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00:00In London, England, a secret subterranean network said to have influenced a world-famous author.
00:08It's rumored that his visits here inspired Cube Branch's secret lair in his novels.
00:16An epic structure in New Jersey, where an extraordinary craft met a tragic end.
00:22The sight of this was unimaginably horrifying.
00:26Where's the planet?
00:27All the humanity.
00:30And an Italian country retreat, designed with a dark objective.
00:35This is a place to brainwash young people.
00:38After a stay here, they're all going to be fascists.
00:55In the heart of London is a clandestine facility built to defend against a tyrannical regime during a global war.
01:08There are shops and restaurants and commuters going back and forth.
01:12It's a perfectly typical city scene at first glance.
01:18But in one nondescript service area is the entrance to something pretty amazing.
01:24It feels like a forgotten railway tunnel, but you notice that it doesn't really add up to that.
01:32There are huge generators, rows of electronics, and even office spaces.
01:37You have to imagine that hundreds of people were down here.
01:40But why?
01:42For more than 80 years, this network of tunnels has been a key part of the protection of the citizens
01:50of the United Kingdom.
01:52At a time when Britain faced its darkest hour, these tunnels housed an elite organization.
02:00Their role was to wage a secret war against Hitler's forces in enemy-controlled Europe.
02:08If they failed, the country could fall into the hands of the Nazis.
02:12They are also said to have inspired a really important franchise.
02:17This is truly part of the life that Ian Fleming led that became the character that we know to be
02:24James Bond today.
02:31Angus Murray heads the organization that purchased these tunnels from a telecommunications company in 2024.
02:39They plan to raise more than $200 million from investors to open them up to the public.
02:46It's a vast network, almost a citadel, right in the middle of central London.
02:52But really, nobody has seen the depth and size of what is within this complex.
02:58This site was first created in response to Hitler's ruthless bombing campaign that began in September 1940, known as the
03:09Blitz.
03:11This was not just an attack on military targets.
03:15It was a terror attack on British civilians in the heart of their major city.
03:22So, the British government ordered the construction of purpose-built structures like this one.
03:29This was a deep-level air raid shelter for London civilians.
03:33In November 1940, early in the war, hundreds of workers began carving out two parallel tunnels by hand.
03:43They were more than 16 feet across, 1,200 feet long, and had space for almost 10,000 Londoners,
03:52with access shafts leading to street level at each end.
03:57They were completed in March 1942, but by the time they were finished, Nazi Germany had changed its strategy.
04:04The bombing campaign against London had lessened.
04:08So, there was no longer a need for a civilian shelter.
04:13For the next two years, the tunnels were used as troop accommodations.
04:17But soon, this underground labyrinth was given a new top-secret mission.
04:26In January 1944, towards the end of the war, a secretive organization moved into these tunnels.
04:35They were called the Special Operations Executive, or SOE for short.
04:42The SOE was a top-secret group set up by Winston Churchill to instigate all kinds of clandestine operations
04:51on the continent against the Nazis.
04:53So, it was an organization of very brave men and women, nearly 13,000, of which about 3,200 people
05:02were women.
05:03These agents were trained to do operations in enemy-occupied territory,
05:09often parachuting in and performing acts of sabotage and espionage, or even to aid local resistance groups.
05:17But in order to do all of this, they needed specialized equipment.
05:22One branch of the SOE said to have been based here was the Inter-Services Research Bureau.
05:29They designed pistols with silencers for discrete attacks, suitcase radios.
05:36They even had something they called the Exploding Rat that was packed with explosives.
05:42Around six months after the SOE took up residence, they would be involved in the largest amphibious assault in history,
05:51D-Day.
05:54We believe they stayed for the entire period of 1944, so we assume that they were heavily involved in that
06:03particular operation.
06:05Churchill said he wanted the SOE to set Europe ablaze.
06:11By that, he meant that when it finally came time for the Allies to retake France,
06:16the ground would already be softened by these resistance groups that had disrupted rail networks, destroyed ammunition,
06:24anything they could do to degrade the Germans' ability to respond.
06:30While the exact role of the SOE agents working here is still a mystery,
06:36it's claimed their activities inspired an iconic author and a blockbuster movie series.
