Spiegel TV

The spectacular moon landing in 1969 was also a success of more than 100 technicians and engineers from Germany, some of whom had already revolutionized weapons technology and built rockets in Hitler's service during World War II. The documentary analyzes the entanglements of German NASA employees with the Third Reich.

The documentary focuses on the German Wehrmacht’s invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union during World War II and its consequences for the German military. On June 22, 1941, “Operation Barbarossa” marked the start of a war of annihilation that claimed millions of lives. Hitler and his generals planned the destruction of the Soviet Union and its population. The Wehrmacht supported SS Einsatzgruppen in mass shootings and committed numerous war crimes. The anticipated quick victory failed to materialize due to a lack of reserves and alternative strategies, leading to the operation’s failure. Spiegel-TV author Nina Adler presents these events using previously unseen amateur footage from German soldiers and rare archival material from Russia. Expert interviews, including with military historian Rolf-Dieter Müller and authors Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer, round out the documentary and shed light on a war that forever changed the image of the Germans.

People have always been fascinated by the tropics. Explorers from Europe were among the first to travel to the equatorial region centuries ago. Modern scientists are continuing what began with these pioneers. The documentary traces the historical exploration of the paradise belt at latitude 0 and looks at modern research at the equator.

At the end of 1945, the Nuremberg trials against Göring, Hess, von Ribbentrop and other Nazi officials began. The young Jewish reporter Ernst Michel and the witness Seweryna Szmaglewska, both concentration camp survivors, struggle not only with their deep traumas, but also with some uncomfortable insights that the trial brought to light. Carsten Gutschmidt's thoughtful docudrama sensitively interweaves dramatised scenes, flashbacks, colourised original footage and new material in which witnesses and descendants visit the original locations and comment on the action.

Born into a Bavarian bourgeois family, Heinrich Himmler became the driving force behind the indescribable crimes that made the Nazi regime so unique in modern history.

The fact that Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon on July 19, 1969, was also the success of Wernher von Braun and a team of more than 100 NASA technicians and engineers from Germany. But the success story is shrouded in dark shadows: Many of the Germans had a Nazi past and were part of the development of the infamous V2 rocket. Some 20,000 forced laborers lost their lives during the production under the inhumane working conditions at several Nazi underground weapons factories. In a secret operation to secure German rocket technology, the Americans brought the scientists to the USA in 1945. Only decades later were classified documents released, detailing the involvement of German NASA employees with the Third Reich.

With his blue eyes, blond hair and boyish laugh, he conquered German cinema audiences in the 1950s and 60s: Berlin-born Hardy Krüger made it all the way to Hollywood as an actor. But he was just as passionate a writer, pilot and globetrotter.

A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.

Thoughts of a diversity of public and private citizens on the virtues of democracy, its faults, its decadence, its fall and the rise of populism.

The Stammheim trial against the leadership of the first generation of the RAF was one of the most elaborate in the Federal Republic of Germany. Through this trial, Stammheim also became a place of identity for the RAF. The docudrama uses the perspective of Horst Bubeck, who as a prison officer in the cell wing had the most intensive contact with the prisoners, to shed new light on the history.

The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.

In 2016, an album containing 250 previously unseen photos of Nazi officials was discovered in the USA by Stephan Hördler, a prominent Holocaust historian, who immediately understood the album's inestimable value. The album brings together photographs of a "group of friends," all from the same region of Germany, all of whom became SS men. From 1928 to 1943, the photo album allows us to follow their journey. Hördler conducted the investigation, comparing the photos in the album with other, better-known ones, the faces of these men with those of concentration camp officials, and ultimately revealed that it was at Lichtencburg that these young men were trained, a "school" for future camp executioners, and the bonds of camaraderie and informal network that would allow them to help each other, even after the war.

A history of Nazi television programming and technology, from 1935 to 1944.

Film about the gender binary. What is it, how does it manifest itself in our minds and our lives - and how can we go beyond? Just how different are “men” and “women?” Are they even two distinct groups? This film follows individuals and communities, experts and artists around the globe who right now are radically and joyfully redefining gender as we know it.

Young people are discovering pornography at an increasingly early age. How does this early exposure affect them? Filmed in Europe and the United States, this is a comprehensive and nuanced scientific overview of a massive phenomenon.

The authors have meticulously traced the prehistory of September 11, the tragic fate of agent John O'Neill and the day of the attacks - with the help of contemporary witnesses, scenic reconstructions and numerous original recordings.

Adolf Hitler spent the last ten days of his life in a bunker underneath the Chancellery of the Reich. Unwilling to face the consequences of defeat, the dictator ended his own life on April 30, 1945 in this fortified underground complex. Featuring exclusive interviews with the last survivor’s of Hitler’s inner circle and extensive archival footage, Death in the Bunker is an illuminating look at the Führer’s final decisions in preparation for his suicide.

The first ascent of the Matterhorn was made on July 14, 1865 by Edward Whymper, Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz and two guides from Zermatt, Peter Taugwalder father and son. Douglas, Hudson, Hadow and Croz are killed on the descent after Hadow slips and drags the other three men down the north face. Whymper and the two Taugwalders, who survive, are later accused of having cut the rope that connected them to the rest of the group so as not to be dragged into the fall, but the ensuing investigation finds no evidence of their guilt and they are acquitted. The Matterhorn is the last great peak in the Alps to be conquered and its ascent marks the end of the golden age of mountaineering. One hundred and fifty years later, a team undertakes the same expedition in order to unravel the mystery.

In February 1945, American troops launched a major offensive intended to bring about the end of the Third Reich. Accompanying them were two dozen cameramen from the U.S. Signal Corps, who documented the downfall of Nazi Germany on 35mm celluloid. A two-part SPIEGEL-TV documentary by Michael Kloft.