0:00:04 > 0:00:08AUDIO OF ADOLF HITLER GIVING SPEECH
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Adolf Hitler,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16the leader of a country rich in culture at the heart of Europe.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22A man incapable of normal human relationships,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26lacking all compassion, filled with hatred and prejudice.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Here, long before the Second World War,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Hitler was speaking about his political opponents with brutality,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50"vernichtet", meaning destroyed.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'Vernichtet!
0:00:52 > 0:00:53'Vernichtet!
0:00:53 > 0:00:55'Vernichtet!
0:00:55 > 0:00:56'Vernichtet!'
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Hitler's hatred would lead to the Holocaust.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06His desire for conquest would leave much of Europe in ruins.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Yet this man, so full of anger, was once loved by millions.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Here, in the mountains of southern Germany during the 1930s,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30lay a place of pilgrimage.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38On the slopes of the Obersalzberg was Adolf Hitler's home,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40the Berghof.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46And this is what many people thought of him.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50'I myself had the feeling that here was a man
0:01:50 > 0:01:53'who did not think about himself and his own advantage,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57'but solely about the good of the German people.'
0:02:00 > 0:02:05This film reveals why Hitler was so attractive to these people,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08with insights from those who lived through these times,
0:02:08 > 0:02:13many of whom were interviewed by the BBC over the last 20 years.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15'The man gave off such a charisma
0:02:15 > 0:02:18'that people believed whatever he said.'
0:02:24 > 0:02:29But the truth is that Hitler did not somehow hypnotise the German people,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32for this is a history that shows how charisma
0:02:32 > 0:02:35is created in a relationship.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Hitler said that those Germans he considered racially pure
0:02:40 > 0:02:44were better than anyone else, and many German believed him.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Hitler, always filled with hatred,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55managed to make a connection with millions of Germans,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59and in the process, this seemingly unlikely figure
0:02:59 > 0:03:02generated a level of charismatic attraction
0:03:02 > 0:03:05that is almost without parallel in history.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27Munich, in southern Germany.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36In 1913, the home to a strange 24-year-old Austrian,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40somebody nobody at the time considered remotely charismatic,
0:03:40 > 0:03:41Adolf Hitler.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47He rented a room from a tailor,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and scraped a living painting pictures of Munich,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52similar to this, for tourists.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55He felt bitter and angry that his dreams
0:03:55 > 0:03:58of being a great artist had come to nothing.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00A previous flatmate,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05August Kubizek, described Hitler like this.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08'Unleashing a torrent of hatred, he would pour his fury over everything.'
0:04:11 > 0:04:15And Hitler would almost certainly have remained an unknown painter
0:04:15 > 0:04:19if it hadn't been for a momentous event in world history...
0:04:37 > 0:04:39..the First World War.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Hitler, as an ordinary soldier, fought over these fields in France.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55'To the left and right, shrapnel abursting,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'and in between, the English bullets whistle.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00'But we don't care.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03'Every one of us has only one wish,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07'to settle the score with that gang out there once and for all,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09'whatever the cost.'
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Though brave - he won the Iron Cross -
0:05:13 > 0:05:16his comrades still thought Hitler a bit weird.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19One of them, Balthasar Brandmayer, said...
0:05:27 > 0:05:29But what is extraordinary is that the very qualities
0:05:29 > 0:05:34that made Hitler appear so peculiar to his comrades
0:05:34 > 0:05:37would shortly help make him appear charismatic to thousands.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44For Hitler's character never really changed,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48but the situation did, when Germany lost the war.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55In November 1918, the war ended.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00More than two million Germans had died in this war,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and all that their sacrifice seemed to have achieved
0:06:02 > 0:06:04was a humiliating defeat.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14In the aftermath of this lost war came riots
0:06:14 > 0:06:18on the streets of Germany and a socialist revolution in Berlin.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Some of the leaders of the attempted revolution were Jewish,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26a fact which fed anti-Semitic prejudice,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29particularly amongst many of those on the right of German politics.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35GERMAN REVOLUTIONARY SONG PLAYS
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Thousands of ex-soldiers formed paramilitary groups
0:06:48 > 0:06:51called Freikorps in order to fight the revolution.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59And these Freikorps already held many of the ideas and beliefs
0:06:59 > 0:07:01that Hitler would later adopt as his own.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Many Freikorps were hugely anti-Semitic,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11believing in the fantasy that Jews were responsible
0:07:11 > 0:07:14both for Communism and Germany's defeat in the war.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21And one of the most notorious Freikorps groups even adapted
0:07:21 > 0:07:24what they took to be a racist symbol, the Hakenkreuz...
