At this writing, just over 65 years have passed since Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies, and yet the cataclysmic events seem from another time, another era, another epoch; a dark fantasy which seems illusory, almost fabricated. And yet this is not fiction but historic reality. The large hosts of military armies chanting "Sieg Heil" amid the plethora of swastika banners and German crosses appear like scenes from a surrealistic film, almost imaginary in its strangeness. A central figure elevated to the status of messiah by his people, almost a god, fueled by the undying devotion of millions. An horrific ideology overtakes an entire nation which had been known for high culture, literature, science and music. And the crimes against humanity within its borders escalate before this messiah and his nation confront the rest of humankind through a conscious combination of political maneuvering and military might. The messiah is not one of benevolence and peace but one of wrath and war.
Is this a nightmare from which humankind would awaken eventually and say thank goodness, it was only a dream? Or a dark landscape of atrocity from which the only escape is death? And yet, no matter how unreal these times appear to us three quarters of a century later, the events of Europe in the 1930's and the 1940's have become not just a chapter of human history but a multi-volume work of epic proportions, the modern equivalent of Homer's "the Iliad" or Edward Gibbons "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire". World War II is the great epic tragedy of the 20th century, a story written in the blood and anguished cries of millions, and rivaled only by its parent, World War I.
Jeremy Isaac's "The World at War" produced in the late 1960's and early 1970's and premiered on British television in 1973 (and later in the US) remains the most outstanding production to date in English which presents a coherent narrative of one of the strangest episodes of human history. Narrated by the incomparable Sir Laurence Olivier, "the World at War" was the first attempt, so far as I know, to piece the large puzzle of people and events, both large and small, into a presentable film. For nearly 23 hours, divided into 26 episodes, audiences are taken back to the early 20th century to witness events that literally changed the course of human experience. The film relies on Olivier's narration, archival footage from the era, interviews of scholars, and interviews of people from the time, recounting memories of what they had witnessed.
The interviews alternate between people of high standing and those of middle class as well as scholarly discourse. In the first episode, one woman remembers being enthralled to the point of silent awe when Hitler and his entourage greeted her and her colleagues. Another woman recalls that the doctor to her children had been dismissed from a hospital he had helped found, only on the grounds of his being of Jewish decent. A scholar recounts how Hitler perpetrated the burning of the Reichstag and blamed it on the communist presence in Germany to strengthen his power by marginalizing rivals. Hitler's strategy was to gain complete political solidarity in Germany at the price of human rights and freedom. But his aims did not end with Germany; Hitler sought to regain those lands around Germany which had been lost as a result of World War I.
The documentary begins with Hitler's rise to Chancelor of Germany in 1933 as head of the German Socialist Worker's Party (Nazi Party), and his eventual rise to dictator upon the death of President Hindenburg in 1934. Hitler schemes to destroy all political adversaries to promote complete centralized power of the government. In short, he completely remakes Germany's political and judiciary structure to encompass an ideology in which political dissenters and those labeled as part of inferior races (i.e. Jews, Gypsies, and other minorities) are not only marginalized and stripped of human rights but are to be persecuted and eventually exterminated. At first, the world seems only to watch in awe and anxiety but for some reason is reluctant to act.
The documentary then furthers how Hitler will take his ideology outside his boundaries and force the world to reckon with this new European power. The dictator plans to absorb many of the surrounding countries of western and central Europe into the Third Reich, blatantly undermining the Versailles Treaty of 1919. His designs begin near his own borders, first absorbing Austria into the German empire, and then France to the west and Czechoslovakia and Poland to the east. He forces Britain, the Soviet Union and Italy to sign treaties, but later will bomb England and begin an eastern offensive into Russia. Finally, a western and eastern alliance is formed among those countries which had not fallen into the Reich's hands. Their mission: to arrest Germany's military campaigns, and the inspiring speech by English Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Britain's Parliament becomes the rallying cry. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in late 1941 followed by Germany's declaration of war against the United States force Americans into the conflict on the side of the allies.
