1 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:05,440 It's early 1942, 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:07,160 and Nazi Germany is now up 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,120 against the industrial might of Soviet Russia and the United States. 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,160 [Roger] This is a nightmare scenario for Germany's military and political planners. 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:19,080 They're faced with a two-front war 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,920 against enemies on both sides who can out-produce them in every sphere. 7 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:28,640 Hitler needs a man to revolutionise the German war machine. 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:33,120 But no one expects the Führer to choose his friend, Albert Speer. 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,880 [Sönke] Speer was an architect, he was not a manager, 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,600 he was not an engineer, he was not even a general. 11 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,640 It's a promotion that soon stirs up 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,400 a rat's nest of inner-circle jealousy and intrigue. 13 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:49,520 It's a very public humiliation for Göring and a very public success for Speer. 14 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:51,920 [Guy] And that kind of success makes him 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,760 an immediate target for other members of the inner circle. 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,520 [Emma] He's got Bormann briefing against him, 17 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,040 Himmler jostling for power. 18 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,760 It's a confrontation that might even threaten Speer's life. 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,480 This raises the kind of tantalising prospect 20 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,920 that members of Hitler's inner circle are actually trying to murder each other. 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,560 This is the inside story of Hitler's henchmen, 22 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,800 the power struggles, blind ambition and fawning sycophants 23 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,240 that would create a monster and fuel the most brutal horrors of the Third Reich. 24 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,000 In the snow around Moscow, 25 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,560 the rapid advance of the Nazi war machine has been halted. 26 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,560 This time, Blitzkrieg tactics have failed to deliver a swift victory. 27 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,080 Once the Blitzkrieg ground to a halt in the Soviet Union in 1942, 28 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,440 the nature of the war itself changed, 29 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:18,240 and Germany found itself effectively in a war of attrition, in a war of production, 30 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,400 which is an extremely difficult prospect. 31 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,920 It has to out-produce the economic might of the Soviet Union. 32 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,640 Nazi Germany needs more tanks and guns fast 33 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,960 but its economy isn't ready for a long drawn-out war, 34 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,720 and to make things worse, a plane crash has led 35 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:44,080 to the death of the very man Hitler needs to arm and supply his war machine. 36 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,880 Minister of Armaments Fritz Todt. 37 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,520 [Sönke] Todt was a well-known man, 38 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,120 a capable man and the big question is who will be the successor. 39 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,360 It's a chance to save the Nazi war effort. 40 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,920 For Hitler's number two, Hermann Göring, 41 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 this is an ideal opportunity to repair a once-glittering reputation. 42 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,160 By 1942, there had been some big setbacks for Göring. 43 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,760 Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe is not the force it once was. 44 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,000 Göring's star is on the wane. 45 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,560 Göring's career may be in the doldrums 46 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,760 but he has good reason to believe that he is the obvious choice. 47 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,120 Göring, you have to remember, is in charge of the four-year plan. 48 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,000 The four-year plan is basically the office 49 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,640 that's been created to rearm Germany and when Fritz Todt dies, 50 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:37,240 he is fully expecting that either he or one of his men will fill that position. 51 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,720 Göring is banking on being put in full control 52 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,680 of the supply and manufacture of armaments. 53 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,120 But when he arrives at the Führer's office, 54 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:51,080 he gets a nasty surprise. 55 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:01,080 Hitler has already found a new man to rearm Germany, 56 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,720 his chief architect Albert Speer. 57 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,520 When Speer is appointed, you know, 58 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,480 this is an absolute shock and a bolt from the blue. 59 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,480 [Sönke] Everyone knew Speer as Hitler's architect 60 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,880 but everyone was surprised that he was the successor of Todt 61 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,120 because he was not an engineer, he wasn't even a general, 62 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,840 he had no idea about weapons... weapons industry whatsoever. 63 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,240 But a move like this should come as no surprise to Göring 64 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,880 as Hitler likes to keep his inner circle in check 65 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,720 by keeping those closest to him on the back foot. 66 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,680 Hitler likes to surround himself with people who say yes. 67 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,480 He therefore has a habit of giving people jobs 68 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,960 for which they have no background knowledge, no experience, 69 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,560 and are unlikely candidates for those jobs. 70 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,160 Now, Speer thought that he himself 71 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,560 was the only thing approaching a friend that Hitler ever had. 72 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,800 Hail victory! Hail victory! 73 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,200 Albert Speer had first met Hitler almost a decade earlier, 74 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:18,360 when, as a relatively inexperienced architect, 75 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,280 he was asked to submit designs for the Nuremberg rally. 76 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:24,720 It's Speer's idea for the Nuremberg rallies, 77 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,440 these absolutely astonishing cathedrals of light 78 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,480 with all these anti-aircraft lights shining up into the air. 79 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,520 They just would absolutely wow and impress 80 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,680 the crowds and everyone attending these rallies. 81 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,120 But they also impress Hitler himself. 82 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,520 To the young architect's surprise and excitement, 83 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,800 the Führer invited him to regular luncheons 84 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,560 to discuss his own architectural dreams for a new Germany. 85 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,800 Speer and Hitler have this immediate rapport, 86 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,240 because they both have this kind of artistic sensibility, 87 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:57,960 and they would spend hours, you know, 88 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,280 looking over models or architects' plans and drawing up ideas. 89 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,640 There was a lot of sort of intimacy between them. They were like pals. 90 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,280 Speer would soon show that he could also undertake major projects 91 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,880 including Hitler's new Reich Chancellery, which was built within a year. 92 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,520 The architect may have no experience of armament production, 93 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,280 but so far, in the eyes of the Führer, he hasn't put a foot wrong. 