0:07:24 > 0:07:25or Swastika.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Members of the Freikorps called their leaders Fuehrer.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38And many of those who would later become infamous as Nazis joined Freikorps...
0:07:39 > 0:07:43..like Heinrich Himmler, who would become head of the SS,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Gregor Strasser,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48one of the most important early leaders in the Nazi party...
0:07:49 > 0:07:53..and Rudolf Hoess, the future commandant of Auschwitz.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03But Hitler was not in a Freikorps. He was back in Munich.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Devastated by the loss of the war and desperate to stay in the army,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10he seemed lost and directionless.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Captain Karl Mayr knew Hitler in May 1919.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'This time, Hitler was ready to throw in his lot with anyone
0:08:23 > 0:08:27'who would show him kindness.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30'When I first met him, he was like a tired, stray dog
0:08:30 > 0:08:31'looking for a master.'
0:08:34 > 0:08:37But Mayr detected in Hitler qualities he could use.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44He decided to train Hitler as a propaganda agent.
0:08:44 > 0:08:45Who's that?
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Hitler was sent on a short course here at the University of Munich
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and then started giving right-wing speeches to his fellow soldiers,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58warning of the dangers of Communism.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It's only at this point that Hitler's thinking
0:09:02 > 0:09:04seems to crystallize.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07How many of these ideas were already latent within him
0:09:07 > 0:09:09is still a matter of debate,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12but what's certain is that in the summer of 1919,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14he becomes sure of his beliefs.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18In a letter he wrote in September 1919,
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Hitler called for the removal of the Jews from Germany
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and a Government of National Strength.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Now, at the age of 30, Hitler had found his mission in life.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37And this mission was the first part of his charismatic appeal.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Hitler joined the German Workers' Party,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55one of a huge number of far-right groups in Munich at the time,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and started speaking at meetings in beer halls.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Harsh and theatrical as his speeches appear to us today,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09at the time, his performances soon got him noticed in Munich.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13He seemed to be able to express the anger many people felt,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15as well as their desire to blame someone else
0:10:15 > 0:10:20for the problems Germany faced - particularly the Jews.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28This speech, from 1933,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32shows how Hitler's own hatred connected with the audience.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Many now shared Hitler's warped prejudices,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38and his intolerance was taken as strength of character.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Hans Frank, who would go on to become a leading Nazi,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44first heard Hitler speak in 1920.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47'Everything came from the heart
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'and he struck a chord with all of us.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54'He uttered what was in the consciousness of all those present.'
0:11:57 > 0:12:01This is a key insight into charisma.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Because charisma does not exist on its own in anyone.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08It exists only in an interaction
0:12:08 > 0:12:11between an individual and an audience.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14An individual like Hitler who was telling the audience
0:12:14 > 0:12:16what they wanted to hear.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Many of them longed for a charismatic leader
0:12:21 > 0:12:23to lead them out of misery.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35German history was rich in stories of such heroes.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Here, amongst the mountains around Hitler's house,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was, according to legend, sleeping -
0:12:50 > 0:12:53waiting to awaken and fight his final battles.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02And one of the most popular tourist attractions of the time
0:13:02 > 0:13:04was this monument, completed in 1875,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08to Hermann, a tribal leader who had led the Germans
0:13:08 > 0:13:12to victory over the Romans nearly 2,000 years before.
0:13:12 > 0:13:18This later engraving claims a direct link between Hitler and Hermann.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Both portrayed as German heroes.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27And Hermann was so important to the Nazis that Heinrich Himmler
0:13:27 > 0:13:31took over Wewelsburg Castle nearby in the 1930s,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34intending this place to be a centre of SS power.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43In the crypt of the castle,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Himmler wanted to hold pagan SS ceremonies
0:13:45 > 0:13:47by the light of an eternal flame.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Above the crypt was a hall, for the leaders of the SS to meet,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55like the warrior knights of old.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Always subordinate to their heroic master, Adolf Hitler.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03'He is a genuinely great man
0:14:03 > 0:14:06'and, above all, a true and pure one.'
