The Courcelles massacre was one of the worst atrocities committed by Belgian Nazi collaborators during the Second World War, when members of the Rexist movement murdered 27 civilians near Charleroi in August 1944.

After Nazi Germany invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, the country was placed under military occupation. Political freedoms disappeared, Jewish communities were subjected to persecution, and thousands were deported through the Mechelen transit camp toward Auschwitz. At the same time, collaborationist movements such as the Rexist Party gained influence, particularly in Wallonia.

By 1943–44, as Germany suffered mounting defeats, the occupation authorities increasingly depended on local collaborators. Among the most notorious were Rexist militias, whose campaign of violence reached a climax in August 1944 after the assassination of a prominent collaborator.

On 17–18 August, Rexists seized dozens of civilians around Courcelles, including priests, lawyers, workers, and other local figures accused of supporting the Resistance. Twenty-seven people were murdered in cold blood in an act of reprisal that shocked Belgium and became a lasting symbol of collaborationist terror.

After liberation, Belgian authorities pursued those responsible. Numerous collaborators were arrested and tried, and in 1947, 27 Rexists were executed for their involvement in the killings.

This documentary examines the Courcelles massacre, the rise of violent collaboration in German-occupied Belgium, and how political fanaticism and revenge culminated in the murder of innocent civilians by their fellow Belgians.

This episode is part of the series Massacres of Civilians During World War II.

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Lyudmila Pavlichenko became the most successful female sniper in recorded history, credited with 309 confirmed kills while fighting Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front during the Second World War.

Born in 1916 in Bila Tserkva, in what is now Ukraine, Pavlichenko was studying history at Kyiv University when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. She volunteered for the Red Army and insisted on serving in combat rather than being assigned to a nursing role.

Serving with the 25th Rifle Division, Pavlichenko fought in the brutal battles for Odessa and Sevastopol. Her precision, patience, and ability to remain calm under fire quickly earned the respect of her fellow soldiers. Over the course of her combat service, she was officially credited with 309 kills, including 36 enemy snipers.

Pavlichenko was wounded several times before a serious injury finally removed her from the front. After recovering, she was sent on a diplomatic mission to the United States and Canada to rally support for the Soviet war effort. She visited the White House, met President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and became an internationally recognised symbol of Soviet resistance to Nazi Germany.

After returning to the Soviet Union, Pavlichenko trained other snipers and later completed her education as a historian. Although the war left lasting scars, she remained a prominent public figure until her death in 1974 at the age of 58.

This documentary explores the remarkable life and wartime career of Lyudmila Pavlichenko—from a history student in Kyiv to one of the deadliest snipers of the Second World War and an enduring symbol of resistance against fascism.

This episode is part of the series The Anti-Fascist Heroes.

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Helena Citrónová was a Slovak Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz whose extraordinary story became intertwined with Franz Wunsch, an SS guard who fell in love with her and used his position to help her survive.

Born in Humenné in eastern Slovakia, Helena was among the first Slovak Jewish girls deported to Auschwitz in March 1942, part of the initial transport that marked the beginning of the Holocaust in Slovakia. Stripped of her home, her freedom, and her family, she entered a world ruled by cruelty, starvation, and daily encounters with death.

Inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, Helena was forced to work in the notorious “Canada” warehouses, where the belongings of murdered Jews were sorted. It was here that she was noticed by Franz Wunsch, an SS guard whose unexpected affection for her would shape the rest of her time in the camp.

In a place engineered for dehumanization, their connection became a tragic paradox—an impossible bond between a Jewish prisoner and an SS officer responsible for enforcing the Nazi system that destroyed her family and her world. Wunsch used his position to protect Helena, provide her with food, and, in one desperate moment, help save the life of her sister. Yet he remained part of the Auschwitz machinery, complicit in brutality and violence against other prisoners.

Their relationship, defined by fear, coercion, survival, and rare moments of humanity, continued until the evacuation of Auschwitz in January 1945. After the war, their paths diverged—until a dramatic courtroom encounter 27 years later forced both to confront the past once more.

This documentary explores Helena Citrónová’s survival and the deeply complex legacy of a relationship formed between a Jewish prisoner and an SS guard inside Auschwitz.

This episode is part of the series Survivors of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution.

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Alfried Krupp was heir to Germany’s most powerful industrial dynasty and became deeply connected to Nazi Germany’s war economy. His factories produced weapons for Hitler’s armies while prisoners of war, deported civilians, and concentration camp inmates were exploited as forced labour across the Krupp industrial empire.

Born into the famous Krupp family, Alfried inherited a business dynasty that had supplied weapons, steel, and heavy industrial products to Germany for generations. As Adolf Hitler rose to power, Krupp positioned himself close to the regime and became an important figure within Germany’s rapidly expanding military economy. Krupp factories produced tanks, artillery, submarines, armour plating, and other essential equipment used across multiple fronts during the Second World War.

