Hunting Hitler (2015–…): Season 4, Episode 1 - Hunting Hitler: The Final Chapter - full transcript
[music]
bob baer: Hey, it's me.
I need a trace on somebody,
a guy named koehler.
It's a code name
used by somebody in the ss.
Former us intelligence contact:
So he's a confirmed
nazi sleeper agent
in new york city.
The guy was a nuclear physicist.
Why did they send
a nuclear physicist?
Former us intelligence contact:
Koehler was actually
double-crossing j. Edgar hoover.
That's amazing.
A nuclear physicist
sent to the united states,
outsmarts the fbi.
We have no idea
what his true mission was here.
[music]
[birds chirping]
bob: Look at this,
"the main purpose
"was to make
the ally's postwar task
"as hard as possible
"so that the nazi party
could in time
"build up a fourth reich."
narrator: For decades
historians and experts
have debated exactly
what the nazi party
was planning
at the end of world war ii.
But recently hundreds of mi5,
cia, and nsa documents
have been declassified
exposing new secrets
of the nazi postwar agenda
for the first time.
As far as I'm concerned,
this is the most authoritative
document dump
we've seen so far.
And they all point
in one direction.
Did the nazis had a plan
for a fourth reich?
Narrator: Bob baer
is a 21-year cia veteran
and one of the most
respected minds
in the intelligence community.
With the recent release of these
hundreds of intelligence files,
bob opens a new face
of an investigation
that has spanned
over five years.
This is report after report.
Narrator: In 2015,
- bob launched a global manhunt.
- Bob: Look at this.
Narrator: Led by
declassified government files.
"the american army
have not located hitler's body."
narrator: To determine
if adolf hitler
could have escaped the bunker
at the end of world war ii.
- We will get to the truth.
- That's got to be it.
Narrator: With the help of the
world's top military experts...
Man: Right there.
- Narrator: Man hunters...
- Oh, look at this.
Narrator: Scientists
and historians.
That's where the trail leads us.
Narrator: The team uncovered
a sophisticated escape route.
- Man: Oh, my god.
- Narrator: Spanning
four continents
that helped high ranking
nazi officials
successfully escape
after the war.
Man: We got an escape tunnel.
[music]
man: I see a room back there.
Bob: We found
indisputable evidence
that the nazis
were fleeing germany.
Hey, hey, hey,
right here, right here.
Bob: And they had multiple
contingencies
to get hitler to south america.
Man: Behind that door
you would find
a vast labyrinth
of underground tunnels.
Bob: There has never been
an escape network of this size.
Man: You're not gonna believe
what I just found.
Bob: The nazis had
transportation.
Bob: They had military bases,
communications.
- They had multiple safe houses.
- Man: Look at this.
Bob: Hitler's resources
were infinite.
Man: Oh, my god.
Bob: Hitler very easily
could have escaped
but it didn't matter
because the nazis
were focused
on something much bigger.
[device beeping]
man: An explosive detected.
This paints a picture
of a man who's trying to setup
a nazi army in argentina.
- Hitler was here.
- He said so.
Bob: Hitler had one goal
and that was world domination
and he wasn't gonna stop
until he succeeded.
And to achieve this he knew
he had to take out
the world's superpower.
Man: This map depicts a plan
to bomb the united states.
[music]
- narrator: Now...
- Bob: Look at this.
Narrator: Bob will analyze
these newly declassified files,
talk to world
renowned experts...
With weapons-grade plutonium.
Plutonium.
Narrator: And uncover
never before seen evidence
to determine just how close
the nazis were
to building a fourth reich
and launching an attack
on america.
Bob: These files corroborate
what we knew
at the end of our investigation.
The germans did not consider
themselves defeated
and they were gonna come back
with the fourth reich.
Now, these new documents
will allow us
to answer the final question,
how close did the nazis come
to attacking america
and achieving global domination?
[music]
one of the most revealing
documents,
this is a us military
intelligence report.
