All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S12E06.Death.Camp.of.Deception.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

A concentration camp
in the Czech Republic

designed as a publicity stunt
to disguise
a heartless regime.

For the men themselves,
this was about survival.

For their oppressors,
it was an attempt
to fool the world.

In England,

the life
of world famous playwright,
Oscar Wilde,

is forever changed.

He was here as a result
of one of the first ever
celebrity trials.

And in Memphis,

a building
intended to protect,
corrupted by its chief.

This guy had
absolute total power.

He was a dictator.

In the town of Terezin
in the Czech Republic,

are the remains of a site
that played its role

in one of humanity's
most disturbing eras.

We see these
well-built structures,

formidable walls
rising out of the ground.

The largest building stretches

hundreds of feet
down the road.

But it's really in bad shape.

Further in,
it seems that this site
was some kind of town.

The streets are lined
with neat and orderly blocks.

Evidence suggests
the residents
were enjoying life here.

There were performances,
concerts, famous musicians...

The scenes
may appear joyous,
but the reality

could not be further
from the truth.

This is a really
surreal moment of hope

in this otherwise
completely hellish space.

Little did they know,
most of them only had
weeks to live.

The things that I started
to study 24 years ago,

they got under my skin.

Dr. Tomas Fedorovic

first came to Terezin
as a student.

What he unearthed inspired him
to become custodian
of this site's past.

We're in one of the yards

of the large
infantry barracks.

It was one
of the first facilities
built in the Terezin fortress.

The fortress,
originally constructed
in the 1700s,

was an imposing facility,

and it caught the eye
of the Nazi empire

when parts of Czechoslovakia
came under their control
in 1938.

A meeting was held at
Prague Castle in October 1941

regarding the Jewish question.

And one of the outcomes
was that Jewish people

should be gathered somewhere

so that they could not have
a negative influence

on the rest of the population.

Terezin would become
a transit camp

that helped to fulfill
the logistical methodology

of the Germans
in creating an Aryan nation,

a nation in which the people
that they considered
to be inferior

would be wiped out.

This was once
the Theresienstadt ghetto.

It began
as a concentration camp,

where the Nazis
sent the Jewish people

they wanted removed
from their empire.

At first, the regime touted it
as a retirement village,

even describing it as a spa.

So the first Jewish people
to arrive here

didn't know
what it really was.

In November 1941,

the first transport arrived.

It was 340 men.

They were
from Czechoslovakia,

but soon, more came
from Austria,
Germany and beyond.

Many of them had, in fact,
been German veterans,

people of Jewish heritage
who had fought
in the First World War,

sports stars,
athletes, intellectuals.

Many were
well-known internationally,

so the Germans wanted
to disguise the true nature
of the facility.

The Nazi occupation
administration

tried to present Terezin

as a place where Jews
were doing well.

They had concerts,
they had plays,
they played music,

and they were able
to play sports as well.

The central courtyard
became a hub for soccer.

Terezin became the home
to Jewish football players.

Some of them were full-time
professional footballers,

others were
lower league players.

One professional player
who ended up here

was Paul Mahrer, a Jewish man
and soccer superstar.

He had played
for the Czechoslovakian
national team

and several soccer clubs
in the United States.

These players were,
in many ways,

heroes of the ghetto,

because thousands of people
watched those matches.

Every week,
there were league matches,

and then the ghetto
cup matches took place here.

The ghetto's league

was made up of 30 teams
and 700 players,

with each team representing
a group from the ghetto,

like gardeners or butchers.

And it wasn't only the inmates
who enjoyed the spectacle.

We know that some members

of the SS
had their favorite teams
that they rooted for.

But by 1943,

Theresienstadt had expanded
to include Jewish people
from across Europe,

including Denmark,
which was now
under German martial law.

Here, the Nazis
caught almost 500 Jews,

forcing Denmark's king
to send them to Terezin.

The king of Denmark,
he insists that
the Danish Red Cross

are allowed into the city
to make sure they're
being cared for properly.

For the controllers
at the camp,

this would be a test.

It appeared as if
the people here

were being given
a more lenient,

more affable lifestyle
than those in other camps.

But this had
a more sinister purpose.

By now, the Nazis
had solidified their plan

to annihilate
the Jewish people.

