1 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,800 1944. 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,320 And as the tide turns against the Nazi war machine, 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,880 Hitler's inner circle are starting to think the impossible. 4 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:19,200 Publicly they're denying that there's a crisis, 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,560 but, secretly and privately, they know it's a disaster. 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,760 Goebbels and Bormann remain loyal... for now. 7 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,840 But Hitler's deputy, Hermann Göring, prepares for life after the war. 8 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,840 Göring always wanted to have his big, fat fingers 9 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,800 on the leadership, on the ultimate prize. 10 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,280 And architect of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler, 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,080 secretly negotiates with the Allies. 12 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,240 [Guy] It's a really risky game he's playing. 13 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,480 The personal stakes could not be any higher. 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,840 But one man, Albert Speer, will be implicated in a plot 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,400 to put the German people before the Führer. 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,120 If Germany is to be saved, Hitler must be sacrificed. 17 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,720 This is the inside story of Hitler's henchmen, 18 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,840 the power struggles, jealousy and fawning sycophants 19 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,800 that would create a monster and fuel the most brutal horrors of the Third Reich. 20 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,120 July 1944. 21 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,040 It's a month since the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, 22 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:47,920 opening up a new front... 23 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,600 ...while to the east, the Russians are coming. 24 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,240 And bombs fall unopposed on Germany's industrial heartland. 25 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,120 The onslaught is relentless. 26 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,920 Adolf Hitler is a shell of his former self. 27 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,000 But there's always one man at his side, 28 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,760 ready to tell the Führer what he wants to hear, 29 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,200 or manipulate his way to more power... 30 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,400 Martin Bormann. 31 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,560 [Emma] He's not a glamorous figure. He doesn't stand out. 32 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:26,480 He's not known to the public. 33 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,720 He doesn't say very much, but suddenly sort of creepily, spookily, 34 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,160 people realise he's actually always there. 35 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:40,000 As always, Bormann spends most of his time feeding Hitler's paranoia. 36 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,160 No one, he says, can be trusted. 37 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,960 [Emma] Bormann endlessly consolidates his position, 38 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,400 really on the grounds that Hitler can trust nobody but him, 39 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,760 and he's increasingly narrowing the kind of field 40 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,240 around Hitler and who Hitler can trust. 41 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,760 Bormann becomes the gatekeeper to Hitler's inner circle, 42 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,840 so if you are with Bormann, you will have the Führer's ear. 43 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:11,440 If Bormann turns against you, will probably also lose access to Adolf Hitler. 44 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,320 For Bormann, the war going badly only brings him closer to the Führer... 45 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,320 But others are in crisis. 46 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,000 For the last four months, Hitler's former golden boy, Albert Speer, 47 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,160 has been suffering from mental collapse. 48 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,480 The one-time architect is charged with the impossible job 49 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,880 of keeping the German army supplied with guns, bombs and bullets. 50 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,360 [Emma] He cannot produce the armaments at the rate that is demanded, 51 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,480 and by the summer of 1944, Germany is running out of fuel as well. 52 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,560 And Speer knows that while the Allies are destroying his factories, 53 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,200 his rivals are plotting to destroy him. 54 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,360 Being ill is very bad news for any Nazi. 55 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,080 It's an opportunity for the others to take over their role 56 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,720 and assert their closeness to Hitler. 57 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,480 So he's facing huge problems, which he cannot overcome. 58 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,960 Attempting to work from his sick bed, Speer is looking for a way out. 59 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:29,040 Meanwhile, Hitler's second-in-command has all but given up on the war. 60 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:34,440 He was once the man Hitler could rely on to deliver military victories, 61 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:39,640 but a series of disasters means Hermann Göring's reputation is now in tatters. 62 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:43,920 No longer trusted by Hitler, 63 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,920 he's now sitting out the war on his private estate, addicted to morphine. 64 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,680 This hugely important character in the Third Reich, still number two, 65 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:59,200 but, in many ways, this kind of drug-addled wastrel living on his estate. 66 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:04,080 But with Hitler visibly crumbling, Göring steels himself. 67 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,320 He believes he will be the man who leads Germany when the time comes. 68 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:11,640 Göring's greatest fear: 69 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,440 that on the way down, Hitler will drive the country to annihilation, 70 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:17,400 and he will lose everything. 71 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,760 Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is now struggling 72 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:30,680 to make his defiant positive propaganda count. 73 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:32,600 THE FÜHRER WILL LEAD US TO VICTORY! 74 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:34,440 UNSHAKABLE, DETERMINED TO FIGHT, SURE OF VICTORY! 75 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,080 And as the situation deteriorates, he resorts to fuelling the paranoia. 76 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,320 BERLIN STAYS GERMAN! 77 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,840 Nazi propaganda is sort of feeding the idea that if Germany loses the war, 78 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,280 the entire population will be annihilated by the Russians 79 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:48,520 BERLIN STAYS GERMAN! 80 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,320 but also by, of course, the Jews. 81 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,880 Head of the SS Heinrich Himmler has the most to fear from a Jewish backlash. 82 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,680 As architect of the Final Solution, he's growing increasingly nervous... 83 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,000 ...and begins to indulge in disloyal thoughts. 84 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,520 While Göring may see himself as Hitler's natural successor, 85 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,360 Himmler has other ideas. 86 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:22,440 Even someone as loyal as Himmler can imagine a life beyond Hitler. 87 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,240 [Guy] He is going behind Hitler's back, 88 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:32,280 trying to cut deals, trying to manoeuvre himself as a post-Third Reich Nazi leader. 