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Himmler believed that, just as Hermann had once proved
0:14:20 > 0:14:24to be a superior kind of Germanic hero, 2,000 years ago,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Adolf Hitler would prove to be just such a hero today.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41In 1923, the political atmosphere in Munich was tense and unstable.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49By now, Hitler had been leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52which some called the Nazis, for two years.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58And he'd built a large and growing paramilitary organisation -
0:14:58 > 0:14:59the Stormtroopers.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07In November 1923, he decided to act,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and to try and spark an uprising in Munich.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17On 9th November, the Nazis marched through these streets,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19but were stopped by the police.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Here, at the corner of the Feldherrnhalle.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Shots were exchanged.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Four police and 16 Nazis were killed that day.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39The uprising, or Putsch, had been an incompetent and violent attempt
0:15:39 > 0:15:41to overthrow a democratic state.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45But Hitler managed to turn it into a heroic myth.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55This annual re-enactment of the march,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58filmed after the Nazis came to power,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01shows just how Hitler tried to create that myth.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Each of the Nazis killed in the Putsch was turned into a martyr.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Their flag became a sacred relic.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Where they were shot became a hallowed site.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Those in attendance were blessed.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Hitler wanted to show how his devoted disciples
0:16:49 > 0:16:51had died for a great cause,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55a cause symbolised by their single, heroic leader.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Back in 1924,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Hitler received the minimum sentence possible for his part in the Putsch
0:17:11 > 0:17:15from a sympathetic judge and was sent to Landsberg Prison.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Here, he wrote a book - Mein Kampf, or my struggle.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22In it, he tried to demonstrate
0:17:22 > 0:17:24that he possessed the next important element
0:17:24 > 0:17:26needed by a charismatic leader -
0:17:28 > 0:17:32a vision of how the world is and how it ought to be.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35A brutal vision.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40'He who wants to live, should fight,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42'and he who does not want to fight
0:17:42 > 0:17:44'in this world of eternal struggle,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46'does not deserve to live.'
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Hitler believed that the fact that we are animals
0:17:57 > 0:18:00is the most important thing about us,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04and that so-called Aryan Germans were superior animals.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Hitler's vision from Mein Kampf was later expressed
0:18:16 > 0:18:20in this propaganda film of the 1930s,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22made after the Nazis came to power.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39Once in power, Hitler introduced compulsory sterilisation
0:18:39 > 0:18:42for selected disabled Germans.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Later, he would authorise
0:18:44 > 0:18:46the killing of tens of thousands of them.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56On 20th December 1924, Hitler was released from Landsberg Prison
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and set about trying to rebuild the Nazi Party.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Despite writing Mein Kampf,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Hitler's charismatic credentials as a revolutionary
0:19:08 > 0:19:11were still largely based on his reputation as a speaker.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16This series of studio photos, taken later in the 1920s,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20shows how he attempted to demonstrate his dynamic image.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42But in the mid 1920s,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46support for the Nazis was dropping as the economy improved.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49And one of the most senior Nazis, Gregor Strasser,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53wanted the party to be led in a less dictatorial way.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58His challenge now was to convince Adolf Hitler to agree with him.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12On 14th February 1926, here, in the ancient city of Bamberg,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17Hitler held a special conference to deal with Strasser's proposals.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22But there was to be no debate.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Hitler just spoke for several hours, repudiating Strasser's ideas
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and was then cheered by his supporters.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35Hitler did not approve of discussion nor of detailed policy.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39For a charismatic leader, vagueness is valuable.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43This is how he later explained the Nazi Party should operate.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46CHEERING
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Hitler worked hard to try and appear charismatic.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24One technique he used was his stare.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26He would hold the eyes of the person he was looking at
0:21:26 > 0:21:28longer than was usual.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32One Nazi supporter later claimed he felt this
0:21:32 > 0:21:36when he looked into Hitler's eyes.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40'That was one of the most curious moments of my life.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42'The gaze, which at first rested completely on me,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47'suddenly went straight through me and into an unknown distance.
0:21:47 > 0:21:48'It was so strange.'
0:21:54 > 0:21:56But being a Nazi could be difficult
0:21:56 > 0:21:58if you didn't accept Hitler's charisma.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Here in Bamberg, one of Strasser's close associates was distraught
0:22:05 > 0:22:07when Hitler chose not to debate policy.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14He was a 28-year-old former journalist called Joseph Goebbels,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and he wrote in his diary...
0:22:17 > 0:22:22"I no longer fully believe in Hitler. I am in despair."
