1 00:00:05,967 --> 00:00:11,733 ** 2 00:00:12,067 --> 00:00:14,900 -Two days after the end of the Second World War, 3 00:00:15,233 --> 00:00:17,800 42 defenceless men, women and children 4 00:00:18,133 --> 00:00:21,400 are lined up to be shot. 5 00:00:21,733 --> 00:00:22,767 Their moment of execution 6 00:00:23,100 --> 00:00:25,333 is captured in this rare home movie. 7 00:00:25,667 --> 00:00:30,967 Their only crime is that they happen to speak German. 8 00:00:31,300 --> 00:00:33,200 Their murder is part of a little-known story 9 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:37,200 about the fate of millions of ethnic Germans after the war. 10 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:39,200 They are the casualties of a peace 11 00:00:39,533 --> 00:00:43,433 that will prove anarchic, vengeful and bloody. 12 00:00:43,767 --> 00:00:54,100 ** 13 00:00:56,700 --> 00:01:00,833 ** 14 00:01:01,167 --> 00:01:04,067 Victory celebrations and dancing in the streets -- 15 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,067 the traditional images we associate 16 00:01:06,367 --> 00:01:08,533 with the end of the Second World War. 17 00:01:10,767 --> 00:01:14,400 In reality, peace was a violent and chaotic process. 18 00:01:14,733 --> 00:01:19,433 ** 19 00:01:19,767 --> 00:01:23,700 For the defeated Germans, peace meant dislocation. 20 00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:29,400 It meant revenge... 21 00:01:29,733 --> 00:01:30,933 and rape. 22 00:01:31,267 --> 00:01:38,733 ** 23 00:01:39,067 --> 00:01:41,767 It meant the ethnic cleansing of over 12 million Germans 24 00:01:42,100 --> 00:01:44,067 living in Eastern Europe. 25 00:01:47,767 --> 00:01:50,933 And the deaths of over half a million of them. 26 00:01:51,267 --> 00:01:53,867 The nature of the war, the scale of its violence -- 27 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,100 aimed as much at civilians as soldiers, 28 00:01:56,433 --> 00:01:58,500 and the enormity of the hatreds unleashed -- 29 00:01:58,833 --> 00:02:01,200 meant there was little chance that the bloodletting would end 30 00:02:01,533 --> 00:02:03,333 when the fighting finished. 31 00:02:05,567 --> 00:02:07,800 Small wonder German soldiers had joked, 32 00:02:08,133 --> 00:02:11,600 'Enjoy the war, for the peace will be savage.' 33 00:02:11,933 --> 00:02:22,967 ** 34 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:25,867 Germans called it their 'zero hour.' 35 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,400 The country lay in ruins, literally and morally. 36 00:02:29,733 --> 00:02:33,133 26 million Germans had lost their homes. 37 00:02:33,467 --> 00:02:36,600 A third of all German children had lost their fathers. 38 00:02:36,933 --> 00:02:40,533 It was a land of old men, women and children. 39 00:02:40,867 --> 00:02:52,500 ** 40 00:02:52,833 --> 00:02:59,500 ** 41 00:02:59,833 --> 00:03:02,400 16-year-old Berliner Christa Ronke 42 00:03:02,733 --> 00:03:06,067 kept a diary throughout 1945. 43 00:03:07,433 --> 00:03:08,267 -[ Speaking German ] 44 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:10,067 -'The war is lost.' 45 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,067 'I went into the city again 46 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,633 and was shocked to see so many ruins 47 00:03:17,967 --> 00:03:21,067 and the large number of women trying to rebuild everything.' 48 00:03:21,333 --> 00:03:25,300 ** 49 00:03:25,633 --> 00:03:27,300 'And then I got dysentery. 50 00:03:27,633 --> 00:03:29,067 It spread in Berlin.' 51 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:35,200 ** 52 00:03:35,533 --> 00:03:39,967 'I must be very careful and only drink boiled water.' 53 00:03:40,300 --> 00:03:47,833 ** 54 00:03:48,167 --> 00:03:52,467 'Around midday, I saw three soldiers in strange uniform -- 55 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:54,767 the first Russians.' 56 00:03:55,100 --> 00:04:00,067 ** 57 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,667 'Stalin had reportedly allowed his soldiers 58 00:04:03,067 --> 00:04:07,833 to do anything for three days as a reward for taking Berlin.' 59 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:14,933 There were rumours that the Russians raped women. 60 00:04:17,267 --> 00:04:20,967 And, well, that's how it was. 61 00:04:22,833 --> 00:04:26,900 The first Russians banged on the door. 62 00:04:27,233 --> 00:04:28,433 And then the next Russian, 63 00:04:28,767 --> 00:04:31,900 he dragged me straight away onto the sofa. 64 00:04:32,233 --> 00:04:35,833 And as I fought back, he showed me the gun. 65 00:04:36,167 --> 00:04:39,933 It was terrible. 66 00:04:40,267 --> 00:04:42,867 It was over quickly, thank God. 67 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,367 And I was glad to be back alive with my mother. 68 00:04:47,700 --> 00:04:49,600 And then it went on like that. 69 00:04:49,933 --> 00:04:53,067 The other women in the house were raped, too. 70 00:04:54,733 --> 00:04:57,867 -Other children witnessed rape at close quarters. 71 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:09,933 ** 72 00:05:10,267 --> 00:05:11,367 -[ Speaking German ] 73 00:05:11,700 --> 00:05:13,267 -We were all scared. 74 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,567 We were all scared. 75 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:20,700 And around 5 in the morning, the first Russians arrived. 76 00:05:21,067 --> 00:05:22,767 They wanted watches. 77 00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:25,333 And we sat in the cellar for the whole day, 78 00:05:25,667 --> 00:05:27,067 and then at night, 79 00:05:27,367 --> 00:05:32,067 the house was burning and we all had to get out. 80 00:05:35,233 --> 00:05:37,933 And our nanny took me by the hand 81 00:05:38,267 --> 00:05:40,267 and my mother took both my brothers 82 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,433 and the little suitcase I had and nothing else. 83 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:51,333 And then our nanny was raped by the Russians, 84 00:05:51,667 --> 00:05:53,600 and she didn't let go of my hand 85 00:05:53,933 --> 00:05:57,800 throughout what happened in the cellar. 86 00:05:58,133 --> 00:06:00,433 And when we came out, it was night. 87 00:06:00,767 --> 00:06:03,067 There was nothing. It was dark. 88 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,633 Everything was burning. 89 00:06:10,567 --> 00:06:11,433 I can't. 90 00:06:11,767 --> 00:06:12,967 It was upsetting. 91 00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:17,767 I don't know what I thought, but thank God it's over. 92 00:06:20,833 --> 00:06:22,133 -But it wasn't over. 93 00:06:22,467 --> 00:06:25,067 Now, 10-year-old Marianne Becker's mother was kidnapped 94 00:06:25,367 --> 00:06:28,433 and subjected to a mass rape by Russian soldiers. 95 00:06:28,767 --> 00:06:32,367 ** 96 00:06:34,733 --> 00:06:37,200 My mother was driven to Zopot. 97 00:06:43,067 --> 00:06:45,833 There was an aeroplane hangar there, 98 00:06:46,167 --> 00:06:49,467 and the women were raped there 24 hours a day 99 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,500 in front of the children. 100 00:07:00,167 --> 00:07:02,367 And my mother kept on saying, 101 00:07:02,700 --> 00:07:04,600 'We have to return to Danzig. 102 00:07:04,933 --> 00:07:06,467 We have to.' 103 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,400 -Well over 2 million German women and children were raped 104 00:07:12,733 --> 00:07:14,633 at the end of the war. 105 00:07:14,967 --> 00:07:18,433 Many of them died or killed themselves as a result. 106 00:07:18,767 --> 00:07:24,533 ** 107 00:07:24,867 --> 00:07:27,667 Peace brought dislocation, too. 108 00:07:28,067 --> 00:07:30,533 It seemed like all of Europe was on the march. 