And they were sending inmates
from Terezin

to death camps
across their empire.

Initially, this camp
was designed

for between
6,000 and 7,000 people.

But in the height
of the conflict,

it was housing eight times
that number.

So in order to satisfy
the Danish Red Cross,

the Nazis
would have to escalate
their program of extermination

to bring the camp's
population down.

Seven thousand inmates
were removed
and sent to camps elsewhere.

Many of them,
in fact, were killed.

Inmates that looked sickly

were also physically removed.

The eyes of the world
were about to descend
on Terezin,

so the Nazis were prepared
to put on a show.

They have this whole
beautification campaign.

They make the prisoners
paint houses, plant gardens,

do anything that would
make it look beautiful,
clean, safe, healthy.

They even put on
a children's opera

in a hall built specially
for the occasion.

The delegation concluded

the conditions at the camp
were adequate.

But the show wasn't over.

The Nazis
see a real opportunity here.

So they decided
they're going to make
a new piece of propaganda.

They used
a filmmaker, Kurt Gerron,
to make a documentary.

Kurt Gerron
was a Jewish film director,

and he was being forced
to film the activities

at Terezin
for the sake of his life,

and for the sake of the life
of his own wife and family.

Its message was to show

how things were done here
in Terezin...

how well they were doing,

and of course,
to con the global population.

And the Nazis
were keen to show

how much the inmates
enjoyed their soccer.

The people in the audience
were chosen.

They were definitely
meant to be seen.

They cheered enthusiastically,

or at least pretended
to be enthusiastic.

So the idea to show the match

was to prove how well
the Jewish people were doing
in Terezin.

But it painted a picture

that couldn't have been
in starker contrast

to the horrors unfolding
within these walls.

In the Czech Republic
are the remains

of a concentration camp
which the Nazis were
determined to portray

as an ideal place
for Jewish people to resettle.

But when filming wrapped
on their deceitful
propaganda film,

the genocide continued,

and a wave of transports
departed Terezin,

bound for the death camp
at Auschwitz.

The vast majority
of those in the film

died in the gas chambers
of a concentration camp,

or were destroyed
by slave labor.

Even the film's director,
Kurt Gerron, was killed.

In the end, the film
was never made public
during the war.

They made this project
to try to fool the world.

But by the time
they were finished with it,

everyone knew
what they had done.

On May 9th, 1945,
the Soviets
finally liberate the town,

and they found
terrible horrors within.

More than
150,000 Jewish people
were brought to Terezin.

Thirty-five thousand
died here,
because in reality,

the living conditions
were intentionally harsh

to hasten death.

A further 88,000 were sent
to death camps in Poland.

I don't look at this
entirely as propaganda,

but more like
the last record of the lives

of the thousands
of people who were here.

So it seems to me
more like a memorial,

a visual memorial
to those who suffered here.

Many of the Danish
Jewish people

survived the conditions here,

as did the renowned
soccer player Paul Mahrer.

After the war, he returned
to the United States,

while the remnants
of the Terezin ghetto

still stand in testimony
to those who perished here.

In Southern England
is a domineering building

that's synonymous
with a monumental fall
from grace.

We're in the town of Reading.
It's just a short train ride
out of London.

It's a busy town

full of commuters,
shops, homes.

But tucked away
right in the middle
is a hulking eyesore.

Behind the brick wall

is an enormous
red brick building.

It has Victorian features,
castellated windows...

You almost feel like
you could be looking

at a royal palace
from some angles,

but the reality
is much less dignified.

Once you're inside,
it's clear this can
only be a prison.

Long quarters,
rows of cell blocks

and a gloomy, oppressive air.

It's the last place
you'd expect to find

one of the
most celebrated figures
of British high society.

One man entered the jail
and changed its place
in history forever.

His arrest
shocked the country.

At the time, he was already
a household name,

but he was reduced
to a prisoner C33.

He was here as a result
of one of the first ever
celebrity trials.

Matthew Sturgis
has written extensively

about the prison's
most famous inmate,

and the inhumane conditions
he faced.

This is somewhere
where your personality

is sort of negated.

The whole building is designed

to limit your sense of self
and your sense of agency.

The reason
for this jail's existence

dates back
to the 18th century,

when it was designed
to solve a unique problem.

