Original subtitles

When did you start to get interested in Germany, and in particular in Hitler?

The papers were full of Germany and of what was happening. This was in 1933.

And when I met somebody who said, oh, well, if you'll come over there, I'll

introduce you to him, I was extremely interested.

Why were you interested? I think everyone was interested.

To meet Hitler? Oh, they were.

He dominated politics on the continent.

I thought that I should meet him in the way that you do.

to say how do you do, really.

A friendship was struck up, which, of course, is a very different thing from

just meeting somebody and talking to them for half an hour.

But how did he strike you?

What was he like? I mean, why did you like him?

He was a fascinating man. You see, people don't get from being an out -of

painter to being dictator of a very big...

powerful, evolved country like Germany, unless they've got some very special

thing within them. And obviously he had it.

Everyone wants to know what Hitler's like.

Today, we know Hitler is the man guilty of the worst crimes known to humanity.

But it didn't start off that way.

There was a time when people worshipped him.

Now, with powerful dictators thriving once again,

we're looking at Hitler through different eyes.

Through his friends, his admirers, his contemporaries.

Some are Nazis.

Few can be trusted.

But when we see him as they did, perhaps we can grasp who Adolf Hitler was and

what made him possible.

Of the people who met Hitler in person, few are still alive.

My name is Edgar Feuchtwanger.

I was born in Munich, and I'm 98.

I was Hitler's neighbor, his house and his apartment.

was within sight of my window.

His flat was on the second floor, and so was ours.

The closest encounter was in 1933.

As we turned the corner, he came out, and he was just in a

raincoat and a thrilled behead.

He doesn't look impressive, you know, and he had no swastika, armband or

anything like that.

But you couldn't mistake him for anybody else because of that little moustache.

And as he saw us stopping, he waved to us like that, thank you.

And he had just become Chancellor.

Just days before Edgar's encounter, Adolf Hitler had become leader of the

government.

Now, he's at work dismantling the democracy that swept him to power,

posts with his own people, and clamping down on press freedoms.

You were there?

Yes. Well, now, I was the Daily Express man in Berlin at that time, the chief of

the Daily Express Bureau.

Sefton Delmer is a member of Hitler's press entourage, following him on

trails and capturing key moments on his home movie camera.

I knew the Nazis.

I knew all the top chaps in the Nazi Party. I'd made it my business to get to

know them.

One night, Thefton gets a tip -off.

There was a telephone call. This chap told me that a Reichstag was on fire.

So I immediately dashed out of my office.

I was there within half an hour of the thing having been discovered, and the

first fire brigades were already arriving.

Three black Mercedes cars drew up, and I said, I bet that's Hitler.

And sure enough, it was Hitler. He said, evening, Delma.

And I said, good evening, Herr Reich Chancellor.

And as we went upstairs, who should appear but Herr von Papen, the Vice

Chancellor. Hitler rushed over, and he said, this is a God -given signal, Mr.

Vice Chancellor.

If, as I believe, this is the work of... The Communists.

We must crush out that murder fest with an iron fist.

An iron fist.

Sefton Delmer witnesses how quick Hitler is to pin the fire on his enemies,

despite the lack of evidence.

Hitler, now Chancellor, has announced that the fire was the work of Communists

and was intended to be the signal for a Bolshevist uprising throughout the

country.

Hitler rushes through emergency terror laws, flings communist and left -wing

politicians in jail, and rams a decree through Parliament

handing him dictatorial powers.

A few days later, he holds this press conference to justify his assault on

democracy.

Ladies and gentlemen,

since January 30, a revolution has taken place in Germany,

which in our history will once again be called the national revolution.

That such a historical process, like any fighting action, is accompanied by many

and many regrettable testimonies, is also there.

Rumors start to circulate about the harsh treatment of Hitler's political

enemies in his new concentration camps.

Hitler encourages members of the press to take a look for themselves.

These pictures, smuggled out of Germany at the time, show the violence meted out

to prisoners.

Many will go on to die in custody.

With his opponents out of the way, Hitler's Nazi takeover is complete.

But he still fears rivals within his own party.

Often by Hitler's side is friend and trusted driver, Erich Kempke.

What I would like to get from Mr. Kempke now is a truer picture of what Hitler

was like in those early days.

I'll have lots of examples of that.

There's no one closer to Hitler than Ernst Röhm, a friend and ally since the

earliest days of the Nazis, and now his second in command.

But when Hitler begins to see Röhm as a threat,

His days are numbered.

Hitler knows that Röhm

is gay.

He's discovered Röhm's away, relaxing with his stormtroopers.

He hopes to catch him off guard, to inflict maximum humiliation.

And Hitler was screaming like a madman, you pig, you should be shot.

After personally taking Rom into custody, Hitler ordered for him to be

At the same time, he authorizes the murder of a hundred other rivals and

critics.

The 30th of June at 34 was a very, very important day because

it became obvious.