1 00:00:06,741 --> 00:00:10,509 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:10,611 --> 00:00:14,246 Narrator: They were, they thought, the third reich's racial elite. 3 00:00:16,884 --> 00:00:19,585 Men superior to others. 4 00:00:19,987 --> 00:00:24,089 Ready to do anything for the triumph of national socialism. 5 00:00:28,262 --> 00:00:31,030 Men hitler could count on to the death. 6 00:00:35,436 --> 00:00:39,838 To apply their racial theories, they were prepared to eliminate their adversaries, 7 00:00:41,776 --> 00:00:44,376 To decimate the jewish people, 8 00:00:45,746 --> 00:00:48,247 To massacre civilian populations. 9 00:00:55,656 --> 00:00:59,191 Over 70 years later, some of them are still living among us. 10 00:01:01,996 --> 00:01:04,696 Kurt: One people, one reich, one führer! 11 00:01:05,499 --> 00:01:07,699 That was our motto. 12 00:01:07,802 --> 00:01:09,768 Eberhard: I felt anti-semitic. 13 00:01:11,072 --> 00:01:13,739 Herbert: We wanted a pure state. 14 00:01:14,542 --> 00:01:17,009 No jews in the third reich! 15 00:01:20,247 --> 00:01:26,085 Narrator: This is the story of ss fanaticism, bloodlust and terror. 16 00:01:28,089 --> 00:01:34,460 (theme music plays) 17 00:01:37,264 --> 00:01:41,066 Told from the inside. 18 00:01:55,616 --> 00:01:57,216 Central germany. 19 00:01:57,318 --> 00:02:00,119 1933. 20 00:02:01,489 --> 00:02:04,656 Hitler has been in power for several months. 21 00:02:07,795 --> 00:02:12,965 Here is one of the first movies shot by the ss, the schutz-staffeln, 22 00:02:14,135 --> 00:02:16,802 Or protection squadrons. 23 00:02:17,771 --> 00:02:23,242 Recognizable by the skulls on their caps and the lightning flash initials on their flags. 24 00:02:28,616 --> 00:02:30,782 They were not afraid of death, 25 00:02:30,885 --> 00:02:34,419 They said: Neither inflicting it, nor suffering it. 26 00:02:35,122 --> 00:02:38,957 All volunteers to join what, according to their criteria, 27 00:02:39,059 --> 00:02:41,627 Was a grouping of superior nazis. 28 00:02:46,767 --> 00:02:50,936 Werner völkner is a former member of the ss death's head division. 29 00:02:53,908 --> 00:02:56,608 He was nine when hitler came to power. 30 00:02:58,712 --> 00:03:04,449 (singing in german) 31 00:03:05,019 --> 00:03:08,754 Narrator: He still knows by heart the nazi party's official song, 32 00:03:08,856 --> 00:03:11,323 The horst wessel lied. 33 00:03:14,929 --> 00:03:16,895 -Yes. 34 00:03:16,997 --> 00:03:21,099 Narrator: Born in berlin in 1924, this german lives in the south of England, 35 00:03:22,069 --> 00:03:24,570 Where he married and made a new life for himself. 36 00:03:25,506 --> 00:03:29,808 At the end of world war ii, he spent several years in allied prisoner-of-war camps 37 00:03:31,011 --> 00:03:33,312 Because he had been in the ss. 38 00:03:37,451 --> 00:03:39,785 -The wehrmacht went like this. 39 00:03:40,354 --> 00:03:42,921 No, this. 40 00:03:43,190 --> 00:03:45,424 And the ss went like this. 41 00:03:46,327 --> 00:03:49,561 -What fascinated me was the military aspect. 42 00:03:50,030 --> 00:03:51,563 Sharp! 43 00:03:51,665 --> 00:03:54,633 Standing to attention. 44 00:03:55,035 --> 00:03:57,769 When I said good morning, I clicked my heels. 45 00:03:57,871 --> 00:04:00,606 I nodded and said, "heil hitler!" 46 00:04:01,442 --> 00:04:03,041 It was really great. 47 00:04:04,445 --> 00:04:08,880 -The outlook on life was: Well, get the job done and finished with. 48 00:04:13,687 --> 00:04:17,456 Narrator: This documentary takes us to find ss members who are still alive, 49 00:04:18,425 --> 00:04:22,261 To try to understand the incomprehensible. 50 00:04:25,299 --> 00:04:30,235 After several months of research, we discovered over twenty ss veterans living in 51 00:04:30,337 --> 00:04:32,271 Different countries across europe. 52 00:04:34,208 --> 00:04:37,142 Words that often shock. 53 00:04:37,411 --> 00:04:40,245 Some have broken with nazism, others not. 54 00:04:42,182 --> 00:04:44,516 This man is one of them. 55 00:04:44,618 --> 00:04:47,686 Kurt barkhausen, aged 92. 56 00:04:49,723 --> 00:04:52,124 He lives in central germany. 57 00:04:52,226 --> 00:04:57,729 He too was in the death's head division, whose members often worked in concentration camps. 58 00:05:02,569 --> 00:05:04,936 -What counted for us? 59 00:05:05,039 --> 00:05:08,040 First of all, the purity of the person. 60 00:05:08,475 --> 00:05:10,142 Who are you? 61 00:05:10,244 --> 00:05:12,878 What do you want from life? 62 00:05:13,881 --> 00:05:17,683 Secondly: You have a healthy family. 63 00:05:19,053 --> 00:05:21,153 You are married. 