When the Second World War ended, the people of liberated Europe celebrated their freedom from Nazi tyranny. Their years of suffering had ended, but for millions of Germans, the end of the conflict opened a new and terrible chapter. They suffered the appalling violence meted out to the defeated, especially to those ethnic Germans who had lived peacefully for centuries in neighbouring countries". Savage Peace uses rare and unseen archive film, the documentary tells a harrowing story of vengeance against German civilians, which mirrored some of the worst cruelty of the Nazi occupiers during the years of war. The Savage Peace includes the unique testimony of eyewitnesses and victims, who recall the horrors with searing clarity, their memories undimmed 70 years after the events took place. This a story that has, until now, been untold amidst the justified celebration of an end to an unspeakable tyranny. But as the writer George Orwell said, the treatment of the defeated Germans was a terrible crime that has gone unpunished.
Among the ranks of the Wehrmacht there was limited opposition to Hitler. Most officers initially felt enthusiastic about the prospect of war and were grateful to Hitler whose war-mongering had furthered their personal careers. Furthermore all soldiers had to make an oath of allegiance to the Führer and, up until the very end, there were many who felt unable to break this pledge. There were, however, some officers who opposed Hitler. For some it was on moral grounds and for others because they thought that his military tactics would lose them the war. There were plots against Hitler and attempted coups, the best known being the July bomb plot led by Claus von Stauffenberg. Some soldiers refused to bear arms and were shot, others deserted, others still carried out quiet acts of sabotage and subversion. By and large, however, the Wehrmacht carried out the orders Hitler issued, even if it involved perpetrating acts of atrocity.
'In Search of Beethoven': takes a comprehensive look at the composer's life through historical research and Beethoven's biography and letters, but with the emphasis always on the performance -- and interpretation -- of Beethoven's music. From his early piano concertos through the "Moonlight Sonata," "Für Elise," and the immortal notes of the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, Beethoven's music remains as beloved, popular, and relevant as any work of art has ever been. "In Search of Beethoven" brings together the world's leading performers and experts on Beethoven to reveal new insights into this celebrated composer.
Competition to win a partner …has created some of the most extraordinary beauty and life-threatening violence anywhere in nature. Dazzling colours, elaborate dances and powerful weapons have all evolved to attract and defend a mate. The stakes could not be higher: without a mate, the journey of life ends here... sometimes literally.
Austrian director Michael Glawogger travels to five countries to focus on some of the worst jobs imaginable: Ukrainian miners crawl into tiny cracks in old coal pits to scratch out a few bags of winter fuel; Indonesian workers trudge long distances carrying baskets with hundreds of pounds of sulfur chunks extracted from a steaming mountain; Pakistanis risk explosions and burial under tons of scrap iron as they dismantle huge carrier ships. The visuals are everything here. Despite the hardships depicted, many sequences have a dreamlike beauty. In addition, the director has a bone-dry sense of irony; during the Ukraine scenes, he frequently cuts away to a statue of Stakhanov, the "hero" lauded by the Soviets for his superhuman work habits. He also shows us an old German smelting works that's been converted into a theme park.
