Rise of the Nazis

Unfortunately, the documentary starts 1930. To understand all the reasons for the "Rise of the Nazis" it should have started 12 years earlier. Even 'flashbacks' could have sufficed. But I did like the movie like approach.

A fascinating 3 part series that is very informative. Sadly it seems the lessons of Germany between 1930 and 1933 have not been learned. This show serves as a reminder to what happened after allowing democracy to crumble with no one there to stop it.

I really enjoyed this programme, despite the obvious subject matter. I did not know or had forgotten what actually happened in the lead up to Hitler being in power, so it was a very informative series and well done. The music was quite chilling in places and it made you think that had certain things happened or not happened, then the outcome could have been very different. Narrow opportunities that unfortunately did not happen and which could have saved many lives. It's hard sometimes, to see how things happened and how a lot of people had no moral compass, believing instead that what they were doing was right and in the interest of their country. Lessons that need to be carried into the future, no matter how many years have passed, to ensure that this never happens again, although there are countries around the world that are not so dissimilar in having a dictator in charge.

I've watched this series on the BBC twice now and am motivated to comment on it after learning its showing on PBS in the US. Back in 2017 the doyenne of US conservative writers George Will wrote an opinion in the Washington Post entitled 'The shady characters around Trump' and in particular looking at the hard right influences in his WH - such persons as Sebastian Gorka a Hungarian-American close to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban whose Fidez party has (and still is) dismantling all the checks and balances of a modern democratic state. Mr Will who is not given to hyperbole noted that what we are seeing now in parts of Europe and in the US is the rise of a philosophy that we thought had been defeated on the battlefield in 1945.

At the time in the US (2017) many thought Mr Will was a bit over the top but the Jan 6th violent attempt at take over of the US Congress and the subsequent total denial about it actually happening - despite tins of evidence- shows that this BBS/PBS series is very pertinent to today.

I note a number of comments on this set of comments attempting to justify Nazism.

An informed look at Hitler's rise to power, and ultimately the rise of his party and Nazi Germany.

It's a little late to the party, its origins go back a little further than the point at which series one kicked off, initially seen as cranks, the party grew steadily, what was happening in the country at the time was so interesting, and helped explain the rise.

Some very valuable lessons in history to be learned from this series, sadly it feels as though those lessons have been forgotten, and history seems to be repeating itself, from small acorns, large Oak trees certainly do grow.

Truly informative, it of course focuses on Hitler, but you'll learn the fates, politics and power games of the main players, Himler, Goebbels, Speer etc.

It's a beautifully made series, superbly produced, the visuals truly do help tell the story, from original footage to reenactments, a lot of time and effort was put into making this look so good.

Each series focuses on a particular chapter, series two in particular was extraordinary, it'll be interesting to see where Series four goes, maybe looking at Germany's growth following its almost total destruction.

Very watchable, 8/10.