The Nazis. A Warning from History. Part 2

The DVD of the BBC television production with this title intensifies in part 2 as Nazi rule over Germany is described. The major surprise is that the Nazi system was -- in important respects -- run from the bottom up. That is, the German people for various reasons supported Hitler and the Nazis and made the whole system work through voluntary denunciations of fellow citizens to the Gestapo.

In interviews, vignettes, historical film footage, and state-of-the-art graphics this documentary film explores the social functioning of the Third Reich. While the influence of Hitler cannot be denied, it is clearer than ever before that the German people had in them a desire for arrogance and superiority which the Nazis brilliantly fed.

But while the outward forms of the regime were impressive, behind the scenes party and government functioning was chaotic with two people often being given nearly identical jobs. Overlap and jealousy was bound to develop.

Ambition trumped good sense in a system in which people scrambled to please the Fuhrer. Heinrich Himmler took action which resulted in the death of the brown shirt movement and the assassination of its leader because Himmler wanted greater personal power.

In an age of forgetfulness, this documentary provides a vital memory check. Indeed, we must never forget the atrocities of this brutal fascist Nazi regime in which anyone who didn't seem to fit in was in many cases jailed or even murdered. With grave peril do we dismiss or denigrate the meaning of the Nazi horror in twentieth century Germany.