Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial

I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in 1961 when I was 13 years old. In my opinion it was and still is the definitive work on Nazi Germany. While this documentary drew on William Shirer's written materials and broadcasts it fell short in several areas.

Having lived and worked in the former Soviet Union as well as the former Soviet Bloc countries, it infuriates me to see how western historians gloss over the complicity of Stalin, Molotov and Beria for their part in starting WWII. While some mention was made to the Soviet invasion of Poland and the subsequent annexation of the eastern half. There was no time spent on the Soviet invasion of Finland and the Baltics. There was no mention of the vast amount of material aid provided to the Nazi regime by Stalin. Despite Poland's invasion by both Germany and the USSR, there was no mention of why the UK and France declared war on Germany but failed to declare war on the USSR.

A brief aside during the Nuremberg trials about the fact that the Soviets committed many of the same "crimes against peace " but were not only never "put in the dock" but were allowed to judge and then allowed to enslave all of eastern Europe despite agreements to allow free elections.

No mention of the fact that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of at least ten million civilians, that Molotov's signature was alongside Ribentroff's assuring the start of the war and finally not a word on the Soviet "concentration camps" (gulags) where civilians were starved, beaten and shot to death in the millions or the many Soviet public works projects constructed with forced labor.

One last comment, the comparison of Hitler's retreat to Mar a Lago was unnecessary and stain on the great historical work by Shirer.

It is a very well done documentary that shows the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. A very good job of covering the aftermath of the devastation that they caused across Europe and gives some insight into what could have happened if they went unchecked.

To me, the most glaring omissions in all of these documentaries is not the why of the Nazi rise to power, but where they got all the funding and support. I guess, because no one wants to talk about the American money that funded them. Henry Ford, the Dulles brothers etc. There was a great deal of support amongst American money to bring them to power. This is well documented but not discussed in these things because it puts America into a bad light. It also is quite telling as to why America was not interested in really getting into the war, until it absolutely had to. Not that it was pivotal, that was the Russians.

Good documentary series but not worth the build up for several weeks on Netflix. It would really be strong if important historical documentaries stuck with a solid single narrator (Peter Coyote/ Martin Sheen) & not a constant trope of random academics who provide their two sense as if they were first-hand witnesses.

Most of all, documentaties like this need to get rid of the constant 10 second frames of random individual men/ women in a semi-darkened room speaking when they can just continue with the interesting footage or re-enactments that they already have. This doc series has plenty of unique footage & decent reenactments but is ruined by the consistent random guy/ gal sitting legs crossed with a red curtain behind them.

The tones of the voices from the speakers are a bit whiny/ annoying & there does seem to be many personal opinions given without the speakers stating that what they were saying was actually an opinion. If I watch again I would write them down but I likely will not watch again. If I do I will worth the watch with closed captioning on & volume muted.

Lastly, I understand WW2 & Hitler covers tons and tons of information, but it is hard to understand how large events kinda just get muttered but then they fixate on smaller events & really blow them up. Not a word mentioned about the "Danzig Corridor". Lots of jumping around takes place but this is truly a cliff notes version of many things at best.

Considering the voluminous information surrounding WWII, it's not going to cover every detail or aspect that one might want to see. However, I think they've managed to include the key moments of the narrative they're focusing on.

This documentary combines commentary, historical footage, and reenactment scenes. The reenactment scenes help enhance the documentary. A lot of important meetings were done behind closed doors and were not recorded, so the reenactment gives a sense of what might have happened.

I think this is a great documentary and shows how such dangerous regimes can come into power. Hopefully, although unlikely, such grand scale atrocities are behind us.

Did not need to watch the trial scenes while watching the footage from the original one. And the actors who do not resemble the original characters who appear constantly. This caused some confusion.

But overall a good series and historical scenes are indeed rare and well colored.

Also, the guests are from different specialties, which adds perspectives.

The acting scenes away from the trial are very good.

Theater as a decoration for dialogues. I did not understand its purpose.

Special thanks to the director of photography and the decorators and costume designers. I went back in time............