06:44So, Ian Fleming was the Naval Liaison Officer to the Special Operations Executive.
06:50Ian Fleming would have been coming down to these tunnels as we were leading up to what was obviously a
06:56Naval operation.
06:57There's no question that this location inspired him,
07:02along with what the Special Operations Executive was doing,
07:05to become Q Branch in James Bond.
07:10In the James Bond world, we have things like exploding suitcases,
07:14a cigarette lighter that becomes a flamethrower,
07:17coins that can track your location,
07:19the kinds of things that we can imagine being worked on or dreamed about in this underground workshop.
07:27In 1946, a year after the war ended, the SOE was disbanded.
07:35For the next six years, the tunnels were used to store official documents,
07:41until they were given a crucial new objective during an era of global crisis.
07:48The United States had been on the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
07:51and this place was called into action to make sure that didn't happen again.
08:01Beneath the streets of central London are the remains of a top-secret World War II tunnel network.
08:08During the Cold War, they were given a new purpose.
08:14The whole tunnel complex was significantly expanded between the period of 1950 to 1952,
08:21when the British government determined it needed a deep-level telecommunications exchange.
08:26In a pre-digital age, a telephone exchange provided a place to manually connect incoming and outgoing calls.
08:35In the event of nuclear war, a secure location was needed to keep the country's communication lines open.
08:43This expansion was designed to do just that.
08:48Telephone technology was advancing rapidly.
08:51They needed room for switching stations and cables and power systems.
08:56This massive facility opened in 1954 and had 5,000 cables that were handling up to 2 million calls per
09:04week.
09:06Two years later, the deep-level tunnel network became the London terminal for the world's first transatlantic telephone cable, the
09:15TAT-1.
09:17This was the first time that you could carry the human voice clearly across the Atlantic in a split second.
09:24It was not until after the world stood on the brink of mutually assured destruction that the value of this
09:31transatlantic cable became clear.
09:33In the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union had installed a battery of nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba, basically
09:43right off the U.S. coast.
09:46For the U.S., the Soviet Union had crossed a line.
09:50It was a crisis for President John F. Kennedy, who had to find a way to force the Soviets to
09:58remove those missiles without provoking a nuclear war.
10:04This required delicate negotiations with the Kremlin.
10:09But with no dedicated connection between Washington and Moscow, it could take as long as 12 hours for leaders to
10:17communicate through secure diplomatic channels.
10:20In the event a catastrophe like this happened again, a quicker solution needed to be found.
10:27So after that, a direct line of communication was established between the United States and Moscow using the TAT-1
10:35cable that ran right through here.
10:37The receivers at either end were not what you might expect.
10:41When you think of a Cold War hotline, you might envision a big red telephone sitting in the Oval Office.
10:48But it was actually a teletype machine.
10:50It was believed that a written message would be less likely to be misinterpreted than a phone call.
10:57For the next 30 years, the tunnels continued to handle millions of government and civilian communications.
11:06But after that, this set of tunnels is basically abandoned.
11:10The advances in telecommunications equipment and technology made it pretty much obsolete.
11:22Today, the tunnels are being transformed into an immersive tourist experience.
11:28The principal objective we have is to tell that story of the men and women that sacrificed so much to
11:36give us our democratic rights.
11:41In New Jersey, on the edge of the Pinelands National Reserve is a site of extraordinary innovation and an infamous
11:50tragedy.
11:54We're in central New Jersey, about an hour south of New York.
11:59It's pretty obvious this is some kind of military base.
12:02As you enter the grounds, you see this structure which looms over everything.
12:07It's got to be longer than an entire city block and hundreds of feet tall.
12:12When you step inside, it opens up to this vast open space from floor to ceiling.
12:19There's nothing in here except storage space, but surely you wouldn't build something this big just for storage.
12:26Yet, that's exactly what this aircraft hangar was built for.
12:31What could the military be flying that could warrant a space this big?
12:36What passed through these doors was a revolutionary development.
12:40Anything airship-related really has its genesis here.
12:44It was a marvel at the time, and everyone wanted to see it.
12:47But with innovation came great risk.
12:51This is the location of one of the most notorious disasters in aviation history.
13:03This structure dates back to a time when the United States was completely reimagining its air power.