64 00:05:22,890 --> 00:05:27,059 Having children is a gift of god, a guarantee of happiness. 65 00:05:30,497 --> 00:05:33,265 After that, there is the people. 66 00:05:35,336 --> 00:05:39,004 How did our ancestors live? 67 00:05:39,106 --> 00:05:41,540 What did they believe in? 68 00:05:42,710 --> 00:05:46,378 What has made real germans of us? 69 00:05:48,082 --> 00:05:50,649 These were our fundamental values. 70 00:05:57,791 --> 00:06:03,595 Narrator: A vanished world, so little like our own, but at the same time so near: 71 00:06:06,767 --> 00:06:11,103 Only 80 years separate us from these young men who embraced fanaticism. 72 00:06:15,008 --> 00:06:21,179 To justify themselves, all point to 1918, when germany lost the first world war. 73 00:06:23,650 --> 00:06:27,386 The versailles peace treaty took several border regions away from germany. 74 00:06:33,293 --> 00:06:37,362 -The versailles treaty was a humiliation for germany. 75 00:06:37,598 --> 00:06:40,465 A supreme humiliation. 76 00:06:42,703 --> 00:06:47,272 Narrator: On top of the perceived humiliation came the nightmare of 1920's germany: 77 00:06:48,909 --> 00:06:51,843 Unemployment, poverty. 78 00:06:52,246 --> 00:06:55,914 In the years to come, when they looked to justify their crimes, 79 00:06:56,016 --> 00:07:00,085 The ss would often point to the tribulations of the 1920s. 80 00:07:03,657 --> 00:07:06,391 Nazism, they said, gave them back their dignity. 81 00:07:10,230 --> 00:07:13,765 They began to form ranks behind an austrian world war I corporal, 82 00:07:14,501 --> 00:07:16,268 Adolf hitler. 83 00:07:16,370 --> 00:07:19,805 A radical nationalist who promised them he would wipe out the shame. 84 00:07:22,443 --> 00:07:24,743 -We were on our knees. 85 00:07:24,845 --> 00:07:28,880 We had been poor and miserable, and then suddenly we were somebody again. 86 00:07:33,654 --> 00:07:37,322 Narrator: Where this commitment would lead them, the ss didn't know. 87 00:07:39,927 --> 00:07:42,794 -We were delighted with this change. 88 00:07:45,666 --> 00:07:50,101 Narrator: What they did know was that their first targets would be the communists. 89 00:07:50,671 --> 00:07:53,805 Those "anti-germans" as they called them. 90 00:07:53,907 --> 00:07:57,843 They'd been fighting them in the streets since the end of the war. 91 00:07:58,445 --> 00:08:02,614 They accused them of betraying the nation and overthrowing the emperor with their 92 00:08:02,716 --> 00:08:08,086 1918 revolution, while the german army carried on the fight against the allies. 93 00:08:11,158 --> 00:08:15,627 -Why did we have to fight them? 94 00:08:16,029 --> 00:08:21,700 Because they wanted to build a workers' state, with workers from every country, 95 00:08:23,837 --> 00:08:26,137 Including america. 96 00:08:31,745 --> 00:08:36,381 Ekkehard: I remember in hamburg, when I was a child, seeing big demonstrations 97 00:08:36,483 --> 00:08:39,017 In the street. 98 00:08:41,088 --> 00:08:45,156 My father said, "if they get into power, we're screwed." 99 00:08:45,526 --> 00:08:48,193 He was talking about the communist party. 100 00:08:55,702 --> 00:09:02,641 -National socialism was more social than communism, and in political terms, 101 00:09:04,244 --> 00:09:07,479 Was devoted purely to germany. 102 00:09:07,848 --> 00:09:13,151 Whereas communism was aimed at the world and was largely run by jews. 103 00:09:19,593 --> 00:09:22,827 Narrator: The abhorrent view that the jews were the real enemy, 104 00:09:22,930 --> 00:09:26,565 "worse than the communists" they said, was taking hold. 105 00:09:28,702 --> 00:09:32,437 For hitler, the jews had profited from the german people's misery. 106 00:09:34,174 --> 00:09:37,342 "they're hiding everywhere," said his manifesto. 107 00:09:37,444 --> 00:09:41,580 "behind the communists who seized power in russia in 1917. 108 00:09:42,316 --> 00:09:46,585 Behind the capitalists in new york who pull the strings of the world economy." 109 00:09:49,856 --> 00:09:52,424 For propaganda minister joseph goebbels, 110 00:09:52,526 --> 00:09:55,727 The hour of the great confrontation was near. 111 00:10:18,185 --> 00:10:23,254 (cheering and applause) 112 00:10:25,425 --> 00:10:30,261 Narrator: It was a visceral, revengeful hatred, bottled up for too long, 113 00:10:32,366 --> 00:10:35,667 Born out of 19th century racist theories. 114 00:10:37,671 --> 00:10:40,772 A sinister indication of what was to come. 115 00:10:43,777 --> 00:10:45,877 Look at the ss men here in the hall. 116 00:10:47,981 --> 00:10:52,617 It was they who, within less than ten years, would take the leading role 117 00:10:52,719 --> 00:10:56,655 In assassinating jews in their millions. 