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The World at War


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I have watched this series for the 3rd time and I am still in awe of the quality of the documentary. So many incredible stories and footage and in my view it is still up their with the best. The opening of episode 1 still remains remains one of the best pieces of oratory I have ever heard to describe the savagery that man can inflict on their fellow human beings. Also the episodes on the holocaust and the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki  are almost too unbearable to watch.

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I can remember as a young boy going to visit my grandparents on a Sunday and World at War was on the telly. Didn't pay much attention at the time. Years later it was on the History channel, i think. Started to watch it and was hooked. Would watch it again and again. Maybe should be on the 'series worth watching 'thread. Narrated by Lawrence Olivier, the tone of his voice and how he told the story was memorable.

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19 minutes ago, phart said:

I can spin round on my chair and touch the DVD set I have. Be interesting for it be fact checked now.

Considering it was produced only 25 years after the War ended and people who lived through it were still alive it is probably more factual then some current modern historians take who have to rely purely on documents

The World at War could never be regarded as propagandist IMO because a lot of the series was how it affected civilians on both sides

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/28/how-we-made-world-at-war

 

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18 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Considering it was produced only 25 years after the War ended and people who lived through it were still alive it is probably more factual then some current modern historians take who have to rely purely on documents

The World at War could never be regarded as propagandist IMO because a lot of the series was how it affected civilians on both sides

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/28/how-we-made-world-at-war

 

That's a great point in fact, they basically interview everyone available at that point.

I just think how much easier it was to conceal shit back then. Knowing how much bullshit is about today

 

EDIT: as the link says they even got Hitler's secretary to do an interview.

Edited by phart
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I think Albert Speer was more honest about most things because he thought if he went into as much detail as he could then he wouldnt be pressed on his biggest lie 

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25 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

I think Albert Speer was more honest about most things because he thought if he went into as much detail as he could then he wouldnt be pressed on his biggest lie 

Yeah I did all that Nazi stuff, the holocaust? Sorry mate what's that?

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I was always mesmerized by my family's world war one and two war medals never questioning why my great grandfather was a bitter man or why my grandads cousin f*off the Hungary. Being a soldier was the best thing in the world in my prepubescent mind, it probably messed me up a little but I think my grandad making me watch world at war was the best thing he could have done.

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3 hours ago, phart said:

That's a great point in fact, they basically interview everyone available at that point.

I just think how much easier it was to conceal shit back then. Knowing how much bullshit is about today

 

EDIT: as the link says they even got Hitler's secretary to do an interview.

Probably one for the unpopular opinions thread but since I've watched the original series as a kid and to this day! I've always had a bit of a thing for Traudl Junge, I think it's her accent more than anything else.

i read her autobiography a while back which was interesting but she did overplay the "I was only the secretary, not a nazi" part.

its a great series and one that if I spot an episode on, I'll usually watch.

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3 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

I think Albert Speer was more honest about most things because he thought if he went into as much detail as he could then he wouldnt be pressed on his biggest lie 

I don't remember this myself as I was too young but in the early-mid 1970s, Speer gave a series of interviews on the BBC where he basically denied all knowledge of any of the bad stuff, claimed he had no influence and was basically only an architect.

The thing you have to understand about Speer around the time the World at War was produced was that Speer was a bit of a celebrity.  He'd been released from prison, written his memoirs - which obviously didn't show him in a bad light - and was on the chat show circuit.  He was basically trying to present himself as the "good nazi" and was making a living off that, It's really hard to believe now.

At the time Clive James was a columnist for the Observer and I've read - and I think I've still got somewhere - anthologies of his columns from the period and he completely shreds Speer.

Of all the people interviewed, I think Speer is the least trustworthy as he had the most to hide and the most to lose.

 

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An outstanding series, which I can watch again and again and again; although it is the Eastern Front, which really ignites my interest.

 

I cannot remember the figure for the life of me, but I once read of how many hours of footage they trawled through in order to make the programme.

Whatever the figure; it was big... VERY big.

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The interview with the Dutch Jewish lady stands out. Her father was a doctor who treated a local nazi officer.'s child (I think) Each time they were brought to the authorities for processing on to the concentration camp the officer sent them back home. On the 11th occasion he said he couldn't protect them anymore. Her whole family were deported the next day apart from her. She was diagnosed with scarlet fever and deemed a risk to the others who were being transported. That summed up the way the nazis worked in terms of  attention to detail. 😣

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10 hours ago, aaid said:

Of all the people interviewed, I think Speer is the least trustworthy as he had the most to hide and the most to lose.

 

Disagree

Firstly the "good Nazi" was not a concoction by the likes of Speer or Rommel on their own - it was a construct of the allies 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-candor-and-lies-of-nazi-officer-albert-speer-324737/

There was clearly a deal made with Speer that if he came clean on everything he knew, with the exception of the holocaust, then he would not be pressed (while he lived) on his participation in it

If you think about it rationally it was an absolutely ludicrous defence when you consider he was responsible for the majority of slave labour 

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1 hour ago, Ally Bongo said:

Disagree

Firstly the "good Nazi" was not a concoction by the likes of Speer or Rommel on their own - it was a construct of the allies 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-candor-and-lies-of-nazi-officer-albert-speer-324737/

There was clearly a deal made with Speer that if he came clean on everything he knew, with the exception of the holocaust, then he would not be pressed (while he lived) on his participation in it

If you think about it rationally it was an absolutely ludicrous defence when you consider he was responsible for the majority of slave labour 

I agree that a deal was done with the allies - with the exception of the Soviet Union - on Speer, but to me he was a self serving shit who would say whatever would save his skin.   It was ridiculous to think he wasn't aware of the holocaust and in fact after his death it came out that he was fully aware.

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50 minutes ago, aaid said:

I agree that a deal was done with the allies - with the exception of the Soviet Union - on Speer, but to me he was a self serving shit who would say whatever would save his skin.   It was ridiculous to think he wasn't aware of the holocaust and in fact after his death it came out that he was fully aware.

Dont disagree however once his neck was saved and the victors (even Russia as they didnt dispute his release from Spandau) had decided he wouldn't be pressed on what he really knew and participated in he was free to divulge everything else

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/albert-speer-nazis-released-prison-1966

Spear-leader-002.jpg

Edited by Ally Bongo
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