ZDF TO CO-PRODUCE HISTORY SERIES “BEYOND THE MYTH: THE SS UNVEILED”

ZDF Enterprises has announced the production of "Beyond the Myth: The SS Unveiled," a landmark documentary that explores the dark secrets of the Nazis’ elite forces and its key personalities.

The six-part series is produced by the award-winning production company Cinecentrum for ZDF, zdf.info, and global distributor ZDF Enterprises. “This series on the SS is like no other. It is hard-hitting and honest and doesn’t shy away from exposing the horrific reality of Hitler’s most infamous unit,” Ralf Rueckauer, Vice-President ZDFE. unscripted, ZDF Enterprises, said.

The six 50-minute episodes of "SS, Beyond the Myth: The SS Unveiled" analyze the SS to find out where the truths end and the myths begin and investigate the men behind it from a different, personal perspective. Previously unpublished material, archive interviews, diaries, recordings, personal letters from perpetrators and victims showcase a never-before seen perspective of the events. Over a dozen internationally renowned experts, such as Historians Moshe Zimmermann (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Richard J Evans and Adam Tooze  as well as Ben Ferencz, the last surviving co-prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, all contribute to the series.

The series starts by looking at Hitler’s relationship with the SS and its role in supporting him, ultimately becoming one of the Reich’s primary power units. The documentary examines Heinrich Himmler’s background and his defining role in the formation of the unit. By the end of the war the Waffen-SS, instigators of some of the worst massacres, encompassed 915,000 men. “Beyond the Myth: The SS Unveiled” continues by examining how the SS became the enabler and enforcer of concentration camps, filling them with murder. Many SS-members managed to have impressive careers in politics, public life, even intelligence services, and were paid pensions by the German State. Undoubtedly, many an SS-perpetrator literally got away with murder.