For more than a century,
Britain had sentenced

many of its criminals
to what was known
as "transportation."

They would be sent halfway
around the world to Australia.

But by the mid-19th century,
that process
was coming to an end.

The result of this,
though, was if you stop
sending them off

to be Australia's problem,
they're going to start
piling up at home.

When London's prisons
became overcrowded,

the government
looked outside the capital
to build somewhere new.

This is Reading Gaol.

Reading Gaol,
in its early years,

was full of the typical
kind of criminal
you would imagine here,

thieves, debtors, murderers.

But the laws
were about to change
in a way that would bring

an entirely new kind of felon
into the prison.

Homosexuality
had been illegal in Britain
for hundreds of years.

But in 1885,
a new law nicknamed

The Blackmailers' Charter,
was introduced.

What it did was
it extended the grounds

for which somebody
could be prosecuted

to the point where
even if two men exchanged
friendly letters

where they expressed
affection for each other,

that could be grounds
for prosecution.

This would have
grave implications

for one of Britain's
most famous writers.

Oscar Wilde was
a household name at this time.

He was a celebrated poet
and playwright,

had shows on in the West End,

published books, and mingled
with the literary elite
of London.

His books
and his plays
were enormously popular,

and he himself
was a very public figure
who liked attention.

But that was also
putting his freedom at risk,

especially in this
new climate.

He was, apparently,
happily married to
this lovely wife, Constance.

He had two small children.

But he had been engaged
in a passionate
love affair relationship

with this
young English aristocrat,
Lord Alfred Douglas.

Douglas' father
happened to be an important
and public figure,

the Marquess of Queensberry.

The stories floating around

about his son and Wilde
could land him in hot water.

When the Marquess
publicly confronted Wilde

about his actions,

Wilde sued him for libel.

But when he lost in court,
the Crown brought charges

against the author for sodomy
and gross indecency.

Wilde had a decision to make:

flee the country,
or stay to fight the charges.

And, unfortunately,
he was too stubborn
for his own good.

In 1895,

the famous literary giant,
Oscar Wilde,

had the chance to flee Britain

and escape a public trial
for gross indecency.

But he made
the ill-advised decision
to stay and fight the charges,

thinking he would be
let off the hook.

He was found guilty
and sent to a prison
in London,

where one of his punishments
was hard labor.

What he faced
was practically torture.

They employed the crank,

which was just
a stiff rotating handle
attached to nothing.

And the treadmill,

where prisoners were forced
to walk around like hamsters

for hour on end.

It's said that
when he began
his prison sentence in London,

he was absolutely crushed
by the horror.

Wilde was
transferred to Reading Gaol
in November 1895,

but his situation
didn't improve.

While there,
he faced a brutal form
of incarceration

known as
the "separate system."

This system
was all about isolation

as a form of punishment
and pacification.

Even when
they left their cells,

they were forced
to put on something
called a Scotch Cap,

a kind of leather contraption,
leather hood
that obscured their face,

and made it difficult
for people to talk
to each other,

even recognize each other.

It was literally dehumanizing.

Within these walls,
Wilde was reduced
to the number of his cell,

C33.

It is extraordinary

to think that
this is Oscar's cell.

The narrowness of the door,

the narrowness of the room...

And he would have spent

twenty hours each day
looking at these...

these walls...

that door...

that window.

This must have felt like
a massive fall from grace.

He was used to crowds
applauding him in the theater.

Wilde wrote, "This silence,
this solitude...

this isolation
from all human
and humane influences,

this tomb, for those
who are not yet dead..."

Soon after writing
these heartfelt words,

Wilde witnessed an event
that inspired one of his
last great works as a writer.

In 1896,
one of Wilde's
fellow inmates

was taken into this courtyard
for his execution.

Wilde watched
the whole execution,

and found it deeply upsetting
and horrifying,

and that became the impetus
for his final great work.

When he finished
his two year sentence,

Wilde was a shell
of his former self
in every way,

and his reputation
was entirely ruined.

An immense
sense of shame shrouded Wilde,

and he couldn't stand
to be seen
in his old circles in London.

After his release in 1897,

Wilde exiled himself
in France.

And his forbearing wife
finally cut him off

when he refused to give up
his lover, Lord Alfred.

In France, he wrote a poem
about the execution,

"The Ballad of Reading Gaol."

