Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail (Original title)Secret History Special Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail (Alternative title)
Date: 19 August 1999 (Television)Country: United KingdomDirector: Kevin Sim
Synopsis: The Nazi historical department sought to justify the master race theories of the SS ideology. History was used as a political tool and historians and archaeologists collaborated. Archive footage includes colour film of the Nazi expedition to Antarctica: Nazi expeditions across the world from the Baltic to Persia to Venezuela; the Nazi 1938 expedition measuring skulls in Tibet; Himmler on an archaeological site; the Nuremberg trial of Wolfram Sievers, the head of the SS-Ahnenerbe (the Ancestral Heritage Society), Himmler's Archaeological and Historical Unit. Includes interviews with members of Himmler's personal staff and the wife of an SS Commander.Synopsis: Special edition of the documentary series, exploring how Adolf Hitler, Himmler and the Nazis attempted to find historical artefacts to `prove' Nazi theories about a Master Race and golden 'Aryan` age. Also considers the regime's attempts to emphasise and reassert its pagan past and particularly at Himmlers' view of the SS as a new order of Teutonic Knights and that racial purity was the holy grail. Looks at the complicity of some German archaeologists and historians of the time in concurring with such theories and how research projects into ethnicity of different peoples led to some direct involvement with selections in the concentration camps.
Subjects: Archaeology, Racism, Nazi Party, Antarctica, Venezuela, Iran, Tibet, War crimes, Trials (law), Nuremberg, Sievers, Wolfram, Himmler, Heinrich (1900-1945), Nazism
Series title: Secret History
TV Transmissions
Date: 19 August 1999Broadcast company: Channel FourCountry: United KingdomTransmission time: 20:30-22:00Slot duration: 90 minsNetwork - Language: English - Colour and Black and White - Sound - Stereo
Date: 03 October 2004Broadcast company: Channel FourCountry: United KingdomTransmission time: 02:05-03:30Slot duration: 85 minsNetwork
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(2)
Accessible materials to view(1)
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-18BFI identifier: C-1053047
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Video materials(2)
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-18BFI identifier: C-1053047
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: D3Duration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-19BFI identifier: C-1053022
Status: Master - Restricted access to preserved videotape
Date: 19 August 1999 (Television)Country: United KingdomDirector: Kevin Sim
Synopsis: The Nazi historical department sought to justify the master race theories of the SS ideology. History was used as a political tool and historians and archaeologists collaborated. Archive footage includes colour film of the Nazi expedition to Antarctica: Nazi expeditions across the world from the Baltic to Persia to Venezuela; the Nazi 1938 expedition measuring skulls in Tibet; Himmler on an archaeological site; the Nuremberg trial of Wolfram Sievers, the head of the SS-Ahnenerbe (the Ancestral Heritage Society), Himmler's Archaeological and Historical Unit. Includes interviews with members of Himmler's personal staff and the wife of an SS Commander.Synopsis: Special edition of the documentary series, exploring how Adolf Hitler, Himmler and the Nazis attempted to find historical artefacts to `prove' Nazi theories about a Master Race and golden 'Aryan` age. Also considers the regime's attempts to emphasise and reassert its pagan past and particularly at Himmlers' view of the SS as a new order of Teutonic Knights and that racial purity was the holy grail. Looks at the complicity of some German archaeologists and historians of the time in concurring with such theories and how research projects into ethnicity of different peoples led to some direct involvement with selections in the concentration camps.
Subjects: Archaeology, Racism, Nazi Party, Antarctica, Venezuela, Iran, Tibet, War crimes, Trials (law), Nuremberg, Sievers, Wolfram, Himmler, Heinrich (1900-1945), Nazism
Series title: Secret History
TV Transmissions
Date: 19 August 1999Broadcast company: Channel FourCountry: United KingdomTransmission time: 20:30-22:00Slot duration: 90 minsNetwork - Language: English - Colour and Black and White - Sound - Stereo
Date: 03 October 2004Broadcast company: Channel FourCountry: United KingdomTransmission time: 02:05-03:30Slot duration: 85 minsNetwork
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(2)
Accessible materials to view(1)
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-18BFI identifier: C-1053047
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Video materials(2)
Description: VHS cassetteDuration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-18BFI identifier: C-1053047
Status: Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access
Description: D3Duration: 78.14 minutesLine standard: 625Colour standard: PALTX date: 1999-08-19BFI identifier: C-1053022
Status: Master - Restricted access to preserved videotape