Spiegel TV

The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.

A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.

Documentary about the late-era German Democratic Republic

Thoughts of a diversity of public and private citizens on the virtues of democracy, its faults, its decadence, its fall and the rise of populism.

How do you deal with right-wing extremists in the neighborhood? Exclude, tolerate or involve? Rural regions in particular are prone to infiltration by nationalist settlers. Right-wing extremists systematically penetrate village structures, pretending to be nice neighbors, committed citizens and problem solvers in a completely non-ideological way. Local volunteer fire brigades and football clubs are infiltrated by Nazis. Done among others in the village of Groß Krams in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where two right-wing extremists seem to be part of everyday village life. One of them works as a firefighter. In Appen, Schleswig-Holstein, the state chairman of the Hamburg NPD wanted to join the village's football club. But the club's management refused when they found out about the political background. The documentary by Hans Jakob Rausch illuminates the infiltration strategies of the extreme right and the difficult balance between tolerance and engagement against right-wing radicalism.

The Code of Criminal Procedure is actually intended to help judges get to the truth. To do this, they interview witnesses, listen to experts, and have evidence presented. But what if the evidence does not provide a clear picture when statement is against statement? The judge is free to assess the evidence. All that counts is the judicial conviction, which ideally also corresponds to the “objective truth”. But how often is this really the case? How easily do we believe our own prejudices when in doubt? How quickly can we be manipulated? And how do we know when someone is lying? Knowledge of these soft factors also makes it difficult for people at the head of a court to decide whether guilt or innocence. In the end, the judges also have to live with a verdict that has serious consequences for those involved. The accompanying documentary to the TV movie attempts to explore this dilemma with the help of various interview partners and cases.

The spectacular moon landing in 1969 was also a success of more than 100 technicians and engineers from Germany, some of whom had already revolutionized weapons technology and built rockets in Hitler's service during World War II. The documentary analyzes the entanglements of German NASA employees with the Third Reich.

A history of Nazi television programming and technology, from 1935 to 1944.

The fact that Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon on July 19, 1969, was also the success of Wernher von Braun and a team of more than 100 NASA technicians and engineers from Germany. But the success story is shrouded in dark shadows: Many of the Germans had a Nazi past and were part of the development of the infamous V2 rocket. Some 20,000 forced laborers lost their lives during the production under the inhumane working conditions at several Nazi underground weapons factories. In a secret operation to secure German rocket technology, the Americans brought the scientists to the USA in 1945. Only decades later were classified documents released, detailing the involvement of German NASA employees with the Third Reich.

Filmed just over a century after the first tank battle in 1918, this documentary series explores how the vehicles forever changed warfare.

Adolf Hitler spent the last ten days of his life in a bunker underneath the Chancellery of the Reich. Unwilling to face the consequences of defeat, the dictator ended his own life on April 30, 1945 in this fortified underground complex. Featuring exclusive interviews with the last survivor’s of Hitler’s inner circle and extensive archival footage, Death in the Bunker is an illuminating look at the Führer’s final decisions in preparation for his suicide.

Young people are discovering pornography at an increasingly early age. How does this early exposure affect them? Filmed in Europe and the United States, this is a comprehensive and nuanced scientific overview of a massive phenomenon.

Born into a Bavarian bourgeois family, Heinrich Himmler became the driving force behind the indescribable crimes that made the Nazi regime so unique in modern history.

Leni Riefenstahl's flamboyant Nazi aesthetics shaped the public image of the 1936 Olympics. Never before had sports and politics been mixed. Through archive photos and reconstructions, we get a closer look into the historical propaganda show.