Narrator: Digging
into the hundreds
of newly declassified mi5, cia,
and nsa documents,
bob uncovers a cia file
that includes a detailed report
from a french spy
who infiltrated
a secret meeting
of senior nazi officials
on August 10th, 1944.
Look at this,
"high level nazis said,
"germany must also
prepare itself
"to finance the nazi party,
"which would be forced
to go underground.
"germany must realize
that the war cannot be won,
"and then, it must take steps
"in preparation for a postwar
"fourth reich campaign."
this is an amazing document.
This exposes the blueprint
for the fourth reich strategy.
Keep in mind this isn't
the spring of 1945
where the nazis
are scrambling to escape
and save what they can.
This is 1944.
The nazis were already a year
before the end of the war
planning not to win the war
but rising from the rubble
to create the fourth reich.
This document clearly sets out
there are three phases
to this campaign.
Phase 1 was to establish
sleeper cells around the world.
Phase 2 is to fund these cells
clandestine funding,
and phase 3
is to build new weapons
to arm the fourth reich.
This is a very
organized approach.
They knew exactly
what they were doing.
I mean, this is the classic way
to setup a gorilla campaign.
We know what the plan was.
The question is
how close were they?
Was this just all planning
or did they actually execute it?
Narrator: Bob begins
his investigation
by focusing on phase 1
of the nazis'
secret fourth reich plan.
Were the nazis' able
to establish a worldwide network
of sleeper cells after the war?
Sleeper cells do two things.
One is collect intelligence
and they also go out around
the world and they recruit
more nazis.
These are undercover agents
who act in behalf
of nazi germany.
We saw on our previous
investigation
just how successful
the nazis were
in setting up sleeper cells
all around europe.
[music]
dr. John cencich:
Our team has uncovered
die spinne, the spider network
setup to facilitate
the exfiltration
of nazi war criminals.
Narrator: Centered
in barcelona, Spain,
die spinne was a highly
secretive nazi spy network
allegedly run
by hitler's second-in-command
martin bormann.
Bob: Bormann is without a doubt
the brain behind die spinne.
Narrator: Bob dispatched
a field team to barcelona
to investigate the postwar
activities of die spinne.
[speaking spanish]
[speaking spanish]
[speaking spanish]
there were 500 spies
and leading nazis.
You know, that's an awful lot.
Clearly something big
was going on here.
Well, what we saw
in Spain made sense.
Francisco franco,
the fascist dictator of Spain
was closely aligned with hitler.
But then we learned
that it wasn't just Spain,
the nazis were spreading
sleeper cells to morocco.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation...
- Bob: There we go.
- Narrator: Bob uncovered
a declassified mi6 file
revealing that martin bormann
may have been setting up
a secret nazi
intelligence headquarters
in tangier, morocco.
It's a huge statement.
Bormann goes to tangier
to setup the fourth reich.
Big statement has to be
backed up by big intelligence.
[music]
james: What was the scene here
in the 1940s and 1950s?
Where you got spies that means
you've got safe houses,
knowledge, infrastructure.
[music]
narrator: After narrowing down
the possible location
of bormann's
intelligence headquarters
to the german neighborhood
of marshan,
the field team
made a shocking discovery.
Oh, look at this.
Narrator:
A military grade structure
topped with a world war ii era
communications antenna.
Mike simpson: It's literally
like you built it
to withstand an attack.
I mean, this is like
a fortification here
what I'm looking at.
So, the ocean's right that way.
A u-boat can surface
right out there
just off the coast
and I put this antenna up
high enough
I can go all the way out
to where they are.
I can give them an update.
They can tell me
they're ready to come in.
This has all the markings
of a military command center.
Martin bormann
can control his finances.
He can control personnel,
arms, ammunition, supply lines,
all from right here.
If the nazis had a headquarters
for the fourth reich,
it's here.
And don't forget
that morocco at this point
is occupied by the allies.
So, no country was off
the table.
This is incredibly brazen.
They had huge plans
and they had the ability
to pull this off.
