1
00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:11,500
[windshield wipers clattering]
2
00:00:34,500 --> 00:00:36,125
[woman in German] So many bombs fell.
3
00:00:39,416 --> 00:00:41,291
We expected to die at any time.
4
00:00:45,416 --> 00:00:48,333
We thought there was no way out.
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00:01:00,666 --> 00:01:03,958
[Adolf Hitler] Whatever our enemies
inflict on German cities...
6
00:01:08,125 --> 00:01:11,833
...I expect every German
to fulfill his duties
7
00:01:13,833 --> 00:01:16,333
until their last drop of strength.
8
00:01:18,708 --> 00:01:23,916
I see victory ahead for Germany!
9
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,000
[intense music playing]
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00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:52,500
[narrator] The end of the Second World War
11
00:01:52,583 --> 00:01:54,083
is finally in sight.
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00:01:54,166 --> 00:01:57,208
[Franklin Roosevelt]
1945 can see the closing in
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00:01:57,291 --> 00:02:00,083
of the Nazi reign of terror in Europe
14
00:02:01,041 --> 00:02:05,291
and the malignant power
of imperialistic Japan.
15
00:02:06,291 --> 00:02:10,541
[narrator] In the Pacific, American forces
are pushing back the Japanese,
16
00:02:10,625 --> 00:02:12,250
one island at a time.
17
00:02:15,125 --> 00:02:19,416
[newscaster] A report of a rapid advance
is thrilling and exciting news.
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00:02:19,958 --> 00:02:21,833
{\an8}[narrator] While in Europe, the Allies
19
00:02:21,916 --> 00:02:23,666
{\an8}have reached Germany's borders.
20
00:02:24,375 --> 00:02:27,291
[newscaster] American First Armies
advanced three miles today
21
00:02:27,375 --> 00:02:29,833
and are now threatening
to outflank German positions
22
00:02:29,916 --> 00:02:31,166
guarding the Cologne plain.
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00:02:32,166 --> 00:02:34,958
[narrator] But Japan and Germany
show no sign of giving up.
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00:02:37,041 --> 00:02:39,583
[Hitler] We are fighting today
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00:02:39,666 --> 00:02:42,208
to free our people from this crisis!
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00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,833
So, the Allies are considering
just what it will take to end the war.
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00:02:49,875 --> 00:02:55,083
[commentator] One bomb has
more power than 20,000 tons of TNT.
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It is a harnessing
of the basic power of the universe.
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[bell tolling]
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00:03:39,416 --> 00:03:42,541
[narrator]
After almost six years of global conflict,
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00:03:42,625 --> 00:03:45,958
the war is coming home to Germany.
32
00:03:51,458 --> 00:03:56,041
Carola Stern lives with her mother
in a small town in northeast Germany.
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00:03:58,958 --> 00:04:02,541
Until now, they've escaped
the worst of the fighting.
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00:04:05,541 --> 00:04:08,500
[man speaking German over loudspeaker]
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00:04:14,583 --> 00:04:18,375
[Carola in German] I remember
Goebbels spoke on the radio and said,
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00:04:18,458 --> 00:04:20,208
"Germany will stay German!"
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00:04:24,416 --> 00:04:27,708
"Oh, God," my mother said.
"That's lucky!"
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00:04:27,791 --> 00:04:29,708
"We're saved!"
39
00:04:33,583 --> 00:04:36,375
Then someone said,
"German tanks are coming!"
40
00:04:43,291 --> 00:04:45,750
But they were Russian tanks!
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00:04:55,375 --> 00:04:57,656
[newscaster] Here is the latest news
on the war in Europe.
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00:04:58,291 --> 00:05:01,375
[newscaster 2] Another day
of spectacular gains for the Red Army.
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00:05:02,083 --> 00:05:04,625
[newscaster 3] Marshal Zhukov
is pouring thousands of tanks,
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00:05:04,708 --> 00:05:06,833
guns and men inside Germany.
45
00:05:15,541 --> 00:05:20,708
[narrator] For Soviet platoon commander
Leonid Rozenberg, the war is personal.
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00:05:23,250 --> 00:05:26,958
{\an8}[Leonid in Russian]
The burning feeling of hatred.
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00:05:38,125 --> 00:05:41,916
My mother, my brother, little sister
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00:05:43,166 --> 00:05:45,583
were shot dead by Germans.
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00:05:45,666 --> 00:05:47,500
[dog barking]
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00:06:02,833 --> 00:06:08,833
The thing we all dreamed
of was to get to Berlin!
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00:06:17,958 --> 00:06:19,583
[newscaster] Refugees by the thousands
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00:06:19,666 --> 00:06:21,346
continue to stream from the Russian front.
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00:06:22,208 --> 00:06:27,000
{\an8}[Carola]
We imagine wild hordes from the east,
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00:06:27,083 --> 00:06:29,333
{\an8}sub-humans,
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{\an8}and no one would get away alive.
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00:06:42,583 --> 00:06:47,291
You lose everything it means to be human.