94 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,520 [James Holland] I think he thinks here's someone who is... 95 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:27,200 not tainted by anything that's come before. 96 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:30,440 He's not been tainted by the failures in the Soviet Union the previous year. 97 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,320 He's not Göring. He's someone new. 98 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,880 He's someone I can trust and I think he's worth a punt. 99 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,520 But Speer's appointment is a massive gamble. 100 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,640 With the United States entering the war, the future of Nazi Germany 101 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,120 is now dependent on knocking out the Soviet Union before it's too late. 102 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,200 They've got one more chance. 103 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:57,320 And that is in the summer-campaigning season of 1942. 104 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,760 They've got this last chance to defeat the Soviet Union. 105 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:05,200 But of course, their factories are also pumping out more tanks and machinery 106 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,160 and now Britain and the United States 107 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,480 are also supplying them through Arctic convoys as well 108 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:11,800 with more and more material. So the race is on. 109 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:19,800 It's a daunting challenge 110 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,440 but Speer's first hurdle is to deal with the very man who wanted his job. 111 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:29,520 Speer, travelling to see Göring soon after his appointment, 112 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,400 would have been expecting something of a showdown. 113 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,400 Speer now finds himself thrust into the bear pit of Hitler's inner circle, 114 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:45,120 surrounded by dangerous men who all jealously guard their grip on power. 115 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,520 And Göring is itching to put the young upstart in his place. 116 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,560 [James Holland] Speer knows that he's completely in above his head. 117 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,640 Yes, he's been in the inner court, 118 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,800 but he's always been just some guy who builds buildings. 119 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,120 He hasn't actually been involved on a kind of day-to-day basis 120 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,240 of the political machinations of the Third Reich, so suddenly he's saying, 121 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,600 I have to sink or swim with the big boys and they don't get bigger than Göring. 122 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,720 Hitler's number two receives Speer like a pompous patrician 123 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,360 telling the newbie just to follow his lead and all will be well. 124 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:24,480 Göring just wants to go, OK, fine, 125 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,880 you're now going to be consumed into the four-year plan we're going to set up. 126 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,080 And, you know, you'll just basically do what I say. 127 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:37,040 [Roger] Göring outlined the areas beyond which Speer was not to tread 128 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,280 and Speer realises at that point that he's being... set up. 129 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,760 [James Holland] This is kind of heartstopping moments for him 130 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,640 and he's got to show Göring right from the outset 131 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,680 that he's not going to be pushed around. 132 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,400 Speer may be a political novice but he has come prepared. 133 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,240 He can't push Göring around, but Hitler can. 134 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,160 He reveals a decree from the Führer himself. 135 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:17,040 Hitler says that these new areas as far as armaments production was concerned, 136 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,720 it was all to be under Speer's competence. 137 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,560 It was to be taken away from Göring's competence as head of the four-year plan 138 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:24,960 and was to be given to Speer. 139 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,760 Speer is playing his trump card. 140 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,360 His personal bond with the Führer. 141 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,480 [James Holland] What he has managed to get out of Hitler 142 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,880 is a concession that he can go straight to him. 143 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,720 He has a direct access to the Führer 144 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,000 and the Führer says, “I will back you up on anything." 145 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,280 And Göring just has to kind of suck on that. 146 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,480 With Göring out of the way, Speer gets to work. 147 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,280 And as an outsider, he brings some much needed reforms. 148 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,800 For a Nazi Germany where everybody is enmeshed 149 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,400 in bureaucracy and overlapping hierarchies, 150 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,320 and nobody can get anything done, 151 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:22,200 Speer comes in and he sets up these new, clean lines of control 152 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,600 on a more business-like basis. 153 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:28,280 [Roger] The German war economy had never really been properly rationalised. 154 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,120 So first of all, that's what Speer begins to do. 155 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,800 So he tries as far as is possible 156 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,320 to ensure that each individual factory produces one product, 157 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,200 whether it be a rifle or an artillery piece or whatever it is. 158 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,320 And at the same time, he's banging heads together 159 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,760 and people that don't toe the line and do the right thing are removed. 160 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,400 Crucially, Speer has good news for his Führer. 161 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,400 He expects production of armoured vehicles to double by the end of the year. 162 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,000 Speer's star is growing ever brighter. 163 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,160 For Speer, it's an absolute dream, 164 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,720 and he describes how they would have a monthly phone call 165 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,600 in which he would report to Hitler 166 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:18,600 how things were going and he would get praise. 167 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,480 And he would begin by saying "Heil Hitler," 168 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,200 and Hitler would reply "Heil Speer," 169 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,240 and just to have 170 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,800 that sort of jokey respect from the Führer was extraordinary. 171 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:38,040 However, this unique friendship is being watched enviously. 172 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:49,640 Speer's relationship with Hitler is very threatening to Martin Bormann. 173 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:57,600 Bormann is the Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and Hitler's closest aide. 174 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:06,400 Bormann is a man of very base origins who is a creature of Hitler, 175 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:12,320 who is someone who is in it for himself and he's absolutely ruthless. 176 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:16,680 This wily bureaucrat has made it his life's work 177 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,200 to become the Führer's official shadow. 178 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:24,880 [Emma] All his power comes from his proximity to Hitler... 179 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:29,680 and to controlling who has access to Hitler 180 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,080 and suddenly this glamorous man comes along 181 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,840 and Hitler just accepts his calls and overrides Bormann. 