118 00:11:07,701 --> 00:11:12,103 Narrator: Since their creation in 1925, the ss had been hitler's bodyguards. 119 00:11:15,042 --> 00:11:19,377 They stood out in their dashing black uniforms and could be seen everywhere 120 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,313 Alongside the party leaders. 121 00:11:24,518 --> 00:11:27,986 They wanted to be noticed, to distinguish themselves. 122 00:11:31,625 --> 00:11:34,626 Werner: I knew it was an elite formation. 123 00:11:35,862 --> 00:11:40,398 In other words, they wouldn't take any tom, dick and harry. 124 00:11:41,068 --> 00:11:44,669 -I wanted to be part of an elite division. 125 00:11:50,310 --> 00:11:56,314 Narrator: They were the new regime's shop window: New recruits had to be tall, 126 00:11:57,951 --> 00:12:03,488 At least five-foot six, and young: Under 23. 127 00:12:08,295 --> 00:12:11,329 No jewish ancestry. 128 00:12:11,431 --> 00:12:16,267 They had to provide genealogical details dating back to the 18th century. 129 00:12:19,072 --> 00:12:23,975 Strength, prestige, virility. 130 00:12:26,780 --> 00:12:32,350 In the third reich, if you want a successful career, if you want a successful life, 131 00:12:33,787 --> 00:12:36,621 You join the ss. 132 00:12:42,395 --> 00:12:47,165 -Women were very interested by the idea of getting to know ss men and 133 00:12:47,267 --> 00:12:49,467 Making friends with them. 134 00:12:50,003 --> 00:12:53,271 They were obviously ideal fellows. 135 00:12:53,540 --> 00:12:56,441 The ss were very much in demand. 136 00:12:58,145 --> 00:13:02,013 Marrying a member of the ss was an honor, of course! 137 00:13:07,587 --> 00:13:10,388 Narrator: They were also known as the black order. 138 00:13:10,924 --> 00:13:14,559 A name that linked them to the knights of the middle ages when germanic 139 00:13:14,661 --> 00:13:18,129 Soldier-monks colonized eastern europe. 140 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:25,270 They were filled with grandiose ideas: That they were the new lords of germany, 141 00:13:26,339 --> 00:13:31,576 Entrusted with replacing the old aristocratic elite that had always run the country. 142 00:13:38,852 --> 00:13:42,754 Ekkehard guhr is a protestant minister. 143 00:13:43,023 --> 00:13:47,826 His ss unit, the das reich division, committed numerous atrocities during the war. 144 00:13:50,697 --> 00:13:55,066 At the age of 17, he says, he joined the ss to defy his parents, 145 00:13:56,603 --> 00:14:00,939 Who refused to allow a relationship with a young catholic girl. 146 00:14:04,845 --> 00:14:09,981 -There were images in germany where you would see a young man sign up for the war for 147 00:14:10,450 --> 00:14:14,786 Freedom, and he would kneel before his beloved, who would bless him. 148 00:14:18,191 --> 00:14:23,528 All of those emotions that I don't think we can understand or express today, 149 00:14:25,665 --> 00:14:28,399 They existed back then. 150 00:14:29,669 --> 00:14:34,906 -Our motto, written on our belt buckles, was: "my honor is my loyalty". 151 00:14:37,611 --> 00:14:41,779 It meant: No cowardice when facing the enemy. 152 00:14:44,417 --> 00:14:48,519 -The ideology that himmler had drilled into us was: You are nothing, 153 00:14:49,222 --> 00:14:51,289 Your people is everything. 154 00:14:57,230 --> 00:14:59,931 -You belong to the nation. 155 00:15:00,100 --> 00:15:03,234 The nation is you. 156 00:15:03,770 --> 00:15:06,070 You are part of the nation. 157 00:15:09,342 --> 00:15:15,013 -I wanted to prove that I was ready to risk my life for that ideology. 158 00:15:25,725 --> 00:15:32,497 Narrator: A clan, the intrepid new man, able to remove pity from their hearts. 159 00:15:36,336 --> 00:15:40,505 The racial spearhead of the german people, as they saw themselves. 160 00:15:45,011 --> 00:15:49,147 This is heinrich himmler, their chief. 161 00:15:49,549 --> 00:15:53,384 One of the greatest criminals of all time. 162 00:15:54,955 --> 00:16:01,526 He was from munich's cultivated middle classes, anti-semitic, anti-communist, 163 00:16:02,629 --> 00:16:06,364 Anti-christian; one of the first nazis. 164 00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:09,267 And one of the most ambitious. 165 00:16:17,877 --> 00:16:22,947 Narrator: In 1934, himmler incited hitler to eliminate his former brothers-in-arms: 166 00:16:24,651 --> 00:16:28,753 The leaders of the sa, the nazi party militia. 167 00:16:29,456 --> 00:16:34,525 They would call this fratricidal massacre the night of the long knives. 