13:10At this time, the Navy was searching for a better way to detect submarines off the coast and scout ahead
13:18of naval fleets.
13:20Germany utilized the innovative technology of rigid airships.
13:24This was a blimp, but with a metal interior framework.
13:28They were called Zeppelin, and the German military used them for aerial reconnaissance and bombing.
13:36Their success caught the attention of the United States, and they initiated the lighter-than-air program.
13:43In 1921, the Navy established Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
13:48It served as its headquarters, and its first major facility was Hangar 1.
13:55James Warwick joined the Air Force 37 years ago.
13:59He now serves as the historian for this joint base.
14:04The hangar was opened in June of 1921.
14:07Hangar 1 is 961 feet from door to door.
14:12It's 350 feet wide and 200 feet tall.
14:16The Titanic could fit in here.
14:19Inside this building, naval engineers assembled the first American-built rigid airship, the USS Shenandoah.
14:29It made its maiden flight from Lakehurst on September 4, 1923.
14:36The Shenandoah became the first Navy ship to fly completely across the continental United States.
14:43The journey took the crew of around 40 people, 19 days.
14:48But this feat was more than a publicity stunt.
14:51It proved that airships were a valuable military tool.
14:56Having the ability to loiter for a long period of time was beneficial, especially when it comes to reconnaissance.
15:02You know, you can stay over an area for days if you are equipped properly.
15:06Despite their promise, these ships were still new and risky vessels.
15:12In 1925, the Shenandoah ran into a severe storm that broke the ship apart and killed 14 of the crew.
15:22But the Navy still supported the venture, in part due to the success of the German zeppelins.
15:27And it wasn't just the military that were interested in these new airships.
15:31As one of the few airship ports in the world, Lakehurst was a destination for a new form of transcontinental
15:39travel.
15:40In October 1928, the German airship, the Graf Zeppelin, made the first transatlantic commercial flight.
15:49It flew from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst with 40 crew and 20 passengers.
15:55The journey took four and a half days, which was considered blazingly fast by the standards of the time.
16:04In 1936, the Graf Zeppelin was eclipsed by an even bigger airship.
16:10One that made its inaugural flight as part of the newly established Nazi Germany.
16:15Three years before World War II began.
16:19At a massive 804 feet long, it became the flagship for the fleet of transatlantic passenger airships.
16:28This was the Hindenburg.
16:32So, for the Hindenburg to come here during 1936, it was a major achievement for Germany.
16:38You got to figure for Adolf Hitler, it was a good propaganda tool, had the swastika on it.
16:44For the next 12 months, the Hindenburg operated a luxurious passenger service between Germany and Lakehurst.
16:51On the 3rd of May, 1937, the Hindenburg took off on its 63rd flight.
16:58It departed from Frankfurt to Lakehurst, carrying 36 passengers and 61 crew.
17:06What followed would be seared into the minds of hundreds of thousands.
17:16On May 6th, 1937, hundreds of onlookers were gathered outside the hangar at Naval Air Station Lakehurst.
17:25They were waiting for the arrival of the Hindenburg.
17:30Well, because of the weather, the Hindenburg was about 12 hours behind.
17:34And the captain of Naval Air Station Lakehurst said, no, this weather's not conducive.
17:39So, the Hindenburg flew up and down the east coast a little bit.
17:41It flew over New York City.
17:44Since this was the airship's first flight of the season,
17:47a reporter called Herb Morrison from WLS Radio and film crew were also in attendance.
17:54Behind me and to my right, over where that tree line is,
17:58that's where, you know, Herb Morrison and those other film crews were, you know, standing doing video.
18:04It's starting to rain again. The rain had slacked up a little bit.
18:09And so, as the Hindenburg made its approach, you know, it flew roughly from our left to our right over
18:14our heads,
18:15made a series of left turns before it came back into its final configuration of land,
18:20basically right above where we're standing now.
18:23The awestruck crowd watched on, as more than 100 ground crew readied themselves to catch the Hindenburg's guide ropes.
18:32The back motors of the ship are just holding it, uh, just enough to keep it from...
18:38It burst into flames. Get this shotty, get this shotty.
18:40It's right, and it's right. It's right. It's right. It's terrible.
18:43Oh my, get out of the way, please.
18:45It's burning, bursting into flames, and it's falling on the morning fast north.