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00:07:01,166 --> 00:07:04,416
Then there's only one thing left:
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00:07:06,333 --> 00:07:08,041
the will to survive.
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00:07:13,875 --> 00:07:17,125
[newscaster] Russian armies are
23 miles from the German capital,
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00:07:17,208 --> 00:07:19,500
according to the enemy itself.
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00:07:19,583 --> 00:07:21,166
Adolf Hitler issued a special order
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00:07:21,250 --> 00:07:24,916
calling for a stand to the death
against the Soviet forces.
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00:07:36,750 --> 00:07:39,375
[narrator]
With the German military on its knees,
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00:07:39,458 --> 00:07:42,541
Berlin's last line of defense
is the Volkssturm,
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00:07:43,666 --> 00:07:46,916
a rag-tag people's army
made up of elderly men,
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00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,041
women and schoolboys.
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00:07:51,458 --> 00:07:58,375
[in German] Volkssturm soldiers of Berlin,
raise your right hand
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00:07:58,458 --> 00:08:00,500
and repeat after me.
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00:08:00,583 --> 00:08:02,375
I vow...
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00:08:02,458 --> 00:08:04,041
I vow...
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00:08:04,125 --> 00:08:05,916
...that I for my fatherland...
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00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,833
...that I for my fatherland...
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00:08:07,916 --> 00:08:09,625
...will fight bravely...
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00:08:09,708 --> 00:08:11,208
...will fight bravely...
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00:08:11,291 --> 00:08:13,708
...and would rather die...
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00:08:13,791 --> 00:08:15,791
...and would rather die...
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00:08:15,875 --> 00:08:19,916
...than give up the freedom of my people.
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00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,166
...than give up the freedom of my people.
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00:08:26,125 --> 00:08:28,375
[narrator]
Fifteen-year-old Hans Müncheberg
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00:08:28,458 --> 00:08:30,166
is among the volunteers.
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00:08:30,958 --> 00:08:37,875
[Hans in German]
I weighed 100 pounds and was 5' 3".
82
00:08:40,250 --> 00:08:44,958
So, I had to roll up
the trousers of my uniform.
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00:08:49,666 --> 00:08:51,666
[in German] Men of the Berlin Volkssturm,
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00:08:53,583 --> 00:08:59,916
never drop the flag
before the enemies of the Reich
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00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,458
and surrender like cowards.
86
00:09:04,500 --> 00:09:07,583
[narrator] Hans's father is a loyal Nazi.
87
00:09:08,250 --> 00:09:11,583
Now it's time
for little Hans to prove himself.
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00:09:16,666 --> 00:09:19,750
[Hans] My year, those born in 1929,
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00:09:19,833 --> 00:09:24,333
were presented
to the Führer on his birthday.
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00:09:42,416 --> 00:09:46,375
The Führer was to lead us to victory.
91
00:09:59,666 --> 00:10:04,041
First, we set up roadblocks
against the Red Army.
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00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,291
Berlin had to be defended.
93
00:10:14,541 --> 00:10:16,625
We just have to hold on!
94
00:10:33,666 --> 00:10:35,833
[narrator] March 1945.
95
00:10:36,833 --> 00:10:39,666
The Allies are pouring
across the German border.
96
00:10:40,041 --> 00:10:42,934
[newscaster] Allied armies are continuing
their progress to the Rhine River
97
00:10:42,958 --> 00:10:45,416
with good results
reported from all sectors.
98
00:10:46,458 --> 00:10:48,916
[Winston Churchill]
Once the River Rhine is pierced,
99
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,666
decisive victory in Europe will be nearer.
100
00:10:52,916 --> 00:10:55,208
[narrator] To preserve American lives,
101
00:10:55,291 --> 00:11:00,791
Roosevelt agrees that the final task
of taking Berlin will fall to the Soviets.
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00:11:00,875 --> 00:11:03,083
[Roosevelt] We have made a good start
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00:11:03,166 --> 00:11:05,083
on the road to a world of peace.
104
00:11:06,208 --> 00:11:11,125
In New Mexico, scientists are developing
a devastating secret weapon:
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00:11:12,375 --> 00:11:13,875
the atomic bomb.
106
00:11:16,625 --> 00:11:20,333
While in the Pacific,
the Americans are retaking the Philippines
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00:11:20,416 --> 00:11:23,000
and the island of Iwo Jima.
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00:11:23,083 --> 00:11:25,000
[Douglas MacArthur] We shall not rest
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00:11:25,083 --> 00:11:28,750
until our enemy is completely overthrown.
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00:11:30,958 --> 00:11:34,250
Japan itself is our final goal.
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00:11:35,583 --> 00:11:40,541
One last obstacle now stands
between U.S. forces and mainland Japan.
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00:11:44,375 --> 00:11:46,541
[newscaster] The Pacific War's
greatest invasion armada
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00:11:46,625 --> 00:11:51,333
has put American army troops
and marines ashore on Okinawa Island.
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00:12:06,041 --> 00:12:11,166
{\an8}[narrator] If the Americans take Okinawa,
an invasion of Japan will be within reach.
