(Free Ep) The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler: Leading Millions into the Abyss | BBC Select

[Music] Adolf Hitler the leader of a country rich in culture at the heart of Europe a man incapable of normal human relationships lacking all compassion filled with hatred and Prejudice speak up down [Music] please remind me here long before the second world war Hitler was speaking about his political opponents with brutality the nictator meaning destroyed Hitler's hatred would lead to the Holocaust his desire for Conquest would leave much of European ruins [Music] so full of anger was once loved by millions foreign [Music] s of Southern Germany during the 1930s lay a place of pilgrimage on the slopes of the obazautsburg was Adolf Hitler's home the Burghoff and this is what many people thought of him I myself had the feeling that here was a man who did not think about himself and his own Advantage but solely about the good of the German people this film reveals why Hitler was so attractive to these people with insights from those who lived through these times many of whom were interviewed by the BBC over the last 20 years the man gave off such a Charisma that people believed whatever he said foreign [Music] [Applause] but the truth is that Hitler did not somehow hypnotize the German people for this is a history that shows how Charisma is created in a relationship Hitler said that those Germans he considered racially pure were better than anyone else many Germans believed him [Music] Hitler always filled with hatred managed to make a connection with millions of Germans and in the process this seemingly unlikely figure generated a level of charismatic attraction that is almost without parallel in history [Music] [Music] [Music] Munich in southern Germany in 1913 the home to a strange 24 year old Austrian somebody nobody at the time considered remotely charismatic Adolf Hitler he rented a room from a tailor and scrape to living painting pictures of Munich similar to this for tourists he felt bitter and angry that his dreams of being a great artist had come to nothing a previous flatmate August kubisek described Hitler like this unleashing a torrent of hatred he would pour His Fury over everything and Hitler would almost certainly have remained an unknown painter if it hadn't been for a momentous event in world history [Music] foreign [Music] the first World War [Music] Hitler as an ordinary Soldier fought over these fields in France to the left and right shrapnel are bursting and in between the English bullets whistle but we don't care every one of us has only one wish to settle the score with that gang out there once and for all whatever the cost though Brave he won the Iron Cross his comrade still thought Hitler a bit weird one of them about as our brandmeyer said there was something peculiar about Hitler [Music] qualities that made Hitler appear so peculiar to his comrades which shortly helped make him appear charismatic to thousands the Hitler's character never really changed but the situation did when Germany lost the war [Music] in November 1918 the war ended more than 2 million Germans had died in this war and all that their sacrifice seemed to have achieved was a humiliating defeat [Music] [Applause] in the aftermath of this lost war came riots on the streets of Germany and a socialist revolution in Berlin some of the leaders of the attempted Revolution were Jewish a fact which fed anti-semitic Prejudice particularly amongst many of those on the right of German politics thank you [Music] thousands of ex-soldiers formed paramilitary groups called freikor in order to fight the revolution it's freikor already held many of the ideas and beliefs that Hitler would later adopt as his own [Music] many fry core were hugely anti-Semitic believing in the fantasy that Jews were responsible both for communism and Germany's defeat in the war and one of the most notorious freikel groups even adapted what they took to be a racist symbol the harkenkroits or swastika [Music] members of the freikor called their leaders fuhrer foreign like Heinrich Himmler who would become head of the SS Gregor Strasser one of the most important early leaders in the Nazi party and Rudolph Hearst the future commandant of Auschwitz [Music] but Hitler was not in a fry Corps he was back in Munich devastated by the loss of the war and desperate to stay in the army he seemed lost and directionless [Music] Captain Carl Meyer knew Hitler in May 1919. [Music] at this time Hitler was ready to throw in his lot with anyone who would show him kindness when I first met him he was like a tired stray dog looking for a master but Maya detected in Hitler qualities he could use [Music] he decided to train Hitler as a propaganda agent who is this Hitler was sent on a short course here at the University of Munich and then started giving right-wing speeches to his fellow soldiers warning of the dangers of communism it's only at this point that Hitler's thinking seems to crystallize how many of these ideas were already latent within him is still a matter of debate but what's certain is that in the summer of 1919 he becomes sure of his beliefs in a letter he wrote in September 1919 Hitler called for the removal of the Jews from Germany and a government of national strength now at the age of 30 Hitler had found his mission in life and this mission was the first part of his charismatic appeal Hitler