109 00:07:30,867 --> 00:07:36,167 A tidal wave of nomad people looking for the long road home, 110 00:07:36,500 --> 00:07:42,433 all displaced by a war that was as much about race as territory. 111 00:07:42,767 --> 00:07:45,067 Unsurprisingly, it was Eastern Europe, 112 00:07:45,333 --> 00:07:47,200 whose ethnic tensions Hitler had exploited 113 00:07:47,533 --> 00:07:48,933 in his move towards war, 114 00:07:49,267 --> 00:07:51,867 that witnessed the worst peacetime violence. 115 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:57,500 ** 116 00:07:57,833 --> 00:08:02,667 Liberation cast Germans in the unfamiliar role of victim. 117 00:08:03,067 --> 00:08:05,067 These pictures show a group of German soldiers 118 00:08:05,333 --> 00:08:06,433 in Czechoslovakia 119 00:08:06,767 --> 00:08:10,067 after they have surrendered. 120 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,067 Many of them have been beaten to death by partisans. 121 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,700 Such brutal reprisals seemed unimaginable 122 00:08:17,067 --> 00:08:18,900 only a few weeks earlier. 123 00:08:22,067 --> 00:08:25,533 Prague shortly before liberation. 124 00:08:25,867 --> 00:08:28,467 Known as a cushy posting for Nazi officers, 125 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,167 it had experienced a relatively quiet war, 126 00:08:31,500 --> 00:08:33,500 like much of the rest of the country. 127 00:08:33,833 --> 00:08:35,300 [ Cheering ] 128 00:08:35,633 --> 00:08:41,067 ** 129 00:08:41,367 --> 00:08:43,400 The smiling faces of liberation 130 00:08:43,733 --> 00:08:45,233 belie the savagery of the revenge 131 00:08:45,567 --> 00:08:47,200 Czechoslovaks are about to wreak 132 00:08:47,533 --> 00:08:51,200 on their country's substantial German-speaking minority -- 133 00:08:53,167 --> 00:08:54,667 the 'ethnic Germans', 134 00:08:55,067 --> 00:08:57,100 many of whose families have lived here in Eastern Europe 135 00:08:57,433 --> 00:08:58,800 for centuries. 136 00:08:59,133 --> 00:09:00,933 [ Cheering ] 137 00:09:03,633 --> 00:09:13,233 ** 138 00:09:13,567 --> 00:09:19,833 ** 139 00:09:20,167 --> 00:09:21,267 -[ Speaking German ] 140 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,467 -The Czechs treated the Germans so badly. 141 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,500 They were catching them and shooting them. 142 00:09:27,833 --> 00:09:30,567 Something I saw abhorred me so much that I said 143 00:09:30,900 --> 00:09:33,967 that I would never want to live in this country again. 144 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:39,100 ** 145 00:09:39,433 --> 00:09:41,267 There were isolated groups of Germans 146 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,133 and they carved swastikas into their flesh 147 00:09:44,467 --> 00:09:46,933 and rubbed salt into the wounds. 148 00:09:50,567 --> 00:09:58,567 ** 149 00:09:58,900 --> 00:10:00,867 -[ Speaking German ] 150 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,433 -I saw German women paving the street 151 00:10:03,767 --> 00:10:06,400 because they were dismantling the barricade, 152 00:10:06,733 --> 00:10:09,233 and they had swastikas painted on their backs, 153 00:10:09,567 --> 00:10:13,333 and a former concentration camp inmate was in charge of them. 154 00:10:16,067 --> 00:10:18,533 -[ Speaking German ] 155 00:10:18,867 --> 00:10:20,567 -I saw horrible things. 156 00:10:20,900 --> 00:10:24,033 There were places where the Germans sat, exhausted, 157 00:10:24,367 --> 00:10:25,533 their clothes ripped off, 158 00:10:25,867 --> 00:10:28,200 and they, the Czechs, were sticking pins 159 00:10:28,533 --> 00:10:31,200 into their breasts. 160 00:10:31,533 --> 00:10:33,767 It was shocking. 161 00:10:34,100 --> 00:10:38,200 ** 162 00:10:38,533 --> 00:10:40,867 -[ Speaking German ] 163 00:10:43,233 --> 00:10:46,333 -And I went on to the station. 164 00:10:46,667 --> 00:10:49,167 And I saw a dead body hanging by a rope 165 00:10:49,500 --> 00:10:51,933 in Vodickova Street. 166 00:10:52,267 --> 00:10:56,600 ** 167 00:10:56,933 --> 00:10:59,133 I remember how I ran up to my cousin and said, 168 00:10:59,467 --> 00:11:00,800 'I never want to live here again. 169 00:11:01,133 --> 00:11:02,900 It's terrible what's happening out there.' 170 00:11:03,233 --> 00:11:05,167 I can remember it very well. 171 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:07,267 I'll never forget it. 172 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:17,667 ** 173 00:11:18,067 --> 00:11:19,500 -Jiri Chmelnicek, 174 00:11:19,833 --> 00:11:22,133 a civil engineer and keen amateur photographer, 175 00:11:22,467 --> 00:11:24,167 on his wedding day. 176 00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:27,300 He took his 8-millimetre camera everywhere with him. 177 00:11:27,633 --> 00:11:34,433 ** 178 00:11:34,767 --> 00:11:37,067 -[ Speaking German ] 179 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,333 -It's made in Germany by Siemens, 180 00:11:39,667 --> 00:11:42,167 and Dad bought it when he was young before his wedding, 181 00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:45,767 so his friend filmed his wedding on this camera. 182 00:11:49,067 --> 00:11:51,067 -Two days after VE Day, 183 00:11:51,367 --> 00:11:56,067 he filmed a drama unfolding outside his own front door. 184 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:57,533 Those wearing armbands 185 00:11:57,867 --> 00:12:00,933 are Czechoslovak Revolutionary Guards. 186 00:12:01,900 --> 00:12:04,967 -[ Speaking German ] 187 00:12:05,300 --> 00:12:06,800 -They started rounding up Germans 188 00:12:07,133 --> 00:12:11,300 in Hanspaulka and Dejvice and bringing them over here. 189 00:12:11,633 --> 00:12:13,900 You can see them in the film, how they march them, 190 00:12:14,233 --> 00:12:18,600 drive them up the hill towards the Borislavka cinema. 191 00:12:23,167 --> 00:12:27,133 They locked them in the cinema and then they took them out, 192 00:12:27,467 --> 00:12:30,933 about 42 people, in front of the cinema, 193 00:12:31,267 --> 00:12:33,100 onto Kladensko Street, 194 00:12:33,433 --> 00:12:35,600 and then they shot them dead there. 195 00:12:37,567 --> 00:12:39,933 -A stills photographer was also there that day. 196 00:12:40,267 --> 00:12:41,767 [ Camera shutter clicks ] 197 00:12:42,100 --> 00:12:50,433 ** 198 00:12:50,767 --> 00:12:53,133 -[ Speaking German ] 199 00:12:55,433 --> 00:12:57,900 -They shot a lot of them dead. 200 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:05,233 It was really bad because those who organised it 201 00:13:05,567 --> 00:13:07,300 wanted to have it photographed, 202 00:13:07,633 --> 00:13:12,067 and came to my father and asked him to take photos. 203 00:13:12,333 --> 00:13:13,967 My father didn't know what was going on, 204 00:13:14,300 --> 00:13:18,333 and when he came back, he was totally devastated. 205 00:13:24,567 --> 00:13:27,733 Devastated and his nerves were shot through, 206 00:13:28,067 --> 00:13:32,100 and my mother had to nurse him for the rest of the day. 207 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,300 -But it was happening everywhere. 208 00:13:36,633 --> 00:13:39,600 There were a lot of cases like this. 209 00:13:39,933 --> 00:13:44,067 I was there with my parents and my grandma. 210 00:13:44,367 --> 00:13:56,067 ** 211 00:13:56,367 --> 00:14:08,100 ** 212 00:14:08,433 --> 00:14:19,600 ** 213 00:14:21,467 --> 00:14:23,400 -[ Speaking German ] 214 00:14:23,733 --> 00:14:26,233 -My grandma turned around and hid my head in her apron 215 00:14:26,567 --> 00:14:29,100 because one action was quite extreme. 