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00:12:18,625 --> 00:12:22,375
For the Japanese,
it's an unthinkable prospect.
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00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,708
[commander shouting]
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00:12:31,083 --> 00:12:36,833
[Kanji in Japanese] Our country had
a line of Emperors 2,600 years old.
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00:12:38,916 --> 00:12:41,916
We had never been invaded
by another country.
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00:12:49,375 --> 00:12:52,166
And we have the Samurai code of honor.
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00:12:59,125 --> 00:13:02,166
[narrator] Japan's commanders
resort to a desperate tactic
121
00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:04,000
to stop the U.S. fleet.
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00:13:07,125 --> 00:13:09,625
The air force calls for volunteers.
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00:13:15,375 --> 00:13:18,166
[Kanji]
I was in the eighth special attack unit.
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00:13:20,875 --> 00:13:26,041
Hundreds of people came forward.
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00:13:34,541 --> 00:13:38,958
We believed we were doing
something righteous,
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00:13:39,041 --> 00:13:40,625
that it was a holy war.
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00:13:44,833 --> 00:13:47,916
I would feel brave
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00:13:49,250 --> 00:13:53,208
and think we were heroes.
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00:13:56,583 --> 00:14:01,750
Next day, I would feel anxious and scared.
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00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,916
We didn't really believe
all that "Long live the Emperor" stuff,
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00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,000
but as a young person,
you get caught up in it
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00:14:11,083 --> 00:14:15,083
and feel that you have to follow suit.
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00:14:33,833 --> 00:14:35,791
{\an8}[Ari] One night, in the early hours,
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00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:39,541
{\an8}one of the guys said,
"It's Friday the 13th."
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00:14:40,958 --> 00:14:44,541
So, we kind of had a feeling
that something would happen.
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00:14:47,791 --> 00:14:48,875
And it did.
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00:15:01,166 --> 00:15:03,250
I was having breakfast.
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00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,416
One of the lookouts
yelled out, "Planes overhead!"
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00:15:07,500 --> 00:15:09,250
[engines buzzing]
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00:15:25,458 --> 00:15:27,666
[firing]
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00:15:37,208 --> 00:15:42,583
When I saw another ship hit by a kamikaze,
I thought they were crazy.
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00:15:58,916 --> 00:15:59,958
There was carnage.
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00:16:20,666 --> 00:16:24,500
I saw this plane coming in
and I remember saying,
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00:16:24,583 --> 00:16:27,333
"This is it, I'm going to die."
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00:16:58,583 --> 00:17:03,083
[narrator] For two days, wave after wave
of kamikaze suicide bombers
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00:17:03,166 --> 00:17:05,208
attack the American ships.
147
00:17:20,833 --> 00:17:23,083
[Kanji] When my turn was approaching...
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00:17:26,291 --> 00:17:28,625
...I was so scared of dying.
149
00:17:40,041 --> 00:17:43,916
But you had to obey orders.
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00:18:35,541 --> 00:18:40,416
With the enemy fleet ahead,
there was no way back.
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00:18:52,166 --> 00:18:55,791
It's a funny thing,
when I knew I was going to die,
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00:18:55,875 --> 00:19:02,250
I remembered things from childhood.
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00:19:05,666 --> 00:19:08,333
For example, my mother's face.
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00:19:37,041 --> 00:19:40,625
Then I was hit and blacked out.
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00:19:50,625 --> 00:19:53,958
[narrator] Miraculously,
after crash landing in the ocean,
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00:19:54,041 --> 00:19:58,750
Kanji is thrown clear of the wreckage
and picked up by a U.S. rescue boat.
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00:20:03,166 --> 00:20:06,541
But the battle
for Okinawa is just beginning.
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00:20:15,250 --> 00:20:20,791
It's April, and in Europe, every day
brings news of another German defeat.
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00:20:26,250 --> 00:20:28,708
[newscaster]
The Americans captured Cologne today.
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00:20:28,791 --> 00:20:31,333
It's a city of rubble and devastation.
161
00:20:31,416 --> 00:20:33,583
And right now,
the German garrison is in full flight
162
00:20:33,666 --> 00:20:35,375
along the west bank of the Rhine.
163
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,000
[newscaster 2] United States forces
have entered the Nazi city of Nuremberg,
164
00:20:40,083 --> 00:20:44,625
while Russian airborne troops have landed
within 23 miles east of Berlin.
165
00:20:46,125 --> 00:20:50,166
[newscaster 3] East and West have met
near the German town of Torgau.
166
00:20:50,250 --> 00:20:54,041
Nazi Germany
has been split clean in half.
167
00:20:58,291 --> 00:21:01,041
[narrator] For thousands of prisoners
of the Nazi regime,
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00:21:01,125 --> 00:21:04,166
a moment of truth is approaching.
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00:21:06,291 --> 00:21:10,000
{\an8}[Gerda] I was 15 when the war broke out.
My friends were about the same age.
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{\an8}We were all young girls.
Practically children.