18:48The hydrogen gas that filled the various compartments quickly caught fire,
18:52and in moments, the entire vessel was aflame.
18:57Within 34 seconds, the Hindenburg crashed in the open field just west of Hangar 1.
19:04This is terrible. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world.
19:08Oh, it's like 20. Oh, shit. Oh, the humanity.
19:14Thirteen passengers, 22 crew, and one member of the ground staff died,
19:19but miraculously, 62 people survived the crash.
19:24An investigation followed.
19:26The leading theory was that as the Hindenburg came into land,
19:30a structural wire broke free, slashing open the hydrogen cells inside the ship.
19:36Then, a static charge caused by the stormy weather created a spark,
19:42igniting the volatile gas.
19:46The disaster of the Hindenburg really shattered the public confidence in airship travel,
19:52and that was the end of it.
19:54It remains one of the most notorious disasters in aviation history.
20:00In a tragic twist of fate,
20:02it's possible the Hindenburg's fiery end could have been avoided
20:06if it had been filled with the more stable helium instead of hydrogen.
20:12But the United States controlled almost all of the world's helium supply.
20:16The government recognized it had certain military applications,
20:21such as airships,
20:22and forbid its export to Germany in 1927.
20:26That meant that the Germans were forced to use the much more combustible
20:32and unstable hydrogen.
20:40At Lakehurst, airships continued to fly,
20:44but strictly for military purposes through World War II.
20:47After the war, their importance declined,
20:50and in 1961, the Secretary of the Navy terminated the lighter-than-air program.
20:56Hangar 1 is now a registered historical landmark
21:00and is open for tours to educate the public
21:02on its unique place in aviation history.
21:13On England's east coast is the remnant of a proud enterprise,
21:18cut short in its prime.
21:25Towering over these misty docks is this industrial-looking beast.
21:29This complex is vast.
21:32Inside is kind of a wonderland of old technology,
21:36giant pipes and pumps and big machines.
21:41So clearly, this is a facility that was meant for moving
21:45and processing some kind of product.
21:47But what that product was isn't clear.
21:52The building's size suggests whatever was made here
21:56was being done on an epic scale.
21:58This factory didn't just serve the needs of the surrounding area.
22:02It was involved in an industry that spread
22:05across the entire North Atlantic.
22:08And at that time, Grimsby was the largest
22:11and busiest fishing port in the world.
22:14So this enabled that.
22:18The commodity being caught was cod.
22:21In the late 1950s, the dominance of Grimsby's industry,
22:25of which this building was a key part,
22:28would be drawn into a maritime conflict
22:30over 1,000 miles away.
22:33At first, it was low-level sabotage.
22:36But tensions boiled over
22:38and boats literally began to ram into each other.
22:42The situation became so tense,
22:44British Royal Navy warships were called into action.
22:48It ultimately led to a sweeping change in international law.
22:55In Grimsby, on England's North Sea coast,
22:59sprawling remains chart the rise and fall
23:02of a once vibrant industry.
23:05John Lowe is a heritage consultant
23:07and part of the team tasked with preserving the structure
23:10that helped put this town on the map.
23:14It's a grade-two star-listed building,
23:16which means it's in the top 4%
23:18of important historic buildings in the country.
23:21What it enabled was amazing.
23:23When we think about the kinds of resources
23:26upon which empires are built,
23:29we don't usually think of fish.
23:31But cod from the North Atlantic
23:33was an incredibly vital resource
23:36going back many centuries.
23:40Grimsby's fishing port can be traced back
23:42almost 1,000 years.
23:44By the mid-1800s,
23:46the Industrial Revolution triggered a population boom
23:49and the fishing industry rapidly expanded
23:52to feed the masses.
23:55Demand was exploding
23:57and any fish caught out at sea
23:59had to be kept cold and preserved.
24:01And in an era before refrigeration,
24:04the only way to do that was on ice.
24:07But where are you going to get the ice?
24:10Well, the answer is shockingly simple.
24:14Boats headed for Greenland
24:15and the edge of the Arctic Circle
24:17literally carved ice off of the glaciers
24:21and brought it back to Grimsby.