216 00:14:29,433 --> 00:14:31,933 ** 217 00:14:32,267 --> 00:14:34,067 -[ Speaking German ] 218 00:14:35,567 --> 00:14:37,067 -The nasty moment when lorries arrive 219 00:14:37,367 --> 00:14:40,167 and drive over their legs, 220 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:42,567 which is really horrible. 221 00:14:42,900 --> 00:14:46,867 ** 222 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,100 -Jiri Chmelnicek films one victim praying 223 00:14:50,433 --> 00:14:52,067 in his final moments. 224 00:14:52,367 --> 00:15:00,800 ** 225 00:15:01,133 --> 00:15:02,167 -You can see in the film 226 00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:04,733 how they had to dig their own graves. 227 00:15:05,067 --> 00:15:12,800 ** 228 00:15:13,133 --> 00:15:14,400 -[ Speaking German ] 229 00:15:14,733 --> 00:15:16,700 -Not all of them were German. 230 00:15:17,067 --> 00:15:20,233 There were people who just spoke German. 231 00:15:20,567 --> 00:15:22,967 I think a Swedish family were there. 232 00:15:27,933 --> 00:15:29,233 -[ Speaking German ] 233 00:15:29,567 --> 00:15:32,633 -I despair that things like that could happen here 234 00:15:32,967 --> 00:15:34,833 in our country. 235 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,433 Put simply, there are also good Germans, 236 00:15:42,767 --> 00:15:47,900 or rather, there are more good Germans than bad ones. 237 00:15:48,233 --> 00:15:50,933 -Such murders remain unpunished. 238 00:15:51,267 --> 00:15:53,367 The Czechoslovak government issued an amnesty 239 00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:55,500 for all 'just reprisals' 240 00:15:55,833 --> 00:15:59,567 carried out before 28th October 1945. 241 00:16:02,233 --> 00:16:04,800 No one has ever been convicted for what happened here 242 00:16:05,133 --> 00:16:07,233 in Mirosov Castle. 243 00:16:07,567 --> 00:16:10,467 These stills show the treatment of German prisoners of war 244 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,467 awaiting transportation to Germany. 245 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,367 Czech partisans force the soldiers to strip, 246 00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:19,833 beat each other and dig their own graves. 247 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,600 The German prisoners are executed 248 00:16:23,933 --> 00:16:25,233 before their bodies are disposed of 249 00:16:25,567 --> 00:16:28,200 in a mass grave in the castle garden. 250 00:16:30,967 --> 00:16:34,433 Over 200 Germans died at this camp. 251 00:16:37,533 --> 00:16:41,433 Such methods deliberately mirror those used by the Nazis, 252 00:16:41,767 --> 00:16:46,200 whose leader casts a long shadow over all ethnic Germans. 253 00:16:50,267 --> 00:16:52,633 [ Cheering ] 254 00:16:58,733 --> 00:17:02,067 Germans in Brno enthusiastically greet the arrival 255 00:17:02,333 --> 00:17:03,933 of Adolf Hitler. 256 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,133 Unlike most Czechoslovaks, 257 00:17:11,467 --> 00:17:14,500 they view his takeover of the country as a liberation, 258 00:17:14,833 --> 00:17:16,800 not an occupation. 259 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:23,100 Even young children get caught up 260 00:17:23,433 --> 00:17:25,867 in the atmosphere of the occasion. 261 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:35,433 ** 262 00:17:35,767 --> 00:17:38,067 -[ Speaking German ] 263 00:17:38,367 --> 00:17:40,733 -I was six years old. 264 00:17:41,067 --> 00:17:42,367 I pushed to the front row. 265 00:17:42,700 --> 00:17:44,833 I pushed in front of the SS. 266 00:17:45,167 --> 00:17:46,433 They stood in double rows. 267 00:17:46,767 --> 00:17:49,833 They fenced off the entire population with ropes 268 00:17:50,167 --> 00:17:52,567 when Hitler drove past. 269 00:17:53,933 --> 00:17:55,833 He came to the town hall in an open car, 270 00:17:56,167 --> 00:18:00,200 and we stood in front of the town hall. 271 00:18:00,533 --> 00:18:03,333 I saw when the car drove past. 272 00:18:03,667 --> 00:18:08,267 He, a man with arm raised -- goodness, goodness. 273 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:09,800 Someone important, 274 00:18:10,133 --> 00:18:14,200 but who would have guessed that this was Hitler? 275 00:18:14,533 --> 00:18:16,267 [ Cheering ] 276 00:18:17,967 --> 00:18:20,133 -And the people with all the flags, 277 00:18:20,467 --> 00:18:22,333 and 'Heil' of course, 278 00:18:22,667 --> 00:18:24,933 fanfares up on the roof. 279 00:18:25,267 --> 00:18:28,300 For a child, that was an adventure. 280 00:18:28,633 --> 00:18:30,367 [ Crowd chanting ] 281 00:18:34,067 --> 00:18:39,233 ** 282 00:18:39,567 --> 00:18:40,933 -3 years later, 283 00:18:41,267 --> 00:18:43,633 Hugo Fritsch was so keen to join the junior section 284 00:18:43,967 --> 00:18:44,933 of the Hitler Youth 285 00:18:45,267 --> 00:18:46,933 that he lied about his age. 286 00:18:47,267 --> 00:18:49,800 ** 287 00:18:50,133 --> 00:18:51,200 -[ Speaking German ] 288 00:18:51,533 --> 00:18:54,467 I was exhilarated because I had joined, 289 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:55,867 and in the first summer, 290 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,067 we went to this summer camp at a castle, 291 00:18:58,333 --> 00:19:01,933 a palatial castle that the Nazis had seized. 292 00:19:05,667 --> 00:19:07,500 Until almost the end of the war, 293 00:19:07,833 --> 00:19:11,100 everything seemed normal for 12-year-old Hugo. 294 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:13,633 -[ Speaking German ] 295 00:19:13,967 --> 00:19:16,467 -I can remember it was as late as 1945 296 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,367 when I was still running around with the Czech boys. 297 00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:22,267 Everyone had a toy gun that they fired in the air. 298 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,800 Well, we ran through the streets and played war. 299 00:19:26,133 --> 00:19:29,300 ** 300 00:19:29,633 --> 00:19:31,233 With the declaration of peace, 301 00:19:31,567 --> 00:19:34,933 ethnic German civilians, now overwhelmingly old men, 302 00:19:35,267 --> 00:19:36,733 women and children like Hugo, 303 00:19:37,067 --> 00:19:39,133 are targeted. 304 00:19:39,467 --> 00:19:41,133 -[ Speaking German ] 305 00:19:41,467 --> 00:19:43,500 -They had this huge loud speaker announcement 306 00:19:43,833 --> 00:19:45,767 that the Czech Republic was declared 307 00:19:46,100 --> 00:19:47,633 and that the people will take revenge 308 00:19:47,967 --> 00:19:54,167 in particular on collaborators and on the German people here. 309 00:20:00,933 --> 00:20:02,867 Right on the market place, 310 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,233 all the signs written in German had been torn down, 311 00:20:07,567 --> 00:20:10,233 broken, destroyed. 312 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:20,167 It was death, death, death to the Germans. 313 00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:22,933 Death to the Collaborators. 314 00:20:25,833 --> 00:20:27,800 On these low trees, 315 00:20:28,133 --> 00:20:31,333 all these life-sized dolls were hung 316 00:20:31,667 --> 00:20:34,400 with a noose around their necks. 317 00:20:40,433 --> 00:20:42,433 They had sashes on them. 318 00:20:42,767 --> 00:20:47,133 So just like a sash for the winner of a beauty competition, 319 00:20:47,467 --> 00:20:49,767 they had a Collaborator sash on them. 320 00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:54,400 I mean, it was very scary for us. 321 00:20:56,267 --> 00:21:08,067 ** 322 00:21:08,333 --> 00:21:11,067 ** 323 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,300 -Victims of the Gestapo are exhumed 324 00:21:13,633 --> 00:21:16,067 from the grounds of Kounic College. 325 00:21:16,367 --> 00:21:22,300 ** 326 00:21:22,633 --> 00:21:25,200 During the war, it had been a Nazi prison. 