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[narrator] Jewish teenager Gerda Weissmann
172
00:21:21,125 --> 00:21:24,916
has been held in Nazi labor camps
for almost three years.
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00:21:27,083 --> 00:21:29,000
[Gerda] I heard planes overhead.
174
00:21:30,041 --> 00:21:34,125
I remember they told us
the Russian front had moved closer
175
00:21:35,708 --> 00:21:40,458
and the Germans, they were running away
from the advancing Russian army.
176
00:21:46,666 --> 00:21:51,375
We were told we were going
on a march the next morning.
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00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,583
The SS men lifted their whips
and they said, "Forward march."
178
00:22:12,625 --> 00:22:16,250
We all knew that this
is going to be the end of the road.
179
00:22:20,666 --> 00:22:22,166
It was bitter cold.
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00:22:26,041 --> 00:22:27,791
We slept outside.
181
00:22:33,333 --> 00:22:36,458
We left a bloody trail in the snow.
182
00:22:37,833 --> 00:22:39,250
It was pretty brutal.
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00:22:44,333 --> 00:22:46,958
My friend said she wanted some water.
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00:22:48,833 --> 00:22:51,625
And I held her and we both fell asleep.
185
00:22:58,708 --> 00:23:00,875
I woke up, but she didn't.
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00:23:15,166 --> 00:23:18,375
[narrator] After a 350-mile forced march,
187
00:23:18,458 --> 00:23:23,666
Gerda and her fellow prisoners are locked
by SS guards in an abandoned factory.
188
00:23:26,625 --> 00:23:30,500
[Gerda] The Germans planted
a time bomb to blow us up.
189
00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:38,083
We tried to break out of there,
and we couldn't.
190
00:23:38,166 --> 00:23:41,833
CLEAR HEIGHT
3,9M
191
00:23:43,083 --> 00:23:48,041
I remember sitting there and really
knowing that this was definitely the end.
192
00:24:14,875 --> 00:24:16,833
[announcer] This is The World Today.
193
00:24:17,916 --> 00:24:20,875
[newscaster] The German resistance
west of the Rhine is still crumbling
194
00:24:20,958 --> 00:24:23,833
and American columns
are racing deep into Germany.
195
00:24:26,625 --> 00:24:28,875
[narrator] April 1945.
196
00:24:28,958 --> 00:24:31,416
The Americans
are mopping up German resistance
197
00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:33,125
in the west of the country.
198
00:24:34,250 --> 00:24:35,791
[machine gun firing]
199
00:24:41,666 --> 00:24:44,625
[newscaster] The German army
has really been cut to pieces,
200
00:24:44,708 --> 00:24:47,166
and they now find themselves
in a parlous state.
201
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,208
[narrator] And the Soviet Red Army
has arrived at the gates of the capital.
202
00:24:55,916 --> 00:24:59,791
[newscaster] Berlin is tonight
completely surrounded by Russian armies.
203
00:25:07,375 --> 00:25:09,375
- [wind whistling]
- [distant explosions]
204
00:25:13,458 --> 00:25:16,166
[indistinct discussion]
205
00:25:16,250 --> 00:25:18,541
[Roman in Russian] I looked at the map.
206
00:25:19,708 --> 00:25:21,875
Berlin was 12 kilometers away.
207
00:25:24,625 --> 00:25:28,916
I said, "Guys, for all your suffering...
208
00:25:31,750 --> 00:25:33,750
for all your sorrows...
209
00:25:36,625 --> 00:25:37,958
fire!"
210
00:25:50,833 --> 00:25:51,916
[in Russian] Fire!
211
00:25:55,541 --> 00:25:56,541
Fire!
212
00:25:58,958 --> 00:26:01,541
[Roman] We gave them hell!
213
00:26:12,750 --> 00:26:16,375
The infantry jumped onto the tanks.
214
00:26:17,041 --> 00:26:19,041
On to Berlin!
215
00:26:32,541 --> 00:26:36,375
[narrator] Manning the barricades
is 15-year-old Hans Müncheberg.
216
00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:42,083
{\an8}[Hans]
I found myself in front of the Russians.
217
00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:55,666
I fired in the general direction
of the enemy.
218
00:26:57,375 --> 00:26:59,791
It was a question of survival.
219
00:27:10,416 --> 00:27:12,416
[Leonid] We were so angry.
220
00:27:18,708 --> 00:27:24,166
Our tanks crushed the dead Germans.
221
00:27:24,833 --> 00:27:26,333
And the wounded.
222
00:27:32,833 --> 00:27:34,416
Revenge!
223
00:28:07,125 --> 00:28:12,541
{\an8}[Hans] Nine of my classmates were killed.
224
00:28:12,625 --> 00:28:16,458
We decided
we were not going to surrender.
225
00:28:18,500 --> 00:28:21,666
We would try to break out.