As the conflict expanded and Germany faced an increasing shortage of workers, forced labour became an important part of Krupp production. Prisoners of war, deported civilians, and concentration camp inmates were put to work throughout the company’s enormous industrial network under brutal conditions.

This documentary also examines Krupp’s connections to Auschwitz, the use of prisoners in industrial production, and how economic interests became intertwined with the Nazi concentration camp system. Evidence presented after the war revealed the enormous scale of forced labour employed by the company.

Following the collapse of Nazi Germany, Alfried Krupp was arrested and prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet his punishment proved temporary. Within only a few years, he regained control of his industrial empire and rebuilt an enormous fortune in West Germany.

This documentary examines the intersection of wealth, industry, Nazi ideology, forced labour, and the consequences of placing industrial profit above human life.

This episode is part of the series Fascist Millionaires and Rich Traitors.

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Gretl Braun, the younger sister of Eva Braun, lived remarkably close to the inner circle of Adolf Hitler and eventually married SS officer Hermann Fegelein. Her story offers a revealing glimpse into the private world, relationships, and privileges surrounding Nazi Germany’s leadership.

Born in Munich in 1915, Gretl grew up in a middle-class family and entered Hitler’s circle through her sister’s long relationship with the Nazi dictator. At the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps, Gretl became a familiar presence, socializing with senior Nazi officials and members of the SS while the Second World War devastated Europe.

Her position within this exclusive world became even stronger through her relationship with Hermann Fegelein, a high-ranking Waffen-SS officer who served as Heinrich Himmler’s liaison at Hitler’s headquarters. Their wedding in June 1944 was attended by Hitler and other leading figures of the regime and became one of the last major social occasions within the Nazi elite.

But the world surrounding Gretl rapidly collapsed as Allied forces closed in on Germany. Within less than a year of her wedding, the Third Reich was approaching destruction, her husband faced the consequences of abandoning Hitler’s bunker during the regime’s final days, and her sister Eva followed Hitler into the Führerbunker in Berlin.

This documentary explores Gretl Braun’s life, her relationship with Eva Braun, her marriage to Hermann Fegelein, and her place within Hitler’s social circle. Through her story, we gain a rare perspective on the personal relationships, ambitions, privileges, and loyalties that existed behind the closed doors of one of history’s most notorious regimes.

This episode is part of the series Fascist Wives and Companions.

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Irma Grese became one of the most notorious female perpetrators of the Holocaust. Serving as an SS guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later Bergen-Belsen, she became infamous among prisoners for her brutality and sadism within the Nazi concentration camp system.

Born in Germany in 1923, Grese grew up during the rise of Nazism and entered concentration camp service while still a teenager. After training at Ravensbrück, she was transferred in 1943 to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and extermination complex. There, she supervised female prisoner labour details, participated in selections for the gas chambers, and became notorious for violence against inmates. Survivors described beatings, shootings, the use of attack dogs, and deliberate humiliation.

As Auschwitz was evacuated in early 1945, Grese accompanied prisoners westward and eventually arrived at Bergen-Belsen. The camp was collapsing under the weight of starvation, disease, and mass death, yet witnesses testified that Grese continued abusing prisoners during its final weeks.

Following the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British forces, Grese was arrested and brought before the Belsen Trial in 1945. Survivors testified extensively about her actions at both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Despite denying responsibility for killings, she was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death.

At only 22 years old, Grese faced the final consequences of her crimes. Her case became one of the most infamous examples of female participation in the Nazi concentration camp system.

This documentary examines Irma Grese’s biography, her crimes, survivor testimony, and the wider role of female guards within the machinery of Nazi persecution and mass murder.

This episode is part of the series Female Fascist Guards and Camp Auxiliaries.

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In September 1943, thousands of Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Cephalonia suddenly found themselves fighting their former German allies. Following Italy’s surrender to the Allies, the men of the Acqui Division were left isolated, uncertain whom to obey, and surrounded by German forces rapidly changing from partners into enemies.

This documentary explores one of the most tragic and controversial episodes of the Second World War in Greece. As confusion spread following the Italian armistice, commanders faced impossible choices while ordinary soldiers were trapped between surrender, resistance, and survival.

The film examines the political and military background to the confrontation, including the German occupation of Greece, the collapse of Fascist Italy, and the strategic importance of the Balkans. It follows the fighting between Italian and German forces, the arrival of German reinforcements, and the eventual collapse of organized Italian resistance on Cephalonia.

But surrender did not bring safety. In the aftermath of the fighting, German troops executed thousands of captured Italian soldiers and officers of the Acqui Division. Through eyewitness testimony, wartime records, and survivor accounts, this documentary examines the massacre and the fate of men who believed their war had ended.