327 00:21:25,533 --> 00:21:28,700 Now, ethnic Germans were incarcerated here. 328 00:21:29,067 --> 00:21:40,667 ** 329 00:21:41,067 --> 00:21:44,100 ** 330 00:21:44,433 --> 00:21:46,233 -[ Speaking German ] 331 00:21:46,567 --> 00:21:49,300 -I heard one of the guards say to the other -- 332 00:21:49,633 --> 00:21:52,200 even though he didn't say it very loudly -- 333 00:21:52,533 --> 00:21:54,267 'Only kill a third of them. 334 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,600 We do need some people for work.' 335 00:22:00,767 --> 00:22:03,233 -One day, 16-year-old Emil Pupik, 336 00:22:03,567 --> 00:22:05,067 a former member of the Hitler Youth 337 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,067 interned in Kounic College, 338 00:22:07,367 --> 00:22:09,967 was ordered to help build a gallows. 339 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,067 -[ Speaking German ] 340 00:22:15,333 --> 00:22:18,833 -We had to collect the gallows from the cellar first, 341 00:22:19,167 --> 00:22:22,233 and then they showed us where it should be. 342 00:22:27,700 --> 00:22:30,333 Three gallows, that is. 343 00:22:30,667 --> 00:22:32,300 When we had finished that, 344 00:22:32,633 --> 00:22:36,167 they said now, we have to try it out. 345 00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:42,967 Therefore, we'll hang someone 346 00:22:43,300 --> 00:22:46,433 so we can see if it has been well-made. 347 00:22:46,767 --> 00:22:49,567 And they selected someone for hanging. 348 00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:53,667 Another of them came up and said, 'Why just one? 349 00:22:54,067 --> 00:22:59,133 We have three gallows, so we should hang three.' 350 00:22:59,467 --> 00:23:01,500 And so I was the second one chosen to be hanged, 351 00:23:01,833 --> 00:23:05,200 and then there was third. 352 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,200 The rope we already had round our necks. 353 00:23:14,533 --> 00:23:20,167 My wish was to die as quickly as possible. 354 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:22,867 They were still busy with the third man. 355 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,433 Thank God. 356 00:23:24,767 --> 00:23:28,067 And we already had our hands tied behind our backs 357 00:23:28,367 --> 00:23:31,067 and the rope around our necks. 358 00:23:33,233 --> 00:23:36,167 And a Czech guy came running up and shouted, 359 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:37,700 'Clear everything away! 360 00:23:38,067 --> 00:23:39,333 Clear everything away! 361 00:23:39,667 --> 00:23:42,567 There's an inspection from Prague.' 362 00:23:44,533 --> 00:23:47,767 And quickly enough, they cut the rope. 363 00:23:51,667 --> 00:23:56,267 And we were chased into the house. 364 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,067 -The site of the 3 gallows at Kounic College. 365 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,267 In May and June, at least 300 Germans were killed here. 366 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:11,367 ** 367 00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:13,167 Public executions, 368 00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:16,433 like that of the notorious Sudeten Nazi, Karl Frank, 369 00:24:16,767 --> 00:24:18,067 hanged for mass murder, 370 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,733 pulled in the crowds. 371 00:24:21,067 --> 00:24:23,467 The visceral manner of his death reinforced a policy 372 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,267 of 'National Cleansing' of all Germans, 373 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:28,200 and deterred opposition. 374 00:24:28,533 --> 00:24:32,833 ** 375 00:24:33,167 --> 00:24:37,067 The Czechoslovak 'pole-hanging' method, with its short drop, 376 00:24:37,367 --> 00:24:39,733 causes death by strangulation. 377 00:24:43,533 --> 00:24:44,600 The prisoner goes limp 378 00:24:44,933 --> 00:24:47,767 as the blood flow to the brain is reduced... 379 00:24:52,067 --> 00:24:55,233 although it takes at least ten minutes to die. 380 00:24:55,567 --> 00:25:02,967 ** 381 00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:05,267 This amateur footage shows one 382 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,633 of at least a thousand public executions 383 00:25:07,967 --> 00:25:10,533 carried out by self-styled 'People's Tribunals' 384 00:25:10,867 --> 00:25:12,900 in the weeks after the war. 385 00:25:13,233 --> 00:25:15,533 Trials could take as little as five minutes, 386 00:25:15,867 --> 00:25:21,167 and executions were carried out within two hours of sentencing. 387 00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:24,067 Age was no barrier to persecution. 388 00:25:24,367 --> 00:25:28,400 Kounic College housed prisoners as young as six years old. 389 00:25:28,733 --> 00:25:30,367 -[ Speaking German ] 390 00:25:30,700 --> 00:25:33,433 -They were about six years old, the little ones, 391 00:25:33,767 --> 00:25:36,233 and the eldest was about 11. 392 00:25:38,167 --> 00:25:42,800 And they had to jump up like soldiers all at the same time. 393 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,733 And then sit down again, like stand up, 394 00:25:48,067 --> 00:25:49,200 sit again. 395 00:25:49,533 --> 00:25:51,800 And some of them, particularly the little ones, 396 00:25:52,133 --> 00:25:53,500 they couldn't do it. 397 00:25:53,833 --> 00:25:57,933 So they called one boy over and hit him with a belt. 398 00:25:59,733 --> 00:26:01,600 Then he cried. 399 00:26:01,933 --> 00:26:04,400 It was awful. 400 00:26:04,733 --> 00:26:07,067 -[ Sobbing quietly ] 401 00:26:18,067 --> 00:26:19,800 -What had the children -- 402 00:26:20,133 --> 00:26:22,633 How could someone be so sadistic? 403 00:26:22,967 --> 00:26:24,933 It was terrible. 404 00:26:27,433 --> 00:26:28,267 Children. 405 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,467 They can't defend themselves. 406 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:31,733 What have they ever -- 407 00:26:32,067 --> 00:26:34,067 They couldn't have done anything. 408 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,233 Such little children. 409 00:26:37,567 --> 00:26:47,133 ** 410 00:26:47,467 --> 00:26:51,100 -But disease, not violence, was the biggest killer. 411 00:26:51,433 --> 00:26:54,267 14-year-old Hugo Fritsch and his family were interned 412 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,267 in a former SS training camp... 413 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:03,067 with little food, no doctor and no medicine. 414 00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:07,200 -[ Speaking German ] 415 00:27:07,533 --> 00:27:09,333 -Grandmother died first. 416 00:27:09,667 --> 00:27:13,067 Then my brother died, Gerhard. 417 00:27:13,367 --> 00:27:19,533 And then my mother died rather quickly, quickly, quickly. 418 00:27:19,867 --> 00:27:22,900 And I went to see my father almost every day, 419 00:27:23,233 --> 00:27:25,200 and then he died suddenly. 420 00:27:25,533 --> 00:27:27,400 His heart stopped working, 421 00:27:27,733 --> 00:27:30,067 so Father died suddenly. 422 00:27:30,367 --> 00:27:33,600 We had all these deaths from January to February. 423 00:27:33,933 --> 00:27:37,767 It wasn't even two months during which they all died. 424 00:27:43,067 --> 00:27:48,067 For me, the darkest memory is always my mother's burial 425 00:27:48,367 --> 00:27:50,867 because I was a mother's boy. 426 00:27:52,733 --> 00:27:55,367 For me, that was the worst. 427 00:27:55,700 --> 00:27:58,967 Because even until today, I can't -- 428 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:03,967 I can't because I still have the images. 