0:22:25 > 0:22:30But Hitler recognised the potential value of Goebbels to the Nazi Party,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35so he now focused his attention directly on Goebbels.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Asking him to Munich,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40passionately expounding his vision for the future of Germany,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42and flattering him.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Goebbels was captivated.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Two months after Bamberg, Goebbels wrote in his diary...
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Hitler now had the party he wanted,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14one built around his strange personality.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Small as the Nazi Party was
0:23:22 > 0:23:25at the time this footage was shot in the 1920s,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28most of the elements that would come together
0:23:28 > 0:23:33to make Hitler be seen as a leader of charisma were already in place.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38His mission - to create a racist, Aryan, German state.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42The connection he made with his audience via his speeches.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47His claim that he possessed strength because he was a proven war hero.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51His Darwinian vision, developed in Mein Kampf,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53which also contained the fantasy
0:23:53 > 0:23:56that the Jews and Communists were to blame for everything.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05But still, if you weren't already inclined to accept Hitler's views,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09then, you felt he possessed no charisma at all.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12'I immediately disliked him because of his scratchy voice.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16'He shouted out really, really simple political ideas.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19'I thought he wasn't quite normal.'
0:24:19 > 0:24:22'He put forward certain claims that were in no way valid
0:24:22 > 0:24:26'and I said to my friend, "My impression after that speech
0:24:26 > 0:24:28'"is that this man Hitler will hopefully
0:24:28 > 0:24:32'"never come to political power."'
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And in 1928, it looked like he never would.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The vast majority of people in Germany
0:24:44 > 0:24:46were completely immune to Hitler's charisma.
0:24:46 > 0:24:53At the election in May 1928, the Nazis gained just 2.6% of the vote.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Hitler's appeal only began to be felt
0:24:57 > 0:25:02beyond a small group of fanatics because of an economic catastrophe.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17In the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21the German economy all but collapsed.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24The Weimar government had borrowed money
0:25:24 > 0:25:25to pay the Allies war reparations
0:25:25 > 0:25:29and now the debt became too great to service.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Banks crashed, and unemployment soared.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36The Nazis gained support, but so did the Communists.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39'It was a ray of hope that Socialism would be coming,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41'that unemployment would be vanquished,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44'that you would have a right to a job and you'd be paid more.'
0:25:46 > 0:25:48In the beer halls,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50fights between the Nazis and the Communists
0:25:50 > 0:25:52became almost commonplace.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55'Stormtroopers all had a big glass in front of them,
0:25:55 > 0:25:56'practically a missile.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59'The battle was pretty fierce,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03'several people were hospitalized, some Stormtroopers too,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05'they had face wounds.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'I had a head wound, I was bleeding.'
0:26:09 > 0:26:15Hitler thrived in this atmosphere of violence and political crisis.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16At election rallies,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19he openly called for the destruction of democracy.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22And for a new Germany to be united under his leadership.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30MUSIC: "Deutschlandlied" by Joseph Haydn
0:27:43 > 0:27:48'It was our aim that a strong man should have the say,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50'and we had such a strong man.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55'The people were really hungry.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56'It was very, very hard.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58'And, in that context,
0:27:58 > 0:28:03'Hitler, with his statements, seemed to be the bringer of salvation.'
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Hitler hadn't somehow mesmerised his new followers
0:28:16 > 0:28:18into acting against their own will.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23In this desperate situation,
0:28:23 > 0:28:28they chose to have faith in a leader they felt had charisma.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42But not everybody thought Hitler was the answer to Germany's problems.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46President Hindenburg certainly didn't.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Even though in 1932 the Nazis became the biggest party in Germany,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53he refused to make Hitler Chancellor,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55calling him the "Bohemian corporal."
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Hitler was offered the job of Vice Chancellor,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03but he refused to take it.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07And some of his supporters saw his obstinacy as heroic.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15'Hitler holds his nerve, he is above the machinations.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18'I love him when he's like this.'
0:29:20 > 0:29:25But other leading Nazis were not so full of praise for Hitler.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32Gregor Strasser, still an important figure in the party,
0:29:32 > 0:29:35thought that Hitler was stupid to hold out for the Chancellorship.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37He had had enough.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41'He should realise that he has been
0:29:41 > 0:29:44'consistently refused this post by everybody.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46'I'm not prepared to wait for the Fuehrer
0:29:46 > 0:29:48'to be appointed Reich Chancellor
0:29:48 > 0:29:51'as, by then, our movement would have collapsed.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54'I'm at the end of my tether, I've resigned from the Party
0:29:54 > 0:29:58'and I'm now going to the mountains to recuperate.'