89 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,720 While some of the inner circle's loyalty fractures, 90 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:43,640 outside there's also growing discontent, even within their own army. 91 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,920 Conservative military circles being increasingly concerned, 92 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,040 not only about the way in which the war is fought but also about the end result. 93 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:55,640 [Emma] Right from the beginning, 94 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,600 there's this tension between the Nazis and the German Army. 95 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,680 The German Army never fully accept the Nazis. 96 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:09,800 With wider devotion to the Führer eroding... 97 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:11,080 ONE NATION - ONE REICH - ONE FÜHRER! 98 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:12,760 ...he knows he must be careful. 99 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,480 He has already had two attempts on his life, 100 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,120 he cannot afford to take any more chances. 101 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,680 Hitler's Eastern Front headquarters, the Wolf's Lair, 102 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,320 is hidden deep in the forests of East Prussia. 103 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:44,560 Reached only by a single railway, it's a camouflaged fortress teeming with SS. 104 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,360 And it's from this hideout that Hitler now runs the war. 105 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,760 Soon, Hitler will be entertaining 106 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,120 the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. 107 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,800 But first he holds his daily conference 108 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,320 to try avert the military disaster unfolding around him. 109 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,720 But if Hitler feels safe here, he is mistaken... 110 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,600 An explosion rips through the compound. 111 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,640 A bomb has gone off inside Hitler's conference room. 112 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,120 It seems impossible that anyone inside could still be alive... 113 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,120 But somehow Hitler survives. 114 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,520 Hitler has suffered minor injuries. 115 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,480 His eardrums have burst and he has some cuts and burns. 116 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:46,440 But he is basically OK. 117 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:50,960 As the smoke clears, the hunt for the traitor is on. 118 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,960 They know it must be an inside job. 119 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,720 The only group that had any hope, realistically, 120 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,080 of assassinating Hitler were those closest to him physically. 121 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:08,160 As soon as the bomb has gone off, suddenly the blame game is afoot. 122 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:11,880 Behind the façade, 123 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,800 the Party is a rat's nest of envy, greed and vicious power plays. 124 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,400 For the inner circle, no one is above suspicion. 125 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,000 Over 600 kilometres west in Berlin, 126 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,000 Joseph Goebbels receives the news from the Wolf's Lair. 127 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:31,400 [phone rings] 128 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,840 He's eager to demonstrate his loyalty and further his political ambitions. 129 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:43,680 The bomb plot gives Goebbels in Berlin the chance to shine 130 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,840 and to show his beloved Hitler that he's made of the right stuff 131 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,600 to be a senior political leader, not just a minister for propaganda. 132 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,880 Goebbels springs into action. 133 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:02,520 We see a brief resurrection of the kind of fighting qualities 134 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,680 which had made him so successful before 1933. 135 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:10,160 Goebbels targets a weak link in the inner circle, 136 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:14,360 a man only just out of hospital and under increasing pressure... 137 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,600 Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer. 138 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,400 Speer had been a comparative latecomer to Hitler's circle, 139 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,920 but the young designer learned to play up to the Führer's weakness for architecture. 140 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,800 Hitler spots him as somebody that he can use, 141 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,400 and Hitler seems to be very drawn to Speer, 142 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:45,200 perhaps as someone who would have liked to have been an architect himself. 143 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,680 He was soon designing the icons of Nazi megalomania. 144 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:54,480 He is hugely successful, he gets off to a great start. 145 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,640 Goebbels had initially greatly admired Speer, 146 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:02,240 but he had become increasingly jealous 147 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,600 of the attention lavished on him by his beloved Führer. 148 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:10,360 With both Goebbels and Speer in their relationships to Hitler, 149 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,360 they have this kind of homoerotic quality. 150 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,400 Hitler had promoted Speer to Minister of Armaments, 151 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,200 responsible for equipping the German military. 152 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,160 But Goebbels suspects that in the face 153 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,040 of impossible demands and increasing desperation, 154 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,080 Speer may have a motive for assassination. 155 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,360 And with a vast army of migrant slave labourers, 156 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,880 Speer also had the perfect means to smuggle a bomb into the Wolf's Lair. 157 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,280 He is running the Organisation Todt 158 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,040 which supplies all these foreign workers to various sites 159 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,720 and there are a lot of Operation Todt workers at the Wolf's Lair. 160 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,680 Goebbels is incredibly suspicious of Speer 161 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,240 and so summons Speer and he tells him, 162 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,240 come round to see me, I wanna hear, you know, everything you know. 163 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,320 As Speer arrives at the propaganda ministry, 164 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,560 he is unaware that he's under suspicion. 165 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:13,040 Goebbels intends to question him about his Operation Todt foreign workers. 166 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,800 Goebbels accuses Speer of allowing these men to walk, 167 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:19,960 you know, haphazardly around the site 168 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,560 and therefore circumvent all the security they've got in place. 169 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,040 Maybe Speer had allowed this to happen deliberately, 170 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,320 and if so, is Speer the traitor? 171 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,320 But events soon overtake the interrogation. 172 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,840 Speer and Goebbels look out the window and they can see these troops 173 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,800 and they have no idea whether these troops are loyal to them or hostile to them, 174 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:45,880 so they're in a kind of limbo. 175 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:49,800 Troops of the Guard Battalion Großdeutschland 176 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,640 in full combat gear surround the building... 