182 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,160 Over and above the daily access, 183 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:43,920 it's Speer's emotional connection with the Führer that hurts most. 184 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,560 [Emma] Hitler seems to like Speer, 185 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,480 to be excited about the conversations that they can have, 186 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:55,160 but Bormann is kind of like a lapdog or something. 187 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,320 He's very, very useful to Hitler, 188 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,160 but it's all entirely practical instructions 189 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:01,720 that go from Hitler to Bormann. 190 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,560 Through his unique relationship with the Führer, 191 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,480 Speer has made a dangerous enemy in Bormann. 192 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,000 But the realities of war soon present 193 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,880 more pressing problems for Hitler's new minister. 194 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:25,120 Summer 1942, Operation Case Blue is under way. 195 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,920 It's the Führer's grand plan to finally knock Soviet Russia out of the war. 196 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,840 But as more and more men are sent to the front, 197 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,400 there are fewer left to work in Speer's factories. 198 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,520 Speer knows where he can find labour, but it means dealing with 199 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,440 the most feared and fanatical member of Hitler's inner circle, 200 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:47,960 SS boss Heinrich Himmler. 201 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,320 Heinrich Himmler is the head of the SS, which we conventionally think of 202 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,800 as the architects of the Holocaust, but it's often forgotten 203 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:09,720 that the SS is the largest economic player in the Third Reich as well. 204 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:13,960 Although names like Auschwitz and Dachau are synonymous 205 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:18,280 with the extermination of millions of Jews and other political prisoners, 206 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:23,640 Himmler's vast network of concentration camps are also a vital source of labour. 207 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,320 The problem is, he wants to keep them for himself. 208 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:34,600 Himmler is very keen to expand the economic enterprises of the SS 209 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:39,680 and actually have munitions factories set up within concentration camps, 210 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:44,520 using all of that, to him, free labour, to make munitions and everything else. 211 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,480 Speer disagrees with this, because he sees this 212 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,160 as being fundamentally an inefficient way of making arms. 213 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,240 He wanted to have the established armaments factories 214 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,640 staffed with concentration-camp labour to build armaments. 215 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:08,040 With Himmler reluctant to cooperate, Speer is keen to find other sources of labour. 216 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,160 Luckily, there is a man with a mutual interest, 217 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,600 itching to get back into the Führer's thoughts: Joseph Goebbels. 218 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:28,520 Goebbels is the Nazi head of propaganda 219 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,360 and one of Hitler's most devoted followers. 220 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,680 But the spin master has recently found himself 221 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,120 drifting from the centre of power. 222 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,720 Goebbels' job as propaganda minister 223 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,240 became more and more difficult as the war went on. 224 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:47,920 Because when you report successes and conquests and great victories, 225 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,440 that's fairly easy and fairly straightforward. 226 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,440 When the war began to turn more sour, 227 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,920 this becomes much more difficult to represent. 228 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,960 However, Goebbels has found inspiration from an unlikely source, 229 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,240 someone who has made a virtue out of stoicism and self-sacrifice. 230 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,520 [Churchill on radio] We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. 231 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,160 We have before us many, many, long months of struggle and of suffering. 232 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:23,800 Goebbels was enormously impressed by Churchill's public speaking 233 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:30,520 in Britain's hour of crisis, and although he loathed and detested Churchill, 234 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:35,080 he recognised in him a fellow orator. 235 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:37,680 [Churchill] I would say to the House 236 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,000 as I said to those who have joined this government, 237 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:47,480 I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. 238 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,000 [narrator] Goebbels believes that he too can inspire the German people 239 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,960 to join the war effort on every front. 240 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,440 And he sees a potential ally in Albert Speer. 241 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,960 Goebbels pitches a programme of austerity measures, 242 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,440 one of which could solve Speer's labour problem. 243 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,000 Goebbels and Speer develop a kind of alliance, 244 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,680 because both of them believe that all Germany's energy 245 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,320 should go towards the war effort, 246 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:31,640 and they believe that women should be working in armaments factories and so on, 247 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,400 as they are in the countries of their enemies, such as Britain. 248 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:42,520 The conscription of German women onto the factory floor is an obvious solution, 249 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,920 but they both know Hitler will take some convincing. 250 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,080 LABOR SERVICE FOR THE REICH! 251 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:00,840 After months of discussion, Speer and Goebbels present their new plan. 252 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:02,840 It's called Total War. 253 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:08,440 However, Hitler is reluctant to accept the need for women to build munitions 254 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,720 or do anything that might bring the war closer to home. 255 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,000 Hitler is very worried about losing the home front. 256 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:19,840 He always has one eye on protecting German civilians 257 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,800 from the realities and the hardships of war. 258 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,400 This stems from the circumstances of the end of the First World War, 259 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,880 which is when effectively the home front was lost 260 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,400 and that led to the collapse of German armies in the field. 261 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,280 And Hitler said right from the outset of his political career 262 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,200 that would never happen again. 263 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,560 And the idea of German women working in factories 264 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,840 also goes against Hitler's ideological... 265 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:45,480 WORKING MEN ARE BOLD, CHEERFUL SOLDIERS 266 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,400 ...goals for a Germanic master race. 267 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,320 Another element is Germany's breeding programme. 268 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,160 Hitler wants German women to focus on breeding 269 00:18:55,240 --> 00:19:01,840 and producing a new, strong generation of Aryans to dominate Europe. 270 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,440 Despite Hitler's reservations, Speer and Goebbels don't give up. 271 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:11,400 Too much is at stake. 