429 00:28:04,300 --> 00:28:05,833 I did push them aside, 430 00:28:06,167 --> 00:28:09,067 but they came back in my later years. 431 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,233 And how. 432 00:28:11,567 --> 00:28:14,467 That is bad. 433 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,067 You see, I spent my entire life making sure I started a family 434 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,867 because I didn't have one of my own anymore. 435 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:31,267 ** 436 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:35,100 -Most Czechoslovaks were more concerned with the heroes of war 437 00:28:35,433 --> 00:28:37,700 than the orphans of peace. 438 00:28:38,067 --> 00:28:42,433 A victory parade in Prague of the Czechoslovak 1st Army Corps. 439 00:28:42,767 --> 00:28:44,067 They are battle-hardened troops 440 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,833 who had fought against the Germans under Soviet leadership. 441 00:28:47,167 --> 00:28:53,767 ** 442 00:28:54,100 --> 00:28:56,333 Some of them are involved in the peace-time murder 443 00:28:56,667 --> 00:28:58,633 of German civilians. 444 00:28:58,967 --> 00:29:08,967 ** 445 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:13,367 This rural hop-growing community in Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, 446 00:29:13,700 --> 00:29:15,667 where Germans had lived for centuries, 447 00:29:16,067 --> 00:29:18,067 was the setting for the second-largest atrocity 448 00:29:18,367 --> 00:29:20,167 in post-war Europe. 449 00:29:20,500 --> 00:29:31,667 ** 450 00:29:32,067 --> 00:29:35,267 16-year-old Peter Klepsch, who had opposed the Nazis 451 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,167 and ended the war in prison, 452 00:29:37,500 --> 00:29:40,967 was one of 5,000 ethnic Germans, men and boys, 453 00:29:41,300 --> 00:29:44,767 ordered to the town square in Zatec. 454 00:29:45,100 --> 00:29:47,467 -[ Speaking German ] 455 00:29:49,133 --> 00:29:50,733 -We were already under the impression 456 00:29:51,067 --> 00:29:53,833 that the Czechs had gone completely crazy. 457 00:29:54,167 --> 00:29:56,500 There were spontaneous executions, 458 00:29:56,833 --> 00:30:00,033 people pulled out and shot. 459 00:30:00,367 --> 00:30:03,133 I still remember a friend of mine, he said, 460 00:30:03,467 --> 00:30:05,000 'I was a German officer. 461 00:30:05,333 --> 00:30:06,867 I want to be treated differently. 462 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,233 There is still the Geneva convention,' 463 00:30:09,567 --> 00:30:11,867 or something like that. 464 00:30:14,700 --> 00:30:16,067 He was shot on the spot, 465 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,567 and other people I knew, they were whipped in public. 466 00:30:22,133 --> 00:30:29,400 ** 467 00:30:29,733 --> 00:30:31,633 -The Germans were interned at the army barracks 468 00:30:31,967 --> 00:30:33,833 in Postoloprty. 469 00:30:34,167 --> 00:30:38,100 On the third day, five boys, aged between 12 to 15, 470 00:30:38,433 --> 00:30:40,967 were caught absconding to steal fruit. 471 00:30:43,567 --> 00:30:47,333 Policeman Bohuslav Marek wanted the boys flogged, 472 00:30:47,667 --> 00:30:49,767 but a Czech army captain ordered them to line up 473 00:30:50,100 --> 00:30:52,467 against the barracks wall. 474 00:30:53,967 --> 00:30:55,800 -[ Speaking German ] 475 00:30:56,133 --> 00:30:57,933 -Oh, it was so horrible. 476 00:30:58,267 --> 00:31:00,067 They begged for their lives 477 00:31:00,367 --> 00:31:02,567 and screamed for their mothers. 478 00:31:02,900 --> 00:31:05,633 And then they were just bumped off like cattle. 479 00:31:05,967 --> 00:31:09,200 They stood there facing the muzzle of the rifles. 480 00:31:11,867 --> 00:31:14,600 And if you didn't die immediately, 481 00:31:14,933 --> 00:31:17,533 they fired again. 482 00:31:17,867 --> 00:31:20,200 To me, it was very distressing. 483 00:31:23,267 --> 00:31:24,967 One boy was shot in the throat, 484 00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:28,500 then his blood spurted out with the last beat of his heart, 485 00:31:28,833 --> 00:31:31,567 a stream of blood came out. 486 00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:40,067 They were buried in the barracks yard by me, among others. 487 00:31:40,333 --> 00:31:43,833 And for me, that was actually the worst thing. 488 00:31:44,167 --> 00:31:51,800 ** 489 00:31:52,133 --> 00:31:54,333 -Many of the dead were buried in a mass grave 490 00:31:54,667 --> 00:31:56,767 at this pheasant farm. 491 00:31:57,100 --> 00:31:59,767 Altogether, 2,000 Sudeten Germans were murdered 492 00:32:00,167 --> 00:32:02,600 in just five days in June. 493 00:32:04,933 --> 00:32:07,367 -[ Speaking German ] 494 00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:12,500 -Well, I certainly saw it as genocide. 495 00:32:12,833 --> 00:32:15,067 They just let out their inner bastard 496 00:32:15,333 --> 00:32:17,400 on these defenceless people. 497 00:32:17,733 --> 00:32:19,600 That was clear. 498 00:32:22,867 --> 00:32:25,667 -It took decades to get this small memorial to the killings 499 00:32:26,067 --> 00:32:29,267 erected in the teeth of local Czech opposition. 500 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:34,900 ** 501 00:32:35,233 --> 00:32:37,100 -[ Speaking German ] 502 00:32:37,433 --> 00:32:40,600 -I can say that what happened here in '45 503 00:32:40,933 --> 00:32:43,933 is no different at all to the Third Reich. 504 00:32:44,267 --> 00:32:46,933 The morals of these people who did this, 505 00:32:47,267 --> 00:32:50,233 they were the same. 506 00:32:50,567 --> 00:32:55,867 ** 507 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,067 -Local Germans are forced to confront 508 00:32:58,333 --> 00:33:00,567 the horrors of the Third Reich -- 509 00:33:00,900 --> 00:33:03,600 a lamp shade made of human skin, 510 00:33:03,933 --> 00:33:06,567 human organs in jars... 511 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:11,600 and half a severed head. 512 00:33:11,933 --> 00:33:17,433 ** 513 00:33:17,767 --> 00:33:21,433 Notions of collective guilt and punishment for such atrocities 514 00:33:21,767 --> 00:33:23,267 meant that few were prepared to contemplate 515 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:25,833 the idea of Germans as victims, 516 00:33:26,167 --> 00:33:27,733 especially in countries that had borne 517 00:33:28,067 --> 00:33:30,433 the brunt of Nazi atrocities. 518 00:33:30,767 --> 00:33:42,400 ** 519 00:33:42,733 --> 00:33:48,100 Warsaw, like much of Poland, lies in ruins after the war. 520 00:33:48,433 --> 00:33:52,067 Amidst such bleak reminders of the price of Nazi occupation, 521 00:33:52,333 --> 00:33:55,100 the Poles now targeted the almost six million Germans 522 00:33:55,433 --> 00:33:57,067 living inside the country. 523 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,867 ** 524 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,267 Secret footage of a Nazi concentration camp in Poland -- 525 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:10,800 shot, at great personal risk, during the war. 526 00:34:11,133 --> 00:34:13,833 In 1945, the Poles used such camps 527 00:34:14,167 --> 00:34:17,533 to incarcerate Germans often under similar conditions. 528 00:34:17,867 --> 00:34:23,267 ** 529 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,800 The gates of Zgoda. 530 00:34:27,133 --> 00:34:29,233 Once a satellite camp of Auschwitz, 531 00:34:29,567 --> 00:34:32,833 it was reopened by the Poles as a 'punishment camp', 532 00:34:33,167 --> 00:34:36,700 and you could be punished simply for being German. 533 00:34:37,067 --> 00:34:48,700 ** 534 00:34:49,067 --> 00:34:51,833 The 26-year-old Jewish commander of the camp 535 00:34:52,167 --> 00:34:56,067 was Colonel Solomon Morel of the Polish Secret Police. 