177 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:56,800 ...and take up positions to close off the Brandenburg Gate. 178 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,600 It is clear that the attempt on Hitler's life 179 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:04,640 is part of a larger conspiracy, a full-scale military coup. 180 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,840 Back at the Wolf's Lair, the hunt for the bomber continues. 181 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,440 Then Bormann learns that just before the explosion, 182 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,400 a colonel with a missing hand had been spotted leaving. 183 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:28,320 It could only mean one man: a veteran war hero, Claus von Stauffenberg. 184 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,520 And he had been at the meeting where the bomb was placed. 185 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,680 Claus von Stauffenberg was the only individual realistically 186 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,880 who could have got close enough to the Führer to carry out the assassination. 187 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,640 He'd suffered for Germany and therefore was 188 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,720 trustworthy and honourable in the eyes of many. 189 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,720 He was of an aristocratic background. He was an old-fashioned military type. 190 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,880 He certainly was no democrat but he was very much a German nationalist 191 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:01,320 but he didn't want to see Germany's name being dragged through the mud. 192 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,320 That Stauffenberg had placed the bomb is shocking news for the inner circle. 193 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,680 It means the German army were behind the plot. 194 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,080 [Roger] It actually is a moral revolt 195 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,240 against Nazi atrocities, 196 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:20,600 on behalf of the German military, 197 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,560 many of whom knew about the mass executions and so on 198 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:24,880 of Jews on the Eastern Front. 199 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,080 This was not like the other attempts on Hitler's life. 200 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,480 This time, it came from within. 201 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,040 And this is ultimate treason for Hitler. 202 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,040 But Hitler lives and he is bent on revenge. 203 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,240 Stauffenberg, believing the Führer to be dead, 204 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,840 had raced to Berlin and already launched the army takeover 205 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,920 codenamed Operation Valkyrie. 206 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:58,000 This is an official plan that the reserve army 207 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,280 will take over in the case of Hitler's death. 208 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,880 This plot to push the Nazis aside is now in full swing. 209 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:12,000 If it succeeds, the army will be in control of Germany. 210 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,680 The plan that the plotters put together 211 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,640 is to try and utilise the official Valkyrie plan, 212 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,960 which is for a sort of lockdown of Berlin and other prominent cities. 213 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,960 But there is a fatal flaw in the plot. 214 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:35,240 They left Goebbels with a live telephone connection to the Wolf's Lair, 215 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,440 which meant that Goebbels was able to make plans. 216 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:44,360 As the scale of the coup becomes clear, the inner circle is thrown into turmoil. 217 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,240 Everyone is a suspect. 218 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:49,840 They want to know how deep this plot has gone. 219 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,160 Is it just the generals? Is it just old Prussian aristocrats? 220 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,560 Or is it, you know, actual Nazis as well? 221 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:02,600 Heinrich Himmler is tasked by Hitler to fly to Berlin at once 222 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:04,840 and take charge of the situation. 223 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:12,000 One of the greatest beneficiaries of the bomb plot is Heinrich Himmler. 224 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,360 [Roger] There's a tremendous doubling down 225 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,440 on security and intelligence gathering, 226 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,200 so all of which falls within the aegis of the SS. 227 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,120 SS OFFICER ID NUMBER 228 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,760 He's able to pursue all those enemies of the Reich that he's got files on. 229 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:34,680 Himmler unleashes his Gestapo 230 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:39,840 to investigate any connections the inner circle may have had to Hitler's assassins. 231 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,280 His principal suspect is a man known for his contacts 232 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:49,880 within Germany's business and aristocratic circles: Hermann Göring. 233 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,240 He was an old war hero from the First World War. 234 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,000 He had a chest full of medals. 235 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,080 He had this very ostentatious style about him. 236 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,040 So he was very much an easy target 237 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:06,080 for those rather more radical individuals within the senior Nazi hierarchy. 238 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:11,520 Unaware that his old enemy, Himmler, has him in his sights, 239 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,480 Göring leaves his mansion and rushes to join Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. 240 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:24,160 Incredibly, despite perforated eardrums, burns and a cut to his hand, 241 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,160 Hitler insists that the planned visit from Mussolini goes ahead. 242 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,200 There's this extraordinary sort of tea party 243 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:37,920 that takes place in the Wolf's Lair that afternoon. 244 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:42,040 As Göring arrives, Bormann keeps a close eye on him. 245 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,520 The unsophisticated and unpopular Bormann has never liked 246 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:48,800 the glamorous former war hero. 247 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,800 With suspicion and tension running high, 248 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,280 the tea party soon descends into a major argument. 249 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:03,640 Admiral Dönitz blames the army for the failing war effort. 250 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,120 Göring agrees. 251 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,000 But Dönitz rounds on him and says 252 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,360 that the performance of the Luftwaffe is also responsible. 253 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,840 [Guy] Dönitz goes one step further, and says, you are losing the war, Göring, 254 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,360 and so therefore you have this kind of... 255 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,360 family row almost between Hitler's inner circle. 256 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,720 And all the time, meanwhile, Mussolini 257 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,040 is playing with his bits of cake like a child would with putty. 258 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,000 Hitler can take no more. 259 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,640 He erupts into a raging fury that lasts for an hour and half. 260 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,240 Unwilling to accept responsibility for the disaster he's created, 261 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,360 Hitler settles on a scapegoat... 262 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:49,040 ...his rant ending with the megalomaniac cry, 263 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:51,200 "I'm beginning to doubt whether the German people 264 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,280 are worthy of my great ideals!" 265 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:04,640 Shortly afterwards, the increasingly camera-shy Hitler is caught on film 266 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,720 alongside Bormann and Göring as he bids farewell to Mussolini. 