226
00:28:28,750 --> 00:28:31,625
[narrator]
After two weeks of brutal street fighting,
227
00:28:31,708 --> 00:28:34,875
Leonid Rozenberg
is among the first Red Army soldiers
228
00:28:34,958 --> 00:28:36,666
to reach the Reichstag,
229
00:28:36,750 --> 00:28:39,708
the symbolic heart
of the German government,
230
00:28:39,791 --> 00:28:42,666
to finally avenge his murdered family.
231
00:28:47,958 --> 00:28:50,625
[Leonid] I was ready
to get to the Reichstag...
232
00:28:54,458 --> 00:28:58,166
...and to put an end to it all.
233
00:29:11,916 --> 00:29:15,583
I climbed to the Reichstag dome...
234
00:29:30,041 --> 00:29:32,875
...and reached the victory banner.
235
00:29:42,083 --> 00:29:46,958
For the entire war,
I'd dreamed of reaching the enemy's lair.
236
00:29:49,458 --> 00:29:54,250
I reached the lair!
237
00:30:04,083 --> 00:30:07,500
[newscaster in Russian]
The German army has been beaten.
238
00:30:08,125 --> 00:30:10,208
Germany is defeated!
239
00:30:13,875 --> 00:30:16,666
{\an8}[Hans] We came to a village.
240
00:30:18,166 --> 00:30:22,958
{\an8}This lady told us,
"Germany has surrendered."
241
00:30:26,375 --> 00:30:30,291
I said, "That's impossible.
Germany can't surrender."
242
00:30:36,708 --> 00:30:41,666
My captain put his arm on my shoulder.
243
00:30:41,750 --> 00:30:45,666
"You know, boy, sometimes
it's harder to hear the truth than a lie."
244
00:30:50,625 --> 00:30:52,916
I knew it was over.
245
00:30:59,166 --> 00:31:01,766
[newscaster] Germany has
surrendered unconditionally on all fronts
246
00:31:01,791 --> 00:31:06,458
and to all the allies: the United States,
Great Britain, Soviet Russia and France.
247
00:31:13,250 --> 00:31:14,625
The Germans signed the papers
248
00:31:14,708 --> 00:31:18,041
at 19 minutes before
three o'clock this morning, French time,
249
00:31:18,125 --> 00:31:20,958
in a little red schoolhouse
at Reims, France.
250
00:31:30,708 --> 00:31:32,708
[crowd cheering]
251
00:31:47,666 --> 00:31:50,500
[announcer in German]
Men and women of Germany,
252
00:31:51,458 --> 00:31:55,541
our Führer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen.
253
00:31:59,458 --> 00:32:01,375
[newscaster] Here is a news flash.
254
00:32:02,125 --> 00:32:07,166
The German radio has
just announced that Hitler is dead.
255
00:32:07,750 --> 00:32:08,750
I'll repeat that.
256
00:32:08,833 --> 00:32:11,208
Hitler is dead.
257
00:32:51,708 --> 00:32:55,208
[narrator] Hitler has ended
his own life with a bullet to the head.
258
00:32:55,958 --> 00:33:01,250
He leaves behind a nation
in ruins and a people shattered.
259
00:33:04,333 --> 00:33:06,125
After fleeing their hometown,
260
00:33:06,208 --> 00:33:09,750
Carola Stern and her mother
have been hiding from the Russians.
261
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,083
[Carola]
We walked until we came to a farm.
262
00:33:20,666 --> 00:33:27,375
Soldiers came past and told us,
263
00:33:27,458 --> 00:33:31,500
"The Führer fell
in the battle for Berlin."
264
00:33:32,291 --> 00:33:37,000
And my mother said,
"The Führer didn't know it all."
265
00:33:38,208 --> 00:33:42,291
I replied, "Forget the Führer."
266
00:33:43,291 --> 00:33:49,291
"He promised us the world,
and now we're here in the dirt."
267
00:34:00,083 --> 00:34:02,791
[cheering]
268
00:34:10,833 --> 00:34:15,875
{\an8}[Churchill] We may allow ourselves
a brief period of rejoicing.
269
00:34:17,375 --> 00:34:20,458
Today is Victory in Europe Day.
270
00:35:20,166 --> 00:35:22,083
[narrator] As the celebrations begin,
271
00:35:22,875 --> 00:35:24,125
in Germany,
272
00:35:24,208 --> 00:35:28,416
U.S. intelligence officer Kurt Klein
receives a troubling report.
273
00:35:30,083 --> 00:35:34,041
{\an8}[Kurt] We had heard
of a group of Jewish women
274
00:35:34,125 --> 00:35:39,458
who had been dumped by their SS guards
in a vacant factory building.
275
00:35:42,125 --> 00:35:44,000
And because I was German speaking,
276
00:35:44,083 --> 00:35:48,375
I was sent in
together with a jeep of medics.
277
00:35:53,250 --> 00:35:57,000
{\an8}[Gerda] A couple of days earlier,
the Germans locked us into the factory
278
00:35:57,083 --> 00:35:59,583
{\an8}and they attached a time bomb.
279
00:36:02,750 --> 00:36:04,333
[thunder rumbling]
280
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,500
But it started to rain.
