Search - Reich Underground, The on DVD

Nazis Beneath the Earth

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 05/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Reich Underground"

Nazis Beneath the Earth

Amos Lassen

Michael Kloft, the director of "The Goebbels Experiment" has a new film due to be released on May 20 on DVD by First Run Features. It explores secret areas that the Third Reich maintained under the ground. We learn that to turn World War II back in their favor, the Nazis built an extensive system of tunnels which led to armament factories and in this way the leaders of the Nazi party bided time so they could build new weapons which would insure their victory.
After the War the tunnels were sealed off by the American Army and they were forgotten. Kloft shows the reopening of the labyrinths and they reconstruct the almost unbelievable conditions that those who built the tunnels faced. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the building of the system and hundreds of millions of Reich marks were spent to build the tunnels. More than 80% of German industry was relocated underground and thousands of missiles were produced for targets in England. These mussels were capable of carrying biological warheads. Large quantities of Sarin nerve gas was produced which was capable of wiping out urban populations on a mass scale. When the tunnels were opened priceless works of art were recovered and some that are still missing may actually still be hidden in the tunnels.
Kloft uses previously unreleased film materials as well as personal interviews as he shows us this underground world which still exists not only in Germany but in France, Norway and Poland.
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Very interesting Documentary

jrc | Jonesboro, AR USA | 06/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was one that seemed interesting, but that I didn't expect much from, which turned out to be a delight. Basically two-50 minute shows from Germany (with English narration!) filled with footage of large underground spaces created by the Nazis during WW2. If you've seen the show CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD, this one is right up your alley, but without the overenthusiastic hosts/narrators. They have an episode on Germany that barely touches on sites seen in this documentary."

Expecting more footage

Gordon Ewasiuk | Washington, DC | 06/20/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It teases with some very interesting and unseen footage from bunkers, underground factories, and air-raid shelters. However, there were too many segments showing footage from today. I didn't care to see some inspector riding a boat in a tunnel...or how the German military uses a former WWII bunker for weapons storage and research. I wanted to see more about the bunkers and fortresses built by the Nazis before and during WWII.

There were portions that were absolutely fascinating. For example, seeing the bunkers of Goering and Gobbels, which I hadn't seen before, was compelling.

However, spending 15mins talking with some German military person about a tunnel was not.



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Somewhat interesting, but also dull

Bradley F. Smith | Miami Beach, FL | 03/25/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This Brit documentary manages to make a fascinating subject - the Nazi underground industrial infrastructure - a tad dull. We see a lot of footage of old tunnels and mine shafts and the like, overlaid with WWII footage of some of the same structures, not enough. I came away a little antsy."