24:24By the late 1800s,
24:27Grimsby's fleet of trawlers
24:28had grown so large
24:30it was impossible to keep them supplied
24:32using the ice harvesting method.
24:34If the fishing industry
24:36was to continue to prosper,
24:38an answer needed to be found.
24:41This is the Grimsby Ice Factory
24:44opened in 1901.
24:47This was an ice plant on a scale
24:49never before imagined.
24:51For a time,
24:52it was the largest ice factory
24:53in the world.
24:56So we're in the compressor house,
24:57which is the beating heart
24:59of the factory.
25:00This is where ammonia gas
25:02was compressed,
25:03converting it from a gas
25:06to a very high pressure,
25:07high temperature vapor.
25:10And then when that pressure is released,
25:12it's cold.
25:13They use that cold
25:15to chill down vats of brine.
25:18When you add a lot of salt to water,
25:19it gets a much lower freezing temperature.
25:23Into these vats of super chilled brine,
25:26they would lower canisters of fresh water.
25:30It's lowered into the brine
25:32and over 24 hours,
25:33those big tanks of water
25:35get frozen into essentially
25:37very large ice cubes.
25:38The ice went up through elevators
25:40to conveyors,
25:41which took it out to the trawlers.
25:45The trawlers contained insulated holes
25:48to stop the ice from melting
25:50while the vessels were out at sea.
25:52And that means the trawlers
25:54can go further afield.
25:55They can stay at sea for longer.
25:57The catch stays fresher.
25:59The catch can travel longer distances
26:00to market.
26:01It enabled Grimsby
26:03to become the biggest fishing port
26:05in the world.
26:08Demand for ice continued to grow.
26:10And by 1931,
26:12the factory was producing
26:14a staggering 1,100 tons a day.
26:17This was enough to fill
26:19three and a half Olympic swimming pools
26:21every week.
26:22But the fishing trawlers
26:24the factory supplied
26:25were headed for dangerous waters.
26:28As these boats
26:30could go out farther
26:31and catch more fish,
26:33they were beginning to impinge
26:34on the interests
26:35of other fishing nations,
26:38in particular Iceland.
26:39Fishing was absolutely crucial
26:41to Iceland's economy,
26:43and they felt increasingly threatened
26:45by larger foreign fleets
26:47over fishing in their waters.
26:51Throughout the 1950s,
26:5360s, and early 70s,
26:55Iceland worked to ban
26:57foreign vessels
26:57from fishing off their coast.
26:59First by expanding
27:01their three-mile limit
27:02to four miles,
27:03then 12,
27:04and then 50.
27:06In 1975,
27:07they went one step further.
27:10Tensions peaked
27:11as Iceland unilaterally extended
27:14their fishing limits
27:15to 200 nautical miles.
27:19The UK was not going to take
27:21that sitting down.
27:22They told their fishing fleets
27:24to go ahead and fish
27:25where they wanted,
27:27and the UK would back them up.
27:30But it became almost a dare
27:32for the English trawlers
27:33to break and breach
27:34into the forbidden waters,
27:36as it were,
27:37and things got quite nasty.
27:39The Icelandic coastguards
27:41chased British trawlers
27:43and ripped up their nets.
27:44You are interfering
27:46with lawful fishing
27:48on the high seas.
27:50Over.
27:51In some cases,
27:52ships were ramming each other,
27:54which could be fatal
27:56out in the open ocean.
27:58The violent conflict
28:00became known
28:01as the Cod Wars.
28:03The target of the gunboat
28:04was the Grimsby trawler,
28:06Carlisle.
28:07She could only stand
28:08helplessly by
28:09as Baldur and Diomedes
28:11continued the skirmish,
28:12which ended in yet another
28:14Cod War collision.
28:15The British responded
28:17by sending out
28:18Royal Navy ships
28:19to protect them.
28:20The North Atlantic
28:21was turned into
28:22a battleground.
28:24In total,
28:25Britain deployed
28:2737 warships
28:28to escort the country's
28:29fishing fleet,
28:30protecting a UK industry
28:32worth over a billion dollars
28:34a year in today's money.
28:36Iceland's coastguard
28:37and fishing trawlers
28:38were no match
28:39for the strength
28:40of the Royal Navy.
28:42But the Icelandic government
28:43had a secret weapon
28:45in their armory.