It was published under
the name of his cell, C33.

And here
was something
that would draw

on the horrors
of the prison world,

the horrors to which
he had been subjected
by the British legal system.

And it would transmute them
into art.

It was a remarkable poem,

and it was
remarkably received.

On November 30th, 1900,

just three years
after his release,

Oscar Wilde died
of meningitis in Paris.

The truth was inescapable.

The two years in jail
had undermined his health.

Reading Gaol, I think,
is one of the key elements
in Oscar's life.

I mean, the only location,
the only address

which he turned
into a work of art.

Reading Gaol
continued operating
throughout the 20th century.

But in 2014,
it was closed for good.

Now there is a movement
to make sure the legacy

of its most famous inmate
is not forgotten.

There's been a push
to save Reading Gaol.

Celebrities like Kate Winslet,
Natalie Dormer,
and Kenneth Branagh

have all backed the campaign.

In downtown Memphis,

a bastion
of institutional corruption,

hides in plain sight.

We're right
at the heart of the city,

and it projects this sense
of power and authority.

But the domineering edifice
belies the dereliction within.

The main entrance
is fenced off,

the windows are boarded up.

It makes you wonder,
"What happened here?"

Above the building's
grand entrance

is etched an indelible clue.

In faded lettering,
above the door, reads,
"Memphis Police Station."

This was clearly
an impressive station.

This now forsaken structure,

was built by a man who reigned
over Memphis for decades,

and who used the people inside
to do his dirty work.

He would stop at nothing
to control the city,
and even the entire state.

Everyone was expected
to do his bidding,

and if they didn't,
there would be consequences.

In the early 1900s,

the city of Memphis
was experiencing rapid growth.

But with that,
came a downside.

Business was booming.

But as the population surged,

overcrowding,
substandard living conditions,
and crime

became serious social issues.

An ambitious
local businessman
saw an opportunity,

and used it to launch
his ruthless rise to power

by running for mayor
on a Democratic ticket

to clean up the city.

There was a new
political player on the scene,

and someone wanted
to shake it up,

and that was
Edward Hull Crump.

When he was
elected mayor in 1910,

Crump began work
on a complex of these,

you know,
grand structures downtown.

In 1911,
work began on a new
police headquarters building.

This building
was central to his strategy.

It was called Memphis
Central Police Station.

Along with their
new headquarters,

the department recruited
more officers,

and invested in
cutting edge patrol vehicles.

The Memphis police
were becoming a modern
and efficient police force,

and they "owed..."
That's an important word.

...they "owed" a lot of that
to Edward Crump.

Joe Lowry is a historian

who has extensively researched
Edward Crump

and his unorthodox operations.

He was
a tremendous man of vision.

But the way he went about
gaining what he gained

was different
than any other mayor
that we ever had here.

The idea was that citizens
had more autonomy,

and power, and influence
in politics.

They voted for the mayor,
but they also voted

for the heads
of various commissions,
like police and fire.

The belief
was that this would
lead to less corruption,

you know,
more efficient government.

But Crump had other plans.

He realized that
all he really needed to do
to control the city

was ensure that his people
were elected
to these commission rules,

and he would
control the budgets,

the hiring, the firing,

and even the police.

The mayor
grew his network
of trusted lieutenants

in key positions.

It became known as
"The Crump Political Machine."

This building
became an extension

of Crump's Political Machine.

And he used the force
like his personal staff.

They were expected
to help him campaign,

registered voters,
and even drive citizens
to the polls

to make sure that they voted
for the right candidate.

And this was all done
on their own time,
and without pay.

Any police who didn't agree
with what he was doing

would find themselves
passed over for promotion,

given worse duties,
or fired under some pretext.

They intimidated
and imprisoned journalists,

fabricated charges
against Crump's enemies,

and enforced
the mayor's dubious views.

Crump used
his police department
to influence white rule,

and they did it
at the end of a night stick.

Mr. Crump
was a white supremacist.

He was a segregationist.

He ran Memphis just exactly
like a small plantation,

and he was the master.

Everybody... judges,

department heads,
state judges,

all were taking their orders
from The Machine.

This guy had
absolute total power.

And Crump's ambition
spread far beyond Memphis.