But in order
for the fourth reich
to mount an attack
on the united states,
they would have had
to establish sleeper cells
inside our borders.
Today we think this is even
possible the nazis
could put sleeper cells
in the united states.
But I think we're all forgetting
that there was a huge movement
in the united states
that were very pro-nazi.
Narrator: In 1936,
the american nazi bund
launched in new york city to
build nazi support in america.
- [crowd cheering]
- narrator: By the early 1940s,
the bund had amassed
over a hundred thousand members
with seventy chapters and twenty
operational hitler youth camps.
You know, it's quite amazing
when you look at this.
This was an open organization,
loud and proud.
They filled
madison square garden.
The most important
public venue in this country
and these people
were demonstrating
their loyalty to adolf hitler.
Think about that.
Talk about a recruited pool.
But at the same time
after pearl harbor
they had to go underground
which meant they needed cover.
Most important thing
for a sleeper cell is secrecy.
You can't go around
and explain who you are
and what you're really doing.
Could the nazis have gotten away
with extensive espionage
in the united states
without the us government
knowing about it?
That's the question
we have to answer.
Narrator: Armed with hundreds
of newly declassified mi5,
cia, and nsa files,
21-year cia veteran bob baer
has reopened his investigation
into nazi activity
after world war ii.
And a shocking declassified
cia document
has revealed that the nazis
may have been building
a fourth reich
aimed in attacking america.
Look at this.
Narrator: Bob uncovers another
recently declassified cia file.
The interrogation
of ss commander eugen steimle,
which reveals details
of the nazis' plan
to establish sleeper cells
inside the united states.
Bob: This is
a very key paragraph,
"to insure success
it would have been necessary
"to establish an "anlaufstelle"
"starting point or station
or perhaps several of them.
"and the point of these things
were to furnish them,"
these are the agents,
"with the necessary papers,
money, and keys."
what steimle
is referring to here
is a black station,
places that sleeper cells
could go
and get physical things
they would need
to carry out an operation,
fake documents,
a false passport.
I mean, there it is.
This is how you run
a clandestine organization.
This is huge.
You need people,
moles in the united states
who will bring it down
from within.
[crowd cheering]
at the end of the war,
black stations
in the united states
would've changed the game
for the nazis.
If you're a nazi spy and you
arrive in the united states,
you come to a black station
doing an identity transfer
and you're good to go.
They completely clean you up.
And we know how sophisticated
the nazis were
in setting up
and using black stations.
They were very good at it.
They set up these stations
where an agent could go
collect new documentation
and become a new person.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a nazi black station
in a non-descript monastery
in the countryside of Spain.
Gerrard williams: We're here
to look at the movements
of germans, escaped criminals
through Spain
at the end of the war.
When the german war ends
in 1945,
they began to come
to the monastery.
Here in the monastery
there's a lot of german military
dressed like monks.
And they used
to do false documents
to give them new identity.
It wasn't just for a night
or temporary shelter.
What we saw in Spain
at the monastery was
they were giving them
new identities.
They were posing as monks
to get out.
So this was much more than
an ad hoc deal.
It was the catholic church
truly protecting these people.
Here we go.
Summary of nazi activity
in rome.
Narrator: With the help
of a declassified us army file,
bob and the team discovered
that these nazi escape routes
had the support
of the highest level
of the catholic church in rome.
Bob: All this activity
seems to stem
from the vatican through
the monastery of san girolamo.
This is huge.
And then we saw
that the nazi connections
of the catholic church
went far deeper.
And their means
of changing identities
were much more sophisticated
than we ever thought.
Narrator: Bob dispatched
a field team to rome
to investigate
the catholic monastery
of san girolamo that
was reported to have nazi ties.
Gerrard: We have a document
which puts this church
right at the heart of the
escape plans through rome.
[speaks italian]
they were organizing documents
in order for them
to get to south america.
So mateo, are they printing
documents here?
Are they forging documents here?
[speaks italian]
the red cross then?
Look at this
identification here.