272 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:16,320 [Emma] Speer and Goebbels know the situation is desperate 273 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,120 and give it everything and Hitler gives some ground, 274 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,160 but he tells them that they will have to work 275 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,120 on the Total War project with Martin Bormann. 276 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,960 This is devastating news for Speer and Goebbels. 277 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:38,400 They must now share control of their project with a major inner circle rival. 278 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,360 One of the problems that affects the inner circle all the time 279 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,120 is the uncanny ability of Martin Bormann 280 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,960 to pour bureaucratic treacle into anybody else's gearbox. 281 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,600 Every time a project ends up with Bormann, 282 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,160 it ends up being slowed down by committees, meetings, 283 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,520 and it's a source of constant frustration, 284 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,440 but, of course, it's all about Bormann seizing as much power as he can. 285 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:09,720 [Emma] For Bormann, a project like this is a win-win because if it fails, 286 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:14,400 he will be able to cast it as Goebbels and Speer's kind of... 287 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,800 irresponsible, unpractical efforts. 288 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:21,680 But if it succeeds, then, of course, he can take part of the credit. 289 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,680 While Bormann gets his claws into Goebbels' and Speer's Total War project, 290 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,520 a beleaguered Hermann Göring spies a way 291 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,120 to exploit a developing crisis in the East. 292 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:47,240 Stalingrad. 293 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,520 As the Russian winter returns, 294 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,560 the Führer's Sixth Army has found itself surrounded by Stalin's troops. 295 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,680 But Hitler will not allow a tactical withdrawal. 296 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,720 His men must hold the city as a matter of principle. 297 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:03,720 Because it bears the name of Stalin, 298 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:09,200 Hitler becomes fanatically committed to the idea Stalingrad must be taken. 299 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:11,480 Now, militarily, that makes no sense. 300 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,200 The original plan had been to focus on destroying 301 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:19,640 the industrial capacity of the city and control its river, the Volga, 302 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,720 a crucial supply route to the Russian heartland. 303 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,360 The Germans reached the Volga in August '42, 304 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,840 and by reaching the Volga north of Stalingrad, 305 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:35,040 they cut off one of the most important lifelines of the Soviet economy. 306 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:40,520 But from August '42 onwards, the Germans pushed more and more resources 307 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:42,880 into Stalingrad to conquer the town, 308 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,080 but conquering the town was not really important. 309 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,560 But now after months of being bogged down in bloody streetfighting, 310 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,480 his army is in desperate need of supplies. 311 00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:01,400 One man, however, has a plan to save the day and salvage his own reputation. 312 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:07,160 Göring, fascinatingly, saw in the impending crisis 313 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,480 a way of elevating himself in the estimation of the Führer. 314 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,440 Göring proposes an audacious plan to use his Luftwaffe 315 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,880 to create an air bridge to supply the besieged troops. 316 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,200 He puts on a very good show, he says, 317 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:26,400 mein Führer, I can do this, the Luftwaffe is ready and is able to perform this duty. 318 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,320 Stalingrad will be taken, mein Führer, your dream will be realised. 319 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:32,840 The Führer couldn't turn that down. 320 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,960 Faced with ice, snow and freezing fog, Göring's pilots begin 321 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,040 what his own senior staff already fear is an impossible task. 322 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,360 [Roger] The estimate that was given was that it would require 323 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:56,040 something like 800 tons daily to keep those soldiers supplied. 324 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:59,720 The reality was that they managed under a hundred tons per day. 325 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,480 As days turn into weeks, without fuel or food, 326 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,880 the Sixth Army is losing as many soldiers 327 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,920 by starvation and cold as it is by enemy bullets. 328 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,600 Göring's promise has proven to be a catastrophically empty one. 329 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:23,840 In reality, he had neither the aircraft nor the pilots to fulfil that task. 330 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,440 So the supply of the German soldiers in Stalingrad was simply, you know, 331 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,200 an air bridge too far for the German air force. 332 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,720 THE WAR CITY OF BERLIN SALUTES THE FÜHRER! 333 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,080 GREETINGS TO GERMANY'S FIRST WORKING MAN: ADOLF HITLER! 334 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,200 FÜHRER, YOU COMMAND, WE FOLLOW! 335 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,720 On the anniversary of the Führer's accession to power, 336 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,280 Göring, in an attempt to disguise his own failure, 337 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:52,400 tells the German troops perishing in the snow 338 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,440 their sacrifice will not be forgotten. 339 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,680 [as Göring] One day it will be said when you come to Germany, 340 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,400 tell them you have seen us lay down our lives at Stalingrad, 341 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:10,520 as the law, that is to say the law of the security of our people commanded. 342 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,600 [Guy] This much-vaunted air bridge 343 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,560 that was supposed to bring relief to Stalingrad has been an utter failure. 344 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,600 And then Göring has the gall, the utter temerity, 345 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,520 to make this speech. 346 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,560 And to them, it just sounds like their funeral oration. 347 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:33,760 [air-raid sirens] 348 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,240 But Göring's own humiliation is only just beginning. 349 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,400 As he starts his speech, the sirens wail over Berlin. 350 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,560 What makes this worse still, doubly ironic, is when this speech goes out, 351 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,680 British Mosquitoes are flying over to bomb Berlin. 352 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,880 For the first time, the Allies feel confident enough 353 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,720 to attack Berlin in broad daylight. 354 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,720 It's a humiliating reminder of another promise Göring failed to keep. 355 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,760 He says, if ever a British bomb falls on Berlin, you can call me Herr Meyer. 356 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,120 Which is a bit like saying, "You can just call me Mr Smith." 357 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,840 You know, just write me off as an ordinary person. 358 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:18,520 Of course, very, very shortly after that, British bombs do start falling on Berlin, 359 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,480 and so amongst the German population, he is, you know, called Herr Meyer. 