28:47These waters were critical
28:49to international security,
28:51and Grimsby's fortunes
28:53were caught in the crossfire.
29:00In the English port of Grimsby
29:02are the ruins of an ice factory
29:04that supercharged
29:05the town's fishing fleet.
29:07But when Iceland
29:08banned foreign fishing
29:09within 200 miles
29:11of their coast,
29:12it sparked
29:12an international conflict
29:14dubbed
29:14the Cod Wars.
29:16The UK sent out
29:18the Royal Navy
29:19to patrol
29:20the contested waters
29:21and protect
29:22its fishing vessels.
29:24But Iceland
29:26had an ace
29:27up its sleeve.
29:29They threatened
29:30to close
29:31the strategically vital
29:32NATO base
29:33at Keflavik.
29:35Keflavik was positioned
29:36on Iceland's
29:37southwest coast
29:38and played
29:39an important role
29:40monitoring Russian
29:42nuclear submarines
29:43in the North Atlantic.
29:44This caused
29:46serious alarm
29:47amongst Western allies,
29:48especially the United States.
29:50At the time
29:51of the Cold War,
29:52it was a very,
29:53very tense environment,
29:54and every piece
29:55of information
29:56was critical.
29:57The British government,
29:59under pressure
29:59from the United States
30:01and other NATO allies,
30:02was forced
30:03to negotiate.
30:05The UK
30:05chose to back down
30:07in 1976
30:08and accepted
30:09the 200-mile limit.
30:12British fishing fleets
30:13were granted
30:14limited access
30:15to the waters,
30:16but with severe
30:17restrictions on catches.
30:20This had a devastating
30:21impact on the UK's
30:23long-distance fishing industry
30:24and the Port of Grimsby.
30:27Essentially,
30:28the fishing industry
30:29was decimated
30:29almost overnight
30:30by the cessation
30:32of fishing
30:33as far afield
30:34as Iceland.
30:35Soon,
30:36most countries
30:37around the world
30:38adopted the 200-mile limit.
30:41By the late 80s,
30:43the value of fish
30:44caught by Grimsby's
30:45trawlers had dropped
30:46from around
30:46$35 million per year
30:48in 1974
30:49to just $1 million.
30:52In 1990,
30:53the ice factory
30:54was forced to close.
30:57It was a status symbol.
30:58It represented
31:00so much
31:00to the community
31:01and it still does today.
31:04I think a new chapter
31:05in its life
31:05is needed.
31:11Today,
31:12the Port of Grimsby
31:13is finding new life
31:14in a new resource push,
31:17which is offshore wind power.
31:20This is another installment
31:21in the life
31:21of one of the great port cities
31:23of the UK.
31:26The old ice factory
31:27is set to be a part
31:29of Grimsby's regeneration.
31:31Josephine War
31:32is a member
31:33of the team
31:34working to revive
31:35the building.
31:36There is an existing legacy
31:38here of cutting-edge technology.
31:41And so the intention
31:42through the redevelopment
31:43of this space
31:43is to have this be
31:45a center
31:46and a hub
31:47for research
31:48and development
31:48into renewable energy.
31:55In northern Italy,
31:5720 miles
31:58from the city
31:59of Genoa,
31:59a secluded forest
32:01conceals a story
32:02of vengeful retribution.
32:08There's a clearing
32:09and we can see
32:10a massive structure.
32:12It's got wings,
32:13it's got a clock tower,
32:15and it's not
32:16the kind of thing
32:17you expect to see
32:19in the Italian countryside.
32:21The location
32:22is stunning,
32:23so you might guess
32:24it was some kind
32:25of sanatorium
32:26or a hotel even.
32:28Exploring deeper,
32:30the rest of the building
32:31is entirely bare.
32:32Many of the hints
32:34of its past life
32:35stripped away.
32:37Some rooms
32:38have the remains
32:39of showers,
32:39toilets,
32:40but the facilities
32:41feel far more functional
32:42than you'd expect
32:43in luxury accommodation.
32:45The biggest clue,
32:46though,
32:46as to its origin
32:47is the style
32:48of the architecture.
32:50The design
32:51is typical
32:52of the 1930s,
32:53and that means
32:54only one thing.