joined the German Workers Party one of a huge number of far-right groups in Munich at the time and started speaking at meetings in beer Halls harsh and Theatrical as his speeches appear to us today at the time his performances soon got him noticed in Munich he seemed to be able to express the anger many people felt as well as their desire to blame someone else for the problems Germany faced particularly the Jews [Music] this speech from 1933 shows how Hitler's own hatred connected with the audience the focused right under here this is a sentence Dimension houses [Applause] foreign [Music] Hitler's warped prejudices and his intolerance was taken as strength of character Hans Frank who would go on to become a leading Nazi first heard Hitler speak in 1920. everything came from the heart and he struck a chord with all of us he uttered what was in the consciousness of all those present this is a key insight into charisma because Charisma does not exist on its own in anyone [Applause] exists only in an interaction between an individual and an audience an individual like Hitler who is telling the audience what they wanted to hear many of them longed for a charismatic leader to lead them out of misery [Music] German history was rich in stories of such Heroes here amongst the mountains around Hitler's house the emperor Frederick Barbarossa was according to Legend sleeping waiting to awaken and fight his final battles [Music] and one of the most popular tourist attractions of the time was this Monument completed in 1875 to Hermann a tribal leader who had led the Germans to victory over the Romans nearly 2 000 years before this later engraving claims a direct link between Hitler and Hermann both portrayed as German Heroes and Herman was so important to the Nazis that Heinrich Himmler took over babelsborg Castle nearby in the 1930s intending this place to be a center of ss power [Music] in the Crypt of the castle Himmler wanted to hold Pagan SS ceremonies by the light of an eternal flame above the Crypt was a hall for the leaders of the SS to meet like the warrior Knights of old all was subordinate to the heroic Master Adolf Hitler he is a genuinely great man and above all a true and pure one [Music] Himmler believed that just as Herman had once proved to be a superior kind of Germanic hero two thousand years ago Adolf Hitler would prove to be just such a hero today [Music] foreign 1923 the political atmosphere in Munich was tense and unstable by now Hitler had been leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party which some called the Nazis for two years and he built a large and growing paramilitary organization the Stormtroopers in November 1923 he decided to act and to try and Spark an uprising in Munich on the 9th of November the Nazis marched through these streets but were stopped by the police here at the corner of the Falton Haller Ence were exchanged four police and 16 Nazis were killed that day the uprising or push had been an incompetent and violent attempt to overthrow a democratic state but Hitler managed to turn it into a heroic myth foreign this annual reenactment of the March filmed after the Nazis came to power shows just how Hitler tried to create that myth [Music] each of the Nazis killed in the putch was turned into a martyr their flag became a sacred Relic [Music] where they were shot became a hallowed sight those in attendance were blessed [Music] Hitler wanted to show how his devoted disciples had died for a great cause a cause symbolized by their single heroic leader [Music] [Music] back in 1924 Hitler received the minimum sentence possible for his part in the push from a sympathetic judge and was sent to Landsberg prison here he wrote a book Mein Kampf or my struggle in it he tried to demonstrate that he possessed the next important element needed by a charismatic leader a vision of how the world is and how it ought to be a brutal vision he who wants to live should fight and he who does not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle does not deserve to live Hitler believed that the fact that we are animals is the most important thing about us and that so-called Aryan Germans were Superior animals foreign was later expressed in this propaganda film of the 1930s made after the Nazis came to power is once in power Hitler introduced compulsory sterilization for selected disabled Germans later he would authorize the killing of tens of thousands of them foreign on the 20th of December 1924 Hitler was released from Landsberg prison and set about trying to rebuild the Nazi party [Music] despite writing Mein Kampf Hitler's charismatic credentials as a revolutionary were still largely based on his reputation as a speaker this series of Studio photos taken later in the 1920s shows how he attempted to demonstrate his Dynamic image [Music] thank you Hitler worked hard to try and appear charismatic this archive from the 1930s shows him using his stair to try and create an effect he would keep eye contact longer than was usual one Nazi supporter later claimed he felt this when Hitler looked at him that was one of the most curious moments of my life the gays which at first rested completely on me suddenly went straight through me and into an unknown distance it was so strange [Music] small as the Nazi party was at the time this footage was shot in the 1920s most of the elements that would come together to make Hitler be seen as a leader of