Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Hitler Movies', 'WW2-era Footage', 'WW2 Movies'.

Smiling faces of the killers at Auschwitz - Scrapbooks From Hell: The Auschwitz Albums
In "Scrapbooks From Hell: The Auschwitz Albums" -documentary Ruth Brand tells of how she and her fellow arrivals were stripped of belongings and shaved bald when they arrived at Auschwitz. "Then we are marched outside, and we look at each other and cannot recognize each other. Nobody recognizes each other, even sisters." The film tells of the personal photo album of an SS officer Karl Hoecker. It contains 116 pictures of the death camp's staff at play. "They really look like nice guys, and without the context of what they're doing in Auschwitz, this is an album of fun," says Rebecca Erbelding.     [ nytimes :: 2008-04-27 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary films explore life under Nazi Germany and Soviet Union
The latest from director Bruno Monsaingeon are 2 hour-long films on 20th-century Russian music: "The Red Baton: Scenes of Musical Life in Stalinist Russia" and "Gennadi Rozhdestvensky: Conductor or Conjurer?" "The Red Baton" explores the psychic torture artists suffered in a society so insane that Rozhdestvensky, looking back, doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. --- Enrique Sanchez Lansch's well researched film "The Reichsorchester: The Berlin Philharmonic and the Third Reich" reveals the Berlin Philharmonic's history as both a Nazi propaganda tool and a morale booster for German citizens.     [ nj :: 2008-03-11 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Japanese-American Forced Labor on an American Indian Reservation
For Japanese-Americans, Feb. 19 marks the Day of Remembrance. That's the day in 1942 when Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and started the forced removal and imprisonment of 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry: 60% of whom were American citizens. Military officials regarded anyone of Japanese descent to be a potential spy. Documentary "Passing Poston: An American Story" reveals a little-known secret about the Poston internment camp. It was built on the Colorado River Indian Reservation for a particular reason: Detainees were brought to the remote location to provide free, forced labor for the American government.     [ abcnews :: 2008-02-20 :: Internment camps & Internees ]

The Ants (Ari no Heitai) - Japanese Imperial soldier left in China after WW2
The Ants (Ari no Heitai) is a documentary film about Japanese troops left in China after World War 2. The film follows Waichai Okumura, a former Imperial soldier who battled against the communists in China's civil war. The men followed orders and fought like worker ants, "for the resurgence of Japanese imperialism." When he was able to return to Japan 9 years after WW2 had ended, Okumura was astonished to find his government had disowned these soldiers. The men were labeled as mercenaries and denied their pensions; A handful of soldiers went after the Japanese authorities to tell the truth about why the men had been fighting.     [ canoe :: 2008-02-15 :: Japanese Imperial Army ]

Rare World War II footage screened at Mumbai fest
8 documentaries on World War II screened at the Mumbai Film Festival (MIFF) have disclosed many unknown details about the Indian armed forces' contribution to the Allied war against the Axis forces. The films included "Battle of Britain", "Battle of Russia", "Cameraman At War", "Delhi Viceroy Parade", "Divide and Conquer", "Invincible", "Prelude to War" and "Town Meeting of the World" - produced by the Films Division of the govt of India. "When all the warring forces got their manpower through conscription, only Indian Army comprised voluntary soldiers." Winston Churchill remarked: "Indian armed forces was the largest voluntary army in history".     [ nowrunning :: 2008-02-07 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

German filmmakers take control of their nation's Nazi past
Nazi storm troopers and battle tanks heading through the streets or even the appearance of the Fuhrer at mass rallies would seem to be at odds with modern Berlin, which has emerged as a background for a wave of new films exploring the horrors of the Third Reich which have underlined the moves by German filmmakers to take charge of their history. The flood of WWII films have included stories about an elite Nazi school (Napola), the life of Joseph Goebbels, a uprising by Jewish prisoners' women forced to work as prostitutes for Nazi Germany's wartime army, along with interview with Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge in Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary.     [ earthtimes :: 2008-01-23 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Operation Felix Documentary - German invasion of Gibraltar
For the past 2 years, Gibraltar born film Producer Martin Nuza, has been researching about German World War II operation called Felix, which if it had gone through, would have changed the result of the war. Although precise plans were drawn up by the German High Command to invade Gibraltar and German troops were training for the invasion, the operation was called off at the last moment due to new diplomatic state of affairs. The research has included recording a number of interviews: Both former members of the then Gibraltar Defense Force and German war veterans who were at the time organising to invade Gibraltar back in 1940.     [ vox :: 2008-01-17 ]