0:30:10 > 0:30:13But some in the German elite were beginning to think
0:30:13 > 0:30:15that appointing Hitler as Chancellor
0:30:15 > 0:30:19might be one way out of Germany's problems.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23The aristocratic Franz von Papen, a former Chancellor himself,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26thought Hitler could be a useful figurehead.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29Der Mann ist doch ein Ausbund von Kleinbuergertum...
0:30:29 > 0:30:33He didn't find Hitler charismatic, but "curiously unimpressive."
0:30:37 > 0:30:41What they were most frightened of was not Hitler, but the Communists.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Die Kommunisten. Der Kommunismus.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Das ist die Hauptbedrohung, die ich sehe. Es muss etwas geschehen...
0:30:47 > 0:30:50And so, von Papen and his friends,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53backed an idea to make Hitler Chancellor,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57as long as there were only a few other Nazis in the cabinet.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59..Staatsmaennisches Verhalten.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10On 30th January 1933, after lobbying from von Papen and others,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26For Hitler's supporters, this was the strongest proof yet
0:31:26 > 0:31:28of his power as a charismatic leader.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31When it had looked impossible that he would become Chancellor,
0:31:31 > 0:31:36and many had doubted him, he had asked them to have faith.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38And now, he WAS Chancellor.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Von Papen, who was happy to see democracy disappear,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46became Vice Chancellor.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49He still thought he and his friends could control Hitler.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51He would shortly discover
0:31:51 > 0:31:54that he'd made one the most monumental misjudgements in history.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02CHEERING
0:32:03 > 0:32:09Hitler talked to the German nation as Chancellor on 10th February 1933.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Thousands were in the hall in front of him,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15and millions were listening on radio.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17But Hitler made them all wait.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04When he did start, Hitler stuck to his old familiar script.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07His speech was vague in detail
0:33:07 > 0:33:11and called for Germans to fix their problems without outside help.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58APPLAUSE
0:34:01 > 0:34:04But if Hitler didn't consider you a "true" German,
0:34:04 > 0:34:05then, suddenly, you were at risk.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Thousands of people the Nazis considered enemies of the new regime,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15mostly their political opponents, but also some Jews,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18were imprisoned in concentration camps.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22This one at Dachau outside Munich
0:34:22 > 0:34:26was opened just weeks after Hitler became Chancellor.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37To begin with, the concentration camps
0:34:37 > 0:34:40were under the control of the Nazi Stormtroopers.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Here they are parading in triumph through Berlin.
0:34:46 > 0:34:52But their ordered marching hid a chaotic and violent reality.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56'Everyone is arresting everyone else
0:34:56 > 0:34:58'and avoiding the prescribed official channels.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01'Everyone is threatening everyone else with protective custody.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05'Everyone is threatening everyone else with Dachau.'
0:35:06 > 0:35:09These concentration camps were not yet places of mass killing,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13but they were brutal in the extreme.
0:35:13 > 0:35:14A number of prisoners were murdered,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and torture, often psychological torture, was commonplace.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24'I was thrown into the bunker and kept in chains.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27'We only got something to eat every fourth day.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30'Other than that, there was just a jug of water and bread.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35'After four days, he said, "You're getting out tomorrow,"
0:35:35 > 0:35:37'but he was just messing around with me.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41'They kept saying, "You'll be getting out..." Nothing.'
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Throughout Germany, the reality was obvious -
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Hitler led a movement of violent revolutionaries
0:36:08 > 0:36:11and was brutally suppressing any opposition.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15But now he was Chancellor,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19Hitler also wanted the support of all of those who lived in this land
0:36:19 > 0:36:21that he considered "true" Germans.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32Nazi Stormtroopers were still as ready to spill the blood of their enemies as they'd always been.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38So how could Hitler benefit from the brutality of his Stormtroopers
0:36:38 > 0:36:40and yet not be blamed for it?
0:36:47 > 0:36:50An early sign of how Hitler would attempt this deception
0:36:50 > 0:36:53was shown just two months into his Chancellorship.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Hitler's anti-Semitic prejudice knew no bounds.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01And on 1st April 1933, with Hitler's approval,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05the Nazis held a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses
0:37:05 > 0:37:07that lasted one day.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10'I felt like I was falling into a deep hole.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14'That was when I intuitively realised for the first time
0:37:14 > 0:37:18'that the existing law did not apply to Jews.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20'You could do with Jews whatever you liked.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22'A Jew was an outlaw.'
