Beiderseits der Rollbahn (1953)

Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals

September 1st, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland. The campaign is fast, cruel and ruthless. In these circumstances, how is it that ordinary German soldiers suddenly became vicious killers, terrorizing the local population? Did everyone turn into something worse than wild animals? The true story of the first World War II offensive that marks in the history of infamy the beginning of a carnage and a historical tragedy.

The Day Hitler Died

The story of Hitler’s final hours told by people who were there. This special features exclusive forgotten interviews, believed lost for 65 years, with members of Hitler’s inner circle who were trapped with him in his bunker as the Russians fought to take Berlin. These unique interviews from figures such as the leader of the Hitler Youth Artur Axmann and Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge, have never before been seen outside Germany. Using rarely seen archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this special tells the story of Adolf Hitler’s final days in his Berlin bunker.

Her War, Her Story: World War II

Explore the stories of women caught up in World War II, from the American Home Front to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. Included in this hour-long film are also the personal stories of the incredible women who served in a war that proved women were equal to men when it came to patriotism, service, or in some cases, self-preservation during watershed moments which called for steadfastness.

The Ponzán Network

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Second World War (1939-1945), around three thousand people managed to elude their pursuers, and probably also avoided being killed, thanks to the heroic and very efficient efforts of the Ponzán Team, a brave group of people — mountain guides, forgers, safe house keepers and many others —, led by Francisco Ponzán Vidal, who managed to save their lives, both on one side and the other of the border between Spain and France.

Hitler's Museum

One and a half years before the begin of the Second World War during the annexation of Austria in March of 1938, Hitler conceived the megalomaniac idea of creating the largest European art center in his home town of Linz. At the beginning of the war on the 1st of September 1939, not only did his armies advance but also his art thieves began to fan out in their great foray of art plundering; an expedition on a previously unheard of scale began. Not only did the task forces of diverse National Socialist organizations pillage the occupied countries; Nazi bigwigs like Goering also took whatever they felt was valuable. This documentary includes the long and eventful journey of an exceptional masterpiece of European art: the Ghent Altar, created by van Eyck.

Bletchley Park and the Ultra Secret

This film tells the incredible story of Bletchley Park and the Ultra Secret. Filmed at Bletchley in collaboration with the Bletchley Trust and with interviews with Bletchley Veterans the BHTV team explain the importance of Bletchley to the Allied War effort. As Sir Harold Hinsley a Bletchley Veteran and Official Historian of British Intelligence during WW2 said, Ultra shortened the war by two to four year's and that the outcome would have been uncertain without it. The film also shows how the allies used the intelligence on land, sea and air. This film shows that the success at Bletchley was not just the result of a few brilliant men and women but the result of the efforts of thousands of unsung heroes.

The Final Adventure of Kaktus Kid

Aleksandar Zograf, a renowned cartoonist discovers an unusual comic book from World War II. The comic’s hero is Kaktus Kid – a small cactus trapped in his pot. Intrigued, Zograf investigates into the life of Kaktus Kid’s creator – little known artist Veljko Kockar. He soon discovers that Kockar was arrested just after the liberation of Belgrade in 1944. He was charged for being a Gestapo agent and executed. Zograf’s investigation reveals a far more complex story: Kockar’s identity and artistic works were stolen, he possibly has an affair with the girlfriend of a guerilla soldier and he drew anti-communist propaganda for the Nazis. As he explores the story and pieces together the scraps of evidence 70 years after it happened Zograf is faced with his own personal and artistic dilemmas: why do these little drawings have such power to give consolation but also lead to violence?

Iwo Jima: From Combat to Comrades

For the men who fought perhaps the fiercest battle of WWII, seventy years have passed. But the memories of those 36 bloody days on Iwo Jima have not. In the spring of 2015, survivors of both sides of the battle returned for the last time to join a Reunion of Honor — a unique, now-peaceful fellowship first forged of fire and bullets.

The Mauthausen Resistance

During World War II, the photographer Francisco Boix and other Spanish Republican prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp, where 120,000 people died, managed not only to survive their indescribable experience, but also, after the war, to reveal to the world what really happened in that hell, saving from destruction thousands of official photographs taken by the SS.