The Cephalonia massacre became one of the most notorious German war crimes committed against Italian servicemen after the 1943 armistice—a story of collapsing alliances, betrayal, and mass killing that remains one of the most painful chapters of the war in the Mediterranean.

This episode is part of the series The Forgotten Massacres of Defenseless Soldiers in WWII.

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Harold Cole became one of Britain’s most notorious traitors of the Second World War. A thief, con artist, and British soldier, he infiltrated resistance and escape networks in occupied France before betraying the people who trusted him to the Gestapo.

Born in London’s East End and raised in poverty, Cole developed early into a skilled liar and criminal. When war broke out in 1939, he joined the British Army but was imprisoned after stealing from his own unit. During the chaos surrounding Dunkirk, he escaped and remained in occupied France, where he reinvented himself as a supposed hero helping stranded Allied servicemen escape.

Posing under names including “Captain Mason” and “Monsieur Paul,” Cole infiltrated the British-supported Pat O’Leary escape line and gained the trust of resistance members. He stole money intended for underground operations, manipulated those around him, and built an elaborate web of deception.

When his crimes were exposed, Cole turned to the Germans. He revealed names, safehouses, escape routes, and other crucial information to the Gestapo and personally assisted in hunting resistance fighters and Allied agents. His betrayal helped destroy underground networks and contributed to the arrest, deportation, and deaths of scores of people.

Even after the liberation of France, Cole continued his deception, posing as a British officer and repeatedly escaping custody. His extraordinary criminal career finally ended in January 1946, when French police tracked him down during an attempted arrest.

This documentary examines the rise, betrayal, and violent downfall of Harold Cole—a British soldier who went from helping Allied escape networks to becoming one of the Gestapo’s most destructive collaborators.

This episode is part of the series Fascist Collaborators.

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Fritz Suhren was one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious concentration camp commandants. As commandant of Ravensbrück—the largest concentration camp for women in the Third Reich—he presided over systematic cruelty, forced labour, executions, and horrific medical experiments.

A high-ranking SS officer, Suhren began his concentration camp career at Sachsenhausen before taking command of Ravensbrück in 1942. More than 130,000 women passed through the camp system, and tens of thousands did not survive. Prisoners endured starvation, beatings, forced labour, executions, and pseudo-medical experiments carried out by Nazi doctors.

Women were deliberately wounded and infected as doctors attempted to reproduce battlefield injuries, while others underwent operations involving the removal of bone and muscle. Suhren also worked alongside figures such as Dorothea Binz and presided over a camp system in which violent abuse by SS personnel and female guards became part of everyday life.

As Nazi Germany collapsed, Suhren attempted to escape, taking British agent and Ravensbrück prisoner Odette Sansom with him in the hope that her status would protect him. His attempt ultimately failed. Suhren was captured, brought before a French military tribunal, and convicted for his crimes.

This documentary chronicles the rise and fall of Fritz Suhren—from SS officer to commandant of Ravensbrück and finally a convicted war criminal. It examines the atrocities committed against the women imprisoned under his authority and the postwar reckoning that eventually followed.

This episode is part of the series The Nazi Camp Commandants.

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Hans Krebs was one of the most dedicated ethnic-German Nazi activists working to undermine Czechoslovakia between the wars. Born in 1888 in Iglau, today Jihlava, he grew up under the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, served in the First World War, and returned home to find himself a citizen of the newly established Czechoslovak Republic.

As a leader of the German National Socialist Workers’ Party (DNSAP) in Czechoslovakia, Krebs campaigned aggressively against the state and advocated the incorporation of its German-speaking territories into the German Reich. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, he spread nationalist propaganda, helped build radical networks, and pushed for the separation of the Sudetenland.

His close relationship with Adolf Hitler’s movement eventually brought him into conflict with the Czechoslovak authorities. In 1933, after parliament lifted his immunity, Krebs was arrested and briefly imprisoned before fleeing to Nazi Germany. There, he was welcomed by the regime and rewarded with senior party and government positions.

Following the Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, Krebs became Regierungspräsident in Aussig, today Ústí nad Labem, and held senior positions within the Nazi and SS hierarchy. He participated in the implementation of Nazi racial policies, supported the persecution and deportation of Jews, and helped consolidate German control over the occupied Czech lands.

After Nazi Germany's defeat, Krebs was captured and brought before the Czechoslovak People's Court. Accused of high treason and responsibility for helping undermine and dismantle Czechoslovakia, he was convicted and faced the final consequences of his decades-long collaboration with German National Socialism.

This documentary examines the career of Hans Krebs, the rise of Sudeten German Nazism, the destruction of Czechoslovakia, and the role played by ethnic-German radicals in Hitler's expansion into Central Europe.

This episode is part of the series High-Ranking Officials of the Third Reich.

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