Genres
Created By
Hitler's bodyguard
Overview
Adolf Hitler caused the deaths of fifty million people. An entire nation followed him to ruin. Over a tumultuous 12 years Adolf Hitler went from being a minor rabble-rousing politician, to supreme leader of Nazi Germany. He was hated by those he persecuted, and even by some of his own commanders - yet in twenty-five years no one managed to kill him. This program shows how Hitler's bodyguards helped him cheat death on many occasions. They expanded from a handful of thugs recruited to protect political meetings and fight opponents on the streets, to many thousands - including some of the most fearsome secret police and paramilitary forces the world has ever known.
Key Crew
Director: Jonathan Martin, Philip Nugus
Top Cast
Seasons
Season 1 (2010)
No overview available.
13 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: How Hitler's Bodyguard Worked
2010-02-12Hitler's personal protection squad grew from a few fiercely loyal, handpicked ruffians into an army with a complicated structure and intense internal competition.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 2: Early Attempts on Hitler's Life
2010-02-12Beer hall brawls, street fighting, and several brushes with death marked Hitler's rise to power in the stormy politics of interbellum Germany.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 3: Kill the new Chancellor
2010-02-26During Hitler's first year in office--as he steered Germany abruptly towards tyranny--he faced no fewer than a dozen attempts on his life.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 4: Night of the Long Knives
2010-03-05In one bloody, well-planned purge, Hitler eliminated his political rivals and ended the looming threat from Ernst Röhm's well-armed Sturmabteilung.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 5: Jewish and Emigre Attempts to Kill Hitler
2010-03-12As the Nazis amped up their anti-Semitic and expansionist activities, Jewish groups, Soviet Communists, and Otto Strasser's rival Black Front all targeted Hitler.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 6: Kill Hitler Before War Starts
2010-03-19By 1938, people inside and outside Germany--including some of Hitler's senior military personnel--planned preemptive strikes against the Führer.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 7: Bombs and Paranoia
2010-03-26Convinced that a failed bomb plot had roots in England, a Gestapo counterintelligence officer engineered an elaborate sting to snatch British agents.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 8: Dangerous Car Journeys
2010-04-02Hitler liked to tour cheering crowds in a customized, open-top Grosser Mercedes and later a G4-a predilection that gave his bodyguards nightmares.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 9: Flights into Danger
2010-04-09Hitler 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.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 10: Hitler's Dangerous Train Journeys
2010-04-16British operatives targeted Hitler's special train, the Führer-Sonderzug--a rolling fortress on rails--despite its heavy armor and tight security measures.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 11: Attempts to Kill Hitler at Wolf's Lair
2010-04-23Heavily camouflaged and fortified, Hitler's military headquarters in Poland saw several assassination attempts--including one that came closest to succeeding.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 12: Nearly Assassinated at the Berghof
2010-04-30Hitler'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.
Runtime: 46 minEpisode 13: Poison Gas Plot in the Bunker
2010-05-07One 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.
Runtime: 46 min
