The Nazis: A Warning from History

Sometimes in the late hours or at strange moments one is left to wonder about the nature of life and death, the future. Watching the Nazis: A Warning from History gives one just such thoughts. What was it like to be a young German in 1934 watching this great revolution unfolding? A thousand changes imperceptible and perceptible, talk of destiny and triumph, erasing the past for a new future. It makes one wonder about the next step to take, and where it may lead one years down the line.

In this documentary we experience the various chapters in the Nazis' rise, moving forward with the Germans as each change, each new step by the Reich brings about a new world of possibilities, but still with enough retrospect to know where it's all heading. It's frightening, one feels like a blind man walking but inevitably we know the dark place we're going. The Nazis were bad, born out of chaos aided by fate, but from the day to day life of the poor German it was an evil that might've seemed good at first, and certainly an evil much more abstract than the daily struggle to survive, in the wake of WW1 and Versailles. With each chapter we watch the Nazis' rise as one of them, we're in the present and when events finally cascade we feel just as helpless as that nation held sway under evil forces along with its countless victims.

The Nazis: A Warning from History is something to see because it detaches us from the our time and let's us witness first hand how our own weakness, desperation, and bitterness can lead us to a place much worse than the one we left. The cold, evil, and unrepentant accounts of those who took part in the killings contrasted with those who knew but felt powerless, along with those who felt clever enough to ride the wave only to find themselves crushed beneath, paint a dark picture. An ugly world, shrouded in darkness where the future is an illusion disclosed by carnival frauds, and when curtain falls the people are left with the consequence of their ignorance and heartlessness.

From the infighting of the Weimar Republic, to the rise of the National Socialist party, to re-armament, colonization, war, and final defeat we are left to wonder how it all happened. Some still cling to their blame of the Germans, but with the silent knowledge that we're no longer talking about Germans anymore, we're watching humanity. As it happened before so has it happened again, and could easily yet still.

this is a compelling documentary on a very emotive subject, as a historian i found this documentary to be of great interest and full of accurate and important information. I would highly recommend reading "Auschwitz" and the updated version of "Nazis : A Warning from History" (due out 2nd March) by Laurence Rees who played a big part in the making of the documentary. One of the things i found the most interesting about this documentary was the fact the they used a lot of primary sources including, rare film footage, pictures and they spoke to a lot of people involved in the Nazis regime. It was very interesting to hear how they felt about what they did under Hitlers regime nearly 60 years later.

I second what a lot of other reviewers have said, but only add this. Ruthless, authoritarian governments are often portrayed as being "efficient" - one of Mussolinis mottos was that he would "keep the trains running on time." The Nazi propaganda machine pushed this image of the efficiency of fascism so well it persists to this day. This documentary show the reality - the Nazi's were grossly incompetent as cronyism very quickly set in, as it does in all such tyrannical states. I'm also tired of this myth that the Nazis "almost won" - they did not only not "almost win" WW2, they got completely obliterated and got their own country destroyed.

I've seen my fair share of documentaries about World War II and Nazism. Some were good and some downright awful. But this one gets at some issues that are often addressed poorly by other investigations.

One question this six-part series attempts to answer is how did Germany fall under Hitler's spell? How was it possible? Perhaps one of the best moments is in laying the ground work for answering this complex question by detailing the circumstances and climate of the time. It certainly solved some mysteries for me concerning the hatred of Germans toward communism and Bolshevism.

The interviews themselves are hard hitting. I am amazed that some of these former Nazis agreed to be interviewed and unblinkingly told why they acted as they did. Some give excuses but many simply state it...as if daring anyone to deny them their right to feel that way. It is simply amazing and stunning to watch. And to realize that even in the light of how horrific their actions were, they still would have acted in such a manner. It defies description.

The series' creators seem to understand that in no way can they tackle all the issues of Nazism so they pick their issues with care. I especially appreciated hearing how the ethnic Germans returned to their newly expanded homeland, causing the SS to have to throw out the Poles living there. It was an aspect of the annexation I knew nothing about until now.

My only complaint was that there was so much I am sure they had to leave out. But what is included is first-rate, well done and definitely skillfully pieced together. The graphics are also top notch. I must also applaud the creators for choosing original music or period music and not the usual synthesizer overdubs one hears in most documentaries.

Kudos, too, to narrator Sam West, who does a top-notch job.

"The Wild East-Poland:Innocent Villagers shot to the ground." These are heart wrenching images of an abyss, a Dante's inferno into which the occupied countries under Adolf Hitler, had nosedived ; September 1939- A World War which wiped out entire generations. The Nazis- A Warning from History, is aptly titled and brilliantly cinematographed. Not to mention the absorbing narration by Samual West.Even for a superficial observer this documentary reveals startling evidence into the narcissistic ,brutally anti-semitic & megalomaniac society, the Germans in the 1930s had succumbed to.For amateur documentary filmmakers this is a masterpiece of historical research and candid interviews with former Nazis. Having partly recorded it from TV in 2000, I am yet to obtain the original DVD, which has been released in the U.K. Yet to be marketed in Australia. A must see for those who have followed the events leading to World War II .