In the early years of their broadcasting, the History Channel showed so much WWII oriented material that it gained the nickname of “The Nazi Channel”. Since there’s only so much historical footage, several key clips were repeated across many different programs.
Their content has diversified since then (if occasionally into rather dubious “mysteries of history” like Area 51 UFO investigations and Bigfoot/Yeti types of “documentaries”), but one clip I used to see a lot has stuck in my head, and I wanted to look up more about it but can’t remember the context. It’s a film clip of Hitler speaking before the Reichstag(?), not to the public but to a body politicians, during the diplomatic conflicts prior to the outbreak of armed conflicts of WWII.
He gets up onto the podium with a sheaf of papers and solemnly says that these are the areas that some foreign group (League of Nations, or other assembly of what would become the Allied Forces) have demanded that Germany pull out of and give up their claims over. The assembly is a little unsure of where Hitler is going with this, as he does not say anything about rejecting their demands.
Instead, he begins reading the list of territories. First in a slowly measured voice, then in an increasingly sarcastic and dismissive manner. Ripples of laughter begin sweeping the Reichstag as they realize the Fuhrer has no intention of treating this matter at all seriously. He even begins flipping the pages carelessly aside onto the floor. The politicians leap to their feet, shouting “Heil!”.
Chilling from a historical point of view, knowing who he is and what’s to come, but a masterful display of demagoguery.
When was it, where was it, and what was he reading off so dismissively?