360 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:25,240 [sirens] 361 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:29,720 [explosions] 362 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,200 As bombs rain down on Berlin, 363 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:39,120 the Führer is reeling from the loss of over 200,000 men in Stalingrad. 364 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,360 In front of his staff, Hitler blames 365 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:48,160 the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians fighting alongside his Sixth Army. 366 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:55,160 But within the inner circle, everyone knows Göring is the real fall guy. 367 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,680 This is just another one of Göring's failures, 368 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:02,840 which had all started at the Battle of Britain, 369 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:04,800 and then you've got the failure at Stalingrad, 370 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:10,200 and it's absolutely clear to Hitler that Göring is just not up to the job. 371 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,960 Yes, in his day, he was a brilliant pilot. 372 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,600 But he is not a brilliant Reichsmarschall. 373 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:25,040 Humiliated, the once-heroic fighter ace soon slips back into old habits. 374 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:32,160 Göring had been this kind of complete hero, ace pilot, 375 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,640 kind of glamorous sort of figure emerging from the First World War, 376 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,920 but he had also suffered injuries after the Beer Hall Putsch. 377 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:46,960 Back in 1923, during the Nazis' first failed attempt to seize power, 378 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,320 Göring had been shot and severely wounded. 379 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:52,520 [Guy] He's shot in the leg. 380 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:57,120 They manage to get him to a hospital, but when he's recovering from his wounds, 381 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,800 he starts developing an extremely serious morphine addiction. 382 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,400 And now, as his addiction once again rears its head, 383 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:10,280 the old fighter is losing his appetite to be Hitler's number two and successor. 384 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,440 Martin Bormann's power, however, continues to grow 385 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,840 as he cynically exploits Hitler's preoccupation with the Eastern Front. 386 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,320 [Guy] Bormann, by now, is an increasingly important figure. 387 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,600 It's a constant fight in the inner circle 388 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,680 to try and get Hitler's ear and get Bormann out of the way. 389 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,560 Even though the Stalingrad crisis has prompted Hitler 390 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,600 to allow Speer and Goebbels to enact some of their Total War measures, 391 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,880 Bormann is continually looking to minimise their scope and impact. 392 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,120 Bormann doesn't really think independently. 393 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,200 Goebbels and Speer are thinking independently 394 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,280 about what's best for Germany. 395 00:27:57,360 --> 00:27:59,680 They're considering the situation. 396 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,360 Bormann only thinks about what's best 397 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:09,280 in terms of maintaining my relationship with Hitler and my hold on power. 398 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:17,600 But for Joseph Goebbels, the king of propaganda, 399 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,040 there is another way to bypass Bormann 400 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:23,520 and show Hitler that Germany is ready for Total war. 401 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:26,720 Go public and let the people decide. 402 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:30,840 TOTAL WAR IS THE SHORTEST WAR 403 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,680 I ask you: 404 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,000 Are you resolved 405 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,120 to follow the Führer, stand behind the fighting troops 406 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,520 as the phalanx of the homeland, 407 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,960 and fight this battle with grim resolve 408 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,440 through all turns of fate, 409 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,160 until victory is ours? 410 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,160 In front of a carefully selected audience, Goebbels seizes the opportunity 411 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,240 to turn Stalingrad into a story of heroic sacrifice 412 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,720 and tell the German people that it's now their turn to join the war effort. 413 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,000 In a way, it was Goebbels' finest hour 414 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,960 in that he recognised the gravity of the occasion. 415 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,240 He realised that this was a defeat which could not be glossed over. 416 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,080 But this wasn't just a Churchillian call to arms. 417 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:26,840 Goebbels wants to show Hitler 418 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,120 that all Germans are ready to do whatever it takes. 419 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,520 I ask you: 420 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,760 Are you resolved 421 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,040 to follow the Führer on the way to victory, 422 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,080 through thick and thin, and are you willing 423 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,480 to accept the heaviest personal burdens? 424 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,840 Hail victory! Hail victory! 425 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:56,360 Führer, you command, we follow you! 426 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,920 Führer, you command, we follow you! 427 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,560 The speech has put Speer and Goebbels' plans back on track. 428 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,320 Thousands of German women register for work, 429 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,520 and, vitally, the Führer is impressed. 430 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:24,520 [Roger] Goebbels then followed this up, looking for the opportunity 431 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,280 to get a firmer grip on the German war effort. 432 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,080 [soundtrack only] 433 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,280 Now is the time to target Bormann 434 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,800 and they think they've found a chink in his bureaucratic armour, 435 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,640 a way to beat the schemer at his own game. 436 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,640 [Roger] They get together as many likeminded individuals as possible 437 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,920 to resurrect the defence council, which was something 438 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:53,160 that had been place up until 1939 but was effectively moribund. 439 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,200 Though this defence council had been lying dormant, 440 00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:58,920 its powers are still in place. 441 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,440 And if resurrected, it could be used 442 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,640 to bypass Bormann's bureaucratic barricade around the Führer. 443 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:14,040 But there's a hitch. 444 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,440 The man in charge of this dormant agency is also out of action. 445 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:23,600 This is the problem. The head of the defence council was Herman Göring. 446 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,520 Speer and Goebbels need Göring on side, 447 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,560 but it's uncertain that he's up to the job. 448 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,520 [Roger] Göring himself is still rather unreliable. 449 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,960 He still has a rather nasty morphine habit. 450 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:42,600 He's actually rather adverse to doing anything 451 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,320 to actually solve the problems that Germany is facing. 452 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,960 Someone needs to snap Göring out of his slump. 