168 00:16:35,929 --> 00:16:40,865 Carried out by his ss, this bloodbath consolidated his position at the heart 169 00:16:40,967 --> 00:16:43,501 Of the regime. 170 00:16:44,104 --> 00:16:47,238 At the head of several hundred thousand ss members, 171 00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:50,008 He managed in the space of a few years, 172 00:16:50,110 --> 00:16:52,877 To extend his control to all german police. 173 00:16:54,881 --> 00:16:58,616 From his young men in black he demanded total submission. 174 00:17:01,654 --> 00:17:04,889 -When you are a soldier, you have to carry out orders. 175 00:17:05,125 --> 00:17:07,525 You're not there to think. 176 00:17:07,627 --> 00:17:09,427 That's how it was. 177 00:17:10,663 --> 00:17:13,097 Today it's different. 178 00:17:14,567 --> 00:17:19,504 At the time, we said: Leave the thinking to the horses, they have bigger heads. 179 00:17:23,176 --> 00:17:26,677 -We weren't telling jokes and having a laugh. 180 00:17:29,015 --> 00:17:31,716 Attention! Quick March! 181 00:17:31,818 --> 00:17:34,385 Left! Right! 182 00:17:34,821 --> 00:17:37,922 -An order was an order. 183 00:17:38,024 --> 00:17:41,726 If somebody gave me an order to do then I'd do it. 184 00:17:44,130 --> 00:17:47,365 Narrator: "blood and soil," himmler's new creed. 185 00:17:50,036 --> 00:17:55,139 In exchange for their obedience, the ss reichsführer offered his men a new 186 00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:59,577 Imaginary world of german mythology and racial superiority. 187 00:18:02,348 --> 00:18:07,518 Pursuing the slightest trace of exploitable german history, he created a religion that 188 00:18:07,620 --> 00:18:10,588 Could replace christianity: 189 00:18:10,924 --> 00:18:15,426 A religion based on race, with its particular beliefs and rituals. 190 00:18:22,435 --> 00:18:26,304 Here, a child's baptism, with no priest. 191 00:18:28,007 --> 00:18:32,510 The minister is an ss officer and the crucifix has been replaced by a 192 00:18:32,612 --> 00:18:34,912 Portrait of hitler. 193 00:18:37,350 --> 00:18:41,085 -The atmosphere and the ceremonial mythology I found fascinating. 194 00:18:42,589 --> 00:18:44,355 I've never forgotten it. 195 00:18:52,465 --> 00:18:55,600 Narrator: The ss were promised healthy, smiling wives. 196 00:18:57,737 --> 00:19:02,106 Before their weddings, the women were sent on courses to nazi party schools. 197 00:19:18,391 --> 00:19:22,093 Narrator: The wedding plans had to be approved by the ss racial service. 198 00:19:23,663 --> 00:19:27,598 In devoting themselves to their husbands and to the procreation of 199 00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:29,834 Future ss members, 200 00:19:30,136 --> 00:19:33,070 These women would be joining an order of knights and becoming 201 00:19:33,173 --> 00:19:36,140 Nazi combatants themselves. 202 00:19:39,612 --> 00:19:44,582 To rise in the ranks of the ss, a member had to be married by the age of 26, 203 00:19:46,019 --> 00:19:52,790 Have his first child by 28, then another every two years, with at least four in all. 204 00:19:59,399 --> 00:20:04,835 Unprecedented in any previous political organization, himmler controlled the private 205 00:20:04,938 --> 00:20:08,272 Lives of its members. 206 00:20:09,175 --> 00:20:12,843 "do not be afraid of death", he told them. 207 00:20:12,946 --> 00:20:19,116 "the individual dies, but through his children, his people will grow beyond life." 208 00:20:25,191 --> 00:20:28,693 Most of the ss we've met were still children in the mid-30s. 209 00:20:31,164 --> 00:20:35,666 Raised in a totalitarian state, they were subjected to hitler's propaganda, 210 00:20:38,438 --> 00:20:41,706 Some of the most extensive brainwashing of the twentieth century. 211 00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:53,084 This man, egon kuhn, a left-wing activist and trade unionist in hanover, 212 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,221 Is a former ss man from the wiking division. 213 00:20:58,091 --> 00:21:02,994 His radicalization, now totally repudiated, began at infant school. 214 00:21:08,334 --> 00:21:11,068 -The nazis made sweets for children with swastikas on them. 215 00:21:12,505 --> 00:21:14,839 I was proud to eat those sweets. 216 00:21:17,577 --> 00:21:23,547 But I was even prouder when I was 5 years old, in school, and we'd go on walks 217 00:21:24,917 --> 00:21:29,453 Or on visits and I could wear my swastika armband. 218 00:21:34,060 --> 00:21:38,562 -This was all drilled into us quite deliberately. 