Season 1

Episodes • 2010

Adolf Hitler
Joseph Goebbels
Hermann Göring
Heinrich Himmler
Reinhard Heydrich
Claus von Stauffenberg
Erwin Rommel
Martin Bormann
Adolf Eichmann
Rudolf Hess
How Hitler's Bodyguard Worked

1. How Hitler's Bodyguard Worked

46 min

Hitler's personal protection squad grew from a few fiercely loyal, handpicked ruffians into an army with a complicated structure and intense internal competition.

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Early Attempts on Hitler's Life

2. Early Attempts on Hitler's Life

46 min

Beer hall brawls, street fighting, and several brushes with death marked Hitler's rise to power in the stormy politics of interbellum Germany.

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Kill the new Chancellor

3. Kill the new Chancellor

46 min

During Hitler's first year in office--as he steered Germany abruptly towards tyranny--he faced no fewer than a dozen attempts on his life.

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Night of the Long Knives

4. Night of the Long Knives

46 min

In one bloody, well-planned purge, Hitler eliminated his political rivals and ended the looming threat from Ernst Röhm's well-armed Sturmabteilung.

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Jewish and Emigre Attempts to Kill Hitler

5. Jewish and Emigre Attempts to Kill Hitler

46 min

As the Nazis amped up their anti-Semitic and expansionist activities, Jewish groups, Soviet Communists, and Otto Strasser's rival Black Front all targeted Hitler.

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Kill Hitler Before War Starts

6. Kill Hitler Before War Starts

46 min

By 1938, people inside and outside Germany--including some of Hitler's senior military personnel--planned preemptive strikes against the Führer.

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Bombs and Paranoia

7. Bombs and Paranoia

46 min

Convinced that a failed bomb plot had roots in England, a Gestapo counterintelligence officer engineered an elaborate sting to snatch British agents.

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Dangerous Car Journeys

8. Dangerous Car Journeys

46 min

Hitler liked to tour cheering crowds in a customized, open-top Grosser Mercedes and later a G4-a predilection that gave his bodyguards nightmares.

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Flights into Danger

9. Flights into Danger

46 min

Hitler appreciated the power of aircraft, not only as a military weapon, but as a political tool. During the early 1930s, he hired aircraft for election campaigning, often facing weather and mechanical problems, as well as specific assassination attempts.

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Hitler's Dangerous Train Journeys

10. Hitler's Dangerous Train Journeys

46 min

British operatives targeted Hitler's special train, the Führer-Sonderzug--a rolling fortress on rails--despite its heavy armor and tight security measures.

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Attempts to Kill Hitler at Wolf's Lair

11. Attempts to Kill Hitler at Wolf's Lair

46 min

Heavily camouflaged and fortified, Hitler's military headquarters in Poland saw several assassination attempts--including one that came closest to succeeding.

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Nearly Assassinated at the Berghof

12. Nearly Assassinated at the Berghof

46 min

Hitler's Alpine retreat in Bavaria offered opportunities for a pistol-packing German officer, a sniper, a long-range bombing raid, and even an aerial assault by the Allies.

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Poison Gas Plot in the Bunker

13. Poison Gas Plot in the Bunker

46 min

One member of Hitler's inner circle later claimed to have contemplated flooding the Fuhrer's Berlin bunker with nerve gas as the Allies closed in.

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