453 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,440 But he's not even talking to Goebbels because Total War measures have led 454 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,240 to the closure of Göring's favourite restaurant. 455 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,880 So it falls to Speer to coax the old fighter back into the ring. 456 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,120 [Michael] Speer claimed that he wasn't really a political animal, 457 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:13,040 but he was indeed political when he needed to be and this is one of the instances 458 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,920 where he plays upon Göring's sensitivity over Bormann. 459 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:21,400 Speer takes full advantage of their mutual dislike and distrust for Bormann. 460 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,280 [Emma] Speer and Göring come from a very different background to Bormann. 461 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:31,400 They both look down on him, but they are also kind of 462 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,400 very aware of his ways of operating, 463 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,640 and there's this moment where Speer is reminding Göring 464 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,120 of the drip-drip of Bormann's technique. 465 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:48,360 He's always there with the Führer and he will brief against them. 466 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,160 And the final damning of Bormann in the eyes of Göring 467 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:54,640 is Speer's statement to the effect, 468 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,040 he's after your job, he wants to be number two in the party and in the nation, 469 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,160 and you stand in his way, and that for Göring is the clincher. 470 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,400 The two men agree a plan to chip away at Bormann's influence. 471 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,000 The first step, to target and discredit 472 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,560 one of his stooges at a meeting over the still-vital issue of labour supply. 473 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:27,400 As head of the resurrected council, Göring will lead the attack. 474 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,840 What happens is very similar to what might have happened in a medieval court. 475 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,720 It was an interpersonal attack, 476 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,160 not going directly for Bormann himself. 477 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,160 For a man new to politics, Speer has put together an unlikely coalition. 478 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,280 Together with Goebbels and Göring, 479 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,040 they can finally take Bormann down a peg or two. 480 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,360 But as Speer arrives, something's not right. 481 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:07,000 Goebbels is nowhere to be seen, and Bormann has a new friend. 482 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:10,760 Heinrich Himmler. 483 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,720 So, one can imagine when Speer walks into the room 484 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,920 and sees Bormann sitting next to Heinrich Himmler, he probably told himself 485 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,040 that this perhaps was a meeting that wasn't going to end well. 486 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,960 And it soon gets worse. 487 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:32,720 Göring goes off script and starts attacking Speer's deputy. 488 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,760 Speer is really bewildered at Göring's behaviour. 489 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,760 He just can't make sense of that 490 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,720 and Speer is worried that forces had aligned themselves against him. 491 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,880 With Goebbels absent and Göring's about-face, 492 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,440 it's clear Speer has been betrayed. 493 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:56,240 For Göring, the realisation that Himmler was lining up 494 00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:00,440 on side with Bormann against Speer and his group, 495 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,600 that he perhaps thought that this was the side that he should also be on. 496 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:10,600 For Himmler, still jealously guarding his control of concentration-camp labour, 497 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,840 any attempt by Speer to gain more power is a potential threat. 498 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:21,720 [Roger] Himmler is very keen to not allow Speer to grow his own influence 499 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:26,560 much more than it already is, and what you could interpret this meeting as 500 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:31,320 is Himmler just reasserting his influence on the economic sphere 501 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,320 and reminding Speer of who is actually the bigger player. 502 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:42,400 For Speer, it's a painful reminder that his inner-circle rivals will do anything 503 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:48,760 to protect their personal positions over and above the crisis Germany faces. 504 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:54,960 But he's learning fast, his battle for control of the war economy isn't over yet. 505 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:04,480 Summer 1943. 506 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,880 The world witnesses the biggest tank battle in history 507 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:13,480 but also Nazi Germany's last strategic offensive on the eastern front. 508 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,680 Until the summer of 1943, 509 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,360 the Germans still believed they could win this war 510 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:25,960 but then Germany loses the Battle of Kursk in Russia, 511 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:30,240 which, in many ways, was a more important battle for the Germans than Stalingrad. 512 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,280 Nazi Germany is now fighting for survival. 513 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:39,000 And while Allied Bombs pummel its industrial heartland, 514 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:44,000 Speer is still battling to convince Hitler to fully mobilize the home front. 515 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:49,280 [Roger] And this is the problem: they're still making products 516 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,200 for the home front for domestic consumption. 517 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,440 They still haven't gone over to a war footing. 518 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,400 That should have happened in 1940 and it hasn't happened even in 1943. 519 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:07,240 Speer wants every factory to be turned over to the war effort. 520 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,400 No more luxuries or non-essential goods. 521 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,040 The war is now on everyone's doorstep. 522 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,760 Speer thinks domestic conditions should virtually mirror those at the front, 523 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:24,440 that those civilians living at home should have essentially the same food 524 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,640 and the same wherewithal as soldiers at the front. 525 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:32,000 To do this, Speer needs dictatorial control over Germany's economy. 526 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:34,640 And it appears the message is finally hitting home. 527 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,840 [Craigie] Speer gets a further promotion. 528 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,000 His title is Armaments and Production Minister. 529 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:47,440 And that makes him potentially more threatening to Bormann. 530 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,560 Speer has risen from political novice to a position of immense power. 531 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,160 But he knows that his austerity measures will not be popular 532 00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:07,600 among many senior Nazis and that Bormann is waiting to pounce. 533 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,480 [Roger] Bormann is a conduit for all the complaints 534 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:14,560 that come from the Nazi gauleiters, 535 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,080 the regional commanders across Germany and beyond. 536 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:20,960 And many of them had local commercial concerns 537 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,600 and many of them also were not keen 538 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,320 to reduce the living standard on the home front. 539 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,640 But this time, Speer is not going to be outmanoeuvred. 