219 00:21:40,900 --> 00:21:45,703 To the point that in 1934, when I was 10, that state of mind, 220 00:21:47,807 --> 00:21:51,342 With the uniforms and the hitler salute, was quite natural. 221 00:21:57,450 --> 00:22:01,852 In fact, I didn't know anyone who was opposed to it. 222 00:22:10,630 --> 00:22:14,765 Narrator: Children were being conditioned with insidious fascist ideology and 223 00:22:14,867 --> 00:22:18,469 Hideously anti-semitic racism on a daily basis. 224 00:22:19,706 --> 00:22:23,874 For hitler, they were to be regarded as future soldiers of the reich, 225 00:22:24,711 --> 00:22:27,878 With the best of them destined to join the ss. 226 00:22:30,183 --> 00:22:32,049 -My parents were devastated. 227 00:22:32,151 --> 00:22:35,319 I deeply hated jews. 228 00:22:37,190 --> 00:22:40,658 I would never have sat next to a jew at school! 229 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,427 Never. 230 00:22:43,863 --> 00:22:46,731 They were quite simply not of our race. 231 00:22:46,833 --> 00:22:49,266 Jews were an abomination. 232 00:22:51,104 --> 00:22:56,240 Crooks, traitors, lazy, 233 00:22:58,144 --> 00:23:01,245 Obsessed with money, cut-throats. 234 00:23:02,982 --> 00:23:06,751 -Well they were alien to the german people! 235 00:23:12,625 --> 00:23:16,660 Narrator: In the youth organizations, budding ss members were given military 236 00:23:16,763 --> 00:23:19,363 Training from an early age. 237 00:23:20,733 --> 00:23:24,635 Like in sparta in ancient greece, the state educated the children. 238 00:23:30,176 --> 00:23:31,942 -We used to like singing songs. 239 00:23:33,212 --> 00:23:36,614 The waves will close in on them, the world is at peace. 240 00:23:37,417 --> 00:23:40,384 It means the extermination of the jews. 241 00:23:40,953 --> 00:23:43,587 They would be drowned, wiped out. 242 00:23:45,825 --> 00:23:49,427 Narrator: At the time, the extermination of the jews was not on the agenda. 243 00:23:51,898 --> 00:23:54,098 But the barriers were falling. 244 00:23:54,467 --> 00:23:58,235 Like here, at a carnival in nuremberg, where an effigy of a jew 245 00:23:58,337 --> 00:24:00,971 Was hanged from a float. 246 00:24:05,244 --> 00:24:08,145 Or in this vile racist propaganda film. 247 00:24:46,219 --> 00:24:50,154 Narrator: This twisted view of germany as a victim of its jewish communities ran 248 00:24:50,256 --> 00:24:52,189 So deep that it 249 00:24:52,291 --> 00:24:55,926 Continues to warp the minds of some former ss men. 250 00:24:57,630 --> 00:25:01,699 Even today their abhorrently racist views have not been diminished by time. 251 00:25:07,006 --> 00:25:12,576 -I don't know if you would like it, when you have a very precise type of blood, 252 00:25:14,747 --> 00:25:19,650 To accept a race that is fundamentally different in its way of being, 253 00:25:21,687 --> 00:25:24,889 Its religion and its very conception of life. 254 00:25:28,728 --> 00:25:32,696 And that they would be as prevalent in society as true-blood germans 255 00:25:33,866 --> 00:25:36,066 Who were born here. 256 00:25:38,571 --> 00:25:42,573 Narrator: This austrian ss member, never committed any crimes himself, he says. 257 00:25:44,176 --> 00:25:49,313 But on his shelves, like a shrine to nazi bloodlust are his old dagger and a cruel 258 00:25:50,550 --> 00:25:53,951 Caricature of an east european jew. 259 00:25:56,622 --> 00:25:59,557 "they're still our enemies", he says, off camera. 260 00:26:01,894 --> 00:26:05,329 To avoid being sued, he uses a metaphor. 261 00:26:08,701 --> 00:26:12,770 -When you have good apples, and you mix them with pears, 262 00:26:15,374 --> 00:26:20,344 Then you end up with neither apples nor pears, that's all! 263 00:26:24,483 --> 00:26:29,386 Narrator: It was at the age of 14 that herbert von mildenburg saw hitler for the first time. 264 00:26:34,927 --> 00:26:39,730 -There was something in his eyes when he looked at us, something fascinating. 265 00:26:44,837 --> 00:26:45,970 We sang, 266 00:26:47,940 --> 00:26:52,676 ♪ we're not going home, we're not going home, before the führer speaks. ♪ 267 00:26:59,018 --> 00:27:01,885 We were in heaven, 268 00:27:02,254 --> 00:27:06,156 Like idiot football fans in a stadium today. 269 00:27:11,163 --> 00:27:16,066 Narrator: Hitler, the man who would resurrect germany. 270 00:27:24,010 --> 00:27:26,644 -It was intoxicating! 271 00:27:32,785 --> 00:27:37,388 Eberhard: The fact was that six million unemployed found work within the 272 00:27:37,990 --> 00:27:40,424 Space of five years. 