Russen und Deutsche - Sieben historische Wendepunkte(2021)

Victory in the West(de)

A Nazi propaganda film about the lead up to World War II and Germany's success on the Western Front. Utilizes newsreel footage of battles and fell into disfavour with propaganda minister Goebbels because of it's lack of emphasis on Adolf Hitler.

Crimean Conference(ru)

The Crimean (Yalta) conference of the leaders of the three powers - allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition was held from February 4 to February 11, 1945 in the Livadia Palace near Yalta.

Safeguarding Military Information(en)

World War II propaganda short which focuses on the dangers of inadvertent dispersal of military information.

Christopher Hitchens: Believe Me, It's Torture(en)

When the renowned author, orator and journalist Christopher Hitchens was challenged to undergo the brutal interrogation technique known as waterboarding, few would've expected he'd accept such a task - he had previously expressed the position that the controversial procedure would not qualify as torture, and most who'd claim such a thing would not have the courage to test their convictions. Yet, in May 2007, Hitchens did just that - and his experience profoundly impacted both himself and his stance on the matter, prompting him to declare he'd been wrong, and later to publish his 2008 article for Vanity Fair's August issue, simply titled 'Believe Me, It's Torture'.

Digging The Great Escape(en)

The classic movie "The Great Escape" was based on a real life escape attempt during the second world war. This documentary follows Archaeologists who are trying to find the original tunnels dug by the real prisoners of war who escaped. Some of the surviving prisoners also join the team to assist with the tunnel locations and to describe what it was really like to live that situation. In an effort to understand the technical details of how this feet of ingenuity was achieved, the team recreate some of the equipment used by the prisoners.

Shameless Propaganda(en)

This feature documentary examines its own genre, which has often been called Canada's national art form. Released in the year of the NFB's 75th birthday, Shameless Propaganda is filmmaker Robert Lower's take on the boldest and most compelling propaganda effort in our history (1939-1945), in which founding NFB Commissioner John Grierson saw the documentary as a "hammer to shape society". All 500 of the films produced by the NFB until 1945 are distilled here for the essence of their message to Canadians. Using only these films and still photos from that era, Lower recreates the picture of Canada they gave us and looks in it for the Canada we know today. What he finds is by turns enlightening, entertaining, and unexpectedly disturbing.

Soldiers in Black(nl)

From 1940, around 25,000 Dutch people served in the Waffen-SS. In spite of their large number, they did not make much public disclosure after the war. Eight Dutch former SS men tell their story in this documentary. Never before have former SS men talked so openly about their motives, their (wrong) acts, their experiences on the (Eastern) front and their struggle with the memories of the past.

Cartoons Go To War(en)

This remarkable documentary dedicates itself to an extraordinary chapter of the second World War – the psychological warfare of the USA. America’s trusted cartoon darlings from the studios of Warner Bros., Paramount, and the “big animals” of the Disney family were supposed to give courage to the people at the homefront, to educate them, but also to simultaneously entertain them. Out of this mixture grew a genre of its own kind – political cartoons. Insightful Interviews with the animators and producers from back then elucidate in an amusing and astonishing way under which bizarre circumstances these films partially came into existence.

Elie Wiesel Goes Home(hu)

A documentary chronicling the adolescent years of Elie Wiesel and the history of his sufferings. Eliezer was fifteen when Fascism brutally altered his life forever. Fifty years later, he returns to Sighetu Marmatiei, the town where he was born, to walk the painful road of remembrance - but is it possible to speak of the unspeakable? Or does Auschwitz lie beyond the capacity of any human language - the place where words and stories run out?

Forgotten Men(en)

Producer Samuel Cummins, along with five participants in World War I, discuss the key events of the war as illustrated by an assemblage of battlefield and other documentary footage. This film is not the same as, but seems likely to have either inspired or been inspired by, Norman Lee's British production of the same title (q.v.), apparently released the following year.

Brigadistas(de)

A Company of Heroes(en)

Easy Company, the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, fought their way through Europe, liberated concentration camps, and drank a victory toast in April 1945 at Hitler's hideout. Veterans from Easy Company, along with the families of three deceased others, recount their horrors and victories, bonds they made and the friends they lost.

Rasputin: Murder in the Tsar's Court(de)

St. Petersburg, Russia, December 30th, 1916. Grigori Rasputin is assassinated. The story of the humble peasant who became the most influential adviser to czarina Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of the last czar, Nicholas II Romanov.

The Cosmic Hoax: An Exposé(en)

This documentary is Dr. Steven Greer’s answer to the current government and media disinformation campaign promoting 3 big lies: 1. We do not know what these UAPs/ UFOs are. WE DO. 2. Humans cannot make craft that can maneuver like UFOs. WE CAN and WE DO. 3. The UFOs are a threat. THEY ARE NOT.

Francisco Boix: A Photographer in Hell(es)

In 1939, just finished the Spanish Civil War, Spanish republican photographer Francesc Boix escapes from Spain; but is captured by the Nazis in 1940 and imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria, a year later. There, he works as a prisoner in the SS Photographic Service, hiding, between 1943 and 1945, around 20,000 negatives that later will be presented as evidence during several trials conducted against Nazi war criminals after World War II.

The Nazi Jesus(en)

While Nazi ideology dominated Europe, Adolf Hitler used all dogmas to his advantage and fed the cult of his personality. How did the Führer manage to transform the Bible, the Church and the symbols of Christianity into instruments of power, winning the support of the Germans? This documentary traces the rise of a little-known theological organization: the “German Christians”, which became the most powerful propaganda tool of the Third Reich.

The Ugliest Car(pl)

The youngest protagonist of the documentary is Wartburg, an automobile over 50 years of age. The car is still on the road, driven by Bogdan, a 70-year-old who is taking his mother to visit the German factory where she was forced to work during WWII. In this road movie which takes place between Majdanpek and Germany, the trip becomes a journey into the past, retracing memories from the war and revealing a unique relationship between an old son and his elderly mother.

Fascism in Colour(en)

After the World War I, Mussolini's perspective on life is severely altered; once a willful socialist reformer, now obsessed with the idea of power, he founds the National Fascist Party in 1921 and assumes political power in 1922, becoming the Duce, dictator of Italy. His success encourages Hitler to take power in Germany in 1933, opening the dark road to World War II. (Originally released as a two-part miniseries. Includes colorized archival footage.)

Grandmother Told Grandmother(en)

The little-known story of Ukrainian children torn from their homes in the crush between the Nazi and Soviet fronts in World War II. Spending their childhood as refugees in Europe, these inspiring individuals later immigrated to the United States, creating new homes and communities through their grit, faith and deep belief in the importance of preserving culture.

The Fence(en)

Two thousand Canadians suffered the longest incarceration anywhere in the Second World War, a bitter four-year period inside Japanese POW camps in Hong Kong and Japan.