536 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,533 -[ Speaking German ] 537 00:34:58,867 --> 00:35:03,867 -He introduced himself to us on the first night. 538 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:05,767 'My name is Solomon Morel, 539 00:35:06,100 --> 00:35:08,333 and I am the commandant of this camp. 540 00:35:08,667 --> 00:35:09,933 I was with the partisans. 541 00:35:10,267 --> 00:35:14,367 My parents were gassed in Auschwitz by you Germans.' 542 00:35:14,700 --> 00:35:24,400 ** 543 00:35:24,733 --> 00:35:28,633 -14-year-old Dorota Boraczek, from a wealthy Polish family, 544 00:35:28,967 --> 00:35:31,900 was incarcerated with German prisoners. 545 00:35:32,233 --> 00:35:34,600 -[ Speaking Polish ] 546 00:35:37,467 --> 00:35:39,800 -I thought we were going to be shot there and then 547 00:35:40,133 --> 00:35:41,967 because Morel received us saying, 548 00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:47,867 'Come here, you Hitlerite whores. 549 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,300 You will remember this forever, 550 00:35:50,633 --> 00:35:52,500 and once you have experienced Zgoda, 551 00:35:52,833 --> 00:35:55,067 you will think of Auschwitz as a kindergarten 552 00:35:55,367 --> 00:35:56,967 in comparison.' 553 00:35:59,667 --> 00:36:03,633 -Morel personally fostered a culture of sadism. 554 00:36:04,733 --> 00:36:06,467 -[ Speaking German ] 555 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,267 -The pyramid method was when four were thrown 556 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,733 next to each other. 557 00:36:12,067 --> 00:36:14,700 And four then diagonally on top of them, 558 00:36:15,067 --> 00:36:18,400 and then another four until they were quite high. 559 00:36:18,733 --> 00:36:20,267 And then not always, but every so often, 560 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,067 the militia climbed on top 561 00:36:23,367 --> 00:36:26,433 and they danced on the prisoners. 562 00:36:26,767 --> 00:36:29,667 No one came away from this unharmed, 563 00:36:30,067 --> 00:36:32,633 and people died. 564 00:36:32,967 --> 00:36:34,767 -[ Speaking Polish ] 565 00:36:35,100 --> 00:36:38,200 -I wanted to force my mother to commit suicide. 566 00:36:38,533 --> 00:36:40,400 Men took their lives by hanging, 567 00:36:40,733 --> 00:36:44,167 and women by walking into the electric fence. 568 00:36:46,233 --> 00:36:48,833 -Prisoners were deliberately denied food and medical care 569 00:36:49,167 --> 00:36:51,467 in order to bring about their deaths. 570 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,367 ** 571 00:36:54,700 --> 00:36:55,567 -[ Speaking German ] 572 00:36:55,900 --> 00:36:59,233 -Is it ok if I cry? 573 00:37:02,233 --> 00:37:04,067 -[ Speaking Polish ] 574 00:37:06,067 --> 00:37:09,233 -This time of hunger was horrific. 575 00:37:14,167 --> 00:37:16,267 They waited at the gate for fresh corpses, 576 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:19,267 and there were cases -- it was not habitual -- 577 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,300 but people ate dead bodies, yes. 578 00:37:23,633 --> 00:37:27,067 Corpses, they waited for fresh ones. 579 00:37:30,933 --> 00:37:32,700 I saw it. 580 00:37:35,233 --> 00:37:40,500 -Almost a third of the 6,000 Germans sent to Zgoda died here. 581 00:37:43,333 --> 00:37:45,400 -[ Speaking Polish ] 582 00:37:45,733 --> 00:37:49,467 -A funeral went like this -- 583 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:51,400 the prisoners dug a hole in the ground 584 00:37:51,733 --> 00:37:54,433 and threw these bodies into it. 585 00:37:58,633 --> 00:38:01,933 They spread the lime and sand on top of it, 586 00:38:02,267 --> 00:38:07,900 and then they were told to dance on the bodies and piss on them. 587 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:12,767 -Three quarters of a million Germans 588 00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:15,733 were imprisoned in a massive range of often secret camps 589 00:38:16,067 --> 00:38:18,533 stretching across eastern Europe. 590 00:38:18,867 --> 00:38:23,200 Some 60,000 Germans died in camps like Poland's Zgoda. 591 00:38:27,367 --> 00:38:29,067 -Yes, hell. 592 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,200 I went through hell. 593 00:38:33,533 --> 00:38:37,100 And I should love such a nation? 594 00:38:44,133 --> 00:38:48,067 ** 595 00:38:48,333 --> 00:38:50,067 -[ Speaking Polish ] 596 00:38:50,367 --> 00:38:51,800 -When I look at these criminals, 597 00:38:52,133 --> 00:38:54,633 I feel like chopping them to pieces 598 00:38:54,967 --> 00:38:57,800 and feeding them to ravenous dogs. 599 00:38:58,133 --> 00:39:00,667 I hate them so much. 600 00:39:01,067 --> 00:39:04,067 ** 601 00:39:12,733 --> 00:39:15,600 [ Cheering ] 602 00:39:15,933 --> 00:39:23,100 ** 603 00:39:23,433 --> 00:39:24,667 -The country's sports stadiums 604 00:39:25,067 --> 00:39:27,200 were a traditional setting for revenge. 605 00:39:27,533 --> 00:39:29,567 [ Cheering ] 606 00:39:29,900 --> 00:39:35,600 ** 607 00:39:35,933 --> 00:39:38,067 They were used as prisons, torture chambers 608 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,567 and places of execution. 609 00:39:40,900 --> 00:39:43,500 On the morning of 9 June, 1945, 610 00:39:43,833 --> 00:39:45,733 8,000 German men and boys 611 00:39:46,067 --> 00:39:49,700 were summoned to their local stadium in Chomutov. 612 00:39:51,167 --> 00:39:59,067 ** 613 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,433 -[ Speaking German ] 614 00:40:02,767 --> 00:40:06,800 -We were all herded together and had to take our tops off. 615 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,200 They were looking for tattoos or SS markings. 616 00:40:15,533 --> 00:40:16,967 There was a tattoo on the upper arm 617 00:40:17,300 --> 00:40:19,233 with the blood group sign. 618 00:40:21,933 --> 00:40:27,667 And those who had it, between 15 and 20, 22 of them... 619 00:40:34,367 --> 00:40:39,700 these men were hauled out and beaten to death. 620 00:40:40,033 --> 00:40:42,333 Yeah, to death. 621 00:40:42,667 --> 00:40:45,567 Killed right in front of everyone. 622 00:40:55,167 --> 00:40:58,967 It was also Czech civilians who beat the SS soldiers 623 00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:03,433 with iron bars and wooden clubs. 624 00:41:03,767 --> 00:41:07,833 And if they collapsed and didn't move, 625 00:41:08,167 --> 00:41:11,433 a bucket of salt water was thrown over them. 626 00:41:11,767 --> 00:41:14,067 And when they had revived a little, 627 00:41:14,333 --> 00:41:19,767 they were then beaten again until they were dead. 628 00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:22,800 So there was a pile of dead people, 629 00:41:23,133 --> 00:41:25,533 some lying on top of each other, 630 00:41:25,867 --> 00:41:27,733 that we had to march past. 631 00:41:28,067 --> 00:41:32,900 And we were given the command 'Eyes Left', 632 00:41:33,233 --> 00:41:37,133 so that we had to look at them as we marched past. 633 00:41:41,533 --> 00:41:46,467 ** 634 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,333 -Hitler's image, now an object of open desecration, 635 00:41:50,667 --> 00:41:53,333 was used to humiliate the Germans in the stadium. 636 00:41:53,667 --> 00:41:59,700 ** 637 00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:02,667 -[ Speaking German ] 638 00:42:03,067 --> 00:42:05,800 -It was at the beginning of this whole orgy. 639 00:42:06,133 --> 00:42:07,967 There was someone said to be a party member 640 00:42:08,300 --> 00:42:09,633 from a mountain village. 