267 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,040 This will be the two dictators' last meeting. 268 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,120 And as the train pulls out, it's back to business. 269 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,360 The bomb plot. 270 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:28,720 OPERATION VALKYRIE II 271 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,000 In Berlin, Operation Valkyrie is still underway 272 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,640 as troops surround Goebbels and Speer at the Propaganda Ministry. 273 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,520 In charge of the replacement army is Major Otto Remer. 274 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:46,280 Believing Hitler is dead, Remer is unaware that he's acting as part of a coup. 275 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:54,400 But the plotters have left Goebbels with an active telephone. 276 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,480 He called in Remer, immediately won him over and said, 277 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,080 you must drop this immediately. Hitler is alive. 278 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:09,760 Major Remer falls into line, but the coup still hangs in the balance. 279 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:12,720 Himmler issues orders 280 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,600 cancelling the mobilisation of Operation Valkyrie, but it's not enough. 281 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:22,000 There was a good deal of panic, of course, in Berlin and in Party circles. 282 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:24,880 And there were many people who heard 283 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:26,960 about the assassination and hoped he was dead. 284 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,960 Propaganda minister Goebbels realises what has to be done. 285 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,360 Knowing Hitler lives will surely pull the rug out from under Valkyrie. 286 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,520 Hitler has to break his year-long silence 287 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,520 and tell the German people that he is alive. 288 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,920 The one thing that the Nazis can do is communicate. 289 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,680 They've got to convince the German people 290 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,000 that it's all OK, the show's still on the road. 291 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,680 But the broadcast is beset with technical difficulties, 292 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,520 and the rumour of Hitler's death is spreading fast. 293 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:11,160 If they don't broadcast soon, Operation Valkyrie may be unstoppable. 294 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:17,920 Finally, just after midnight, they're ready. 295 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,000 And then suddenly, the voice comes on the radio, and it's unmistakably Hitler. 296 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,600 [Hitler] I speak to you today... 297 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,040 ...for two reasons. Firstly, 298 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:32,280 so that you can hear my voice 299 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,240 and know that I am unharmed 300 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:37,320 and in good health. 301 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:41,160 That still carried great weight with people. 302 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:42,880 It still had an enormous impact. 303 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,160 [radio, Hitler in German] 304 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:54,000 The coup is off. 305 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,440 All the plotters, of course, know that they've failed. 306 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:03,520 For the German people, there's a strong sense that they've been saved, 307 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,960 that somehow if Hitler is alive, maybe they can still win the war. 308 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,600 The plotters are quickly rounded up. 309 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,360 [gun cocks] 310 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,560 Stauffenberg and his men are led into the courtyard to be shot. 311 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:22,080 [gunshot] 312 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:27,960 As the echoes of gun shots die down, Bormann fires out the message: 313 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,840 "Attempted putsch by irresponsible generals bloodily crushed. 314 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,640 All ring leaders shot." 315 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,080 [gunshot] 316 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,800 It's now clear that the assassination was to be 317 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,680 the start of a military and political revolt against the regime. 318 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,840 So, this is actually a very diverse movement 319 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,480 which includes liberals, people who hold up Christian values, 320 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,840 but also conservatives who are very seriously concerned. 321 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,000 And Himmler's intelligence network has also uncovered 322 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,600 unsettling evidence that incriminates one of the inner circle. 323 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,920 In the conspirators' safe, the SS find a draft list 324 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,480 of those who would head a new government should the coup succeed. 325 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,000 Next to armaments minister was the word "Speer". 326 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,080 OPERATION VALKYRIE II 327 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,160 Win over Speer if possible? 328 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,760 Albert Speer is back in the frame. 329 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,040 In Stauffenberg's diary, Himmler also discovers that Speer 330 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:34,520 had been invited for a meeting with the conspirators 331 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,640 on the same day as Hitler's assassination attempt. 332 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,160 Things are looking bad for Speer. 333 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:48,360 Himmler immediately issues the orders. There must be no more executions. 334 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:53,320 For a mass purge of any opposition, Himmler needs information... 335 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,440 ...and dead men can't talk. 336 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,120 They're tortured brutally until they cough up their last secrets, 337 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,800 and then they can finally be hanged. 338 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,200 Rumours spread that Albert Speer has been arrested, even executed. 339 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,680 But in fact, the Gestapo finds the evidence against Speer is inconclusive. 340 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:25,400 Fortunately, he'd declined the invitation to the meeting with the conspirators. 341 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,960 Speer said, I just can't make it, I'm too busy, exhausted, tired. Genuine reasons. 342 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,040 And the choice of Speer as Armaments Minister 343 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:37,640 may have been wishful thinking on the part of the plotters. 344 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,120 Luckily, in pencil, scribbled next to his name 345 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,800 was a question mark and the two words..."If possible." 346 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,680 It's a difficult moment for Speer, but he survives it, 347 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,320 and the question mark is enough. 348 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,920 [Guy] Had that question mark and "'if possible" not been there, 349 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,920 then the Nazis would've assumed that he had already said yes 350 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,240 to being in a future government which didn't feature Hitler, 351 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,120 which would've meant he was complicit in the coup, 352 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,280 and which would've meant he would've been strung up. 353 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:16,760 In the aftermath of the plot, 354 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:22,080 thousands are executed, many hung up like meat carcasses. 355 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,920 Some executions are even filmed, by order of Hitler, 356 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000 to be watched at his convenience. 