Hitlers Henchmen: Series 1

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1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
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[edit] General Information

Biography, War Documentary hosted by David Ritchie, published by SBS in 1996 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Hitler's Henchmen is the most comprehensive film series ever produced on Nazi Germany and its leaders. In six parts series portrays the men who aided Adolf Hitler in his rise to power and serviced the infernal machinery of the Third Reich. Meticulously researched, it offers an unrivalled insight into the secret lives of the men of the Nazi elite. More than half a century after Hitler's demise ZDF have successfully recovered what was until now "lost" footage of Hitler's aides. This newly discovered archive material and interviews with surviving family members and Nazi insiders draws historical psychograms of Hitler's closest aides. Nuremberg was a historical first: the International War Crimes Tribunal sentenced leading Nazi paladins for their unparalled atrocities while exposing to the world the infamy of the Hitler regime and its leaders. They wielded power and enforced it: Goebbels, Goering, Himmler, Hess, Speer and Doenitz -- 6 lives lived in Germany, six very different careers, but each contributed in its own way to making Hitler's regime what it became. Packed with exclusive interviews, combat film and both public and private German archive film, HITLER'S HENCHMEN takes you inside Nazi Germany as never before to help understand why this murderous regime behaved as it did - and how it came so close to world domination. Series is designed to offer in-depth personal and political profiles of six men who became architects of the destruction of Europe. ZDF in association with ARTE, SBS TV, ZDF Enterprises ; English version by SBS-TV, Australia

[edit] Hess: The Deputy

Rudolf Hess was the first of Hitler's aides to follow the Fuhrer and was also the last survivor of the regime's innermost circle of command.
To the very end he believed absolutely in the "Movement". As Hitler's deputy he embraced the cult of the Fuhrer as no other, but his actual influence within the circle of power remained minor. As face value Hess embodied the archetypal totalitarian underling, but film recordings from the Hess family's private collection actually show an ambition to lead.
The death of Spandau's last inmate in 1987 made headlines world-wide and on each anniversary Neo-Nazis clash with police as they attempt to mark Hess's martyrdom. For the first time on camera witnesses speak about the final days of Hess and the persistent rumours that Hess may not have taken his own life.

[edit] Doenitz: The Successor

To some Doenitz was the saviour of millions of refugees from the East, to others a cold technocrat of the war. To the Allied forces he was a war criminal. In his own mind he saw himself as an apolitical soldier doing his duty.
Karl Doenitz was Hitler's Admiral of the Fleet and the creator of the U-boat. Before Hitler committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery bunker, he appointed Karl Doenitz as his successor. Powerless and on the verge of defeat Doenitz's reign lasted just 23 days.
The Allies did not permit him to do anything more than wind up the war and at Nuremberg trials accuse him war crimes against humanity. Contemporary witnesses and his nephew Klaus Hessler speak for the first time on film about the largely unknown successor to Hitler.

[edit] Goebbels: The Firebrand

Goebbels was the public relations genius and voice of the "Third Reich".
Imbued with a deep belief in his "Messiah", the eloquent orator rose to be one of Hitler's most fanatical accomplices. As the National Socialist Minister for Propaganda, he relentlessly enforced his extreme ideas on the German people. He was a master of manipulation who used belief, enthusiasm and hatred as a tool to control the "hearts and minds" of its citizens. As Germany headed towards defeat, he made the "total war" his personal mission.
Private film recordings show an ambitious but ultimately deluded man. When all was lost, Goebbel's ultimate act of loyalty to the Fuhrer was to sacrifice his life and the lives of his wife and children.
They were the final victims of a merciless fanatic.

[edit] Goering: The Marshal

Half warmonger, half comedian Goering more than any of the Dictator's other aides, embodied the face of the Nazi regime.
A decorated war hero with the common touch, Goering was instrumental in making Hitler and the Nazi Party socially acceptable. Although considered a lackey and stooge he still wielded immense power and privilege. After the initial triumphs of the war, Goering embarked on a downward spiral of narcotic addiction and narcissism. Morphine and power had destroyed his grip on reality and after a number of military disasters discredited his reputation the once poweful General was on the same path of destruction as Germany.
Newly released secret documents from domestic and foreign archives illuminate Goering's many-faceted brutal personality.

[edit] Himmler: The Executioner

Himmler, the enforcer with his SS brigades was the most powerful of all Hitler's aides as well as being the most ruthless.
His brave new world consisted of concentration and death camps, security services and the Gestapo. No-one more typified the terror of the Holocaust than Himmler.
Heinrich Himmler's skill was in being unprepossessing. He knew how to exploit the advantage he gained from being long underestimated by Hitler's other aides. No one would ever have suspected that of all people he would become the most powerful man in the Third Reich after Hitler. Utilising newly discovered archive material, original sound recordings and exclusive eyewitness testimonies, a picture is built up of an unassuming but single-minded enforcer -- of perhaps the most willing, but undoubtedly also the most terrible of Hitler's aides.

[edit] Speer: The Architect

Speer gave shape to the ideology of the Brown Shirts in stone and concrete, placed art under the banner of the Swastika and recruited an entire population for the munitions industry.
A technocrat rather than military man, Hitler exploited the young architect's organisational talents and wealth of ideas for his own ends.
Exclusive new revelations prove that Albert Speer knew from early on about the murder of the European Jews. As Minister of Armaments and Munitions and Inspector General of Berlin, he was responsible for the deportation and recruitment of all forced labour.
Documents from the Ministry of Armaments and Munitions which have been kept under lock and key until now show how Speer harnessed the whole of German industry and people for the total war effort.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L4
Video Bitrate: 1 830 Kbps
Video Resolution: 704x528
Display Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 192 kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 54 min
Number Of Parts: 6
Part Size: 775 MB / average
Source: DVD
Encoded by: DocFreak08