540 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:46,200 In autumn 1943, Speer present his new plan, but also a new partner. 541 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:52,560 It's interesting that in these shifting alliances and power plays 542 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,000 between the senior Nazis that almost from one month to the next, 543 00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:00,320 you could be a rival with someone and then forge a temporary alliance with them. 544 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,120 And that happens with Himmler and Speer. 545 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,920 Speer's old adversary appears to have had a change of heart. 546 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,320 Himmler, if he has eyes in his head, 547 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:17,120 is certainly aware that the war has turned very decisively against Germany. 548 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:21,280 But also we have to bear in mind that Himmler is the arch loyalist. 549 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,720 He is someone who's absolutely loyal to Hitler's words. 550 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:28,360 So, if Hitler has given this added remit to Speer's portfolio, 551 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:30,360 then Himmler's thinking is probably, 552 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,200 well, that's perhaps where I need to align myself as well. 553 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,440 Speer announces that the SS will ensure 554 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:41,240 that production of all non-essential consumer goods will stop within two weeks. 555 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:47,920 No more radio sets, refrigerators or cosmetics. 556 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:53,480 It's an all-out war against what Speer calls... the skivers and the malingerers. 557 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:55,880 [Roger] It's a very tough message 558 00:39:55,960 --> 00:40:00,720 for many of those local party bigwigs to handle. 559 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:02,920 They're being told that unless they toe the line, 560 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,720 they will be potentially falling foul of the SS and the Gestapo. 561 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,320 But the lectures are not over. 562 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:18,240 What follows is one of the few recorded speeches by a senior Nazi 563 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,520 regarding what will become the single worst crime against humanity. 564 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:23,880 The Holocaust. 565 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,640 [Guy] The meetings at Posen are unique 566 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:31,640 because they're a very vocal expression 567 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:35,400 of the intention to eradicate a people. 568 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,320 Himmler said someone's got to do this dirty work, 569 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,960 someone's got to kill all these people, 570 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,200 all these Jews, all these homosexuals, all these political enemies, 571 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:46,520 someone's got to kill them to get rid of them, 572 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:50,600 so that humanity is saved from their so-called malignancy. 573 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:55,720 So therefore, they could say you've got to commit an evil act in order to do good. 574 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,360 [soundtrack only] 575 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:03,120 In his efforts to secure victory, Speer has made a pact with the Devil. 576 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:05,840 Yet he would later claim that he hadn't stayed 577 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,840 to hear his new ally's incriminating words. 578 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:14,440 I am very wary of any of Speer's claims. 579 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:19,040 He spends his entire life, from 1945 until the year he dies, 580 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,200 distancing himself from the Third Reich. 581 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,400 He is trying to show that, actually, he was very much the anti-Nazi. 582 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,120 A kind of good Nazi. 583 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,000 But in reality, Speer has never had any moral qualms 584 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:33,600 about using Jewish and foreign slave labour. 585 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:38,040 And now with SS cooperation, tens of thousands of people 586 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:43,480 will be worked to death building roads, fortifications and new weapons 587 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,240 in his bid to save the Nazi regime. 588 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,120 [Roger] Speer is not at all sentimental 589 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,080 about concentration-camp labour. 590 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:52,560 He's not particularly bothered 591 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:56,160 about the conditions that concentration-camp inmates live in. 592 00:41:57,240 --> 00:42:01,680 Perversely, Speer would claim that his workers at least had a chance to live. 593 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:07,320 However, the death rate of those building his new secret weapon, the V2, 594 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,960 was the highest in the entire Nazi concentration-camp system. 595 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:15,400 [Roger] He's merely concerned with the weapons that he needs to produce 596 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:17,120 are produced as efficiently as possible. 597 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,240 So it's not a human concern that they'll be better treated 598 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,440 in his factories versus the concentration camps. 599 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:23,920 It's purely about the outcome. 600 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:30,280 However, new wonder weapons alone are not going to save Nazi Germany. 601 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,800 Despite Allied bombing and dwindling resources, 602 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:46,080 Speer's factories continue to build more and more tanks and planes. 603 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:51,160 But by January 1944, as the Soviets begin to enter Poland 604 00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:53,640 and the Allies move up the Italian peninsula, 605 00:42:53,720 --> 00:43:00,120 the stark reality is Germany no longer has the soldiers to use its new resources. 606 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:04,760 [Roger] Crucially, it all came rather too little, too late. 607 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:09,920 The shift to a Total War economy had come far too late in the day, 608 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,080 and by that stage, the war is all but lost. 609 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:17,040 The constellation of power ranged against Germany is so vast 610 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,120 that Germany really is in no position 611 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:22,640 to expect any sort of positive outcome by that point. 612 00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:30,760 Whereas the Führer refuses to accept any notion of defeat, 613 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:35,120 the reality of situation is taking its toll on his most able minister. 614 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:40,000 Speer is now in a very difficult situation. 615 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:46,320 The reality of Germany's military situation, 616 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:52,480 of Hitler insisting on offensives which were impossible, 617 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,960 plus he's got Bormann briefing against him, 618 00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,920 Himmler jostling for power, 619 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,760 it just becomes an absolutely unmanageable situation 620 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:05,640 in which all he can do is fail. 621 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:11,120 Stress and anxiety is pushing Speer to breaking point. 622 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:16,920 Speer is run down with exhaustion and this incessant, insane workload 623 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,160 have made him just in his late thirties feel like an old man. 624 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:23,480 [Roger] Speer is fighting on all fronts. 625 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:28,680 So not only is he trying to rationalise the German war economy, 626 00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:31,800 he's also having to fight constant rearguard actions 627 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:34,520 against his fellow Nazis and rivals. 628 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,040 And this inevitably has an effect. 629 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,080 Speer in mid-January 1944 630 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,040 has what appears to be some sort of psychological collapse. 