357 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,840 Despite signs that the regime is falling apart, 358 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,160 some members of the inner circle still feel 359 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,680 they can make capital out of the chaos. 360 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,240 Months earlier, Goebbels had given a rousing speech 361 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:50,560 to the people of Germany, 362 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:55,280 calling for the entire nation to be mobilised as part of the war effort. 363 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,560 Hitler had initially rejected the idea. 364 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:07,920 But now he finally gives Goebbels his full backing for Total War. 365 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,320 For a moment, it feels like he's got complete power 366 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,280 over what is going to happen, how the war is conducted, 367 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,200 and how the nation's resources are used. 368 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,480 What it means is that Goebbels is now going to draw more power. 369 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,680 Goebbels goes about trying to procure 1.2 million men 370 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,560 from the civilian sector to be deployed on the front line. 371 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,440 Everything will now be unleashed. 372 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,160 But Goebbels is not the only member of the inner circle to get an upgrade. 373 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,520 As the mastermind of the Final Solution, 374 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:03,240 so far, Himmler's career has consisted of waging war on civilians. 375 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,560 But he has always dreamed of military conquest. 376 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,480 Himmler had turned 18 in the final days of World War One 377 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:19,880 and had been desperate to prove himself as a soldier. 378 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,520 But it was too late. 379 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,320 Himmler had harboured dreams of military command ever since. 380 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,320 Now, more than two decades later, Himmler finally gets his chance. 381 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,000 In the wake of the failed coup, the wannabe soldier is appointed 382 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:45,600 commander of an army responsible for defending Germany's industrial heartland. 383 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,800 So now he's got all this military power and might, 384 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,280 he's a commander of an army, 385 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:54,680 got two million men, he now feels like a soldier. 386 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,360 He's not just the head of the SS but he's also a proper soldier. 387 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,760 And that's enormously important for him. 388 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:03,680 More important still, 389 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,680 he has finally usurped Hermann Göring as Hitler's chosen one. 390 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,360 But some believe Himmler's dream promotion 391 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:12,920 is a plan to undermine him 392 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,640 by the inner circle's most dangerous plotter. 393 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:24,120 There's a theory that actually it was Bormann who secretly persuaded Hitler 394 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,480 to allow Himmler to have this military post in order to let him fail. 395 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,280 If true, Bormann's timing is impeccable. 396 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:37,200 Himmler's army is struggling, desperate for supplies and equipment. 397 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,280 It's a crisis that immediately throws Himmler into conflict 398 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,120 with the man who'd only just escaped his Gestapo death squads. 399 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,320 Albert Speer. 400 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,800 Having survived the rumours of his involvement in Valkyrie, 401 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,080 Speer, as head of armaments, clashes with Himmler over manpower. 402 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,640 Himmler wants them in the army. 403 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:05,240 Speer wants more people in the factories making planes and making bombs. 404 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,160 [Richard] There was always that tension between the key players. 405 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,200 Where can I get my resources from? 406 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,760 Where am I going to get my extra men from? 407 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:17,760 Is somebody going to take them from me? 408 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:24,800 Speer, Goebbels, Himmler, Göring, they're all being asked to do the impossible. 409 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:26,680 [Guy] And so you have these sort of meetings 410 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:32,040 in which these men are kind of jostling for power over centres of production, 411 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,800 and in the end, it's becoming increasingly marginal 412 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:39,280 because they know this is all in vain, this is bald men fighting over a comb. 413 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,360 In the end, it is Himmler who gets Hitler's backing. 414 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,520 It was really a question of who had the most power. 415 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:48,280 In the end, at this point, it was Himmler. 416 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:53,320 And it won't be long before Himmler's ability 417 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,120 as a military commander is put to the test... 418 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:07,160 At the Wolf's Lair, Hitler is still convinced he can win the war. 419 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,160 Since the bomb attack, he's become a drug-addled wreck... 420 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,520 ...with military tactics that are increasingly irrational. 421 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:24,800 Hitler now devises a last-gasp plan to grab victory from impending defeat. 422 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,880 He plans to break through in the Ardennes region, 423 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,960 splitting the Allied armies in two, and pushing on to Antwerp. 424 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,960 The Americans will call it the Battle of the Bulge. 425 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,160 This is gonna punch a hole all the way through to Antwerp, 426 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,400 encircle the Allied armies, 427 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,440 and take hundreds of thousands of men prisoner and the Reich will be saved. 428 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,040 The Ardennes offensive is absolutely the last throw of the dice 429 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:54,520 as far as the Germans are concerned. 430 00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:01,280 The idea is to attack west, again using the same sort of techniques 431 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:05,560 and often the same terrain as they'd used very successfully in 1940. 432 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,680 Back then, the Blitzkrieg had been made possible 433 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,560 by overwhelming fire-power from the air. 434 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,240 But the Ardennes Offensive will have no such help. 435 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,160 Göring is a much weaker figure at this point, 436 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,520 but also he, you know, he's still nominally in charge of the air force. 437 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,840 [Guy] But he's drug-addled, 438 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,160 and constantly fantasising about the might of the Luftwaffe, 439 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,480 which is increasingly being hammered by the British and American air forces. 440 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,320 The pressure is on. 441 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:45,000 To pull this off, the Nazis will need 200,000 men 442 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,800 and a vast amount of tanks, artillery and ammunition. 