In 1931, he was elected
to the U.S. Congress,

and became a close ally
of future President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.

When he would go
to Washington,

Roosevelt had a standing order...

that if Mr. Crump came,
he didn't need an appointment

because he knew that Crump
was that powerful,

and could bring the votes.

But Crump
always kept a close eye
on his hometown.

In 1937, Crump made sure

that his longtime ally,
Joe Boyle,

was appointed to the position
of a police commissioner.

Mostly because Boyle
would do his bidding.

Every decision made
by the police department

was made by Mr. Crump
through his police chief

and his police commissioner.

Crump liked the way
he did things

because Joe Boyle
was an aggressive bully.

There were numerous reporters

that had their cameras broken,
and they were beat down

because they wrote something
that they shouldn't write.

But in the 1940s,
Crump's absolute control
was challenged,

and he would
go to great lengths
to maintain his grip on power.

That challenge
came from an entrepreneur

and Republican organizer

who would not kowtow
to Crump's regime.

J. B. Martin was a successful
black businessman in Memphis.

He owned
a successful drugstore,

and also was the owner
of the Memphis Red Sox.

Dr. Martin
made an enemy of Crump

by supporting
his political opponent.

Campaigning
for the Republican candidate

in the upcoming
presidential elections,

he was putting himself
at odds with Crump
and his Political Machine.

Consequences would be
life-changing.

In Memphis
is a derelict police station

that was once
under the personal control

of career politician
Edward Crump.

In the late 1940s,

he used
the building's officers

to target his enemy,

an influential
drugstore owner
named Dr. Martin.

Mr. Crump realized
that Dr. Martin

was one of those guys
that you want to follow.

He was a guy
that you respected

because of his knowledge,
and because of his character.

He dispatched
his loyal deputies

to persuade Dr. Martin

to renounce his support

of the Republican
presidential candidate

and Crump opponent.

They went to him
and they told him,

"Do not support
that candidate."

And he basically told them
what they could do
with themselves.

Realizing that
he couldn't be threatened,

Crump used his man
in the police,
Commissioner Boyle,

to do his dirty work.

From his office
in this building,

Boyle accused Martin
of selling illegal drugs

and ordered two policemen
to stand in front
of his drugstore all day.

Police searched everyone

going in and out
of Martin's store,

including kindergartners
who were buying ice cream.

Eventually, people just
didn't really want to go,

and so they just, basically,
put him out of business,

and they ran him out of town.
He went to Chicago.

Dr. Martin's
crucial support

for Crump's political opponent
had been crushed.

It just goes
to show you the power
and control Crump had.

It was more like
a dictatorship, actually.

Crump's grip
over the city continued

right up until the day he died
on October 16th, 1954.

Only then did his
Political Machine
grind to a halt.

After Crump's death,

the Memphis police force
continued to grow.

This was certainly
still an impressive building
to work in,

but it wasn't really built
for an ever-expanding
police force.

By the 1980s,
the police station was getting
overcrowded and tired

in need of renovation.

So in 1982,
it was finally shuttered.

For more than 40 years,
it has sat dormant.

Today,
while the former
Memphis police headquarters

faces an uncertain future,

the complex legacy
of E.H. Crump

continues to be felt
across the city.

He had such a command...

of administration
and how to use people.

When you have that,
you can do anything.

And then he did.

Off the southern tip
of Argentina,

lies a remote
coastal settlement

that served as the backdrop

for an unlikely
global showdown.

On the edge of town,
there is this long airstrip,

and then in the distance,
you see what looks like
mounds of earth.

But there's actually
something under them.

They're entirely bare inside.

There's no sign
of any furnishings,

just these huge curved roofs.

These don't look
like airport buildings.

These look like
something much chunkier.

This quiet facility,
and the people living nearby,

were plunged into a war
that no one thought
that they could win.

An armada of warships
and aircraft carriers
set sail from Europe

to this far flung corner
of the South Atlantic Ocean.

This was a mobilization,

the likes of which
the country hadn't seen
since World War II.

This spot is going to become

a piece of key terrain
in a confrontation

that will pit a regional power

against a world power.

Argentinians
like Alejandro Granero
lived through a time

when his country faced
severe economic problems.

It's very difficult
to explain today.

But at that time,
there was a constant concern.

Generations were permanently
on edge.

