View of Ellis Loring Dresel, United States commissioner to Germany and chargé d'affaires for the United States in Germany, seen standing beside a building in Berlin. Men gather for the signing of the United States peace treaty with Germany in Berlin, almost three years after the World War I armistice was signed. Mr. Dresel and two other diplomats enter a 1920's car parked on the street, as a small crowd stands by. The Treaty document is shown for the camera, bearing the signature of Ellis Loring Dresel.
Scene is in the Luitpoldhalle meeting hall at the Nazi party Congress Grounds (Reichsparteitagsgelände) in Nuremberg Germany, during the 6th Party Congress of 1934. Rudolf Hess strides to the podium and simply says "The leader speaks," whereupon the assembly cheers enthusiastically, as Adolf Hitler stands quietly at the podium, until the cheering subsides. He then begins his speech noting that the 6th Party Congess is ending. As he continues to speak about the significance of the National Socialist Party, extoling its virtues and importance, the camera shows closeups of party leaders listening, including: Rudolf Hess; Joseph Goebbels; Hermann Goering; Heinrich Himmler; Baldur von Schirach, and others. As Hitler reminisces about the days when it was hard to be a National Socialist, the assembly responds with cheers of recognition. Thereafter, the film shifts back and forth between Hitler at the podium, and scenes of the audience responding, and of individuals listening intently. Glimpse of Goering standing and looking about, as Hess takes the podium in the noisy wake of Hitler's speech. Hitler giving arm-bent Nazi half salute. As enthusiastic cheering continues, Hess turns again and salutes Hitler. But it is difficult to quiet the crowd. Finally, Hess shouts that the "The Party is Hitler's but Germany is Hitler's and Hitler is Germany's (Die Partei ist Hitler, aber Deutschland ist Hitler und Hitler ist Deutschland). Then he turns and leads a round of "Sieg Heils" for Hitler. Then the entire assembly begins to sing the Nazi Party anthem (Horst-Wessel lied), in a slow deliberate tempo, as light fills the stage area of the hall. Camera focuses on a giant swastika, zooms in, and fades to marching troops.
Events of Nazi crimes are related during the Nuremberg Trials held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. Chief prosecutor from the United States, Robert Houghwout Jackson, makes the opening statement of the prosecution. He presents Count 1 of the indictment a conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against peace and humanity. Defendants stand in their dock including Herman Goring, Rudolf Hess (or Heß), Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Karl Donitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach and Fritz Sauckel. View of the Adolf Hitler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf". Nazi flag flutters in Munich, Germany. Scenes of panic, riots, and political and economic unrest in the streets of post World War I Munich, Germany, during the 1920's and 1930's as Adolf Hitler and his associates rose to power. Large crowd gathered on the streets on the eve of Nazi party rally. A younger Adolf Hitler and aides pose at the stairs of a building. Adolf Hitler reviews his Brownshirt Sturmabteilung SA troops. Hermann Goering (Göring) seen briefly at front of a unit of marching Sturmabteilung, rendering Nazi salute. Hitler addresses the party. Joseph Goebbels shown in an office seated at a desk and talking on phone, and then speaking at an early Nazi rally. View of headlines of German Newspapers. Scenes of street riots and efforts by the Nazis aimed to gain the highest degree of control over the Germans by any means. Burning of books by Nazi leaders in a large bonfire. Exterior view of the Reichstag in Berlin.
Portion of the Nuremberg Trials held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. Flashback scenes to a variety of Nazi crimes against humanity during World War II. Chief prosecutor from Russia, Roman A Rudenko, presents Counts 3 and 4 against the convicted Nazi criminals; charging commitment of war crimes in Germany and countries which Germany occupied; including abuse, starvation, and execution of prisoners of war. Faces of convicts in the courtroom are shown, including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess (or Heß), Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Karl Donitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach and Fritz Sauckel. Flashback scenes shows German soldiers serving on screening teams, searching and separating eastern front prisoners of war. Group of Russian soldier prisoners being force run marched, following behind a German tank beside a prison camp. Aerial view through German bomber window of large numbers of Russian soldier prisoners assembled. Ground level views of overcrowded prison grounds filled with prisoners. German General Erwin von Lahousen on the witness stand during Nuremberg trials giving testimony about his attendance at conferences where crimes against populations were plotted. View of Wilhelm Canaris, Goering and Hitler in meeting room in discussion with German officers. Next scene shows a farmhouse and farm buildings. A car is parked beside a farm building with metal pipes extending from the automobile exhaust system, through the exterior wall of the farm building (to gas occupants with carbon monoxide). Starved, emaciated Polish prisoners from Nazi concentration camps arrive riding on the back of a horse cart. German staff in white coats made to look like medical staff assist naked and emaciated men and child prisoners climbing down from the horse cart. They put robes over some holocaust victims. They lead them to the door of the farm building. Next scene shows atrocity evidence as the car is seen running poison gas into the building. Scene of homes in a village burning in flames as German soldiers watch.
Civilians gather on streets of Berlin and celebrate the socialist DDR (GDR) government in East Germany around 1949 or soon after. Uniformed band plays during a ceremony in East Germany. The spectators and a group of uniformed party leaders stand, cheer, and clap. A east German teenage girl kisses the flag. Next scene shows unrest and protests with burning flags in the streets of Berlin, East Germany, during the Uprising of 1953. Crowd burns a flag and then tears at another flag to destroy it. Crowd marches in the street in protest. Scenes of Soviet tanks rolling. Next scene shows a protest rally during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Narrator mentions revolt in Poland also. Large number of civilians march on roads and cut the center emblem out of a East German flag during protest.
Film 'The Road to the Wall' depicts the rise of communism in Russia, Eastern Europe, China and Cuba. Opening scene shows a newly build section of the Berlin Wall, early in its construction period, and a line of German people viewing the newly built wall between East Germany and West Germany. Historical retrospective shows various scenes of refugees in various countries (China; somewhere in Europe) walking on roads and uphill with baggage in hand. Communist troops march. Refugees walk bare foot. Man carrying a child on his back. Huge gathering of people in Moscow at the Kremlin wall (near future site of Lenin's tomb). Vladimir Ilyich Lenin speaks to a crowd in Russia during the Russian Revolution circa 1917. Refugee women and children being checked by soldiers as they attempt to board a railroad train. Closeup of a baby looking frustrated or angry and throwing a baby tantrum. Bodies of dead refugees on the ground. View of Fidel Castro, in January 1959, with Che Guevara, and other rebels or revolutionaries, in Cuba. A person being executed by a Che Guevara revolutionary firing squad. Huge parade in Communist China in 1960. View of Chinese workers manually pulling what appears to be, a heavy gun carriage. Parade of communists in East Germany in 1961. The Berlin wall, and East German policeman on horseback riding to intercept persons attempting to cross. A few East German people making an escape from East Berlin to West Berlin by running through a gap in barbed wire at the Berlin Wall border, and being escorted by West Berlin citizens afterward. Armed East German guards at border marked with barbed wire and other obstacles.
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