Documentary
After the War - Conquering Germany
9:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC2
VIDEO Plus+: 3622
Subtitled, Widescreen
1/3
After countless, undeniably worthwhile documentaries over the years about the Second World War, it's startling to come across one that focuses on the years immediately after it ended. Julian Hendy's absorbing three-part series starts just after the liberation of the concentration camps and examines the chaotic aftermath of the war. There are detailed eyewitness accounts of how, in the early months, there was widespread looting and rape by Allied soldiers. German prisoners were mistreated, the continent was heaving with millions of displaced people making their way home, the black market was flourishing and many of "our boys" made the most of the situation - financially and sexually. However, even more engrossing is the film's examination of how thousands of Allied bureaucrats attempted to de-Nazify and democratise occupied Germany, while simultaneously keeping 20 million Germans "in their place". A well-researched account of a forgotten part of history.
After the War - Conquering Germany
9:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC2
VIDEO Plus+: 3622
Subtitled, Widescreen
1/3
After countless, undeniably worthwhile documentaries over the years about the Second World War, it's startling to come across one that focuses on the years immediately after it ended. Julian Hendy's absorbing three-part series starts just after the liberation of the concentration camps and examines the chaotic aftermath of the war. There are detailed eyewitness accounts of how, in the early months, there was widespread looting and rape by Allied soldiers. German prisoners were mistreated, the continent was heaving with millions of displaced people making their way home, the black market was flourishing and many of "our boys" made the most of the situation - financially and sexually. However, even more engrossing is the film's examination of how thousands of Allied bureaucrats attempted to de-Nazify and democratise occupied Germany, while simultaneously keeping 20 million Germans "in their place". A well-researched account of a forgotten part of history.