The Ascending Path

Hitler's Evil Science

In 1935, German scientists dug for bones; in 1943, they murdered to get them. How the German scientific community supported Nazism, distorted history to legitimize a hideous system and was an accomplice to its unspeakable crimes. The story of the Ahnenerbe, a sinister organization created to rewrite the obscure origins of a nation.

Five Came Back

The extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five legendary filmmakers who went to war to serve their country and bring the truth to the American people: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Based on Mark Harris’ best-selling book, “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.”

After the camps, being alive...

For the first time, survivors talk about life after the camps. How does one return to a life that was interrupted with such violence? How does one reconstruct oneself when all or most of one’s family were butchered? How does one resume studies and earn a living in a society that had cast you out a few years earlier?

Der Nürnberger Prozess

Potsdam Builds Up

Documenting the rebuilding of Potsdam one year after the war under Soviet supervision.

Leipziger Messe 1946

Documentary short about the Leipzig Tradefair in 1946.

Dresden

A film about Dresden - before, during, and after the war.

The Nuremberg Trials

One journalist described it as a chance "to see justice catch up with evil." On November 20, 1945, the twenty-two surviving representatives of the Nazi elite stood before an international military tribunal at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany; they were charged with the systematic murder of millions of people. The ensuing trial pitted U.S. chief prosecutor and Supreme Court judge Robert Jackson against Hermann Göring, the former head of the Nazi air force, whom Adolf Hitler had once named to be his successor. Jackson hoped that the trial would make a statement that crimes against humanity would never again go unpunished. Proving the guilt of the defendants, however, was more difficult than Jackson anticipated. This American Experience production draws upon rare archival material and eyewitness accounts to recreate the dramatic tribunal that defines trial procedure for state criminals to this day.

WWIII

To help prevent the unthinkable from ever coming true, it is important to know what could really happen....the most awesome and deadly display of warfare that the world has ever seen.

Návrat presidenta dr. Edvarda Beneše do Prahy 16. května 1945

Vltava po válce

A 4-year-old girl cries, lost in the city. A Soviet soldier on a ferry takes her in and takes her to her home village.