281
00:36:09,583 --> 00:36:12,291
So, the bombing timer did not connect.
282
00:36:15,541 --> 00:36:18,750
And the following morning,
the doors were opened
283
00:36:18,833 --> 00:36:21,166
and people called
and said the war was over.
284
00:36:24,875 --> 00:36:29,333
A very clear view of liberation
came that morning
285
00:36:29,416 --> 00:36:31,916
when I saw a car coming down the hill,
286
00:36:33,208 --> 00:36:36,500
the white star on its hood
and not the swastika.
287
00:36:45,625 --> 00:36:48,500
[Kurt] And I remember
that next to the entrance of the building,
288
00:36:48,583 --> 00:36:50,333
I saw a girl standing.
289
00:36:56,208 --> 00:36:58,875
And I decided to walk up to her.
290
00:37:02,625 --> 00:37:04,958
And I asked her in German and in English
291
00:37:05,041 --> 00:37:07,125
whether she spoke either language,
292
00:37:07,208 --> 00:37:09,333
and she answered me in German.
293
00:37:12,166 --> 00:37:15,291
[Gerda] And I said to him,
"We are Jewish, you know?"
294
00:37:18,500 --> 00:37:20,875
For a very long time he didn't answer me.
295
00:37:24,458 --> 00:37:28,416
And then his own voice
betrayed his emotion.
296
00:37:32,041 --> 00:37:34,208
He said, "So am I."
297
00:37:44,708 --> 00:37:46,166
I remember I said, "Oh!"
298
00:37:46,250 --> 00:37:47,958
Of disbelief.
299
00:37:48,041 --> 00:37:50,083
He looked like God to me.
300
00:37:53,041 --> 00:37:57,000
And the impact of that,
to be liberated not only by an American,
301
00:37:57,083 --> 00:37:58,958
but by a fellow Jew...
302
00:38:01,666 --> 00:38:04,458
it just, it was so totally...
303
00:38:04,541 --> 00:38:08,333
I mean, I think this is when that...
304
00:38:08,416 --> 00:38:14,083
that feeling of such an incredible joy
which fills your whole being,
305
00:38:14,166 --> 00:38:15,875
it must have burst out.
306
00:38:15,958 --> 00:38:19,041
I remember I couldn't get ahold of myself.
307
00:38:19,958 --> 00:38:22,500
And then he asked a strange question.
308
00:38:23,500 --> 00:38:26,500
He said, "May I see the other ladies?"
309
00:38:27,833 --> 00:38:31,000
A form of address
we hadn't heard for six years.
310
00:38:32,416 --> 00:38:37,083
I told him that most of the girls
were inside but too ill to walk.
311
00:38:37,166 --> 00:38:39,375
And he said to me,
"Won't you come with me?"
312
00:38:45,041 --> 00:38:48,500
He held the door open for me
and let me proceed him.
313
00:38:53,916 --> 00:38:58,958
[Kurt] It's nearly impossible to describe
the scene that I found inside
314
00:38:59,041 --> 00:39:02,916
with all these women
scattered on the floor.
315
00:39:03,666 --> 00:39:06,166
That was simply too overwhelming.
316
00:39:08,458 --> 00:39:12,333
She pointed at them and then
made sort of a sweeping gesture
317
00:39:12,416 --> 00:39:15,416
over this scene of devastation
318
00:39:16,875 --> 00:39:19,958
and said the following words:
319
00:39:22,375 --> 00:39:23,833
"Noble be man,
320
00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:26,583
merciful and good."
321
00:39:36,250 --> 00:39:40,916
And I could hardly believe
that she was able to summon a poem
322
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:47,250
by the German poet Goethe,
called "The Divine," at such a moment.
323
00:39:52,083 --> 00:39:55,250
It was a totally
shattering experience for me.
324
00:40:02,791 --> 00:40:06,208
[Gerda] Well, pretty soon trucks came,
Red Cross trucks.
325
00:40:06,291 --> 00:40:08,333
They took us into hospital.
326
00:40:12,416 --> 00:40:16,458
I was the only one
from my family who survived.
327
00:40:21,708 --> 00:40:26,791
{\an8}[Kurt] I've never forgotten the impression
that this girl had made on me,
328
00:40:26,875 --> 00:40:31,791
{\an8}and I made it my business to come back
to the hospital as often as I could.
329
00:40:34,458 --> 00:40:36,083
The more I talked to her,
330
00:40:36,166 --> 00:40:41,500
the more I realized
she had something very special about her.
331
00:40:41,583 --> 00:40:45,958
So, from that point on,
a relationship developed.
332
00:40:52,833 --> 00:40:54,875
[Gerda] Kurt came as often as he could,
333
00:40:54,958 --> 00:40:57,791
and he said, "Well,
I would like you to come to America."
334
00:40:58,791 --> 00:41:01,250
And I said, "Well, what would I do there?"
335
00:41:01,333 --> 00:41:03,791
And he said,
"For starters, you could marry me."
336
00:41:12,125 --> 00:41:15,000
And that was
the happiest moment of my life.