32:55It was built
32:56during the reign
32:58of the fascist dictator
32:59Benito Mussolini.
33:02This was a site
33:03intended to indoctrinate
33:05and secure
33:06the loyalty
33:06of the next generation
33:08of Italian children.
33:10But during
33:11the Second World War,
33:12it was taken over
33:13and used against
33:15the regime
33:16it was designed
33:17to protect.
33:18In the woods
33:19around this place,
33:20rumour has it
33:21that there are
33:22hundreds
33:23of soldiers
33:24in unmarked graves
33:27buried here
33:28in the name
33:29of freedom
33:31and revenge.
33:39Giuseppe Izzola
33:40is the mayor
33:41of Roveno.
33:42When he was young,
33:44this was a scenic getaway
33:45that had moved on
33:46from its unsettling beginnings.
33:51Apologies,
33:51I'm a bit emotional.
33:53A lot of people
33:54have been happy here.
33:55It's been an important
33:56part of the history
33:57of our valley.
33:59It was needed
34:00to prevent a phenomenon
34:01that afflicted youth
34:02at the time,
34:03rickets.
34:06But the building's
34:08original function
34:09was not to treat
34:10a condition
34:10that affected
34:11children's bones.
34:12It was to shape
34:13their minds.
34:18These camps
34:19were built
34:19because we must
34:20acknowledge
34:20that at that time
34:21the regime
34:22focused a lot
34:23on youth.
34:27Fascism
34:27took root
34:28in Italy
34:28at the end
34:29of World War I
34:30when great poverty
34:32affected the country.
34:35In March
34:36of 1919,
34:38Benito Mussolini
34:40creates
34:41the Fascist Party
34:43and he's going
34:44to recruit
34:45unemployed war veterans
34:46and he's going
34:48to put them
34:48all in black shirts.
34:51For the next
34:52two years,
34:53Mussolini
34:54used his own
34:54personal army
34:56to terrorize
34:57political opponents
34:58until eventually
34:59he was invited
35:00to join
35:01a coalition government.
35:02By 1925,
35:04he'd taken
35:05complete control.
35:07Mussolini
35:08relied heavily
35:09on propaganda
35:10to spread
35:10his fascist gospel
35:12to the masses.
35:13An often used
35:14slogan was
35:14Mussolini
35:15is always right.
35:18One other way
35:19he promoted
35:19his fascist ideals
35:21was to set up
35:22holiday camps
35:23all over Italy
35:24for young people
35:25particularly
35:25from deprived
35:27neighborhoods.
35:29Construction
35:29on this one
35:30began in 1934
35:32and took just
35:33five months
35:34to complete.
35:35It was called
35:36the Colonia
35:37di Ravegno.
35:41The camp was open
35:42during the summer.
35:43Children would come
35:44in shifts
35:45throughout that period,
35:46about 500 at a time.
35:49The idea
35:50was to show
35:51these young people
35:52a different way
35:53of life
35:53to what they were used to,
35:55to build character
35:56and to show them
35:58the fascist future
35:59of which
35:59they would be part.
36:02my father told me
36:04that during gatherings
36:05they received
36:06specific information
36:07about behavior,
36:08education,
36:09respect,
36:10conduct,
36:11on how to talk
36:12to others.
36:14But perhaps
36:15more worryingly
36:16they were
36:17indoctrinated
36:18to believe
36:19in the regime
36:20and to see
36:20Mussolini
36:21as a father figure
36:22who would always
36:23provide for them.
36:26The fact
36:27that the fascist regime
36:28did this
36:29to its own advantage
36:30and raised
36:31a generation
36:32that would be
36:32welcoming
36:33to this regime
36:34that cannot be denied.
36:38But only
36:39six years
36:40after the site
36:41opened
36:41its function
36:42would be
36:43transformed.
36:45On June 10,
36:461940,
36:48Mussolini declared
36:48war on France
36:49and Great Britain
36:50forming part
36:51of Hitler's
36:51Axis powers
36:52during the Second
36:53World War.
36:54The Colonia
36:54di Rivegno
36:55was drawn
36:55into the fighting.
37:02In Italy
37:03is the ruin
37:04of a building
37:05built by Mussolini's
37:06fascist regime
37:07to indoctrinate
37:09thousands
37:09of local children.
