Customer Reviews

The Nazis- The Acclaimed BBC Documentary [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Old Beeb never disappoints, and this is no exception. BBC brings its world-famous house-style of fairness, objectivity and depth to analyse and comment on Britain's most dire nemesis in the twentieth century - Hitler and his Nazis, and you can expect a top-rate job. I must have watched the entire documentary series 4 times, and each time I gain fresh and deeper insight. BBC gave a fasinating and horrific subject an excellent treatment, shorn of emotive propaganda. Explores even-handedly the difficulties Germany was in during the 20's, and explores the psychological attractions of the Nazi party to a down-trodden but proud German people. The chilling pronogsis which came across is that had Hitler been more sensible in his relations with the USSR and marketed Nazism to the world not as a racial-based ideology but as an international ideology, the Nazis might still be around TODAY. Then, the world will truly see a sort of tyranny as it has never before seen, made infinitely more terrifying by the twisted lights of science & technology. A must see. Every public library and school library must buy this. Fifty years after they have been bombed into the ground, Nazism remains still an attractive ideology for a lot of people, and has returned to its roots as a protest against the status quo. This documentary answers why that can be so. My only grouse is that there is no segment presenting the many interviews BBC and other companies has done of Albert Speer - Hitler's Minister of Munitions. Now that would have made this series even more cool.

I recommend this series to any World History instructors seeking film that will make students think about the "whys" on a level other than a Nazi cartoon-image. Care must be taken in utilizing this resource, as with any source. The "nude Nazi pageant" in "Chaos and Consent" (vol 2) should certainly be omitted, but the interviews, especially those found in vol 3 "Road to Treblinka" can easily start very involved discussions as to involvement of the ordinary citizens, anti-Semitism as a cultural constant, and the "guilt" questions. Generally, I only show 20 minutes of most film, and always with a guide and questions to avoid "heads down / snooze" time. Trust me, especially on "Road to Treblinka", you won't have anyone sleeping, and followed up with other readings and assessed with an essay, you'll be glad you invested in this series. Again, some of it may be "old hat", but the imagery of 60-80 year olds seeing and hearing their own words and actions replayed for them is something no standard document can give your class.

Along with the 1970s series "The World at War", this is the best Nazi/WW2 TV series ever. It is a great triumph for the collaboration between noted historian Ian Kershaw (prof. at Sheffield University, England, and author of several books on Hitler and the Nazis) and Lawrence Rees (best known as the editor of the classy BBC history series "Timewatch".)

The level of research that must have gone into it is incredible, the telling of the history and the potent mix of words, images and music make for 300 incredibly gripping minutes. I've watched it all 3 times and will doubtless watch it again.

i don't own this set yet but if you haven't seen it, you'll do good to click that buy button right now. this is the best series about the rise and fall of the nazis that i've ever seen. the early episodes documenting hitler's rise to power were absolutely fascinating. "The Road to Treblinka" was a haunting look at the development of the Holocaust the likes of which i've never experienced. i tuned in every night on the history channel to watch it! a very smart purchase.

Ignore the one star reviewer. It's obvious why he doesn't like the content. The truth always hurts doesn't it? I have seen this documentary around ten times now. One of the very best series documenting this period ever made. The only thing against it is the fact it could have gone onto two tapes as it is in England.

This box set is extremely more valuable to learning about the Nazis than the box set exclusively on Hitler. The Hitler Box Set has too much redundancy and is not near as comprehensive. If you want to know how and why the Nazis came to power, watch A Warning From History!!! Seig Heil

I found this to be a well-done and informative documentary which focused on the impact of Nazism upon the local population as well as Europe. This film is long (five vhs videos) but well worth watching. I was particularly impressed with the interviews that they attained; former Nazis as well as victims of the regime. They also interviewed Germans who witnessed these times and events and asked them the hard questions such as "why didn't you do anything?" and "why did you participate in persecuting the Jews?"

This documentary has plenty of footage and clearly presents the events that took place under Nazism. Although there is no groundbreaking research presented here, I learned about events that I had no idea took place. The focus of this documentary is "a warning from history" and they clearly present this theme throughout this film. There are lessons to be learned about the power of ideology, nationalism and racism and how these streams of thoughts were used to sway a population and the danger of this happening again.

This is a subject of such magnitude that one must learn as` much as possible in order to avert another turn in this direction. Six volumes give this some degree of weight. The size of this world of unreality must be given a great deal of reflection because one version can never fill in all the details.What I"m saying is don't let this be the final word; dig more deeply. The subject is vast.

The Nazis,by William W. Lace was a great book. I would recommend this book to anyone. It told all about how the Nazis became a really big destructional group. And how Adolf Hitler and all of his people finally fell. Adolf Hitler was one of the strongest leaders in the world. Even today we haven't had a leader as powerful and so determined to make their goal that they would go on a rampage. I think that this was one of the best books I have read. And this is a book worth reading.

studying the cause and effect, of the second world war.has always been.of a great concern of mine . over the past 50 years. primarily because of my concern of it being repeated.the crimes committed were on such a large scale,that is almost difficult to imagine. how such a cultured people like the germans could have let this happen.how adolph hitler could have captured the imagination of a whole country ,and used them for his evil genius, to launch the world into a world warthat would take 50 million lives .this is why we must never forget what took place between 1933 and 1945 if we do we will surely relive it thank you