443 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:53,880 [Roger] Strategically, it would have been a master stroke, 444 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:58,000 but the problem was that the Germans simply didn't have the fuel, 445 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:03,680 or the manpower or the military hardware to carry it off. 446 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,800 Ugh, it's just a hopeless gamble. 447 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:22,520 The weather is terrible. The problem is they just can't get men to the front line. 448 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:24,320 They can't get anything to the front line. 449 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,200 Every time a plane does fly overhead, they have to hide under a wood. 450 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:38,920 Germany is in no fit state to be carrying out large-scale offensives like that. 451 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:44,160 In the deep winter of '44, '45, it's too far gone. 452 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,920 Himmler's small part in the operation, 453 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,720 and first taste of military command, ends in disaster. 454 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,000 But Hitler takes another punt on his rookie commander. 455 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,720 This time, his army are to defend Berlin 456 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,400 from the advancing Soviets on the Eastern Front. 457 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,440 [Roger] He's massively outnumbered on the Eastern Front 458 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,920 and he really lacks the wherewithal to make an effective defence. 459 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,480 There were other German commanders 460 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,600 who were brilliant at defence, improvised defence, 461 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,400 there were other German commanders who were completely ruthless. 462 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,360 But Himmler could do neither of those things. 463 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,400 If Bormann did want Himmler finished, 464 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:30,000 then Himmler realises too late that he's been passed a poisoned chalice. 465 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:34,760 Himmler is facing defeat and retreat on every side. 466 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:42,480 Himmler, the wannabe soldier, fails miserably 467 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:46,160 and Hitler accuses him of blatant disobedience. 468 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,960 This failure would undoubtedly have affected 469 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,680 Himmler's sense of his own success and his own worth. 470 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,520 He had grown the SS from a very small organization in the 1920s 471 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:03,040 up to the state within the state that effectively ran Nazi Germany. 472 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,000 [Robert] He has finally achieved his dream, 473 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:12,400 his objective of being the undisputed number two after Hitler 474 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:16,560 but he's sort of the number two of a vanishing empire. 475 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,840 With his dreams in tatters, 476 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,960 Himmler wants to resign, but he can't face confronting Hitler. 477 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,080 He doesn't have the courage, really, to admit it to Hitler 478 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,400 because he so wanted to be able to do this. 479 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,280 So in the end, he finally gets somebody else 480 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,680 to go to Hitler and he's able to step away. 481 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,280 Himmler heads 100 kilometres north of Berlin 482 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:47,680 to a sanatorium to be treated for stress and stomach pains. 483 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:54,200 [Guy] Where's he? Is he basically malingering? He is claiming to suffer 484 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,600 from all sorts of stress after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive, 485 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:02,080 but I think actually he's probably playing a far deeper and more cunning game. 486 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,800 With the German war effort on the verge of collapse and Bormann after him... 487 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:14,640 ...Himmler decides his only hope of survival is an audacious rebrand. 488 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,560 He needs to rid himself of his murderous past. 489 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:25,400 Himmler, the man who for so long Hitler thinks he can trust above all others, 490 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,520 actually has an eye for the future from quite an early stage. 491 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,680 He's gonna distance himself from the mass murder 492 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:37,240 that he was so instrumental in carrying out. 493 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,400 Just a few months earlier, Himmler had ordered 494 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:45,560 concentration-camp gas chambers and crematoria to be closed down. 495 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,200 [Michael] That wasn't because he had some sympathy for the inmates. 496 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,360 He wanted to get in the good books, 497 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,320 if that were possible, of the Allies when they won. 498 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,680 His men start destroying evidence... 499 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:04,440 ...setting fire to accommodation blocks, many with the prisoners still inside. 500 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,360 Meanwhile, Martin Bormann accompanies his Führer back to Berlin. 501 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,440 They're horrified by the destruction brought upon the city. 502 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,760 They'd last seen the Reich Chancellery a month earlier. 503 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,680 Now it's in ruins. 504 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:34,320 Every window shattered. 505 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,280 Only the ground floor and cellar are habitable. 506 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,880 Hitler's office and residence have now been relocated 507 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:45,520 to the barely completed Führerbunker, deep under the Chancellery garden. 508 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:52,080 Designed by the man Hitler still trusts more than any other: Albert Speer. 509 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,120 Eighteen rooms of bare concrete, his subterranean fortress... 510 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:09,080 ...defended at all times by hand-picked SS guards. 511 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:13,560 But the Führer they watch over is a broken man. 512 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,720 By early 1945, Hitler is a shell of a man. 513 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,120 He's increasingly reliant on all sorts of weird and wonderful drugs. 514 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:26,080 By now, Hitler is a physical wreck, 515 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,560 developing a tremor on his left hand after the Valkyrie bombing. 516 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,440 Yet the inner circle do nothing, seemingly paralysed by fear. 517 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,920 It would take a brave man to actually say, 518 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,440 no, you're wrong, we're not following you any more... It's just impossible. 519 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,120 They know that if they put a foot wrong, 520 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,680 they could fall victim to Hitler's silent shadow, Martin Bormann. 521 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,200 It was very dangerous to get on the wrong side of Bormann 522 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,080 because Bormann in a way was the enforcer of Hitler. 523 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:57,840 If Hitler disliked someone, 524 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,720 he would tell Bormann, I never want to see this guy again. 525 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,680 [gunshots] 526 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:08,480 Everybody's very, very tense, everybody wants to keep Hitler happy. 527 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,680 Everybody knows that Bormann can send a hit squad and they can be killed. 528 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:24,800 But while languishing at his sanatorium, Himmler decides to risk everything. 529 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:30,360 He formulates an escape plan, sending a message through his masseur 530 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,040 to the Vice-President of the Swedish Red Cross. 