0:37:23 > 0:37:27But because Hitler didn't know what the reaction to all this would be,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30particularly abroad, he didn't want his name associated with it.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35The document calling for the boycott was signed only
0:37:35 > 0:37:38"Leadership of the National Socialist German Workers' Party."
0:37:48 > 0:37:50But Hitler was concerned
0:37:50 > 0:37:54that the Stormtroopers might be getting out of his control,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57that they were starting to become a threat to the regime itself.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Hitler told them the revolution was over.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10But the Stormtroopers wanted to march the revolution ever onwards,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13staying true to the words of the Nazi anthem,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15written by Stormtrooper Horst Wessel.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Their leader, Ernst Roehm,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56even wanted the Stormtroopers to take over the German Army.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01But the army didn't want anything to do with this bunch of thugs.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05'One rejected the Stormtroopers because of their behaviour.
0:39:05 > 0:39:06'Well, at the end, one can almost say
0:39:06 > 0:39:09'the Stormtroopers were hated by most soldiers.'
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Von Papen, Hitler's Vice Chancellor,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29had been gathering complaints about the Stormtroopers.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33This was potentially dangerous for Hitler,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36as von Papen was close to the aged President Hindenburg.
0:39:39 > 0:39:45On 17th June 1934, von Papen made a speech openly criticising the Nazis.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49'An endless dynamic creates nothing.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53'Germany must not become a train into the unknown,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55'with no-one knowing when it will stop.'
0:40:02 > 0:40:06But Hitler realised he could turn all this to his advantage
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and alter the way millions perceived him as a leader.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16He just had to be cold-hearted and ruthless.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27On 30th June 1934,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30Hitler travelled to the shores of the Tegernsee in Bavaria
0:40:30 > 0:40:33and the health resort of Bad Wiessee.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39Roehm and the senior leadership of the Stormtroopers
0:40:39 > 0:40:44were all on holiday here, at this hotel then called the Hanselbauer.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55Hitler and his entourage arrived at 6.30 in the morning.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Hitler walked through the lobby of the hotel
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and up the stairs to the first floor,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04where Roehm was asleep in this room.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07Hitler, claiming that Roehm was plotting a coup against him,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11arrested his old comrade along with the other leaders of the Stormtroopers.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Two days later, Roehm was shot.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25Many others Hitler held grudges against
0:41:25 > 0:41:27were killed at the same time.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Gregor Strasser, who had once been a leading Nazi
0:41:30 > 0:41:33but had quarrelled with Hitler, was also shot.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45As for von Papen, two of his aides were murdered,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47but he was allowed to live,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50eventually sent to Vienna as German ambassador.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Hitler benefited hugely as a result of the ruthless killing of Roehm and the others.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Now Hitler had seemingly destroyed disorderly elements
0:42:04 > 0:42:05within his own party,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08many Germans started to see him for the first time
0:42:08 > 0:42:12as leader of the nation, not just leader of the Nazis.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24On 2nd August 1934, just one month after the murder of Roehm,
0:42:24 > 0:42:31every member of the German armed forces was ordered to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46President Hindenburg had just died,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50and now Hitler was head of state as well as Chancellor.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54ALL: Adolf Hitler.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Just a few weeks later, in September 1934,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Hitler was here in Nuremberg for the Nazi Party rally.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16The Nazis had first held a rally in Nuremberg in 1927.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20But this rally would be remembered more than any other
0:43:20 > 0:43:24and would play an important part in the creation of a Hitler myth.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Because this rally was filmed
0:43:26 > 0:43:29for the feature length documentary Triumph Of The Will.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Hitler was portrayed as a flawless, almost God-like leader,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44descending from the clouds to meet his adoring subjects.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Thanks to Triumph Of The Will,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56it wasn't just the people who were physically present
0:43:56 > 0:44:00who experienced the emotional impact of seeing their leader.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Now, millions more could see in cinemas
0:44:06 > 0:44:09a carefully crafted vision of Hitler.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24'For me, the Fuehrer was an inviolable personality -
0:44:24 > 0:44:26'the Fuehrer of the German Reich.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29'He, whom Providence had given so many gifts.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34'He, who was so powerful that he could orchestrate millions.'
0:44:38 > 0:44:42'There was the wish to place power in the hands of a man who says,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44'"We will do it, and we will only succeed like this
0:44:44 > 0:44:46'"if we all roll up our sleeves."'