The Nazi plan to kill WWII leaders in Tehran - Documentary series
The British Big Ape Media TV company and the Moscow TV Center are producing documentary series "The Lion and the Bear" about Russian-British relations over 4 centuries, partly presented by Winston Churchill's granddaughter Celia Sandys. One of the sections is dedicated to the Tehran meeting in 1943, when Hitler's agents plotted to destroy the Big Three in one strike. The "Long Jump" operation to assassinate the Big Three was masterminded on Hitler's orders by Otto Scorzeny. The first tip-off about the attack came from Soviet spy Nikolai Kuznetsov, aka Wermacht Oberleutnant Paul Siebert, who got an SS man Ulrich von Ortel to spill the secret over a bottle of brandy.     [ rian :: 2008-01-05 ]

Hitler's Favourite Royal - The story of Prince Charles Edward
Where does sensitive covering of a tricky subject end and unmerited sympathy begin? Take the story of Prince Charles Edward: Born in 1884 he was Queen Victoria's youngest grandchild, first cousin of a king, a kaiser and a tsar, yet safely at the back of the line of succession so destined for a life of privilege as a minor member of the British Royal Family. Yet he became a senior German general in World War I and later one of Adolf Hitler's confidants and champions. What cannot be interpreted as tragic was Charles Edward's embracing of Nazism. As one of the first of the old elite to endorse Hitler he may well have been "instrumental" in his rise to power.     [ telegraph :: 2007-12-10 ]

Heroes of World War II and Weapons of World War II
With access to over 500,000 hours of rare archive film, together with computer graphics, Heroes of World War II examines how handful of individuals had a far-reaching impact on the course of WWII. --- In 1939 most countries used obsolete weaponry. Even Nazi Germany's largest armies still relied on horse-drawn transport equipment. In order to gain supremacy it was necessary to develop more and more sophisticated killing machines. Weapons of World War II charts the development of each weapon system. The episodes include: Tanks, Midget Submarines, Gliders, Aircraft Carriers, Fighter Bombers, Heavy Bombers, Battleships, Rockets, Machine Guns, and Fast Attack Boats.     [ monstersandcritics :: 2007-11-20 ]

Gladiators of World War II - Documentary series
Behind all fighting forces are men and Gladiators of World War II examines the men of World War II. --- Waffen SS: The Waffen SS began as Adolf Hitler's elite bodyguard and grew into one of the most formidable fighting forces of Nazi Germany. The men of the SS were combat soldiers, respected for their courage, feared for their ruthlessness and fanaticism. --- Paras and Commandos: Occupied Europe endured 4 years of Nazi domination. Angered by the defensive strategy which had brought disaster to Allied forces in 1940, Winston Churchill demanded an elite raiding force, formed to take the fight back to Nazi occupied countries.     [ monstersandcritics :: 2007-11-19 ]

WWII documentary: My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner
Documentary "My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner" is about the diary of a German civilian, chronicling nation's descent into the madness of Nazism. Kellner was an administrator in the German justice system when he began recording a secret diary after Adolf Hitler's troops stormed into Poland in 1939. "My first great relief was to find he hadn't been a Nazi, that he'd opposed them in the best way he could," said His American grandson Scott Kellner, who was given the 860-page diaryin 1968. "He told me at that time what he witnessed in Germany in the 1930s and '40s was happening again with the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union."     [ reginaleaderpost :: 2007-11-18 ]