531 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,720 If they agree to waive human-rights claims, 532 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,400 Himmler will release the only asset he has left. 533 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,960 And so as bargaining chips, Himmler starts using concentration-camp prisoners. 534 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,000 He's trying to buy his freedom with Jewish lives. 535 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,640 So it's kinda disgusting, actually, he's using hostages, human shields, 536 00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,960 in order to try and negotiate what he hopes are gonna be freedoms for himself. 537 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,320 These are highly treacherous acts in Hitler's eyes and would see him strung up. 538 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,960 But, actually, it's a mark of how little authority 539 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,600 is now being transmitted from Hitler to Himmler 540 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,920 that Himmler feels emboldened to act in this way. 541 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,360 It's a really risky game he's playing. 542 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:25,000 The personal stakes could not be any higher. 543 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,640 Himmler hopes that by releasing prisoners, 544 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:32,280 he can open up a channel of communication with the Allies. 545 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:39,160 He is entirely misreading the situation in his very naive hope that he can, 546 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:44,800 of all people, can negotiate a separate agreement with the Western Allies. 547 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:49,080 He even hopes that his rebrand as the Nazi who released the Jews 548 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:52,440 might secure him leadership of a post-war Germany. 549 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,480 [Emma] Himmler is a complete fantasist, 550 00:39:55,560 --> 00:40:01,560 totally overestimating his own international status and capabilities. 551 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:11,160 Away from the sanctuary of the sanatorium, any hope he had evaporates 552 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:15,360 as the true horrors of Nazi atrocities are being uncovered. 553 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:22,680 A lone Soviet scout enters part of the vast Auschwitz-Birkenau complex. 554 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,320 He walks into a nightmare. 555 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:32,040 A recently abandoned concentration and extermination camp. 556 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,960 What's left of the systematic state-sponsored killing 557 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,280 of over six million Jews. 558 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,600 Inside, he finds 600 sick and dying men and women. 559 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,760 And mountains of clothes and shoes. 560 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:54,560 Evidence of the most horrific war crimes the world has ever seen. 561 00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:57,760 POISON GAS 562 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,640 But the net is closing in on the Third Reich. 563 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,360 For Armaments Minister Albert Speer, 564 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,560 the Soviets' arrival in this region marks the end of all hope. 565 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:19,160 The key development for Speer is the loss of Upper Silesia 566 00:41:19,240 --> 00:41:21,400 with its heavy industry and crucially with its coal fields. 567 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,960 He prepares a memo for Hitler 568 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,840 on the hopeless situation for armaments production. 569 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:34,240 Silesia had been providing 60% of Germany's coal supplies. 570 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,720 Now there is just two weeks' worth of stocks left 571 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,840 to fuel factories, railways and power plants. 572 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,560 He could see that German industry, which was already struggling 573 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:48,160 and on its last legs, was no longer able to effectively resist. 574 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,920 When he hears the news, Hitler's fragile ego disintegrates 575 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:58,560 and he turns his anger on the people he professed to love. 576 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:02,640 So he issues the so-called Nero Decree. 577 00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:06,280 Scorched earth, there's to be nothing left for the Allies when they arrive. 578 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,000 It's the equivalent of a child at the end of the day on the beach 579 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,320 destroying his sand castle because he doesn't want anyone else to play with it. 580 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,800 It's the ultimate infantilised, 581 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:22,360 evil and morally bankrupt order 582 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,400 that can ever be issued by a man against his own people. 583 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:30,240 Speer receives the Nero Decree orders from the Führer. 584 00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:34,680 Hitler declares the German people have failed in the war. 585 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:38,320 And they don't deserve the infrastructure to survive. 586 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,600 It's a step too far for Speer. 587 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:47,160 There's a great irony in Hitler's scorched-earth order 588 00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:49,360 and the fact that he issues it to Albert Speer. 589 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:54,840 These two men regard themselves as architects, builders, constructors, 590 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,560 and yet Hitler turns round and says, 591 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:01,080 I want it all to be destroyed, I want every factory, every locomotive, 592 00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:06,440 every bridge, every road, every railway, I want everything to be destroyed. 593 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:14,120 That Valhalla suicidal notion of going down in flames, 594 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,720 Speer certainly couldn't accept. 595 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,560 He doesn't want the German people to go down suicidally. 596 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,200 He doesn't want mass starvation. 597 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,800 We can't have the German people dying in hundreds of thousands. 598 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,720 Speer is summoned to the bunker to hear the Führer's orders firsthand. 599 00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,120 He can't believe that his friend and mentor, Adolf Hitler, 600 00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:48,840 could resort to such inhumanity against his own people. 601 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:58,560 Albert Speer is increasingly demoralised with his friend, Hitler. 602 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:03,120 He once says, "If Hitler ever had a friend, I would've been it." 603 00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:09,080 Not only is it a patriotic thing for Speer 604 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,880 but also he feels it's a personal treachery. 605 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,000 As Speer leaves, he contemplates his own fate, 606 00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,040 and a world without Hitler. 607 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,360 He'll later claim that it's now he considers 608 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:25,040 a plan to make that world a reality. 609 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:29,640 When Speer was interrogated by the Allies after the end of the war, 610 00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:33,240 one of the first things he wanted to alert them to was an alleged assassination plot. 611 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:38,760 [Guy] Did Albert Speer really try to bump off his beloved Hitler? 612 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:42,000 It's likely, like a lot of people, Speer thought, 613 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,400 this man's mad, maybe it's best if I just bumped him off. 614 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:47,440 It's possible, it's absolutely possible. 615 00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:53,360 Speer had designed the bunker, so he knows it inside-out. 616 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,320 And he's well aware that a strategically placed gas bomb 617 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,320 in one of the air vents could kill everyone inside. 