Filmmaker Joe Berlinger is amazed that so many people lack a basic understanding of the facts surrounding The Second World War and hopes to provide a “cautionary tale” with “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial.”
THE Netflix series in six parts aims to educate viewers on the “forgotten” history of World War II by examining the birth of the Third Reich through its fall and the devastation caused by Adolf Hitler along the way, told through the lens of the Nuremberg Trials.
“In America, we are in the midst of our own democracy question, with authoritarianism knocking at the door and a rise in anti-Semitism: belief in democratic institutions, belief in government, belief in democracy are at critical stages, in all ideologies.” Berlinger said when promote the series.
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Acclaimed producer and director Joe Berlinger has directed dozens of true crime hits. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for STARZ Entertainment LLC)
“We divided ourselves into camps and vilified each other,” he continued. “But if people don’t learn to talk to each other and have basic respect for each other, the very foundations of democracy will collapse.”
Each episode explores a different element of the Nazi regime, from Hitler’s rise to power to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, where unprecedented evil was held accountable.
“It shocks me how much people ignore or have forgotten this story. One in ten millennial speakers thought the Holocaust was caused by Jews. 50 percent of people couldn’t even name one of the 40,000 concentration camps, including Auschwitz,” Berlinger said. “So now is the right time to tell this story to the younger generation, as a cautionary tale, and on a global scale.”
The series comes as America grapples with what Berlinger calls “extreme dehumanization and anti-Semitism by modern standards.”
“By dissecting what happened in Nazi Germany, we hope viewers will see how valuable democracy is, how easily it can be attacked from within, and how important it is to protect it,” Berlinger said, adding that he chose to focus on the Eastern Front of World War II, primarily involving the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, to fill the void for American viewers.
“The Western Front is the war that most Americans know and understand, but it was not the main event for Hitler,” Berlinger said.
Berlinger, an acclaimed producer and director, has made dozens of true crime films, including about infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff and serial killers John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. He said he got into filmmaking as a teenager when he was “horrified” by some of the Holocaust liberation footage featured in the series.
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“Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial” aims to educate viewers about the “forgotten” history of World War II. (Netflix)
Joe Berlinger believes that “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial” could serve as a “cautionary tale.” (Netflix)
Berlinger feels the eyewitness testimony of the late American journalist William L. Shirer, whose vital coverage of the times was invoked for the series, distinguishes “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial” from other World War II documentaries.
“Shirer had a front-row seat to Hitler’s rise to power. And after putting his first-hand experiences into numerous works of literature, not only were we left with a personal lens through which to view this historic moment, but we We also felt it was more important than ever to bring his words to life,” Berlinger said.
Shirer, who died in 1993, is heard throughout the series because modern technology has allowed him to serve as narrator.
“Many of his reports were censored in Germany, but he had the courage to smuggle his newspapers out, at great personal risk – and he then began to tell the world through numerous books that he wrote. published, including “Berlin Diary” and, most famously, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” Berlinger said.
“Today, because AI technology is at a certain point, we thought we could actually bring these writings to life with his own voice,” he continued. “We got permission from the family and they were excited about the idea. I think it really adds a lot to the storytelling.”
“Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial” will be available on Netflix on June 5.
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