This is adolf eichmann,
a well-known war criminal
that used a legitimate
red cross id
to travel and live.
These are not fake ids
from somebody's basement
that you can look at and say,
"hey, this isn't real."
these ids
are what's called backstop
by the red cross,
by the vatican.
That means there's a record of
it that shows it's legitimate.
If you're gonna be part
of the fourth reich,
this is exactly what you want.
But setting up a black station
in Spain or Italy,
very easy to do.
The nazis had the full support
of the political leaders.
Setting up one
in the united states
is something
completely different,
a lot more difficult.
So how could the nazis
have pulled this off?
We know they had the plans to.
How did they do it?
Narrator: Bob digs through
the newly declassified documents
in search of any evidence
that could reveal
the nazi strategy
for planning espionage agents
within the united states.
Here we go.
This is a cia document,
an interrogation
of an ss commander,
1945 December.
"attempts were often mentioned
to transport
"gestapo undercover agents
to the usa in submarines."
nazi submarines,
they call them u-boats,
were the most powerful
and stealthy machines
created until that time.
Prior to the end of the war,
nazi u-boats would've been
the perfect vehicle
to move people
to the united states,
put them ashore,
and set up black stations.
Did the nazis pull this off?
Look at this right here.
It's a cia document
which says it is almost certain
that a third group
of german agents
landed in the usa
at about the same time
as the pastorious groups
and is still at large.
Narrator: Operation pastorious
was a highly secretive
nazi intelligence operation
launched in June 1942,
in which two u-boats
successfully disembarked
eight nazi spies on the
atlantic coast of america.
But both missions failed
just two weeks later
when the fbi intercepted
the nazi agents.
The german secret service
definitely intended
and still intends to send
further groups to the usa.
Who knows if the fbi didn't know
about this additional group,
how many more
could there have been?
This is huge but keep in mind
the pastorious groups
landed during world war ii.
So did they use u-boats
to move people
to the united states
after the war?
We found in our investigation
even though
the nazis surrendered,
they were still using u-boats.
Narrator:
Earlier in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a secret nazi port
in vigo, Spain where u-boats
were operating
completely undetected
after world war ii.
Lenny depaul: So in 1945,
german soldiers were here
in u-boats.
- No doubt. Absolutely.
- Lenny: Really?
Were people using
this port to escape?
Were the nazi criminals using
vigo to escape from europe?
Narrator: The field team
then traveled
to the spanish-owned
canary islands
where they uncovered
a clandestine nazi u-boat base
operating after the war.
Man: He's telling me that they
did not just repair the u-boats.
- Okay.
- They also supplied with food
- and guns and torpedoes.
- But ask him though,
this is a big secret going on.
Nobody knows about this.
How did they communicate?
- [speaks spanish]
- man: [speaks spanish]
one second. [speaks spanish]
- he mentioned the word enigma.
- Enigma.
Gerrard: Is he telling me
there was an enigma machine?
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
gerrard: Enigma
was seriously important.
That was the germans'
almost impossible to break code.
The nazis would have used enigma
to get their information
back to nazi germany
and also to get all these
instructions from nazi germany.
To find four of them here,
they were planning
on something huge.
You know, from what we saw,
the nazis very clearly
were carrying out
clandestine missions
after world war ii.
Forty-six u-boats
that had gone rogue.
Narrator: On may 7th, 1945,
the nazis surrendered
to the allies
and all u-boats
were ordered to return to port.
But for months, 46 nazi u-boats
continued to operate in secrecy.
Bob: When we first looked
at these u-boats,
we just thought
they were shuttling people
to south america.
But now when you look at
these new documents
it's clear the nazis were
preparing for spy missions.
And for me,
there was always one u-boat
that was particularly
mysterious.
And that was u-530.
Narrator: At the end
of the war, nazi submarine u-530
disappeared and then resurfaced
in mar del plata, argentina
over two months later.
The u-boat's captain and crew
refused to tell officials
where they had been
or their mission.
Two months
after the end of the war,
this boat shows up
on the coast of argentina.