Secrets of World War II - 1998 BBC documentary series
Showcasing couple of episodes: Adolf Hitler's Last Days: With access to Eva Braun's photograph album, this program reconstructs the final days in the Dictator's underground bunker, and examines the possibility of escape for the selected few. --- The Nazi Plundering of Europe: The Nazis systematically plundered the museums, galleries, and private collections. At the war's end, a massive effort was mounted by the Allies to locate the missing art treasures. But even today many great objects are still unlocated. --- Destroy the German Oil Fields: New footage shows the raid by the US Air Force against the Ploesti oil fields which supplied 60% of Hitler's oil in 1943.     [ monstersandcritics :: 2007-11-16 ]

Hitler: A Career (Hitler - eine Karriere)
Produced in 1977, Hitler: A Career, written and co-directed by historian Joachim Fest, caused quite a stir by all accounts when it premiered. Utilizing archival footage, Hitler: A Career immediately jumps into examining Hitler's rise to power. Cursory information is given about his upbringing, his WWI career and his vagabond days in Vienna. In Hitler: A Career, Fest argues that Hitler, far from being a raving madman was instead a scheming, incredibly adaptable (at first) and calculating politician, keen to exploit any weakness he saw in the political system and in the masses who, humiliated by the outcome of WWI, were waiting for a voice to speak for them.     [ dvdtalk :: 2007-11-10 ]

DVD Review: The War by Ken Burns
The style of The War is similar to Ken Burns' other films in that extensive footage and still photographs from the era are incorporated into the film. Most remarkable is the producers' choice to not include historians in the narrative. Indeed, this is a film that is not so much about military tactics or records of battles (although the film explains the progress of the war and the Allies' blunders) but about the millions of ordinary citizens who were called into action to halt the progress of evil. The War is unlike any other film made about World War II: I gained a greater appreciation of the sacrifices made.     [ blogcritics :: 2007-10-30 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

The Silence of the Quandts - BMW and Nazi forced-labour charges
The reclusive main owners of the BMW car company said that allegations in a documentary about their ancestors' wartime business dealings were hardly new. The Silence of the Quandts was aired without advance notice by ARD, which denied the unscheduled showing had been designed to avoid legal intervention. The documentary detailed how Guenther Quandt owned battery factories which were kept going by press-ganged or concentration-camp labour. His heirs are one of Germany's wealthiest families. Both historians and survivors set out the war allegations. Sven Quandt, grandson of the founder, said children are not guilty of their fathers' acts.     [ earthtimes :: 2007-10-02 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Battles of Belief in World War II - The story of American radio warfare
It's easy to look back on the Seoncd World War and get the impression that America was united in fighting "The Good War." Battles of Belief, a documentary from American RadioWorks, tells 2 little-known stories that reveal the struggle for hearts and minds in wartime. Using rare archival recordings and interviews with former spies, the program tells the story of radio warfare. [real-audio]     [ minnesota.publicradio :: 2007-09-21 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary: My Enemy's Enemy - The West and Klaus Barbie
"My Enemy's Enemy" by Kevin Macdonald, is a history lesson detailing the disturbing record of complicity between notorious war criminals, specifically the Butcher of Lyon: Klaus Barbie, and the West after the Second World War. Although he was held accountable for the murder of French Resistance leader Jean Moulin, as well as for the deaths of 44 children, the U.S. found his communist-hunting tactics to be quite useful during the Cold War. Klaus Barbie would later "disappear" to Bolivia (with the help of the Catholic Church), where he would become a powerful businessman and enlist the help of some of his old Nazi brethren in a bid to build a Fourth Reich in the Andes.     [ freep :: 2007-09-20 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

The History Channel showcases 'Warcraft: The Art Of War'
The History Channel brings to your living rooms warfare as it has never been captured before in Warcraft: The Art of War. The series consists of a blend of stunning recreations of battles which changed the course of World War II in Lost Evidence, using state of the art CGI mapping of the battle terrain. Computer animation brings alive aerial battles in Dogfights and larger than life drama in Jumbo Movies. Using classified military footage collected over the years, Lost Evidence recounts the moments of key WWII battles. Battlefields are reconstructed in CGI with the help of aerial photographs taken before and during the battles.     [ - :: 2007-07-10 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary "Most Honorable Son" Japanese-American combat vet
"I had to fight like hell just for the right to fight for my own country," says WWII combat veteran Ben Kuroki, who as a Japanese-American faced red tape in his bid to be an Army Air Corps gunner. He was one of only a handful of Nisei to see air combat and the only one to see such duty over mainland Japan. Seeing the PR windfall of a Japanese-American combat hero the war department put him on the public speaking circuit. By parading him around it was hoped his example would reverse racism and boost Nisei recruits. The mere fact he survived Ploesti, a costly low altitude bombing raid made at oil refineries, is a story in itself.     [ lustron :: 2007-06-30 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

WWII Documentary of Vivian Bullwinkel: An Australian Heroine
The death of Vivian Bullwinkel in 2000 brought to a new generation the story of the Australian nurse who survived a massacre by Japanese troops on a beach near Sumatra and internment in a POW camp. Her story has not been given a thorough documentary treatment to date, an astonishing oversight given the mini-industry around the Australian soldiers. This documentary begins in Singapore just before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and follows the Broken Hill-trained nurse as she alone survives the massacre that claimed 21 Australian nurses soon after the sinking of their ship.     [ smh :: 2007-04-26 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary explores the Nazis' looting, pillaging of art and architecture
Most WWII documentaries focus on the loss of life that occurred during Adolf Hitler's regime. "The Rape of Europa" is not that type of history film. It deals more with property than people, as it explores the Nazis' systematic looting of priceless works of art and architecture during World War II. Combining interviews with both archival and contemporary footage, the film presents the tale of the terrors via the fresh perspective of how Nazi regime wreaked havoc on art treasures in the many countries Wehrmacht conquered, as well as the destruction done to works of art and architecture during both the Allied and Axis bombings.     [ dailynexus :: 2007-04-20 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

10th Mountain Division documentary - The Last Ridge
It's common to see license plates in the Vail Valley emblazoned with the iconic red swords-and-skis Army 10th Mountain Division insignia, but the documentary "The Last Ridge" defines what that logo means: Soldiers everywhere during World War II faced hardships and intense combat, but the 10th Mountain Division often faced it while ascending near vertical slopes behind enemy lines in subzero temperatures. Abbie Kealy managed to use current 10th soldiers as actors for the reenacted battle sequences, and she found that most of them were steeped in the legend and history of "being 10th."     [ aspentimes :: 2007-04-10 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary Hitler's Canadians: Nazi escape from Canada to U.S.
Escape from Canada to the neutral ground of the US was the goal of many imprisoned Nazis during the early years of World War II. A total of 40,000 captured Nazis were dumped into Canadian POW camps, where it was hoped they would be too far away from Europe to cause any real trouble. The presence of Nazis on Canadian soil didn't get a lot of publicity, since the govt didn't want to cause a panic. "But once they started escaping, that became a real scandal. ... All the prisoners were perceived as Nazis, and not all of them were, necessarily. But there were some pretty tough characters running around loose. In war time that was a real fear."     [ canoe :: 2007-03-12 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Two Russian documentaries about the horrors of World War II
Article no longer available from the original source.
Gerhard M. was an amateur photographer - It helped him document his daily life in Nazi Germany and his activities on the Russian front as a member of Nazis' Field Order police unit. "Amateur Photographer" recounts his story in his own words (diaries found in the KGB archives) and images. He seems to be a true believer, a Hitler Youth graduate who parrots the Nazi line when writing his "fighting for freedom." --- Sergei Loznitsa uses equally striking film footage for his film "Blockade." Drawing on the only extant movies of the 900-day siege of Leningrad, 3 hours of newsreels shot during Sept 1941 and Jan 1944, he constructs a narrative of a city fighting for its life.     [ tjw :: 2007-03-09 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

The Reckoning - Documentary on Dutch Nazi Resistance debuts
A local film production company is receiving rave reviews for a film about the Dutch resistance to the Nazis, and members of the resistance who live right in West Michigan. Through words, pictures and interviews, the documentary "The Reckoning" shows how a few Dutch teenagers and 20-somethings defied the Nazis during World War 2. A local survivor's memories help tell the story, but 87 year old Diet Emmon says she finds a new documentary about the Dutch Resistance to Nazi occupiers difficult to watch. Film producer Corey Niemchick says "They took incredible risks. Many risked their lives."     [ wzzm13 :: 2007-02-03 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

My Dad, The War Criminal - documentary
Hanns Ludin isn't much more than a footnote in the histories of the Shoah. He is mentioned only once in William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," in connection with his being thrown out of the Wehrmacht for supporting Hitler in 1930; twice in Hans Hohne's history of the SS for his ability to survive as an SA officer after the "Night of the Long Knives". He may be a minor Nazi functionary, albeit a doggedly loyal one, but he was important enough for the Czechs to have tried, and hanged in 1947. In "Two or Three Things I Know About Him," Malte Ludin explores his father's role in horrors of WW2.     [ nypost :: 2007-01-19 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary: the Auschwitz trial Germany held in the early 1960s
Article no longer available from the original source.
Using never-before-heard audiotapes, documentary illuminates the so-called Auschwitz trial Germany held in the early 1960s. There are 3 major trials of Nazi war criminals: the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal and the trial of Adolf Eichmann - Both has received attention from filmmakers. But the third, the so-called Auschwitz trial held in Frankfurt, has been neglected by the cinema. In the process of planning a film of the trial, Rolf Bickel and Dieter Wagner discovered that there were 450 hours of audiotape sitting in the basement of the state archive. They set out to make a film "Verdict on Auschwitz."     [ tjw :: 2007-01-12 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

As it Happened: The SS Struggle for Power - Documentary
The SS would be feared for its brutality and 40,000 of its guards would form the Death's Head Battalions that ran the liquidation camps. Yet the elite, black-uniformed corps who became the Nazi Party's enforcers sprang from a 200-strong group whom Adolf Hitler recruited in 1925 after the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch. This account details the rise of Hitler and Schutzstaffel after the murder of the power-hungry Ernst Rohm, who led the original Nazi storm-troopers SA. Thereafter, Heinrich Himmler, would nurture the SS and make it the embodiment of Nazi terror. 6-part series includes SS officers speaking out for the first time.     [ theage :: 2007-01-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

New technology catches Adolf Hitler off guard in his home movies
New software that can read lips has helped make sense of Adolf Hitler's home movies, many of them made by Eva Braun at the Berghof. Hitler can be heard encouraging children towards a life in the military, criticising his closest henchmen and flirting with Eva Braun: "What are you filming an old man for? I should be filming you." The footage forms part of a documentary, Hitler's Private World: Revealed. It has languished in archives since the war after being found by the OSS in the Berghof cellars. The film shows very different Hitler at ease among his guests, he cracks jokes and talks about his love for cinema.     [ telegraph :: 2006-11-22 :: Hitler Movies ]

Kiwis At War - Spies and heroes in documentary series
Kiwi spies, survivors and heroes all take their place in Kiwis At War, a new all-action, all-Kiwi documentary series. The series opens with the tale of fighter pilot Jack Rae - a Spitfire Ace who was finally shot down high over France. Jack saw out the rest of the War in the Stalag Luft III and witnessed the famous 'great escape' in which 76 prisoners broke out of a 300ft long tunnel. "Before his capture, Jack had been one of the best dogfight pilots in his squadron. He'd won a Distinguished Flying Cross twice, and had 12 or 13 confirmed kills, and a couple more that were probably his."     [ tvnz :: 2006-10-10 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Professor spent 3 years as an Waffen-SS soldier - documentary
Adalbert Lallier, Concordia professor, is haunted by his past: three years spent as an Waffen-SS soldier during which he witnessed the murder of seven persons by his superior officer. The documentary film Once a Nazi... follows Lallier after he voluntarily comes forward, to publicly own up to his Nazi past and to travel to Germany to testify in the last Nazi war crimes tribunal. Although 50 witnesses were called in, his testimony was the key to the conviction of his SS lieutenant, Julius Viel. It also marked the first time a Waffen-SS man ever turned against his superior in a civil court.     [ hour :: 2006-09-15 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Watch The Occult History of the Third Reich: Adolf Hitler film
Watch The Occult History of the Third Reich: Adolf Hitler - documentary.     [ video-google :: 2006-09-11 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Death in the Bunker: The True Story of Hitler's Downfall
Adolf Hitler spent the last ten days of his life in a bunker deep under the Chancellery of the Third Reich. Here we are given the story via archival footage as well as extensive interviews with Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary to whom he dictated his will; Rochus Misch, Hitler's bodyguard and courier; Armin D. Lehmann, Hitler's courier responsible for carrying orders from the Führerbunker; Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, tank commander and adjutant to two of Hitler's generals. There is also much film here of Hitler himself, shown with his generals, giving praise to members of the HitlerJugend, and Eva Braun.     [ - :: 2006-08-10 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Documentary about soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army
Last year, Waichi Okumura visited China for the first time in 61 years. During World War II, Okumura, a former soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army, was stationed there and killed his first man: In 1945 an officer told novice soldiers to bayonet tied farmers. He went to the spot where he killed the man and burned incense sticks for him. While there two local man told him that, the japanese guards stopped fighting after Chinese communist troops attacked. On hearing this, the tone of Okumura's voice changed, although he was being filmed. ...Later he realized what he had been saying - horrified at the thought that he might have changed back into a Japanese soldier.     [ yomiuri :: 2006-08-07 :: Japanese Imperial Army ]

Unknown Documentary of German invasion found
Professor Jostein Saakvitne has found a previously unknown German documentary of the invasion of Norway by Germany during World War II. He stumbled across the film "Kampf um Norwegen" -- or "Struggle for Norway" -- at a German Internet auction. The 80-minute documentary of the invasion of Norway in 1940 was commissioned by the German Armed Forces High Command. "The film contains both known footage, but longer than we have previously seen, and a range of new scenes that have probably never been made public before."     [ upi :: 2006-06-22 :: Documentary films: War, History & Nazi Germany ]

Profile of Third Reich propaganda minister Josef Goebbels
Documentary "The Man Behind Hitler" offers excerpts from the diary of propaganda minister Josef Goebbels. Parts of it were lost for decades in the Soviet Union. He admired Hitler early, joined his new political movement in 1924. He was soon calling Nazism a religion and expected it to conquer the world. Goebbels told his diary that he loved his new wife Magda more than anyone, but that the party still came first. He did not confide his fervent affair with movie star Lida Baarova, which Hitler ended in 1938. He hated many of his fellow Nazis, SA head Ernst Rohm, SS head Heinrich Himmler and the operatic fop Hermann Goering. But on film he smiles and shakes hands with them.     [ oregonlive :: 2006-05-19 :: Nazi Leaders, Axis high ranks ]

BBC to show Nuremberg trial drama
The drama documentary will mark the 60th anniversary of the execution of the top Nazi criminals at Nuremberg. The Nuremberg Trial: Inside the Nazi Mind, will be broadcast on BBC Two later this year. Producer Detlef Siebert said the series would reveal what top Nazis, including Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Hermann Goering, revealed as they were interrogated.     [ bbc :: 2006-05-08 :: Nuremberg Trials: Nazi War Criminals ]

Film crew to document WWII training
There isn't much about this military base that resembles the way it looked in 1942. The technology is new and the men who trained here with the First Special Service Force are mostly gone. But next week, a film crew will begin producing a documentary that chronicles the arduous training that shaped an elite group of soldiers 64 years ago. The outfit went on to achieve fighting fame in World War II and to serve as a model for the Army's modern Special Forces. "We're looking at recreating some of the training the First Special Service Force did at Fort Harrison and the Helena area back in 1942."     [ helenair :: 2006-04-29 :: WWII Movies & Films ]