0:44:50 > 0:44:55'It made you sick, but it was fascinating at the same time.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57'Hitler didn't promise anything.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00'It was always "only for the German people"
0:45:00 > 0:45:03'and "we have to free the people from Marxism."
0:45:03 > 0:45:05'I only admired the technique.'
0:45:12 > 0:45:16'The fact is that Hitler managed to get all of them,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20'almost all of them, under the one roof, so to speak.
0:45:20 > 0:45:21'To pull them together.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25'People said that Hitler had the effect of a magnet
0:45:25 > 0:45:28'that was being passed over the heads of the German people.'
0:45:49 > 0:45:53But despite this level of adulation, Hitler had not changed -
0:45:53 > 0:45:56he was just as hate-filled as ever
0:45:56 > 0:45:58and so was the regime he led.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08The same year Triumph Of The Will was made, 1934,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Alois Pfaller, a German Communist,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15was taken for questioning by the Nazi secret police - the Gestapo.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17'They hit me in the face.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19'For three hours. Always at my face.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22'In the meantime, my eardrum had split,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25'so then, I heard an incredible racket.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27'It was a roaring, an incredible roaring,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30'so you couldn't understand anything properly any longer.'
0:46:32 > 0:46:35When Alois suffered a massive haemorrhage,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37the Gestapo made him clean his own blood off the floor
0:46:37 > 0:46:40before sending him to a concentration camp.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51The reason that this kind of persecution did not,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54for the most part, damage Hitler amongst the general population
0:46:54 > 0:46:57was because the perception of many Germans
0:46:57 > 0:47:00was that Hitler was using violence to bring order.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04'Right at the beginning,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06'the first Communists and social democrats were carted off,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08'I even saw it myself, the lorries.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10'It didn't make us think.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13'They were only Communists after all, enemies of the people.'
0:47:18 > 0:47:22Hitler was careful to act mostly against groups in German society
0:47:22 > 0:47:25that many other Germans were already prejudiced against -
0:47:25 > 0:47:28like Jews and Communists.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Hitler was aware that, as a charismatic leader,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35the more he targeted carefully defined enemies, the better.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Less than 1% of Germans were Jewish,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52and few dared to now claim they were Communists.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58So the vast majority of Germans were not at risk from persecution...
0:48:00 > 0:48:03..as long as they embraced the new world of Nazism.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05And since unemployment was falling
0:48:05 > 0:48:08and the economy seemed to be picking up,
0:48:08 > 0:48:11many ordinary Germans now felt this was the beginning
0:48:11 > 0:48:14of a new, more optimistic era.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20'At first, you were carried along by a wave of hope,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22'because we had it better.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26'We had order in the country. We had, well, security.'
0:48:30 > 0:48:33In particular, the young were taught the Nazi world view.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37Most importantly, that Hitler was a flawless leader.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46These members of the Hitler Youth were the future soldiers of Germany,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50from whom Hitler would demand absolute loyalty.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54'It was hammered into us even in the Hitler Youth -
0:48:54 > 0:48:57'Germany must live, even if we have to die.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00'Then, I realised that people in the Hitler Youth
0:49:00 > 0:49:03'had a vulgar way of dealing with each other.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05'A very unpleasant and violent manner was customary.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08'The way, for example, we were told,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11'"If your teachers haven't yet grasped this new era,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13'"then, smack them in the mouth!"'
0:49:21 > 0:49:24CHEERING
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Now that they were in power, many of those close to Hitler
0:49:27 > 0:49:31found their belief in him had intensified still further.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38'We love Adolf Hitler because we believe, firmly and profoundly,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41'that he was sent to us by God to save Germany.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43'To those who follow him,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46'there is no quality that he does not possess
0:49:46 > 0:49:48'to the greatest perfection.'
0:49:59 > 0:50:02No-one even thought it odd when Hitler told them
0:50:02 > 0:50:04that what they were doing would last for millennia.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:50:28 > 0:50:31One foreign correspondent who attended the 1934 rally,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35wrote that some of those present looked on Hitler as a Messiah.
0:50:39 > 0:50:40This wasn't an accident.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Hitler later talked of being guided
0:50:44 > 0:50:47by a mystical force he called "Providence."