337
00:41:22,583 --> 00:41:25,708
[narrator] For Gerda Weissmann,
there is salvation.
338
00:41:30,791 --> 00:41:34,000
For millions of others,
there is no way out.
339
00:41:40,500 --> 00:41:43,625
The Americans have arrived
in the German town of Dachau.
340
00:41:50,541 --> 00:41:53,458
{\an8}[Walter]
We rode down a road towards Dachau.
341
00:41:53,541 --> 00:41:55,541
{\an8}But Dachau had no meaning for me.
342
00:41:56,291 --> 00:41:58,541
{\an8}There were side railroad tracks.
343
00:42:02,291 --> 00:42:06,708
And we came to this enclosed place
with gates and so on.
344
00:42:13,250 --> 00:42:15,291
There was a huge amount of people.
345
00:42:31,208 --> 00:42:35,416
There were about 30 boxcars
on the railroad track,
346
00:42:35,500 --> 00:42:39,708
and when I looked into the cars,
they were full of dead people.
347
00:42:43,958 --> 00:42:47,125
I was so shocked by what I saw
that it just knocked me over.
348
00:42:54,541 --> 00:42:57,791
When you're in the middle
of an experience of that kind,
349
00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:00,500
it's sort of like a nightmare.
350
00:43:02,333 --> 00:43:07,333
It was beyond the realm
of one's imagination.
351
00:44:03,791 --> 00:44:05,750
[narrator]
It will take lifetimes to comprehend
352
00:44:05,833 --> 00:44:08,250
the enormity of the crimes
committed here...
353
00:44:11,083 --> 00:44:14,083
and in camps all across occupied Europe,
354
00:44:14,166 --> 00:44:17,291
where millions have been murdered
in the Nazi genocide.
355
00:44:39,958 --> 00:44:43,208
In the Far East, the slaughter continues.
356
00:44:48,458 --> 00:44:54,083
At Okinawa, Japan's kamikaze pilots
have failed to stop the American advance.
357
00:45:07,208 --> 00:45:10,625
By the end of June,
after a desperate last battle,
358
00:45:10,708 --> 00:45:12,583
Okinawa falls.
359
00:45:26,458 --> 00:45:30,375
The final goal is within sight: Tokyo.
360
00:45:32,333 --> 00:45:34,208
[newscaster]
In the Pacific, American B-29s
361
00:45:34,291 --> 00:45:38,833
hit Japanese installations
on Honshu and Kyushu islands.
362
00:45:39,916 --> 00:45:43,041
[newscaster 2] The Tokyo area is
once again being pounded from the air.
363
00:45:43,125 --> 00:45:47,083
Our vast task force has resumed
its attacks on the enemy capital.
364
00:45:48,791 --> 00:45:50,511
[newscaster 3]
There is an acute realization
365
00:45:50,583 --> 00:45:53,041
that perhaps the hardest phase
of the war is still to come.
366
00:45:54,375 --> 00:45:57,041
Now, we must crush Japan.
367
00:45:57,125 --> 00:45:58,791
[missiles whistling]
368
00:46:17,541 --> 00:46:19,375
[narrator] To bring an end to the war,
369
00:46:19,458 --> 00:46:23,625
the Allies now face the prospect
of a bloody invasion of Japan
370
00:46:23,708 --> 00:46:26,416
and tens of thousands more casualties.
371
00:46:31,041 --> 00:46:34,375
But they've been developing
a devastating secret weapon:
372
00:46:34,458 --> 00:46:35,791
the atom bomb.
373
00:46:38,833 --> 00:46:41,666
{\an8}[Harry Truman] There can be
no peace in the world
374
00:46:41,750 --> 00:46:45,375
{\an8}until the military power
of Japan is destroyed.
375
00:46:47,291 --> 00:46:50,625
Only surrender
can prevent the kind of ruin
376
00:46:50,708 --> 00:46:53,000
which they have seen come to Germany
377
00:46:53,083 --> 00:46:57,041
as the result of continued,
useless resistance.
378
00:47:00,875 --> 00:47:05,041
[narrator] While American commanders
debate the morality of this drastic step,
379
00:47:05,666 --> 00:47:09,416
some of Japan's leaders
are secretly contemplating surrender.
380
00:47:15,458 --> 00:47:18,791
But Japan will never
have the chance to make a peace offer.
381
00:47:49,291 --> 00:47:52,833
[pilot] Pilot to left waist gunner.
We're over the I.P.
382
00:47:54,875 --> 00:47:57,333
Pilot to bombardier: your ship.
383
00:48:02,208 --> 00:48:03,791
[bombardier] Bomb bay doors open.
384
00:48:31,416 --> 00:48:33,291
[Truman] It is an atomic bomb.
385
00:48:34,250 --> 00:48:36,458
The force from which
the sun draws its power
386
00:48:36,541 --> 00:48:41,666
has been loosed against those
who brought war to the Far East.
387
00:48:56,791 --> 00:48:58,458
[Sakue in Japanese] There was a flash.