Documentary: Jewish refugee who became a translator at trials
It couldn't have been easy for Howard Triest to keep his emotions in check as he questioned Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop and the other Nazi leaders in their Nuremberg jail cells. After all, if Triest had not fled Germany as a teenager in 1939, he likely would have been sent to a death camp, as his parents were. In 1945, Triest was hired to serve as a translator during the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Triest never lost his composure during his many conversations with the defendants. Not when Julius Streicher, the founder of the notorious anti-Semetic newspaper Der Stuermer, mistook Triest for an Aryan and told him that "I can smell a Jew from a mile away."     [ heraldtribune :: 2006-03-31 :: Nuremberg Trials: Nazi War Criminals ]

Fighting Past Battles: documentary about Baltic Nazi collaborators
Nazism, Baltic-Style - Is a controversial russian documentary about the Baltic pro-German collaborators. The Latvian Waffen SS (the Latvian Legion) was formed while the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. In 1943-44, about 150,000 Latvians were conscripted in a last-ditch effort to stave off the Red Army. In interviews mixed with archival footage, the film examines the 15th and 19th police divisions, voluntary units that were integrated into the legion. The film features testimony from former volunteers, one of them says: "I have never been a member of the Waffen SS. When I enlisted, I was told I would serve in the Grenadier Guards."     [ themoscowtimes :: 2006-03-24 :: Latvia Divided - Nazi Past ]

WWII internment of Aleuts recounted in documentary
A new documentary film, Aleut Story, includes this testimony from Bourdukofsky and other Aleuts in chronicling the little-known internment of 881 Alaska Natives from the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands during World War II. Many in the film are speaking publicly for the first time about their experiences in the camps, where they were sent after troops from Japan invaded Alaska's western outposts in June 1942.     [ usatoday :: 2005-12-05 :: WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands ]

Forgiving Dr. Mengele - Eva Kor's path to forgiving her persecutors
The documentary chronicles Eva Kor's path to forgiving Dr. Josef Mengele, a Nazi scientist who performed experiments on Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, while they were interred at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The film itself explored the concept of forgiveness, specifically in the context of a survivor forgiving her former persecutors.     [ calendarlive :: 2005-11-14 :: WWII Movies & Films ]

Program highlights search for Nazi scientists during second world war
Driven by the fear that the Nazis might come up with a last-minute super weapon, and foreshadowing the beginning of the Cold War, competing Anglo-American and Soviet intelligence teams scoured underground tunnels and mountain hideaways for the best brains in Germany - as documented in "Secrets of the Dead: The Hunt for Nazi Scientists" WWII documentary.     [ JTA :: 2005-10-10 :: Nazi scientists and Science ]

Hearts of darkness - Perpetrators of the crime tell the story
This is the first documentary about the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in which the perpetrators of the crime tell the story. One of them, Hans Friedrich, a former member of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade, recalls the moment Ukranian Jews were told to strip and prepare to die. The interviewer asks him what he was thinking and feeling as he pulled the trigger of his rifle. "Nothing," he says without hesitation. "I only thought aim carefully so you hit properly. That was my thought."     [ Sydney Morning Herald :: 2005-09-29 :: Path to Final Solution ]

The Occult History of the Third Reich: Himmler the Mystic
The second in a 3-part series of documentaries that explore the links between the Third Reich and its leaders and belief in occult powers and practices, this episode looks into the history of the SS. Originally organized as Hitler's elite bodyguards, the SS became a sinister military/spiritual order under Heinrich Himmler; this film examines the roots in German mystic and occult teachings which inspired Himmler in the creation of this murderous gang.     [ nytimes :: 2001-03-04 :: Nazi Occult, Ahnenerbe, Wewelsburg castle ]

See also

'Hitler Movies'

'WW2-era Footage'

'WW2 Movies'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.