0:50:48 > 0:50:51And this belief in himself as a kind of Messiah
0:50:51 > 0:50:54was a key part of his charismatic appeal.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Not surprisingly, the established churches would, for the most part,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09have an uneasy relationship with Nazism.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Some clerics even came to reject Hitler.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22But there were Christian leaders who reacted to Nazism very differently.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27They embraced the regime.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37This is a church procession in Muenster in 1934,
0:51:37 > 0:51:42and the flags displayed, with the swastika replaced by the crucifix,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44are those of the Deutsche Christen movement,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47the Nazi supporting branch of the Protestant church.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55One leading member of the Deutsche Christen movement
0:51:55 > 0:51:59referred to Adolf Hitler as the embodiment of the eternal will of God.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Millions of other Christians also supported Hitler.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14At a conference of nurses attached to the Protestant church in 1933,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16one sister called Hitler
0:52:16 > 0:52:19"Germany's Saviour from Bolshevism and Marxism."
0:52:25 > 0:52:29But Hitler was most certainly NOT a practising Christian.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32And here, at the site of the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg,
0:52:32 > 0:52:36a different sort of spiritual belief was on show.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48This incantation of a list of German battles in front of Hitler
0:52:48 > 0:52:52was allied to the promise that there was a sort of life after death,
0:52:52 > 0:52:57one in which the dead lived on as part of Germany.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18And if this was a religion,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20then Hitler was its prophet.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Hitler's birthday, celebrated here in Berlin,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39became a day for national rejoicing.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54He was praised for trying to restore Germany's greatness
0:53:54 > 0:53:58and, in the process, spending enormous sums on the Germany military.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Hitler came to be seen as a leader
0:54:10 > 0:54:13far above the squabbles of everyday life.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16As a result, it became possible for Germans
0:54:16 > 0:54:19to dislike particular Nazis they dealt with,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21and yet still respect Hitler.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28'There is great sympathy amongst the population for the Fuehrer
0:54:28 > 0:54:30'and Reich Chancellor, Adolf Hitler.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34'I have never heard any negative comment directed at his own person.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36'Rather, one hears now and then,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39'"Yes, if Hitler could do everything himself,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42'"some things would be different.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45'"But he can't keep a watch on everything."'
0:54:46 > 0:54:49This myth that "If Hitler only knew
0:54:49 > 0:54:52"about unpopular aspects of the Nazi regime, he would change them,"
0:54:52 > 0:54:54was a safety valve in the system,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58one that protected Hitler's image as a charismatic leader.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15As Adolf Hitler looked out from his home above Berchtesgaden,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19he knew he was the undisputed master of Germany.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25It had been an incredible journey,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27from the nobody who had arrived in Munich
0:55:27 > 0:55:29just before the First World War
0:55:29 > 0:55:32to Chancellor and Fuehrer of the German people.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36But what is just as remarkable
0:55:36 > 0:55:40is that he was essentially the same character as he had always been.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48This home movie footage from the 1930s,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50of Hitler with these young children,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52gives a false impression.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54He still had no normal emotional attachment
0:55:54 > 0:55:57to any one individual.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00Though he had a girlfriend now, Eva Braun,
0:56:00 > 0:56:02the relationship was fraught.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06He seldom saw her and she attempted suicide twice in the 1930s.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12He was still as choking with hatred as he had been in pre-war Vienna.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18But Hitler's character defects
0:56:18 > 0:56:21were an advantage in the times he lived in.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23For his lack of compassion and empathy
0:56:23 > 0:56:27made him one of the least emotionally needy people alive.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29As a result, his supporters basked
0:56:29 > 0:56:32in his apparent strength and certainty.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42His rise would prove to be a reminder
0:56:42 > 0:56:45of what can happen in desperate times.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49When you chose to have faith in a leader you think has charisma.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57For now, secure in power,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Hitler sat high in the mountains of southern Bavaria
0:57:00 > 0:57:03and dreamt dreams of brutal conquest.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Adolf Hitler believed
0:57:19 > 0:57:22he should make all the big decisions entirely himself.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29And in 1937, he told his generals
0:57:29 > 0:57:32that he'd decided on a timetable for German expansion,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35even if it meant war.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40What's surprising about this is that there was no evidence
0:57:40 > 0:57:45that the majority of Hitler's supporters actually wanted war.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47But Hitler couldn't turn his epic vision
0:57:47 > 0:57:50of a Nazi empire based on conquest into a reality
0:57:50 > 0:57:53without the support of large numbers of those he led.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01To try and convince these people to embrace conflict,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05Hitler would use all of the techniques of persuasion he possessed.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Crucially, he would exploit his charismatic appeal.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd