00:01we all know the name hitler but a dictator is nothing without his builders today we're talking
00:08about the architects of evil the men who took his twisted vision and made it a terrifying reality
00:15they were the ones who laid the foundation and engineered the whole monstrous machine
00:19so let's get into it i mean it's the question right how did one guy conquer a whole continent
00:26how did he pull off these horrible unspeakable crimes really think about that was it all him
00:32or is the truth a lot more complex and frankly a lot more disturbing yeah the answer is a big
00:40no he didn't do it alone not even close you see a monstrous vision is just a vision you need
00:48people
00:48to build it and hitler he had his architects a whole inner circle of guys who were loyal smart
00:55and totally ruthless each one was in charge of building a key pillar of the third reich and today
01:01we're going to look at their blueprints all right first up heinrich himmler his job may be the most
01:07crucial and definitely the most horrifying he was the architect of terror his whole mission was to
01:13build a machine of fear to control everyone and well to carry out the absolute worst of the regime's
01:20plans okay so if you're a dictator what's your number one problem it's not just other countries
01:26it's the people at home your rivals in the party people who disagree with you anyone who isn't 100
01:32loyal you need a way to silence them right you need total control and for that job hitler found his
01:38perfect terrifying tool heinrich him and look at these numbers they really tell the whole story
01:44when himmler got his hands on the ss it was basically just a small bodyguard unit 280 guys
01:50that's it but he turned it into this this massive fanatical army of over 52 000 and get this he
01:57personally vetted applicants to make sure they fit his twisted idea of re and purity this wasn't just
02:03a police force anymore it was its own little empire built on ideology and fear and you can just
02:09watch his methodical power grab step by step in 34 boom he crushes his rivals in the night of the
02:15long knives suddenly the ss is top dog by 36 he controls every single police force in germany even
02:21the gestapo and then by 1942 he's overseeing the final solution he's the man who took this hateful
02:28idea and turned it into an industrial system for mass murder but here's the crazy thing for a guy who
02:34was so obsessed with loyalty his own was pretty flexible in april 45 with the whole reich collapsing
02:42what does he do he tries to make a secret deal with the allies to save his own skin he
02:48betrays
02:48hitler and when hitler found out he went ballistic declared him a traitor stripped him of everything
02:54so much for loyalty huh so he tries to run puts on a disguise but the british catch him and
02:59just a few
03:00days later before they can really even question him he bites down on a cyanide capsule he had hidden
03:05that was it the architect of terror the man who built this massive machine of death just took the
03:10easy way out no trial no justice okay so that was himmler the architect of internal terror next up
03:18herman goering his job was to project power outwards he was the master of the skies his big project
03:24to build a brand new german air force that would be completely unstoppable goering is such a fascinating
03:31and disturbing figure because it's like he lived two completely different lives on one hand you have
03:38the world war one hero a legit flying ace highly decorated for bravery and on the other you have a
03:45nazi war criminal the guy who founded the gestapo the guy who used slave labor the guy who stole priceless
03:51art from all over europe how do you go from one to the other it's just staggering and for a
03:56while
03:57there his plan worked it worked terrifyingly well the lufafa his their force was the key to the whole
04:03blitzkrieg strategy that has flattened poland in 1939 and they were a huge reason france fell so
04:09shockingly fast in 1940 at that point goering was on top of the world he was the number two guy
04:15right
04:15behind hit but it didn't last by 1944 the allies had caught up and surpassed them better planes more
04:24planes better tactics the lufthwaffe was pretty much wiped out and goering the so-called master of the
04:29skies had to just sit there and watch as allied bombers destroyed german cities his great pillar of
04:35the reich it had just crumbled to dust all right our third architect is a different beast altogether
04:41he didn't build with steel or terror he built with lies this is joseph goebbels the minister of lies
04:47his job was to wage war on the mind he knew that to control a country you have to control
04:53what people
04:54see what they hear and what they think and he had a playbook for it a really effective one step
05:00one
05:00get a cheap people's radio into every single home and pump nazi propaganda through it 24 7 step 2
05:08take over all the newspapers no more independent voices step 3 use movies to make the nazis look
05:14like heroes and step 4 use these incredibly powerful posters to make hitler look like a god
05:20and to make his enemies look well less than human he built a giant echo chamber and locked the whole
05:25country inside now remember how himmler and goering's loyalty crumbled when things got tough
05:30not goebbels he was a true believer right to the bitter bitter end as berlin was literally falling
05:38apart around him people told him to run and he just refused he said the captain must not leave his
05:45sinking ship just total fanatical devotion and what came next is maybe the most horrific part of this
05:53whole story the day after hitler killed himself goebbels and his wife they poisoned their own six
05:59children with cyanide then they killed themselves a final ghastly act of devotion to a dead leader
06:06and a cause that had already destroyed everything so you've got your three main architects but a
06:11building needs more than just pillars right it needs support beams wiring and the nazi regime was no
06:16different there was a whole cast of enablers specialists who kept the machine running let's just look at
06:22three of them real quick you have albert spear he was hitler's literal architect designing these giant
06:27intimidating buildings later he was the guy who used millions of slave laborers to keep the war
06:32machine going then there's theodore morrell hitler's personal doctor this guy was pumping hitler full
06:38of a wild cocktail of drugs up to 74 different kinds just to keep him on his feet and you
06:43can't forget
06:43heinrich hoffman the photographer his job was to make hitler look like a savior to craft that perfect
06:48public image he literally helped turn a man into a myth and just look how fast it all fell apart
06:54look at these dates april 30th hitler's gone the very next day gobbles a few weeks later himmler
07:00a year later goering cheats the hangman it's like a house of cards the entire leadership just vanished
07:07it shows you the regime wasn't built on a stable foundation it was all built around one man and when
07:12he was
07:12gone the whole thing just imploded so you see this isn't just the story of hitler it's the story of
07:18the
07:18intelligent ambitious and loyal men who chose to build his vision and that forces us to ask one last
07:25really important question who is truly more dangerous the charismatic leader with the monstrous
07:30idea or the competent loyal architects who turn that dark blueprint into a reality
07:36you
07:36you
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