273 00:27:44,497 --> 00:27:50,334 Narrator: By increasing aid for workers, providing leisure activities previously reserved 274 00:27:50,436 --> 00:27:56,774 For the elite, and by funding massive rearmament and major building projects through the 275 00:27:57,309 --> 00:28:03,213 Confiscation of jewish assets and massive debt, hitler bought the approval 276 00:28:03,315 --> 00:28:05,816 Of the german people. 277 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,422 For the ss we met, it was a miracle. 278 00:28:15,227 --> 00:28:19,797 -It was proof that hitler had accomplished what he'd promised. 279 00:28:25,171 --> 00:28:27,037 The man had guts. 280 00:28:27,139 --> 00:28:29,073 He wasn't a coward. 281 00:28:29,175 --> 00:28:32,242 -Would you say that hitler was the man of your life? 282 00:28:32,611 --> 00:28:35,179 -Yes, 100%. 283 00:28:36,682 --> 00:28:38,415 100%. 284 00:28:45,291 --> 00:28:51,962 Narrator: Ss fanaticism, born out of humiliation, 285 00:28:52,064 --> 00:28:54,565 Fascination with a savior and 286 00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:58,335 An unshakable feeling of superiority. 287 00:29:01,373 --> 00:29:06,710 In just a few years, this infernal spiral led germany, the land of goethe, 288 00:29:07,446 --> 00:29:11,448 Kant and beethoven, over the brink. 289 00:29:14,787 --> 00:29:18,288 An entire people faced oblivion. 290 00:29:23,162 --> 00:29:26,897 -There was a form of ideological blindness. 291 00:29:27,933 --> 00:29:32,903 I think the deeply destructive nature of national socialism was masked at the 292 00:29:33,005 --> 00:29:35,205 Time by the success it had. 293 00:29:44,917 --> 00:29:48,118 Narrator: Repression began in 1933. 294 00:29:49,588 --> 00:29:53,724 Political opponents were isolated from the rest of society as 295 00:29:53,826 --> 00:29:56,293 A preventive measure. 296 00:29:56,395 --> 00:29:59,096 Without trial. 297 00:29:59,331 --> 00:30:03,033 The task was entrusted to the sa, then the ss. 298 00:30:06,939 --> 00:30:11,675 The pretext was the burning of the reichstag, the german parliament. 299 00:30:13,913 --> 00:30:18,348 Hitler presented it as the beginning of a new communist revolution. 300 00:30:19,051 --> 00:30:22,085 The communists want to bring down the state, they were told. 301 00:30:25,791 --> 00:30:29,193 -They were considered a danger to the community. 302 00:30:31,163 --> 00:30:35,165 Well, they were taken out of the community and the community could 303 00:30:35,935 --> 00:30:39,570 Get on with their lives. 304 00:30:39,672 --> 00:30:43,740 -I myself noticed that the people who had previously expressed 305 00:30:43,843 --> 00:30:47,444 Opposition at party meetings had now disappeared. 306 00:30:51,217 --> 00:30:56,486 Either the communists joined our movement, or they continued to oppose us and 307 00:30:57,156 --> 00:31:02,960 Were sent to special camps, which were later called concentration camps. 308 00:31:06,899 --> 00:31:11,168 To the extent that there was almost no opposition in germany. 309 00:31:11,270 --> 00:31:13,837 It just wasn't possible any more. 310 00:31:17,443 --> 00:31:20,844 Narrator: Herta bothe, from a modest family in northern germany, 311 00:31:21,914 --> 00:31:25,182 Is a former member of the ss. 312 00:31:25,451 --> 00:31:29,953 At the age of 21, she interrupted her nursing training to look for work. 313 00:31:30,689 --> 00:31:34,858 She was offered a job as a women's prison guard. 314 00:31:37,763 --> 00:31:40,030 Herta: I had an appointment at the employment agency. 315 00:31:40,766 --> 00:31:43,767 With a mr. Bruschafer. 316 00:31:44,003 --> 00:31:48,438 He said: "miss bothe, you're going to be a guard at a concentration camp." 317 00:31:49,775 --> 00:31:53,010 I said, "what's a concentration camp?" 318 00:31:53,712 --> 00:31:58,115 "it's a camp, and you'll be guarding women." "oh, I can't do that." 319 00:31:58,217 --> 00:32:01,118 "if you refuse, you'll be sent to the camp yourself." 320 00:32:01,220 --> 00:32:03,921 My god! What could I do? 321 00:32:05,357 --> 00:32:07,958 So I went. 322 00:32:08,827 --> 00:32:12,796 Narrator: They were not yet death camps, only internment camps. 323 00:32:15,267 --> 00:32:18,802 But the ss inflicted on the prisoners a regime of terror. 324 00:32:22,207 --> 00:32:25,542 -They had to stay outdoors, in both summer and winter. 325 00:32:28,047 --> 00:32:31,348 Interviewer: Among the ones standing in the cold, did some fall down? 326 00:32:33,786 --> 00:32:36,386 Herta: Yes, some fell down, 327 00:32:38,290 --> 00:32:42,926 From blows, or had to stay on their knees, I don't know. 328 00:32:45,798 --> 00:32:49,666 -What did you do when you saw such brutality? 