True Evil: The Making of A Nazi Episode Rating Graph

Himmler, one of the most evil men in human history, began as a mild-mannered bookish intellectual who loved tradition, country pursuits, and nature. He became one of the most terrifying champions of the Third Reich, a monster even by Nazi standards. Himmler helped define Nazi ideology. His transformation into a Nazi monster is the story of the total collapse of morality and civilisation in Germany.

Hermann Goering‘s story is that of Germany’s military-aristocratic elite, who turned to the Nazis for salvation. The status and fortunes of Germany’s aristocracy were based on land, but by the early decades of the 20th Century, a new Germany emerged - an industrial and commercial Germany, in which the old nobility struggled to find a role and saw their incomes decline. Goering’s family is part of Germany’s old Imperial elite.

Of all the leading Nazis in the series, Von Braun is by far the most fortunate, rewarded with a new life and fame in the United States for one simple reason - he knew how to build rockets. Von Braun’s story is similar to that of passionate young scientists who will do anything to pursue their vision. His ultimate dream is space travel, but to get there he will cooperate fully and enthusiastically with the Nazis, even becoming an SS officer, and working directly to Heinrich Himmler.

Speer is the Nazi leader who escaped the noose and spent the rest of his life trading off his Nazi celebrity status. He was the architect who ‘designed’ and ‘branded’ the Nazis. He also murdered millions of worker slaves as head of the Nazi arms industry. At Nuremberg, he denied all knowledge of the holocaust.