The crew never talked
and we still don't know
what u-530 was up to.
Two months in a u-boat is enough
to get around the world twice.
What's the big secret?
Everything connected
to the u-530
points to a larger mission.
I wanna find out
what that mission was.
Was it connected
to nazi espionage?
- Hey, roy.
- Narrator: Roy wallace
is a world war ii historian
who has recently discovered
a never before seen
piece of evidence
from the u-530,
a diary from the chief engineer
that could finally reveal
the truth
behind u-530's mysterious
postwar activity.
Thanks for getting on the line.
Absolutely. Thanks bob.
The diary you have on the u-530,
what does it tell you
what that boat was doing
in the months
after the surrender?
The one thing
that does confirm for us
is that there was a
greater strategic objective here
that the germans
were trying to fulfill.
There was a much
bigger plan here at play.
[music]
narrator: Bob baer
is investigating
newly declassified
intelligence documents
that revealed
the nazis' secret plan
to former a fourth reich aimed
at attacking the united states.
And new information suggests
the nazis could've been
using u-boats
as part of their plan
to get spies
inside american borders.
Hey, roy.
Thanks for getting on the line.
Narrator: Roy wallace
has uncovered
a never before seen diary
from the crew of the nazi u-530,
a vessel that mysteriously
disappeared for two months
after the war
before surfacing in argentina.
The diary you have on the u-530,
what does it tell you
what that boat was doing?
It essentially adds
to the mystery of what happened
at the end of world war ii.
The u-530 was used
a number of times
conducting espionage activities,
delivering foreign agents.
Perfect example of that
is the rendezvous
in the middle of the ocean with
the japanese submarine I-52.
Out there in the middle
of the ocean,
they transferred an enigma
coding machine to the japanese.
Germans unloaded agents
onto the I-52 as well
so it wouldn't be
a far stretch to reimagine
that similar activities
were being undertaken
by the u-530 later on.
I mean, it was... it was
a spy submarine essentially.
It would've been
the perfect submarine
if you were delivering
people somewhere
on the... in the atlantic.
What we know, bob,
that it was active
on the east coast of america
as late as March 1945.
Perhaps one of the u-boats
that was most familiar
with the east coast
of america at that time.
Bob: And by the time
it gets to argentina,
the u-530 is completely
scrubbed clean,
- is that right?
- Absolutely.
That vessel sailed
into mar del plata
effectively a ghost ship
with no enigma machine,
no coding papers, no logbook,
no nothing, but the crew.
This diary effectively could be
the only documentary evidence
that has actually survived
and come off that vessel.
It's ironic
that in this particular diary
there's details of all
their previous voyages
but no details of this voyage.
I think it's utterly damning
how meticulous the nazis were
of keeping records.
So why would they not have
any records on u-530
unless it was intentional
to get rid of them,
unless this was
a secret mission?
You would only ever do
those such things
if you actually had something
of value to hide.
Amazing, isn't it?
Thank you so much.
You know,
you look at this diary,
you look at u-530.
There's too much here
not to conclude
that it was on a secret mission.
We know for a fact
that the gestapo and the ss
were intending to send agents
to the united states.
And the u-530 would've been
the perfect vessel to do it.
It knew the east coast.
It had a discreet crew.
This investigation is starting
to take steam seriously.
Now the question is
did any of these agents
actually take hold
in the united states?
And what did they do
once they got here?
Narrator: Bob digs back into
the newly declassified files
in search of any intelligence
that nazi sleeper cells
successfully took hold
in america after the war.
Look at this.
This is a cia document.
This is from an ss commander,
eugen steimle.
Two wireless transmission
connections
existed between
the united states
and kdm hamburg,
which is a receiver
transmitter in germany.
One v-man
had the codename koehler.
This is very valuable
information.
Not only have they infiltrated
but they've actually set up
a communications network
in new york city.
The question I have is
if they are gathering
information,
what information?
We don't know
who this koehler is.
