39:47,319 --> 00:39:51,554 Why were the poles massacred by the russians? 399 00:39:51,957 --> 00:39:55,458 Why haven't those people been tried? 400 00:39:56,361 --> 00:39:59,329 Nobody talks about that. 401 00:39:59,431 --> 00:40:03,099 Germany certainly committed crimes, for sure. 402 00:40:03,769 --> 00:40:05,969 But they've all been punished. 403 00:40:07,572 --> 00:40:12,041 Narrator: That the germans were all punished is a myth maintained by the veterans. 404 00:40:12,944 --> 00:40:16,980 Apart from a few leaders, most of the ss slipped through the net. 405 00:40:19,551 --> 00:40:22,786 As if only one man should really pay the price. 406 00:40:25,624 --> 00:40:28,725 -Hitler betrayed me. 407 00:40:34,266 --> 00:40:38,735 He pushed us into misery when he'd promised us joy. 408 00:40:44,476 --> 00:40:49,813 He perpetrated such crimes that I can only see it as treason. 409 00:40:55,353 --> 00:40:59,055 Narrator: A good ss member must be able to wipe out even his close family 410 00:40:59,858 --> 00:41:03,259 If they rebel against adolf hitler's ideas. 411 00:41:03,562 --> 00:41:06,229 So said their generals. 412 00:41:06,998 --> 00:41:10,800 -During all those years I experienced some very difficult times. 413 00:41:15,540 --> 00:41:18,308 I don't regret them for one moment. 414 00:41:26,885 --> 00:41:31,688 -No, I have no regrets, no way. 415 00:41:32,357 --> 00:41:35,658 And I don't doubt for a moment that if I had to do it again, 416 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,394 I'd do exactly the same thing. 417 00:41:40,065 --> 00:41:42,932 I have no reason to give up my ideas. 418 00:41:44,169 --> 00:41:47,670 And it's not the moment to change my mind. 419 00:41:55,714 --> 00:41:59,249 Narrator: Germany: One of the most creative nations in history. 420 00:42:02,521 --> 00:42:07,824 "I'm ashamed to be a german", wrote one munich citizen on may 28th 1945 on the 421 00:42:08,894 --> 00:42:11,294 Ruins of the feldherrnhalle. 422 00:42:11,830 --> 00:42:15,498 The place where the ss had once sworn their allegiance. 423 00:42:24,276 --> 00:42:27,610 But how to get out of the cult? 424 00:42:33,752 --> 00:42:39,422 Eberhard heder, a captain in the wiking division, abandoned his racist convictions and 425 00:42:40,825 --> 00:42:44,627 Pursued a career in the army of the federal republic of germany. 426 00:42:50,635 --> 00:42:56,773 Ekkehard guhr, a member of the ss's das reich division who dreamed of chivalry 427 00:42:58,009 --> 00:43:00,476 Became a pastor. 428 00:43:03,982 --> 00:43:10,253 Egon kuhn became a trade unionist, speaking tirelessly of the brainwashing he had 429 00:43:10,355 --> 00:43:12,855 Received in his youth. 430 00:43:16,761 --> 00:43:19,262 But they were exceptions. 431 00:43:20,465 --> 00:43:25,568 Many of them would remain incorrigible and nostalgic, often joining waffen ss 432 00:43:26,237 --> 00:43:29,739 Veterans' associations, which still exist today. 433 00:43:32,444 --> 00:43:34,310 Like manfred diener. 434 00:43:34,713 --> 00:43:39,248 Or kurt barkhausen, whose speeches are still used by extremist networks. 435 00:43:43,488 --> 00:43:48,958 Herbert von mildenburg set up businesses in south america, while maintaining relations 436 00:43:50,061 --> 00:43:53,062 With several notorious revisionists. 437 00:43:59,471 --> 00:44:03,339 It wasn't until 2015 that the former auschwitz accountant, 438 00:44:03,441 --> 00:44:08,044 Ss sergeant gröning was tried by the german courts. 439 00:44:09,614 --> 00:44:14,817 He was sentenced to four years in prison for complicity in the murder of 440 00:44:14,919 --> 00:44:20,857 300,000 jews. Pending appeal. 441 00:44:22,260 --> 00:44:23,660 Captioned by cotter captioning services. 46029

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