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The Wild East

An insight into how the Nazis' reign of terror in Poland was characterised by huge population upheavals, chaos, petty squabbles and sheer bloodlust.

Nearly one in five Poles died during World War II after the Nazi invasion in 1939 ushered in one of the most brutal episodes of ethnic cleansing the world has ever seen. This film destroys the myth that Poland's Nazi leaders were acting under detailed 'orders' and that the country's Nazi administration was a model of German efficiency. Arthur Greiser and Albert Forster, the two Nazi leaders charged with Germanising Poland, could not even agree on who should be Germanised.

Featuring interviews with former Nazis, moving testimony from witnesses to SS atrocities in Poland, ethnic Germans and Polish Jews, the programme provides insights into how the Nazis' reign of terror in Poland was characterised by huge population upheavals, chaos, petty squabbles and sheer bloodlust.

21 days left to watch

48 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Narrator Samuel West
Producer Laurence Rees

Broadcasts

  • Wed 1 Oct 1997 21:00
  • Mon 6 Oct 1997 00:20
  • Sun 11 Oct 1998 21:00
  • Sun 18 Oct 1998 21:00
  • Sat 12 Aug 2000 20:05
  • Mon 14 Aug 2000 10:00
  • Mon 14 Aug 2000 13:00
  • Mon 14 Aug 2000 16:00
  • Mon 14 Aug 2000 19:00
  • Mon 14 Aug 2000 22:00
  • Tue 15 Aug 2000 01:00
  • Sat 19 Aug 2000 11:00
  • Sat 19 Aug 2000 15:00
  • Sat 19 Aug 2000 19:00
  • Sat 19 Aug 2000 23:00
  • Mon 23 Apr 2001 20:00
  • Mon 23 Apr 2001 23:55
  • Sat 9 Jun 2001 09:00
  • Sat 9 Jun 2001 12:00
  • Sat 9 Jun 2001 15:00
  • Tue 30 Jul 2002 23:30
  • Sat 21 May 2005 19:10
  • Thu 25 Oct 2012 22:30
  • Thu 23 Feb 2017 23:00
  • Mon 9 Jun 2025 21:00
  • Last Wednesday 01:30