The Maginot Line: France's Defensive Barrier

The Maginot Line: thousands of subway bunkers and concrete defenses lining the French border from Belgium to the Mediterranean Sea, a monumental engineering feat that was celebrated as a technical masterpiece when it was created. When the impregnable wall was demolished by the unbeatable Nazi war machine in 1940, the conquered fortress became the shattered symbol of French defeat.

Guy Martin's D-Day Landing

Guy Martin undertakes a challenge to restore a plane from the Second World War, and recreate a parachute jump into Normandy, as thousands of Allied soldiers did during D-Day.

GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II

550,000 Jewish American men and women fought in World War II. In their own words, veterans both famous and unknown (from Hollywood director Mel Brooks to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger) bring their war experiences to life: how they fought for for their nation and their people, struggled with anti-Semitism within their ranks, and emerged transformed, more powerfully American and more deeply Jewish.

Des traîtres dans la Résistance

In May 1943, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the new head of the Reich Central Security Office, gave Hitler a report describing in detail the organization of the French Resistance. Indeed, during the Second World War, most of the Resistance networks had been infiltrated by traitors, the "V Man" (trusted men) in the service of the occupier. The Germans had established treason as a system and recruiting Frenchmen ready to inform on them was one of their priorities. It was these Frenchmen, whose number is estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000, who dealt terrible blows to the Resistance.

The Day They Dropped The Bomb

On August 6 1945, one plane dropped one bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the city was destroyed and 80,000 people were dead. But the dropping of the Atomic bomb also launched the Nuclear age, shaping all of our lives and changing the world for ever. For this film we have tracked down people who made the bomb, people who dropped the bomb, and people who were in Hiroshima – some less than half a mile from ground zero -when the bomb fell on their city. Many of the witnesses are in their 90s and this will be the last time they will be able to tell their extraordinary stories. The Day They Dropped The Bomb is told through witness recollections, rare archive film and photographs shot at the time. The documentary will be broadcast for the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima next year by ITV and in America by the Smithsonian Channel.

Hitler's 9/11

Adolf Hitler's Nazi megalomania knew no limits. The most daring of his plans World War II involved German fighter planes crashing into Manhattan's skyscrapers as living bombs, like the Japanese kamikazes. Hitler understood the huge symbolic power of Manhattan's skyscrapers. He believed suicide bombing would have a devastating psychological impact on the American people and the U.S. war effort.

An Intimate History of Occupation

June 14, 1940. The German Army marches into Paris. France is an occupied country. Through exclusive amateur footage, personal stories, and popular songs from the time, this fi lm recounts life with the enemy during the occupation, as seen by the French... and the Germans! Despite the Nazis and the troubled war times, day-to-day life in occupied France went on. People learnt to live with the rationing, the cues, the curfew... Many try to forget the hard times, mainly thanks to the movies in which big stars provide a little dream and lead a privileged life. These stars don't actually collaborate, butadapt and give the impression of normal life during the war. After all, is it necessarily shameful to shake the hand of an enemy?

The Cold Blue

A meditation on youth, war and stunning bravery, featuring footage, taken from the National Archives, from the documentary filmed in 1943 by legendary Hollywood director William Wyler about the famous Memphis Belle flying fortress and the gripping narration from some of the last surviving B-17 pilots.

Spitfire: The Birth of a Legend

‘Spitfire— Birth of a Legend‘ tells the story of the Spitfire from a radical design on the drawing board to the fighter aircraft that became the symbol of Britain’s determination to fight on to victory. It celebrates the history of this acclaimed aircraft, the men who designed and built it, and those who flew and fought in it. The story, along with dramatic archive and colour film of aerial combat, graphically illustrates the appeal and fascination the Spitfire has maintained since it faced and fought the fighter and bomber formations of the Luftwaffe.

