Rent Swastika (1974)

Classic Must-See Documentary on the Nazis incl Home Movies of Hitler - Swastika review by PV

This is an absolutely brilliant and ground-breaking 1974 documentary featuring home movies mainly taken of Hitler and his Nazi gang plus girlfriend. All the supporting act are here, from Eva Brain to Albert Speer and Himmler and Adolf's doctors.

The film is dubbed as the movie reels were silent - amazing they were found at all, as placed in a warehouse with other stock footage when the US military took possession of them.

Controversial at the time, this collection shows the human side to Hitler and other top Nazis, their human side - with Adolf talking to children and playing with his dog and complaining about Goring or Bormann going on a Boar hunt. It is all shades of grey, not black and white, because that is what life is.

Watch the extras - see a half hour interview with David Puttnam and the director etc who made the film, from 2007 or thereabouts, plus 1973 interview with Albert Speer, whose charm and slyness meant he escaped the noose Nuremburg should have slipped around his guilty neck. A massive 97% SS war criminals went unpunished.

Some other footage here of Germany in 1930s and 40s - some from Triumph of the Will (1935) but some new. These home movies at the 'Eagle's Next' with Hitler are familiar too us now as they have appeared in so many Nazi documentaries since, but this was the first time they had been seen.

This should be essential viewing for all schoolkids too, as should Triumph of the Will and more. Nazis - a Warning from History etc.