37:12after Italy
37:13sided with Germany
37:13during the Second
37:14World War,
37:15it would be taken over
37:16by retaliatory force.
37:20In 1943,
37:22it all goes wrong
37:23for the Italian fascists.
37:25The Allies
37:26are about to invade.
37:28In September,
37:29the new anti-fascist government
37:30signed an armistice
37:31with the Allies,
37:32but the fighting
37:33was far from over.
37:35Hitler
37:35is not going
37:37to allow
37:38the Allies
37:39to take
37:40all of Italy
37:41and to be
37:42just the other side
37:43of the Alps
37:43from Germany
37:44and Austria.
37:45And so begins
37:47the Third Reich's
37:48bloodthirsty reign
37:50of terror
37:51in Italy.
37:52Any Italian
37:54who is suspected
37:55of siding
37:56with the Allies
37:56is ruthlessly
37:58tortured
37:59and executed.
38:01The population
38:01was brutalized
38:03and the time
38:03had come
38:04to fight back.
38:06From the winter
38:07of 1944,
38:09an intense
38:09partisan movement
38:10gathered pace
38:11in northern Italy.
38:13These resistance
38:14fighters vowed
38:15to violently
38:16oppose
38:17the German
38:17occupation
38:18and fascist
38:19loyalists.
38:24They had
38:25a headquarters
38:25here.
38:26Now there are roads,
38:28but at the time
38:29there was only
38:30one road going up
38:31and it was very,
38:32very hard to reach.
38:34So it became
38:35a stronghold.
38:39It was the perfect
38:41base to hide out
38:42from Nazi soldiers
38:43and organized
38:44guerrilla attacks.
38:45It was also used
38:47to detain
38:48Italian fascist
38:49loyalists
38:49and German
38:51prisoners of war.
38:53Hundreds
38:54of these prisoners
38:55were routinely
38:56executed by partisans
38:58and buried
38:59in the woods
39:00around the camp.
39:03In those moments,
39:04of course,
39:05lines were crossed.
39:06It happens
39:07everywhere in the world.
39:09Judgments
39:09were summary
39:10and justice
39:11was violent.
39:12And it's a sad part
39:14of the history
39:14of Italy.
39:17But you can't
39:18ignore the role
39:19partisans played
39:20in the conflict.
39:21They fought
39:22doggedly
39:23to win back
39:24their homeland.
39:25The Italian
39:26partisans
39:27forced the Germans
39:29to get into
39:31a close-fought
39:34counterinsurgency
39:35campaign
39:36in northern Italy.
39:37and that is a massive
39:39suck on German
39:41combat power.
39:43On April 26,
39:451945,
39:46the Italian resistance
39:47movement freed the city
39:49of Genoa
39:49from German troops.
39:51This was the first time
39:53during World War II
39:54that an army corps
39:56surrendered to civilian
39:57partisan forces.
39:59When a German
40:01commander
40:01has got to surrender
40:03to partisans,
40:05Nazi Germany
40:06is humiliated.
40:09Four days later,
40:10Adolf Hitler
40:11committed suicide
40:12in his Berlin bunker
40:13and the war in Europe
40:15was effectively over.
40:20After the war,
40:21the Colonia di Rovegno
40:23went back to being
40:24a camp for children.
40:26This time,
40:27to help those
40:28suffering from
40:29a vitamin D deficiency
40:30that weakens the bones
40:32called rickets.
40:33Exposure to sunlight
40:35was one way
40:36to treat it.
40:38It became a happy place
40:39for the children
40:40of Genoa
40:41to enjoy the countryside,
40:43to learn new skills,
40:44and most importantly,
40:45to get access
40:46to sunshine.
40:50Imagine what it
40:51must have looked like
40:51with all the sunbeds,
40:53all these 500 children,
40:55here.
40:58But by the 1970s,
40:59the funding
41:00had started to dry up
41:01and it was also
41:02no longer needed.
41:03It became abandoned.
41:10All over Italy
41:11are a number
41:12of these deserted colonies
41:13which occupy
41:15beautiful locations.
41:17These are places
41:18potentially worth millions
41:20for the authorities' struggle
41:22to muster
41:23the political will
41:24to either bring them
41:25back to life
41:26or knock them down.
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