Isaac's outstanding documentary is English language television at its finest and would not be rivaled until Ken Burns' "The Civil War" almost two decades later. In all likelihood, Burns was inspired by World at War in terms of its thoroughness of historical scholarship balanced with stories of everyday people along with a fine narrator; it is the war documentary by which all others are judged. "The World at War" stands as a crowning achievement dealing with a fascinating if horrific subject, the history of the human race nearly annihilating itself. But maybe the documentary is a positive model in and of itself, showing how much more wonderful it is to create than to destroy.
Is this a nightmare from which humankind would awaken eventually and say thank goodness, it was only a dream? Or a dark landscape of atrocity from which the only escape is death? And yet, no matter how unreal these times appear to us three quarters of a century later, the events of Europe in the 1930's and the 1940's have become not just a chapter of human history but a multi-volume work of epic proportions, the modern equivalent of Homer's "the Iliad" or Edward Gibbons "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire". World War II is the great epic tragedy of the 20th century, a story written in the blood and anguished cries of millions, and rivaled only by its parent, World War I.
Jeremy Isaac's "The World at War" produced in the late 1960's and early 1970's and premiered on British television in 1973 (and later in the US) remains the most outstanding production to date in English which presents a coherent narrative of one of the strangest episodes of human history. Narrated by the incomparable Sir Laurence Olivier, "the World at War" was the first attempt, so far as I know, to piece the large puzzle of people and events, both large and small, into a presentable film. For nearly 23 hours, divided into 26 episodes, audiences are taken back to the early 20th century to witness events that literally changed the course of human experience. The film relies on Olivier's narration, archival footage from the era, interviews of scholars, and interviews of people from the time, recounting memories of what they had witnessed.
The interviews alternate between people of high standing and those of middle class as well as scholarly discourse. In the first episode, one woman remembers being enthralled to the point of silent awe when Hitler and his entourage greeted her and her colleagues. Another woman recalls that the doctor to her children had been dismissed from a hospital he had helped found, only on the grounds of his being of Jewish decent. A scholar recounts how Hitler perpetrated the burning of the Reichstag and blamed it on the communist presence in Germany to strengthen his power by marginalizing rivals. Hitler's strategy was to gain complete political solidarity in Germany at the price of human rights and freedom. But his aims did not end with Germany; Hitler sought to regain those lands around Germany which had been lost as a result of World War I.
The documentary begins with Hitler's rise to Chancelor of Germany in 1933 as head of the German Socialist Worker's Party (Nazi Party), and his eventual rise to dictator upon the death of President Hindenburg in 1934. Hitler schemes to destroy all political adversaries to promote complete centralized power of the government. In short, he completely remakes Germany's political and judiciary structure to encompass an ideology in which political dissenters and those labeled as part of inferior races (i.e. Jews, Gypsies, and other minorities) are not only marginalized and stripped of human rights but are to be persecuted and eventually exterminated. At first, the world seems only to watch in awe and anxiety but for some reason is reluctant to act.
The documentary then furthers how Hitler will take his ideology outside his boundaries and force the world to reckon with this new European power. The dictator plans to absorb many of the surrounding countries of western and central Europe into the Third Reich, blatantly undermining the Versailles Treaty of 1919. His designs begin near his own borders, first absorbing Austria into the German empire, and then France to the west and Czechoslovakia and Poland to the east. He forces Britain, the Soviet Union and Italy to sign treaties, but later will bomb England and begin an eastern offensive into Russia. Finally, a western and eastern alliance is formed among those countries which had not fallen into the Reich's hands. Their mission: to arrest Germany's military campaigns, and the inspiring speech by English Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Britain's Parliament becomes the rallying cry. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in late 1941 followed by Germany's declaration of war against the United States force Americans into the conflict on the side of the allies.
Isaac's outstanding documentary is English language television at its finest and would not be rivaled until Ken Burns' "The Civil War" almost two decades later. In all likelihood, Burns was inspired by World at War in terms of its thoroughness of historical scholarship balanced with stories of everyday people along with a fine narrator; it is the war documentary by which all others are judged. "The World at War" stands as a crowning achievement dealing with a fascinating if horrific subject, the history of the human race nearly annihilating itself. But maybe the documentary is a positive model in and of itself, showing how much more wonderful it is to create than to destroy.