641 00:42:09,967 --> 00:42:14,067 There was a big Hitler poster -- 642 00:42:14,333 --> 00:42:18,133 that is a very big Hitler poster that he carried in front of him, 643 00:42:18,467 --> 00:42:23,733 and he was made to shout over and over again, 644 00:42:24,067 --> 00:42:28,100 'We thank our Furhrer, we thank our Fuhrer,' 645 00:42:28,433 --> 00:42:29,767 until he came up to the Czechs 646 00:42:30,100 --> 00:42:32,567 and was beaten until he collapsed. 647 00:42:32,900 --> 00:42:34,667 [ Cheering ] 648 00:42:38,067 --> 00:42:40,967 Then the whole column had to run around holding the picture up 649 00:42:41,300 --> 00:42:45,333 and shouting, 650 00:42:45,667 --> 00:42:48,267 'We thank our Fuhrer.' 651 00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:53,433 That was the thing to say at gatherings in the Nazi period. 652 00:42:53,767 --> 00:43:03,833 ** 653 00:43:04,167 --> 00:43:07,100 -Horst Theml now experienced another favourite Nazi device 654 00:43:07,433 --> 00:43:09,167 adopted by Czechoslovaks -- 655 00:43:09,500 --> 00:43:11,267 the forced death march. 656 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,833 ** 657 00:43:15,167 --> 00:43:17,533 -[ Speaking in German ] 658 00:43:19,067 --> 00:43:21,067 -It was a forced march, 659 00:43:21,333 --> 00:43:24,967 a forced march that was demanded of everyone. 660 00:43:27,067 --> 00:43:29,367 If you couldn't keep up and lagged behind 661 00:43:29,700 --> 00:43:31,300 and couldn't go on, 662 00:43:31,633 --> 00:43:33,467 you were shot. 663 00:43:35,700 --> 00:43:41,067 Or to be precise, you were first beaten up and then shot. 664 00:43:41,333 --> 00:43:44,633 75 men lost their lives. 665 00:43:44,967 --> 00:43:56,633 ** 666 00:43:56,967 --> 00:43:58,967 ** 667 00:43:59,300 --> 00:44:01,267 -Those Germans not arrested 668 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:03,567 were forced to wear white armbands 669 00:44:03,900 --> 00:44:06,200 and were subject to anti-German decrees, 670 00:44:06,533 --> 00:44:09,367 some of them still on the statute book today. 671 00:44:09,700 --> 00:44:12,633 Then they were expelled en masse. 672 00:44:12,967 --> 00:44:16,267 Entire communities were rounded up at a moment's notice. 673 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:21,667 ** 674 00:44:22,067 --> 00:44:25,067 Here, the table hasn't been cleared. 675 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:29,867 Up to three and a half million people 676 00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:31,433 were stripped of their citizenship, 677 00:44:31,767 --> 00:44:34,967 homes and property, and denied compensation. 678 00:44:35,300 --> 00:44:43,333 ** 679 00:44:43,667 --> 00:44:46,200 Britain, America and the Soviet Union 680 00:44:46,533 --> 00:44:48,567 ordered the expulsions as part of a plan 681 00:44:48,900 --> 00:44:51,633 to reshape the ethnic composition of Eastern Europe 682 00:44:51,967 --> 00:44:56,533 and to punish Germany, which now lost a quarter of its territory. 683 00:44:56,867 --> 00:44:58,233 At Potsdam, 684 00:44:58,567 --> 00:45:01,867 the Allies spoke of 'orderly and humane' population transfers, 685 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,267 but they turned a blind eye to the catastrophic consequences 686 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:07,900 of a policy they had connived at. 687 00:45:08,233 --> 00:45:17,067 ** 688 00:45:17,367 --> 00:45:19,600 Soon, the roads and railways of Eastern Europe 689 00:45:19,933 --> 00:45:22,233 were filled with Germans on the move. 690 00:45:22,567 --> 00:45:26,233 ** 691 00:45:26,567 --> 00:45:29,200 Overcrowded trains of the sort previously used 692 00:45:29,533 --> 00:45:31,067 to take the Jews to their fate 693 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:33,233 were filled with the dead and dying, 694 00:45:33,567 --> 00:45:35,200 the sick and starving. 695 00:45:35,533 --> 00:45:40,833 ** 696 00:45:41,167 --> 00:45:43,700 This 11-year-old German girl expellee 697 00:45:44,067 --> 00:45:48,533 weighed only 31 pounds on her arrival. 698 00:45:48,867 --> 00:45:52,767 This girl's lower limbs are swollen from hunger edema. 699 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:58,067 Over 12 million Germans were expelled from Eastern Europe, 700 00:45:58,333 --> 00:46:02,400 the largest known example of ethnic cleansing in history. 701 00:46:02,733 --> 00:46:06,433 Over a quarter of a million died in the process. 702 00:46:06,767 --> 00:46:12,967 The writer George Orwell called it 'an enourmous crime'. 703 00:46:13,300 --> 00:46:16,533 The River Oder marked the new German-Polish border. 704 00:46:16,867 --> 00:46:20,267 ** 705 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,600 The six million Germans living east of the Oder 706 00:46:22,933 --> 00:46:24,400 were forcibly expelled 707 00:46:24,733 --> 00:46:27,500 as Eastern Germany became Western Poland. 708 00:46:27,833 --> 00:46:33,867 ** 709 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:36,267 [ Group singing ] 710 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:48,267 ** 711 00:46:48,600 --> 00:47:00,333 ** 712 00:47:00,667 --> 00:47:12,300 ** 713 00:47:12,633 --> 00:47:14,067 ** 714 00:47:14,367 --> 00:47:17,333 -We lost everything. 715 00:47:17,667 --> 00:47:18,833 We meet once a month 716 00:47:19,167 --> 00:47:22,900 and we bring something about East Prussia. 717 00:47:26,333 --> 00:47:30,100 That is our homeland, and we won't forget it. 718 00:47:32,367 --> 00:47:36,833 We think about the dark forests, the elks, the farmers ploughing 719 00:47:37,167 --> 00:47:39,467 and the flocks of birds that fly, 720 00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,600 or the many storks that there are in East Prussia. 721 00:47:47,633 --> 00:47:50,400 ** 722 00:47:50,733 --> 00:47:52,233 -Towards the end of the war, 723 00:47:52,567 --> 00:47:55,267 as the Russians approached her home town of Goldap, 724 00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,633 9-year-old Marianne Becker fled with her family to Danzig. 725 00:48:00,067 --> 00:48:02,967 There, she faced months of starvation. 726 00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:10,667 -Winter 1945, it was a very cold winter. 727 00:48:11,067 --> 00:48:14,500 I always collected water for the family and for us. 728 00:48:14,833 --> 00:48:16,233 One of my deepest memories 729 00:48:16,567 --> 00:48:21,833 is that we always had to clamber over corpses and a dead horse. 730 00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:29,600 We were all scared, we were all sacred. 731 00:48:29,933 --> 00:48:31,467 We didn't know what would happen to us. 732 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:35,733 We barely had anything to eat. 733 00:48:36,067 --> 00:48:39,567 And then my little brother got sick. 734 00:48:39,900 --> 00:48:42,267 He got diphtheria. 735 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:46,067 We didn't have a doctor, nothing at all. 736 00:48:49,633 --> 00:48:52,100 You could only give him a hot potato, 737 00:48:52,433 --> 00:48:55,500 and he died aged five. 738 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,433 He was buried in the front garden in a chequered blanket 739 00:49:04,767 --> 00:49:08,100 that my mother had saved from our house. 740 00:49:13,167 --> 00:49:15,167 -In the autumn of 1947, 741 00:49:15,500 --> 00:49:17,067 Marianne was finally expelled 742 00:49:17,333 --> 00:49:20,933 from what Poland now called its 'Recovered Territories'. 743 00:49:23,333 --> 00:49:27,500 -And then we travelled from Rastenburg in the cattle wagon, 744 00:49:27,833 --> 00:49:32,933 10 days, 43 people, very many dead people. 