Hitler's Circle of Evil

This is a very good series, and very well presented. Shines a light on the inner circle of the mafia-like organization that was the Nazi regime and the inner fights between the senior members. Very interesting to see how these horrible people fought each other, hungry for power and/or survival, and still the show constantly reminds the viewer that these interesting characters, were also the monsters responsible for some of the worst crimes of the 20th century.

Only flaw I think is that it is a bit repetitive sometimes, since we have to be constantly reminded who was who. It is understandable of course that not everyone is a history buff who would always recognize historical figures, so that is excepted.

In general is a very good documentary series, highly recommended.

I have to disagree respectfully with the other two reviews on this documentary series, I found it very good and enjoyed it.

This series presents the Nazi high command as people in a way that I had never seen in any previous documentary or book. The writers made good and frequent use of many primary source documents - diaries, letters, court transcripts, memos and other materials - so I would in no way class this as "propaganda." I think this series is an admirable work that probably represents many hours of research and puts together information I had never seen presented like this.

Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Goering, Speer and others were not inhuman monsters who just sprang up out of nothing, they were people who behaved monstrously, and neither were they supermen nor military geniuses. This documentary gives a detailed picture of who they were as individuals through how they interacted with each other, and how these monstrous, flawed humans destroyed themselves and their own country.

I just read Erik Larson's book "In the garden of beasts". The book tells you the story of William E. Dodd, american ambassador in Berlin from 1933 to 1937. Recommended! Combined with this series, it gives you a great view on what happened in Germany during that period, and we can only wonder why USA, GB and France didn't do something about it much earlier. They absolutely underestimated the situation. Hitler just wanted time to build his army.

William E. Dodd foresaw all this, and allthough he was criticized by many during that time because of what he said and wrote about what he thought would happen, he was later seen as a prophet they all should have listened to.

"Hitler's circle of evil" is an excellent documentary!

I have seen a number of documentaries about German history through the two World Wars, but this is the first one that actually reveals the intricate interpersonal relationships among a group of deranged individuals that lead a political party from relative obscurity into the driving force behind a national and global tragedy. The group comprising Hitler's 'inner circle' were all psychologically unbalanced and fanatical individuals. It is interesting to see how they were able to use the socio-economic circumstances of Germany to convince a substantial portion of the German population to adopt their arrogant and wicked philosophy. Bravo to the producers of this documentary for showing an original perspective on the events of history!

This excellent historian-narrated docu-drama retells the history of the making of the Nazi party and the Third Reich by focusing on the interplay of the main characters at the center of it all: Hitler and his inner circle of Nazi leaders. For me, the series rates very highly among many others in the genre for the seamless use of archival photos and footage, rich and convincing dramatization, and constant narrative driven commentary by numerous historians. The use of music to heighten the drama is not too intrusive, and is actually effective. One can forgive the British historians for their obvious bias in describing Hitler and his henchmen as "evil" and "deranged" because they were! Yet, it is important to take in the lessons the narrative also presents (with less obvious emotional force) in how Germany's economic ruin after WWI and the colonial ambitions of other European powers at that time abetted the drive toward the rabid nationalism that Hitler promoted... lessons that America had taken in far better than Britain and other Allies following WWII with the brilliant Marshall Plan. Back to this production, though: Even if you are well familiar with the history of the Nazi party, Hitler's Circle of Evil is fascinating and even entertaining viewing.