329 00:32:53,806 --> 00:32:58,008 -I turned away. I didn't look. I couldn't watch that. 330 00:33:00,913 --> 00:33:05,048 Narrator: Herta bothe, who would be sentenced to ten years in prison after the war, 331 00:33:05,150 --> 00:33:07,985 Has little to say about the brutality. 332 00:33:10,456 --> 00:33:14,391 This photo re-construction made by prisoners after the liberation shows one of the 333 00:33:14,493 --> 00:33:17,194 Most common forms of torture at the time. 334 00:33:18,197 --> 00:33:21,531 With his hands tied behind his back, attached to a rope, 335 00:33:21,633 --> 00:33:24,134 A prisoner has to stand on a stool. 336 00:33:24,236 --> 00:33:28,538 When he falls from exhaustion, he is suspended by his arms and his 337 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,942 Shoulders are dislocated. 338 00:33:36,148 --> 00:33:38,882 But who cared about torture? 339 00:33:39,918 --> 00:33:44,821 Public opinion saw the ss as bringing deviants back to the straight and narrow. 340 00:33:49,928 --> 00:33:53,964 These prisoners in striped uniforms were filmed close to the dachau camp. 341 00:33:57,870 --> 00:34:03,306 The filmmaker, a baker who supplied the camp staff, owned various objects made 342 00:34:03,375 --> 00:34:06,610 By the prisoners, such as these candlesticks, 343 00:34:08,313 --> 00:34:12,282 This rocking horse and these beds. 344 00:34:16,922 --> 00:34:21,425 He filmed his friends, including ss camp officers. 345 00:34:23,495 --> 00:34:26,696 This is the swimming pool where guards could relax after work. 346 00:34:32,171 --> 00:34:35,539 Who could imagine that the prisoners behind the watchtower you can see in the 347 00:34:35,641 --> 00:34:39,242 Distance were going through hell? 348 00:34:40,145 --> 00:34:46,116 On the eve of world war ii, the ss camps had silenced all opposition. 349 00:34:47,686 --> 00:34:51,288 It seemed the camps were opposed by no one. 350 00:34:52,024 --> 00:34:58,428 -If I'm told to guard prisoners and I'm told to 351 00:34:59,598 --> 00:35:03,233 Go up on a tower there is a machine gun, 352 00:35:04,136 --> 00:35:07,204 And somebody tries to escape, you shoot them. 353 00:35:07,306 --> 00:35:08,972 Of course, I would! 354 00:35:14,113 --> 00:35:16,813 Narrator: November 9th 1938. 355 00:35:17,716 --> 00:35:20,450 The feldherrnhalle in munich. 356 00:35:23,455 --> 00:35:28,024 Less than a year before the start of world war ii and the beginning of the carnage. 357 00:35:32,698 --> 00:35:37,000 These thousands of ss men are about to live one of the most important events 358 00:35:37,102 --> 00:35:38,768 Of their lives. 359 00:35:53,318 --> 00:35:54,918 Narrator: Among them: 360 00:35:55,020 --> 00:35:59,089 Eberhard heder, a future captain in the wiking division. 361 00:36:02,661 --> 00:36:04,961 Eberhard: The square was packed. 362 00:36:05,063 --> 00:36:08,765 Stands were filled with spectators on the right and left. 363 00:36:12,304 --> 00:36:15,906 The oath ceremony began at midnight. 364 00:36:17,109 --> 00:36:20,177 I saw hitler arrive, very solemn. 365 00:36:22,814 --> 00:36:25,815 And then, "men of the ss, recite your oath!" 366 00:36:46,104 --> 00:36:49,239 -We pronounced the words with our hearts. 367 00:37:03,322 --> 00:37:07,624 -The phrase "to the death" was a shock, of course. 368 00:37:08,794 --> 00:37:11,561 Loyalty to that degree? 369 00:37:11,663 --> 00:37:14,064 That's going too far. 370 00:37:20,138 --> 00:37:23,006 Narrator: But it was too late. 371 00:37:23,108 --> 00:37:27,444 The first large-scale massacre of jews took place that very night. 372 00:37:28,213 --> 00:37:31,047 It would be known as kristallnacht. 373 00:37:31,883 --> 00:37:36,253 Throughout the country, nazi activists murdered almost 100 jews, 374 00:37:37,322 --> 00:37:41,124 Smashed shop windows and set synagogues on fire. 375 00:37:50,736 --> 00:37:55,438 These home movies show firemen arriving at a fire and ss men at the bottom of the frame 376 00:37:56,375 --> 00:37:59,042 Smiling and preventing them from putting it out. 377 00:38:02,581 --> 00:38:07,017 Himmler had given the order to let the synagogues burn, without setting fire to 378 00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:09,919 "german buildings" as he called them. 379 00:38:15,761 --> 00:38:19,963 -I saw how the windows had been smashed, the shop windows. 380 00:38:22,567 --> 00:38:27,837 I saw jews being taken away and I saw jews badly treated. 381 00:38:34,112 --> 00:38:37,681 At that time, I didn't understand why. 382 00:38:42,321 --> 00:38:48,491 -I felt anti-semitic, yes, but not in the sense that people give the word today, 383 00:38:51,129 --> 00:38:54,831 Which implies the extermination of the jews. 384 00:39:00,505 --> 00:39:04,341 Narrator: They would soon find out what their vow entailed. 