Charisma were already in place his mission to create a racist Aryan German state the connection he made with his audience via his speeches his claim that he possessed strength because he was a proven war hero his darwinian vision developed in Mein Kampf which also contained the fantasy that the Jews and Communists were to blame for everything [Music] but still if you weren't already inclined to accept Hitler's views and you felt he possessed no charisma at all I immediately disliked him because of his scratchy voice he shouted out really really simple political ideas I thought he wasn't quite normal he put forward certain claims that were in no way valid and I said to my friend my impression after that speech is that this man Hitler will hopefully never come to political power and in 1928 it looked like he never would foreign the vast majority of people in Germany were completely immune to Hitler's charisma at the election in May 1928 the Nazis gained just 2.6 percent of the vote Hitler's appeal only began to be felt Beyond a small group of fanatics because of an economic catastrophe [Music] in the wake of the Wall Street crash of 1929 the German economy all but collapsed the Weimar government had borrowed money to pay the Allies War reparations and now the debt became too great to service Banks crashed an unemployment sword the Nazis gained support but so did the Communists it was a ray of hope that socialism would be coming the unemployment would be vanquished that you would have a right to a job and you'd be paid more in the beer Halls fights between the Nazis and the Communists became almost commonplace Stormtroopers all had a big glass in front of them practically a missile the battle was pretty Fierce several people were hospitalized some Storm Troopers too their face wounds I had a head wormed I was bleeding in this atmosphere of violence and political crisis Hitler openly called for the destruction of democracy tonight foreign foreign foreign [Applause] the strong man should have the say and we had such a strong man Hitler with his statements seemed to be the bringer of salvation foreign Hitler hadn't somehow mesmerized his new followers into acting against their own will in this desperate situation they chose to have faith in a leader they felt had charisma but not everybody thought Hitler was the answer to Germany's problems president Hindenburg certainly didn't even though in 1932 the Nazis became the biggest party in Germany he refused to make Hitler Chancellor calling him the Bohemian corporal Hitler was offered the job of Vice Chancellor but he refused to take it and some of his supporters saw his obstinacy as heroic [Music] his nerve he is above the machinations I love him when he's like this I know it's awesome [Music] but some in the German elite were beginning to think that appointing Hitler as Chancellor might be one way out of Germany's problems the aristocratic France Von Papa a former Chancellor himself thought Hitler could be a useful figurehead he didn't find Hitler charismatic but curiously unimpressive Deutschland is what they were most frightened of was not Hitler but the Communists the communism the communism that is the Hope between is Friends backed an idea to make Hitler Chancellor as long as there were only a few other Nazis in the cabinet [Applause] [Music] on the 30th of January 1933 after lobbying from Von papan and others Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg the Hitler's supporters this was the strongest proof yet of his power as a charismatic leader when it had looked impossible that he would become Chancellor and many had doubted him he had asked them to have faith and now he was Chancellor Von papen who was happy to see democracy disappear became vice Chancellor guys he still thought he and his friends could control Hitler he would shortly discover that he'd made one of the most Monumental misjudgments in history [Applause] Hitler talked to the German Nation as Chancellor on the 10th of February 1933. thousands were in the hall in front of him and millions were listening on radio but Hitler made them all wait [Applause] foreign when he did start Hitler stuck to his old familiar script speech was vague in detail and called for Germans to fix their problems without outside help s and even the outside foreign but if Hitler didn't consider you a true German then suddenly you were at risk thousands of people the Nazis considered enemies of the new regime mostly their political opponents but also some Jews were imprisoned in concentration camps this one Dachau outside Munich was opened just weeks after Hitler became Chancellor [Music] to begin with the concentration camps were under the control of the Nazi Stormtroopers here they are parading in Triumph through Berlin but they're ordered marching hid a chaotic and violent reality [Music] everyone is arresting everyone else and avoiding the prescribed official channels everyone is threatening everyone else with protective custody everyone is threatening everyone else with Dachau these concentration camps were not yet places of mass killing but they were brutal in the extreme a number of prisoners were murdered and torture often psychological torture was commonplace I was thrown into the bunker and kept in Chains we only got something to eat every fourth day other than that there was just a jug of water and bread after four days he said you're getting out tomorrow but