745 00:49:33,267 --> 00:49:39,267 ** 746 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:41,467 And it was a difficult time, 747 00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:46,900 We were deloused, vaccinated and all the rest. 748 00:49:47,233 --> 00:49:49,233 But we survived it. 749 00:49:55,300 --> 00:49:56,633 -This film is an official search 750 00:49:56,967 --> 00:49:59,867 for the parents of Germany's lost children. 751 00:50:01,767 --> 00:50:04,967 This 2-year-old doesn't know her own name. 752 00:50:14,967 --> 00:50:17,333 25,000 children lost their parents, 753 00:50:17,667 --> 00:50:20,367 along with their homeland. 754 00:50:20,700 --> 00:50:23,000 Joachim Dietz was found in a cardboard box 755 00:50:23,333 --> 00:50:27,167 in the Brunnenstrasse in Berlin. 756 00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:30,267 5-year-old Wolfgang Krehmer was found in a forest 757 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,033 with his 4-year-old brother. 758 00:50:32,367 --> 00:50:34,467 His wrists had been slit. 759 00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:43,733 ** 760 00:50:44,067 --> 00:50:47,000 When the Russians advanced into East Prussia, 761 00:50:47,333 --> 00:50:50,167 10-year-old Sieglinde Kenzler and her family fled westwards 762 00:50:50,500 --> 00:50:52,167 through the icy landscape. 763 00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:59,067 ** 764 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:00,833 -[ Speaking German ] 765 00:51:01,167 --> 00:51:05,500 -And in the snowy fields lay what looked to me like dolls, 766 00:51:05,833 --> 00:51:08,533 but in reality, they were children who'd died 767 00:51:08,867 --> 00:51:13,067 but couldn't be buried because it just wasn't possible. 768 00:51:13,367 --> 00:51:15,833 ** 769 00:51:16,167 --> 00:51:18,633 -Sieglinde and her siblings were then imprisoned 770 00:51:18,967 --> 00:51:20,867 by the Russians in a crowded cell 771 00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:22,767 without their mother. 772 00:51:23,100 --> 00:51:25,700 ** 773 00:51:26,067 --> 00:51:29,067 -[ Speaking German ] 774 00:51:29,333 --> 00:51:32,400 -Everyone stood, no one could sit, 775 00:51:32,733 --> 00:51:34,967 and we had a washing basket with us, 776 00:51:35,300 --> 00:51:36,767 not a very big one, 777 00:51:37,100 --> 00:51:40,167 and inside lay our one-year-old brother. 778 00:51:41,400 --> 00:51:46,200 ** 779 00:51:46,533 --> 00:51:48,200 We placed the basket down 780 00:51:48,533 --> 00:51:50,700 and the people there, older people, 781 00:51:51,067 --> 00:51:52,500 they sat on the basket. 782 00:51:52,833 --> 00:51:58,500 Naturally, we called out, but it was not a nice experience. 783 00:51:58,833 --> 00:52:03,233 Without our mum, we shouted out, 'Our baby is in there,' 784 00:52:03,567 --> 00:52:07,833 and I still don't know if he was squashed or starved, 785 00:52:08,167 --> 00:52:10,600 but in any case, he died. 786 00:52:12,767 --> 00:52:14,433 And then, I still remember -- 787 00:52:14,767 --> 00:52:15,867 We asked the question, 788 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,067 'Do we have to stay in the room and die?' 789 00:52:22,767 --> 00:52:25,533 -In fact, the next to die was Sieglinde's mother 790 00:52:25,867 --> 00:52:28,200 in a Russian internment camp. 791 00:52:28,533 --> 00:52:30,467 Her four children had to dig the grave 792 00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:33,200 and bury her body themselves. 793 00:52:33,533 --> 00:52:37,800 ** 794 00:52:38,133 --> 00:52:39,767 -[ Speaking German ] 795 00:52:40,100 --> 00:52:45,067 -We said we'll take everything we have, the sheets, her coats, 796 00:52:45,333 --> 00:52:47,400 we'll swaddle her all up and bury her 797 00:52:47,733 --> 00:52:50,633 in the cemetery at Wehlau. 798 00:52:55,400 --> 00:53:00,067 First, we went to the cemetery on our own and dug a hole. 799 00:53:00,333 --> 00:53:05,133 ** 800 00:53:05,467 --> 00:53:07,433 So then, we laid her out, 801 00:53:07,767 --> 00:53:10,400 and my brother Uli and my sister Irmgard, 802 00:53:10,733 --> 00:53:12,533 we had picked some flowers on the way, 803 00:53:12,867 --> 00:53:17,067 just daisies and buttercups, what we could find. 804 00:53:20,567 --> 00:53:22,067 And then my brother said, 805 00:53:22,367 --> 00:53:26,633 'You hold on there and we'll lower her down, okay?' 806 00:53:31,233 --> 00:53:32,933 That was it. 807 00:53:33,267 --> 00:53:40,400 ** 808 00:53:40,733 --> 00:53:44,433 And then we said, 'That's our mum.' 809 00:53:44,767 --> 00:53:56,433 ** 810 00:53:56,767 --> 00:53:59,200 That's how it was. 811 00:53:59,533 --> 00:54:02,733 ** 812 00:54:03,067 --> 00:54:05,867 -Faced with certain starvation in East Prussia, 813 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:10,333 Sieglinde and her siblings were among 5,000 lost German children 814 00:54:10,667 --> 00:54:13,767 who made their way to the forests of Lithuania. 815 00:54:15,300 --> 00:54:22,667 ** 816 00:54:23,067 --> 00:54:26,900 Here, they had to fend for themselves like wild animals. 817 00:54:27,233 --> 00:54:38,900 ** 818 00:54:39,233 --> 00:54:42,300 ** 819 00:54:42,633 --> 00:54:43,500 -[ Speaking German ] 820 00:54:43,833 --> 00:54:44,967 -We were called 'Wolfchildren', 821 00:54:45,300 --> 00:54:49,533 the children of East Prussia, Wolfchildren. 822 00:54:49,867 --> 00:54:52,933 We compared ourselves to a pack of wolves. 823 00:54:53,267 --> 00:54:55,633 We always stayed together. 824 00:54:55,967 --> 00:55:06,333 ** 825 00:55:06,667 --> 00:55:08,667 There were farmers who cursed us, 826 00:55:09,067 --> 00:55:13,733 threw water over us or set their dogs on us. 827 00:55:16,633 --> 00:55:21,667 'You Hitler swine' was another insult we received. 828 00:55:22,067 --> 00:55:25,433 We didn't know how to brush our teeth, wash properly. 829 00:55:25,767 --> 00:55:29,100 We had no change of clothes. 830 00:55:29,433 --> 00:55:32,200 We went barefoot. 831 00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:38,200 We said our prayers in the evening, 832 00:55:38,533 --> 00:55:42,867 and then we always heard the howling of wolves. 833 00:55:45,067 --> 00:55:48,200 [ Wolf howls ] 834 00:55:48,533 --> 00:55:50,200 Hopefully, we'll stay alive, 835 00:55:50,533 --> 00:55:53,167 and then we slept in the open air. 836 00:55:55,333 --> 00:55:58,800 -Eventually, Sieglinde lost contact with her siblings. 837 00:55:59,133 --> 00:56:03,067 Eight years later, some twelve years after the end of the war, 838 00:56:03,367 --> 00:56:08,433 she was finally reunited with them in East Germany. 839 00:56:08,767 --> 00:56:14,067 -Let's just say I had to end my childhood very early. 840 00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:17,067 -Today, expellees, like those in this film 841 00:56:17,400 --> 00:56:18,400 and their descendants 842 00:56:18,733 --> 00:56:21,067 form a quarter of the German population. 843 00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:24,333 Yet their story, which helped define postwar Germany, 844 00:56:24,667 --> 00:56:27,067 remains largely unknown outside the country. 845 00:56:27,367 --> 00:56:35,233 ** 846 00:56:35,567 --> 00:56:38,500 Peace always has a dark side, 847 00:56:38,833 --> 00:56:41,533 and what happened after liberation throws the spotlight 848 00:56:41,867 --> 00:56:45,700 on the moral compass of the victors. 849 00:56:46,067 --> 00:56:48,233 When ethnic Germans became objects of violence 850 00:56:48,567 --> 00:56:49,500 after the war, 851 00:56:49,833 --> 00:56:52,433 many saw, but few were interested. 852 00:56:52,767 --> 00:56:58,100 ** 853 00:56:58,433 --> 00:57:01,067 The largest ethnic cleansing in history, 854 00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:03,600 sanctioned by the victorious Allies, 855 00:57:03,933 --> 00:57:08,333 remains an atrocity hidden in plain sight. 856 00:57:08,667 --> 00:57:20,333 ** 857 00:57:20,667 --> 00:57:32,333 ** 858 00:57:32,667 --> 00:57:38,900 **