618 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:07,080 [Guy] There's a ventilation shaft 619 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,040 that lets the air into the building, and he thinks, 620 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,480 the easiest thing in the world for me to do would be to get some poison gas, 621 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:17,040 some Tabun, which is a nerve agent, incredibly toxic, 622 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:19,160 you don't last very long after you've ingested that, 623 00:45:19,240 --> 00:45:23,720 and just introduce that into the air intake into the bunker 624 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:25,520 and the problem is solved. 625 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:31,680 According to Speer's account, he discovers that the air intakes had been moved. 626 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,080 [Guy] Hitler had ordered the air intakes 627 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:38,560 to be raised in case the Russians use gas to attack him, 628 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:43,160 and because gas is typically heavier than air, sinks to the ground, 629 00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:45,480 therefore the gas won't get into the air intake. 630 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:48,160 Speer's alleged plan is thwarted. 631 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:53,920 I think there's no doubt that he did think about this 632 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,760 and talked to some of his staff about it and so on. 633 00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,880 But I think it's much more likely that he used this story 634 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:02,800 in order to persuade the Allies 635 00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:05,320 that he was actually not such a wicked Nazi as all the others. 636 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:14,880 It's the 12th anniversary of Goebbels' appointment as Minister of Propaganda. 637 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:21,840 As if to mark the occasion, a giant armada of bombers appears overhead. 638 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,960 But they are Allied planes, not German. 639 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:32,160 It's just one of the hundreds of air raids that month... 640 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,880 ...releasing 2,000 tons of bombs on the city of Berlin. 641 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:47,160 And not a single one of Göring's Luftwaffe fighters tries to stop them. 642 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,720 [Roger] Aircraft are seen flying unhindered over Germany. 643 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:06,600 This is a bad omen for the future. 644 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:11,320 If they can fly across Reich territory unhindered, then that's a very bad sign. 645 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:17,880 And one of those raids wipes out Goebbels' already-damaged ministry building. 646 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:24,000 For the inner circle, it's clear: the game is nearly up. 647 00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:34,120 Göring throws himself into ensuring his precious artwork, 648 00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,400 stolen from the greatest museums in Europe, 649 00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:39,240 is stored away from the advancing Allies. 650 00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,800 When the war is over, Göring still hopes to display them 651 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,600 in his new home as the future Reich Chancellor of Germany. 652 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:52,600 When the leading Nazis realise that the game is over, 653 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:54,360 that Germany's gonna lose the war, 654 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:59,560 and that Hitler's project has failed, they react in different ways. 655 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,560 300 kilometres south of Berlin, 656 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,680 1200 concentration camp prisoners are released 657 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,400 and loaded onto a train to Switzerland. 658 00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:12,520 Himmler's scheme devised in the sanatorium 659 00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:14,400 with his masseur is taking place. 660 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,000 But if Himmler wants to rebrand himself as the man who saved the Jews, 661 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:21,640 he is going about it the wrong way... 662 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:25,720 ...demanding payment of five million Swiss francs. 663 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:31,440 It's part of his deluded grand plan to position himself 664 00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:35,880 as the man who will take over in Germany after a negotiated surrender. 665 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:40,600 Goebbels, on the other hand, 666 00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:43,480 is unable to see the purpose of life without his Führer. 667 00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:46,320 He works behind the scenes, 668 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:49,240 to ensure the German public are toeing the party line. 669 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:50,320 BRIQUETTES 670 00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:52,960 Despite the approaching Red Army, 671 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,000 he engineers a rare public appearance for Hitler. 672 00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:02,440 He's shuffling around. He's dishevelled. He's physically given up. 673 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,920 Martin Bormann also remains fiercely loyal to Hitler. 674 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,640 He'd hoped they'd escape to the bunkers he'd built in Obersalzburg. 675 00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:17,160 But with Hitler staying put, Bormann knows he too must remain in Berlin. 676 00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:22,000 His power relies entirely on proximity to the Führer. 677 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:29,560 I think it shows the extent to which Hitler is a kind of godlike figure. 678 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:41,200 A small band of dedicated Nazis now joins Hitler in the underground fortress. 679 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:50,160 Joseph Goebbels is accompanied by his wife Magda and their children. 680 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:56,680 Magda Goebbels is a passionate supporter of Hitler. 681 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:02,560 [Michael] I've always found this tragic and disturbing at the same time. 682 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:06,640 She said she couldn't live in a world without National Socialism. 683 00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:11,000 And that's one of the most powerful comments from an insider 684 00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:13,800 on the whole character of the takeover 685 00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:17,960 of rationality and normality by the Nazi regime. 686 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:22,320 [Emma] They both make the decision 687 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,320 to stay with him in the bunker, 688 00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,640 and they know that that means death. 689 00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:36,560 Finally, there is the ever-loyal Eva Braun, Hitler's long-term mistress. 690 00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:42,640 She was this sort of secret, unattainable figure, 691 00:50:42,720 --> 00:50:46,040 and particularly in the bunker, she was a very glamorous figure. 692 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,960 She is smiling, you know, 693 00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:53,000 she's walking around looking glamorous, 694 00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:57,160 and representing something kind of good and positive 695 00:50:57,240 --> 00:50:58,880 to the desperate people who are there. 696 00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,920 But the days of the 1000-Year Reich are numbered. 697 00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:08,720 After more than two decades of comradeship, conniving and carnage, 698 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:12,920 those above ground conspire to abandon the Nazis' sinking ship. 699 00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,520 Believing that, for those in the bunker, the day of reckoning is coming. 700 00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:20,360 [Michael] So they would go down in flames. 701 00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,000 They would die in the cause. They would not compromise. 702 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,160 Only two of Hitler's inner circle will survive the days that follow.