he was just messing around with me they kept saying you'll be getting out nothing [Music] foreign [Music] Germany the reality was obvious Hitler led a movement of violent revolutionaries and was brutally suppressing any opposition but now he was Chancellor Hitler also wanted the support of all of those who lived in this land that he considered true Germans foreign troopers were still as ready to Spill the blood of their enemies as they'd always been [Music] so how could Hitler benefit from the brutality of Stormtroopers and yet not be blamed for it [Music] an early sign of how Hitler would attempt this deception was shown just two months into his chancellorship Hitler's anti-semitic Prejudice new no bounds and on April the 1st 1933 with Hitler's approval the Nazis held a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses that lasted one day I felt like I was falling into a deep hole that was when I intuitively realized for the first time that the existing law did not apply to Jews you could do with Jews whatever you liked a Jew was an outlaw but because Hitler didn't know what the reaction to all this would be particularly abroad he didn't want his name associated with it the document calling for the boycott was signed only leadership of the National Socialist German Workers Party [Music] but Hitler was concerned that the Stormtroopers might be getting out of his control that they were starting to become a threat to the regime itself [Music] Hitler told them the Revolution was over but the Stormtroopers wanted to March the revolution ever onwards staying true to the words of the Nazi Anthem written by Stormtrooper Horst vessel [Music] oh God [Music] fit their leader and Strom even wanted the Stormtroopers to take over the German army Army didn't want anything to do with this bunch of thugs one rejected the Stormtroopers because of their behavior well at the end one can almost say the Stormtroopers were hated by most soldiers [Music] but Hitler realized he could turn all this to his advantage and alter the way Millions perceived him as a leader he just had to be cold-hearted and ruthless [Music] on the 30th of June 1934 Hitler traveled to the shores of the taganzai in Bavaria and the health resort of bad visay [Music] foreign and the senior leadership of the Stormtroopers were all on holiday here at this hotel then called the hanselbauer [Music] Hitler and his Entourage arrived at 6 30 in the morning Hitler walked through the lobby of the hotel and up the stairs to the first floor where room was asleep in this room Hitler claiming that Rome was plotting a coup against him arrested his old comrade along with the other leaders of the Stormtroopers two days later Rome was shot foreign [Music] Hitler didn't just kill Rome but at least a hundred others he thought opposed him but it all worked to his Advantage because now he'd apparently dealt with disorderly elements in his own party many Germans started to see him for the first time as leader of the nation not just leader of the Nazis on the 2nd of August 1934 just one month after the murder of Rome every member of the German Armed Forces was ordered to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler oh my God he's in highly in ice cream president Hindenburg had just died and now Hitler was head of state as well as Chancellor Hitler [Music] just a few weeks later in September 1934 Hitler was here in Nuremberg for the Nazi party rally the Nazis had first held a rally in Nuremberg in 1927. but this rally would be remembered more than any other and would play an important part in the creation of a Hitler myth because this rally was filmed for the feature-length documentary trying of the will Hitler was portrayed as a Flawless almost Godlike leader descending from the clouds to meet his adoring subjects thanks to Triumph of the will it wasn't just the people who were physically present who experienced the emotional impact of seeing their leader now Millions more could see in cinemas a carefully crafted vision of Hitler [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for me the fuhrer was an invaluable personality the fuhrer of the German Reich he whom Providence had given so many gifts he who was so powerful that he could orchestrate Millions thank you there was the wish to place power in the hands of a man who says we will do it and we will only succeed like this if we all roll up our sleeves [Applause] it made you sick but it was fascinating at the same time Hitler didn't promise anything it was always only for the German people and we have to free the people from Marxism I only admired the technique thank you the fact is that Hitler managed to get all of them almost all of them under the one roof so to speak to pull them together people said that Hitler had the effect of a magnet that was being passed over the heads of the German people [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign but despite this level of adulation Hitler had not changed he was just as hate-filled as ever and so was the regime he led the same year Triumph of the will was made 1934 Alloys Fowler a German communist was taken for questioning by the Nazi's secret police the Gestapo they hit me in the face for three hours always at my face in the meantime my eardrum had split so then I heard an incredible racket it was a roaring an incredible roaring so you couldn't understand anything properly any longer when allies