631 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:57,800 Exhausted, Speer admits himself into the SS clinic at Hohenlychen. 632 00:44:59,240 --> 00:45:04,040 Initially, he has an inflamed knee and is hospitalised for that 633 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:08,280 but then he's subsequently kept in hospital for exhaustion. 634 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,680 The clinic is run by a physician with a rather dubious reputation. 635 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:18,640 During that time, he was treated by one of Himmler's pet doctors, 636 00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:22,000 by the name of Karl Gebhardt, who was something of a quack. 637 00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:25,320 For example, one of the treatments that he prescribed for Speer 638 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,080 was a massage with bee venom. 639 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:30,720 Quite what that was supposed to achieve, I'm not sure. 640 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:37,880 Speer develops depression and his anxiety increases as he refuses to stop working. 641 00:45:39,240 --> 00:45:42,440 [Michael] He calls people to see him, he writes reports and reads reports. 642 00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:43,960 But he feels vulnerable. 643 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,600 He wants to get back to the office, to the desk, as soon as he can. 644 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:49,880 Speer's concerns are justified 645 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:56,000 as rumours soon start spreading within his own ministry that he is incurably ill. 646 00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:00,320 Being ill is very bad news for any Nazi. 647 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,240 When someone's being pushed from power, 648 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:07,080 the official message given out will usually be that they're ill. 649 00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:11,000 In an almost pathetic cry for help, 650 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:15,440 he writes to the Führer complaining that his own staff are scheming against him. 651 00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:21,840 [Roger] So Speer is in really desperate straits, he's confined to a SS clinic, 652 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,800 and he's having to write to Hitler to request 653 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:28,280 that his underlings be relieved of their duties. 654 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:34,600 But as his condition deteriorates, 655 00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:38,440 there are concerns that Speer's rivals want to kill off more than his career. 656 00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:41,840 [Guy] He's getting more and more ill. 657 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:45,560 And another doctor is summoned who says, hang on a minute, 658 00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:49,560 you were in here with a knee complaint, you're spitting up blood, 659 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,280 you've got an embolism, how has this happened? 660 00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:01,600 How Speer got so close to death is mystifying 661 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:04,800 but his long-serving secretary, Anne-Marie Kempf, 662 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,680 would claim that it wasn't an accident. 663 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,000 She overhears this conversation going on between two men, 664 00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:12,720 and she hears the name Speer mentioned. 665 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:18,920 So she does what all kind of eavesdroppers do and she puts her ear to the door. 666 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,280 And she is amazed when she realises 667 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,480 that one of the voices is that of none other than Heinrich Himmler. 668 00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:28,920 And she hears Himmler go, "Is he dead yet?" 669 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,000 Gebhardt just is about to start replying, and then Himmler just cuts him off 670 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:34,960 and says, "The less said, the better." 671 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:51,160 Whatever Himmler's intentions were, Speer does eventually recover, 672 00:47:51,240 --> 00:47:53,200 suggesting this conspiracy theory 673 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,280 is more of a devious creation by its supposed victim. 674 00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:02,440 [Roger] It's another example, I think, of Speer rewriting the history very subtly 675 00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:07,960 to make himself look better than he was and that he too was a victim of the Nazis. 676 00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:10,440 That here was Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, 677 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,400 the head of this wicked organisation, 678 00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:17,440 who not only was trying to exterminate the Jews, 679 00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:19,560 he was also trying to do away with Albert Speer. 680 00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:27,120 What is certain is that illness 681 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:30,240 has enabled Speer's rivals to continue to undermine him. 682 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:34,080 Bormann in particular has been busy. 683 00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:38,760 Speer's aggressive speech to the senior Nazi district leaders 684 00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:40,880 has created a severe backlash. 685 00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:45,640 The focal point for all of that discontent is Bormann 686 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:49,760 and he collects up those complaints from the local party leaders 687 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:56,040 and as he has the ear of Hitler, he's feeding little snippets of information, 688 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,800 negative pieces of publicity, negative reports 689 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,440 to drive a wedge between Speer and Hitler. 690 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:08,200 [Emma] Bormann uses this to promote the idea 691 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:11,040 that Speer is going too far 692 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,200 and damaging morale in the country. 693 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,440 He's trying to bring Speer down, and it works. 694 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:22,680 Speer is no longer in the, kind of, Führer's golden glow. 695 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:25,960 Bormann has finally won. 696 00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:30,680 Speer's monthly phone calls with Hitler are now a distant memory. 697 00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:34,880 Absence and a willingness to push against vested interests 698 00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:38,640 has led to Speer losing what matters most: 699 00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:42,000 the confidence and authority of his Führer. 700 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:44,960 [Roger] The problem for Speer is at the end of the day, 701 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:48,880 like a medieval lord serving his master, 702 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:53,200 Speer is almost entirely almost dependent on Hitler's whim and Hitler's say-so. 703 00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:58,040 So, it's clear to Speer that the relationship with Hitler 704 00:49:58,120 --> 00:49:59,480 has fundamentally changed. 705 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:03,000 And he's much diminished from the figure he had been two years earlier. 706 00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:16,080 As Nazi Germany faces a final showdown against Soviet Russia and the Allies, 707 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,480 Speer's inner circle rivals remain focused on their own push for power. 708 00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:23,160 GERMANY WAKE UP 709 00:50:23,240 --> 00:50:25,680 Goebbels' campaign to become minister for Total War 710 00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:28,160 is gaining new impetus every day. 711 00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:31,040 And with Speer neutralised, 712 00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:35,760 Himmler can continue building up and supplying his own army of SS fanatics. 713 00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:40,960 As for Speer, he is down but not out. 714 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:44,640 Nobody stays within the inner circle of the Third Reich 715 00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:47,880 for the duration of the war without themselves being incredibly devious. 716 00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:49,880 And Speer himself is devious. 717 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:52,960 In what will become a fight for survival, 718 00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:57,120 Speer will implicate himself in the ultimate act of treachery. 719 00:50:57,200 --> 00:51:00,520 The betrayal of the Führer himself.