385 00:39:09,481 --> 00:39:13,683 In September 1939, hitler attacked poland, 386 00:39:13,985 --> 00:39:16,519 Starting the second world war. 387 00:39:20,792 --> 00:39:24,794 On the eve of the offensive, the ss played a crucial role. 388 00:39:27,966 --> 00:39:32,602 To justify the invasion, the führer ordered them to fake a polish provocation. 389 00:39:34,573 --> 00:39:39,275 The ss simulated a polish attack, a bloody one, on the german border. 390 00:39:43,281 --> 00:39:47,717 Dirty work the ss had done since the start and would do to the end. 391 00:39:54,359 --> 00:39:59,329 The ss also took part in fighting alongside the regular army, the wehrmacht. 392 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:06,035 If the ss sacrificed itself on the frontline, paying with its blood, 393 00:40:06,138 --> 00:40:09,739 Explained their leaders, it would have the moral right to lead the 394 00:40:09,841 --> 00:40:12,208 Repression in germany. 395 00:40:16,615 --> 00:40:21,484 To these men destined to fight on the front line, himmler gave a name: 396 00:40:22,721 --> 00:40:27,056 The waffen ss, the armed ss. 397 00:40:29,661 --> 00:40:33,930 800,000 men joined the waffen ss during the war. 398 00:40:36,735 --> 00:40:41,371 They saw themselves as political soldiers and in the eyes of the regime, 399 00:40:41,473 --> 00:40:43,907 They were dependable. 400 00:40:44,543 --> 00:40:48,812 Hitler could count on them in the event of trouble at home or abroad. 401 00:40:54,953 --> 00:40:59,189 (speaking in german) 402 00:40:59,291 --> 00:41:02,959 Ekkehard: At the time, there was a recruitment advert for armored divisions. 403 00:41:03,895 --> 00:41:06,596 The waffen ss were armored troops. 404 00:41:06,698 --> 00:41:09,966 And for me the term "armored troops" was fascinating. 405 00:41:12,170 --> 00:41:16,573 Narrator: Here is one of those waffen-ss, manfred diener, aged sixteen. 406 00:41:18,410 --> 00:41:21,744 For this baker's son from thuringia, it was an opportunity 407 00:41:21,847 --> 00:41:23,780 For social advancement. 408 00:41:26,518 --> 00:41:29,352 -With us there was no "sir". 409 00:41:30,055 --> 00:41:31,588 "lieutenant, sir!" 410 00:41:31,690 --> 00:41:33,857 Or " yes captain, sir!" 411 00:41:34,559 --> 00:41:38,428 -The relations between soldiers and officers were completely different. 412 00:41:38,530 --> 00:41:42,866 An ss officer couldn't order a soldier to dig a hole; he had to do it himself. 413 00:41:45,337 --> 00:41:50,540 And there was also the fact that, at school, the ones who volunteered during their 414 00:41:50,642 --> 00:41:55,144 Penultimate school year graduated without having to sit their exams. 415 00:41:57,782 --> 00:42:03,286 -In other wehrmacht units, you needed your exams to be an officer. 416 00:42:05,357 --> 00:42:08,258 The waffen ss made an exception. 417 00:42:08,693 --> 00:42:12,929 Even if, like me, you only had a basic school certificate, you could become an officer. 418 00:42:21,940 --> 00:42:25,642 Narrator: It was an ideal world, a fantasy. 419 00:42:28,146 --> 00:42:30,813 A model for the german people to follow. 420 00:42:34,185 --> 00:42:37,487 In reality, these young men were no longer their own masters. 421 00:42:40,025 --> 00:42:44,160 With the tattoo of their blood group indelibly marked under the left arm, 422 00:42:44,663 --> 00:42:47,997 They had become someone else. 423 00:42:48,466 --> 00:42:51,968 Once inside the black order, there was no way back. 424 00:43:01,846 --> 00:43:07,750 ♪ ♪ 425 00:43:08,286 --> 00:43:14,090 Here they are again, the young waffen-ss men we saw on a drill at their barracks are 426 00:43:14,192 --> 00:43:17,360 Now at the vanguard of the invasion of France. 427 00:43:19,764 --> 00:43:22,799 As in poland, ss soldiers committed war crimes. 428 00:43:31,743 --> 00:43:37,113 A few months later, they would take part in the invasion of yugoslavia, then greece, 429 00:43:39,117 --> 00:43:43,319 And above all, in June 1941, the ussr. 430 00:43:47,759 --> 00:43:52,562 It was there, against stalin's troops, that himmler's ss would find their special role. 431 00:43:55,300 --> 00:44:00,970 The ss chief had given them the order to liquidate jews, communists and anyone 432 00:44:01,072 --> 00:44:03,840 Suspected of opposing the reich. 433 00:44:11,016 --> 00:44:16,919 For the men in black, the ultimate horror of genocide would be their legacy. 434 00:44:21,092 --> 00:44:22,759 Captioned by cotter captioning services.