suffered a massive Hemorrhage the Gestapo made him clean his own blood off the floor before sending him to a concentration camp the reason that this kind of persecution did not for the most part damage Hitler amongst the general population was because the perception of many Germans was that Hitler was using violence to bring order right at the beginning the first Communists and social Democrats were carted off I even saw it myself the lorries it didn't make us think they were only Communists after all enemies of the people Hitler was careful to act mostly against groups in German society that many other Germans were already prejudiced against like Jews and communists Hitler was aware that as a charismatic leader the more he targeted carefully defined enemies the better less than one percent of Germans were Jewish you dared to now claim they were communists so the vast majority of Germans were not at risk from persecution as long as they embraced the new world of Nazism and since unemployment was falling and the economy seemed to be picking up many ordinary Germans now felt this was the beginning of a new more optimistic era at first you were carried Along by a wave of Hope because we had it better we had order in the country we had well Security [Music] in particular the young were taught the Nazi World View most importantly that Hitler was a Flawless leader these members of the Hitler Youth were the future soldiers of Germany whom Hitler would demand absolute loyalty it was hammered into us even in the Hitler Youth Germany must live even if we have to die then I realized that people in the Hitler Youth had a vulgar way of dealing with each other a very unpleasant and violent manner was customary the way for example we were told if your teachers haven't yet grasped this New Era then smack them in the mouth brushed Their Fear now that they were in power many of those close to Hitler found their belief in him had intensified still further we love Adolf Hitler because we believe firmly and profoundly that he was sent to us by God to save Germany to those who follow him there is no quality that he does not possess to the greatest perfection foreign no one even thought it odd when Hitler told them that what they were doing would last for millennia [Applause] excited to listen thus these are true one foreign correspondent who attended the 1934 rally wrote that some of those present looked on Hitler as a messiah this wasn't an accident Hitler later talked of being Guided by a Mystical Force he called Providence and this belief in himself as a kind of Messiah was a key part of his charismatic appeal [Music] Hitler's birthday celebrated here in Berlin became a day for National rejoicing [Music] he was praised for trying to restore Germany's greatness and in the process spending enormous sums on the German military Hitler came to be seen as a leader far above the squabbles of everyday life as a result it became possible for Germans to dislike particular Nazis they dealt with and yet still respect Hitler there is great sympathy amongst the population for the fuhrer and rash Chancellor Adolf Hitler I have never heard any negative comment directed at his own person rather one hears now and then yes if Hitler could do everything himself some things would be different but he can't keep a watch on everything this myth that it only Hitler knew about unpopular aspects of the Nazi regime he would change them was a safety valve in the system one that protected Hitler's image as a charismatic leader foreign as Adolf Hitler looked out from his home above Burgess Garden he knew he was the Undisputed master of Germany [Music] it had been an incredible journey from the nobody who had arrived in Munich just before the first world war to Chancellor and fuhrer of the German people but what is just as remarkable is that he was essentially the same character as he had always been [Music] this home movie footage from the 1930s of Hitler with these young children gives a false impression he still had no normal emotional attachment to any one individual though he had a girlfriend now Ava Brown the relationship was fraught he seldom saw her and she attempted suicide twice in the 1930s he was still as choking with hatred as he had been in pre-war Vienna foreign but Hitler's Character defects were an advantage in the times he lived in for his lack of compassion and empathy made him one of the least emotionally needy people alive as a result his supporters basked in his apparent strength and certainty [Music] his rise would prove to be a reminder of what can happen in desperate times when you choose to have faith in a leader you think has charisma for now secure in power Hitler sat high in the mountains of Southern Bavaria and dreamed dreams of brutal Conquest [Music] [Music] foreign

Channel: BBC Select

Views: 236,079

Keywords: documentary, Documentaries, bbc documentaries, bbc documentary, rise of hilter, ww2, world war 2 documentary, hitler documentary amazon prime, hitler documentary youtube, nazi documentary, nazis, nazi party, bbc world war ii, the dark charisma of adolf hitler youtube, bbc the dark charisma of adolf hitler, Laurence Rees, bbc hitler documentary, bbc nazi documentary, german history, Nazi Germany, 1930s germany documentary, hitler documentary, adolph, world war 2, world war ii

Id: V9s8ZTJG3uk

Length: 49min 49sec (2989 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2022