388
00:49:03,041 --> 00:49:06,083
The blast came rushing towards us.
389
00:49:08,083 --> 00:49:10,875
We were crying out to our mother.
390
00:49:10,958 --> 00:49:13,958
"Mom, help us, please help us!"
391
00:49:16,416 --> 00:49:19,666
I touched her with my hands.
392
00:49:23,416 --> 00:49:25,666
She crumbled into pieces,
393
00:49:28,791 --> 00:49:31,166
and ash soared into the air.
394
00:49:45,083 --> 00:49:47,184
[newscaster]
The city of Hiroshima has been destroyed,
395
00:49:47,208 --> 00:49:51,708
and practically all living things were
literally seared to death by the blast.
396
00:49:54,166 --> 00:49:56,916
Sixty percent of the built-up area
of the city had vanished,
397
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,833
almost without trace.
398
00:50:04,291 --> 00:50:07,541
[narrator] A hundred thousand Japanese
are killed instantly
399
00:50:07,625 --> 00:50:12,458
in two atomic blasts
over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
400
00:50:18,458 --> 00:50:22,583
A hundred and 50 thousand more
will die from radiation sickness
401
00:50:22,666 --> 00:50:23,916
over the coming years.
402
00:51:01,541 --> 00:51:04,750
{\an8}[George VI] Japan has surrendered.
403
00:51:06,416 --> 00:51:08,458
{\an8}[crowd cheering]
404
00:51:08,541 --> 00:51:12,458
{\an8}War has ended throughout the world.
405
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:17,791
I ask you at this solemn hour
406
00:51:18,416 --> 00:51:22,791
to remember all
who have laid down their lives
407
00:51:23,666 --> 00:51:29,416
and all who have endured
the loss of those they love.
408
00:51:33,125 --> 00:51:37,750
[Orson Welles] Congratulations for
being alive and listening on this night.
409
00:51:38,666 --> 00:51:41,000
Millions didn't make it.
410
00:51:45,375 --> 00:51:47,458
New homecoming.
411
00:51:50,333 --> 00:51:53,083
The men who tilted guns of battleships
412
00:51:53,166 --> 00:51:55,458
and stoked them in epic battle
413
00:51:55,541 --> 00:51:58,500
will ride the level ferries
of bay and river.
414
00:52:05,625 --> 00:52:08,000
The pilot with many missions
415
00:52:08,083 --> 00:52:11,125
will do errands for some civilian company.
416
00:52:18,583 --> 00:52:21,708
And tank men will drive
a powered lawnmower
417
00:52:22,291 --> 00:52:24,125
while their fathers watch.
418
00:52:46,625 --> 00:52:51,125
[narrator] After six years of all-out war,
the world counts the cost.
419
00:52:53,500 --> 00:52:55,541
More than 60 million are dead.
420
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:03,250
Those who have lived through this conflict
will carry the scars forever.
421
00:53:06,166 --> 00:53:10,125
It will fall to those
who come after to learn its lessons.
422
00:53:19,458 --> 00:53:21,083
[static over radio]
423
00:53:21,166 --> 00:53:24,125
[newscaster] A couple of Nazi
war criminals, Goering and Von Rundstedt,
424
00:53:24,208 --> 00:53:28,416
both of them big fish, they've been caught
and they've been brought to Britain now.
425
00:53:28,500 --> 00:53:31,166
They will be tried in London
for their war crimes.
426
00:53:31,250 --> 00:53:32,625
[static]
427
00:53:32,708 --> 00:53:37,166
[newscaster] The American request for
opening up Palestine to Jewish refugees
428
00:53:37,250 --> 00:53:40,958
would be granted through agreement
with the British government.
429
00:53:41,041 --> 00:53:44,416
But the initial indications were
that neither Arabs nor Jews
430
00:53:44,500 --> 00:53:46,583
were going to be satisfied with it.
431
00:53:46,666 --> 00:53:48,333
[static]
432
00:53:48,416 --> 00:53:51,166
[commentator] We've got to prepare
a climate for peace,
433
00:53:51,250 --> 00:53:53,208
a climate of understanding and goodwill.
434
00:53:53,291 --> 00:53:55,125
[static]
435
00:53:55,208 --> 00:53:59,000
[newscaster] A Human Rights Commission
is expected to draft a Bill of Rights
436
00:53:59,083 --> 00:54:00,375
for all mankind
437
00:54:00,458 --> 00:54:03,708
that would serve as the conscience
of the United Nations.
438
00:54:03,791 --> 00:54:06,916
[static]
439
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:09,333
[Churchill] Sail on, O ship of state.
440
00:54:10,666 --> 00:54:13,625
Sail on, O union, strong and great!
441
00:54:15,416 --> 00:54:17,916
Humanity with all its fears,
442
00:54:18,708 --> 00:54:21,416
with all the hopes for future years,
443
00:54:22,458 --> 00:54:26,000
is hanging breathless on thy fate!
444
00:54:28,041 --> 00:54:29,833
[dramatic music rising]