Tony Robinson's VE Day Minute by Minute

Tony Robinson’s VE Day: Minute By Minute will take a unique look at a pivotal day in the history of the modern world, delving into the key events that made VE Day such a momentous twenty-four hours. This is the story of what happened on that most celebrated and important day, including original interviews with historians and veterans who tell their stories and share their first-hand experiences. Using unseen archive footage and stills, plus never told accounts from veterans who were there, this one-off special will chart the moment the clock struck midnight, to 24 hours later, when fighting officially stopped across Europe. Up and down the country it was dawning on people that they were waking up not with fear or anxiety, but with relief and excitement. This was a Great Britain no one had experienced for six years. A Britain at peace. At almost no notice street celebrations were being prepared and tens of thousands were flocking to London and other city centres.

Alien Endgame

In 2021, a Pentagon report revealed what the US government had denied for decades -- UFOs are real and may even pose a threat to our planet. Now, ex-military members break their silence about the massive cover-up. Are we prepared for an alien invasion?

The Man Who Was There

The Spanish journalist Manuel Chaves Nogales (1897-1944) was always there where the news broke out: in the fratricidal Spain of 1936, in Bolshevik Russia, in Fascist Italy, in Nazi Germany, in occupied Paris or in the bombed London of World War II; because his job was to walk, see and tell stories, and thus fight against tyrants, at a time when it was necessary to take sides in order not to be left alone; but he, a man of integrity to the bitter end, never did so.

Quando i tedeschi non sapevano nuotare

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Spitfire

A feature documentary about the people and the planes that helped win World War War II. Through people personally connected to the events, the film investigates the story of how the Spitfire, its stable-mate, the Hawker Hurricane and its great adversary, the Messerschmitt 109 came into being during the huge advances in aviation in the interwar period—and then how the pilots fared in combat, three miles up in the skies over Europe, Africa and Asia.

Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War

One of Britain’s greatest landscape artists, Eric Ravilious, is killed in a plane crash while on commission as Official War Artist in Iceland in 1942. His life is as compelling and enigmatic as his art, set against the dramatic wartime locations that inspire him. This film brings to life this unique and still grossly undervalued British artist caught in the crossfire of war 80 years ago, whose legacy largely sank without trace, until now…

Stalin, the Red Tyrant

On March 9, 1953, Joseph Stalin was buried in Moscow in front of a million people. His funeral is that of a demi-God. Ultimate paradox for one of the greatest criminals in History who brought misfortune to his people while arousing collective admiration.

Seeds of Destiny

Oscar winning postwar propaganda film in support of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Strident but poignant, focusing on children. The film surveys the Nazi/Japanese atrocities, post-war devastation and the early relief efforts. This film was responsible for raising over $200,000,000, making it a top moneymaking film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.

Spy from a Distance

The secret past of a World War II-era intelligence officer comes to light when his grandson, actor Joonas Saartamo, begins to investigate his grandfather's activities as the leader of a long-range reconnaissance patrol. Meeting various experts along the way, Saartamo discovers a new insight into the crucial role of long-range reconnaissance patrols in war. He also realizes how strongly the weight of his grandfather's war experiences has been passed down from generation to generation, affecting him directly.

Stalin and the Katyn Massacre

The Katyn massacre, carried out by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, was only one of many unspeakable crimes committed by Stalin's ruthless executioners over three decades. The mass murder of thousands of Polish officers was part of a relentless purge, the secrets and details of which have only recently been partially revealed.

The Autobiography of a 'Jeep'

The invention and use of a jeep are described, from the viewpoint of one of the vehicles.

Death of a Nation

Parallels are drawn between Abraham Lincoln's presidency and the presidency of Donald Trump. Not since 1860 have the Democrats so fanatically refused to accept the result of a free election. That year, their target was Lincoln. They smeared him. They went to war to defeat him. In the end, they assassinated him.

The Last Days

Five Jewish Hungarians, now US citizens, tell their stories: before March 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50 years later. An historian, a Sonderkommando, a doctor who experimented on Auschwitz prisoners, and US soldiers who were part of the liberation in April 1945.

Nazi Concentration Camps

Produced and presented as evidence at the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Hermann Göring and twenty other Nazi leaders, this film consists primarily of dead and surviving prisoners and of facilities used to kill and torture during the World War II.

The Paper Brigade

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

Night and Fog

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.