In the late 1970s,

Argentina's military junta
looked to war

to distract
its discontented public

from the government's
failings.

In 1978,

a military airbase
was built here

to focus on the tense
and conflicted
warlike atmosphere

with the neighboring country
of Chile.

Successful
diplomatic intervention
averted war with Chile.

But by the 1980s,

when a new military leader
came to power,

Argentina's woes
had still not abated.

In 1982,
General Galtieri realizes

that the Falklands present
a very enticing opportunity
for him.

But the Falklands had been
a British overseas territory

since the 1800s.

They valued
its potential resources

and strategic position
oversea routes.

Its 2,000 odd islanders
considered themselves British,

but Argentina
had long disputed control.

On April 2nd,
Galtieri launched

a full-scale invasion
of the islands.

By many, it was seen as this
grand nationalistic move.

The Argentines are convinced

the last thing the British
are going to do is fight.

Why would they, right?
I mean, it's over
8,000 miles away.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan

tried to convince the British
not to fight,

even though the Americans
were supplying intelligence,

fuel, and ammunition
to the British
behind the scenes.

To the surprise of everyone,

and as the world watches...

in disbelief,

a British Task Force
is moving slowly

to take the Falklands back.

In 1982,

a British armada
made up of 127 ships

carrying 25,000 troops,

headed to the Falkland Islands

to defend
their strategic outpost.

Meanwhile,
the invading Argentinians

rushed to fortify
their positions there.

But they ran into a problem.

The Falklands only had
three airfields,

and none of them
were big enough
to support fast jets.

And so, the Argentines
had to launch their bombers

and fighter jets
from the mainland.

This is
Puerto San Julian Airfield,

the closest point
on mainland Argentina

to the Falklands,

more than 400 miles away.

By April 5th,

this was a world of over
1,000 people working 24/7.

It never stopped.

Then,
on May 1st, 1982,

the British Task Force arrived
off the coast
of the Falkland Islands.

At the same time,

pilots from Puerto San Julian
took to the skies.

It's precisely from here,

from San Julian,

that the first mission
making contact and engaging
the British fleet departed.

One day later,
a British nuclear submarine

responded with an attack
that remains controversial
to this day.

HMS Conqueror is able
to put weapons

into the General Belgrano
and sink it.

The Belgrano
was an Argentine Navy cruiser

which had been bought
from the U.S. Military.

This was one of Argentina's
key military assets.

The Argentinians
respond by bombing

a series of targets
around the Falklands.

The Argentine Air Force pounds
the British Task Force,

pounds it when it lands,
pounds it when it's at sea.

All the people
of Puerto San Julian
could do was wait,

and hope that the pilots
would return home safely.

The residents would watch
the fighter jets take off.

And then
when the pilots came back,

they would be counting
each aircraft in the sky

to make sure no one
had been lost.

It's a time
that locals like Andres Kyle
will never forget.

I knew people
who would say things like,

"Hey, did you notice
that today,
four planes took off,

and only two or three
came back?"

Over 45 days,

the two squadrons
based at Puerto San Julian

flew more than 150 sorties
against British ships.

There were, allegedly,
seven ships sunk.

Nobody in the world,
especially Britain,

expected Argentine aircraft
to hit even one ship.

The Argentine Air Force
is immensely successful

at blunting
the British attack.

For a moment,
it seemed
the Argentinian underdogs

might have the upper hand.

But the pilots' efforts
would be in vain.

The Argentine forces
were not strong enough.

Those poor
Argentine conscripts,

freezing in trenches
in the Falklands,

they had no chance.

The British Army
manages to kill or capture

all the Argentines.

They surrender.

And the Union Flag...

flew once again.

The conflict lasted
just 74 days,
and it cost the lives

of 649 Argentines,
255 British,

and three Falkland Islanders.

The British had regained
their strategic foothold

in the South Atlantic.

And by the end of the year,

the airfield
at Puerto San Julian,
had been abandoned.

After the conflict ended,
the hangers were basically
left to their own devices,

and life in this
sleepy port town
went back to normal.

Currently,
the Falkland Islands
is still in British hands,

but for many,
the dispute remains.

If you ask me what I think,

well, geographically
and historically,

the Falklands are Argentinian,

and have always been
Argentinian.