Documentary
War & Politics

The Invasion: The Outbreak of World War II

On 1 September 1939, Hitler started the most fatal war in world history – a war waged to plunder, dispossess, enslave and eliminate entire ethnic groups. This German-Polish series reconstructs how Hitler triggered a chain of events that sparked a global conflagration and the intense suffering of the Polish people, the first victims of the war.

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Created By

Status

Ended

Original Name

The Invasion: The Outbreak of World War II

First Air Date

September 1, 2014

Last Air Date

September 2, 2014

Seasons

1

Episodes

2

Language

—

Production Companies

ZDF

Networks

ZDF

S01E02

The First Victim

Hitler’s Poland Campaign unleashed a “Blitzkrieg” lasting six weeks only. However, it was a war of unprecedented brutality resulting in a tremendous suffering of the Polish people in the long run. Jews were herded into Ghettos; other residents were imprisoned in camps for forced labor or displaced to make way for German settlers. Hundreds and thousands of them became victims of the Nazi murder machine. This episode sheds light on some of their lives, telling almost forgotten stories.

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