But it's a lead
that we should really pursue.
Narrator: Through
his intelligence contacts...
Look, I need a trace
on somebody,
a guy named koehler.
Narrator: Bob is able to track
down information
on a possible nazi spy
connected with
the declassified document.
Agent:
His name is walter koehler.
So, that's his actual name
is koehler,
- just not a codename?
- Agent: That's right.
So, he's a confirmed nazi
sleeper agent in new york city.
The guy was a nuclear physicist.
Why did they send
a nuclear physicist
in that role, I mean...
Agent: That's the million
dollar question.
- Yeah.
- Agent: So, early in the war,
he turns himself into the fbi
and offers his services
to j. Edgar hoover
as a double-agent.
Hoover accepts koehler offer.
Then 30 years later,
koehler's messages
are discovered,
koehler was
actually double-crossing
j. Edgar hoover.
That's amazing.
A nuclear physicist
is called v-man,
sent to the united states,
outsmarts the fbi.
We have no idea
what his true mission was here
and what purpose he served.
Agent: That's right.
All right. That's good.
- Thanks.
- Agent: No problem.
Not only are they getting
the cell members in,
but they're fooling the fbi.
I mean, he could be out there,
you know,
collecting nuclear secrets.
It's... look,
I've run assets forever
and I have frankly never run
an asset like this
who's so sophisticated
with this sort of education
and the ability to beat the fbi.
I think it's nuts, I mean,
you know,
I have never attempt
something like this.
I would never even attempt
to put an agent
in that position,
but the fact is
this guy knew what he was doing.
[music]
so, the germans are not stooges,
they can actually get
into new york city
and conduct an operation,
a clandestine operation,
right under the noses
of the fbi.
Koehler would have been
a perfect asset
to take out new york city.
Irradiate manhattan.
Narrator: While investigating
the nazis plan
for a fourth reich, bob baer
has uncovered a shocking
declassified report
revealing that a nazi
intelligence agent,
a nuclear scientist
named walter koehler,
secretly infiltrated the fbi
in an effort to set up nazi
sleeper cells
in the united states
after world war ii.
It's very clear with koehler
that the nazis
were wildly successful
in phase one
of their fourth reich plan.
That's a matter of record now.
They were able to establish
sleeper cells
in the united states.
They gained the trust
of american intelligence.
They knew exactly
what they were doing.
Koehler gives us
an entirely new perspective.
Look at operation paperclip,
at the end of the war we brought
1,500 german scientists
to the united states
to work on our nuclear program.
How many of those
were loyal to the fourth reich?
They could have had access
to the entire nuclear program.
We let the enemy through
the front gate.
If that's not success
for the nazis
in the first phase of the plan,
I don't know what is.
They were establishing
nazi sleeper cells
and black stations
and infiltrating agents
inside the united states.
Now, what I have to do
is go back to
the fourth reich meeting
and it's very clear
that phase two
was moving money abroad
to fund the fourth reich.
Narrator: Using the
declassified cia document,
from a french spy who uncovered
the nazis secret
three-phased plan
to set up a fourth reich,
bob shifts the investigation
to examine phase two,
secretly financing
nazi sleeper cells
after the war.
Now that they have all
these cells in place
what we need to know is
did they funnel out money
and fund these cells?
Earlier in our investigation,
we saw the nazis' countless
examples of moving money
out of germany through europe
into south america.
[music]
narrator: In the tyrol
region of northern Italy...
- Look.
- Mike: Oh, that must be it.
Narrator:
The field team uncovered
a shocking nazi tactic
to provide financial support
for their secret operations
after the war.
- James: Counterfeit money?
- Yes.
So, they hid it
with the intention
- of coming back for it.
- Yes.
This was the dead drop
for the escaping nazis.
Narrator: The field team
then focused their investigation
on key areas
where these nazi caches
were said to have been hidden.
Mike: Go ahead.
[music]
it looks like a shovel to me.
This clearly means
someone else was digging
in this exact same spot.
It's reasonable to assume
that something
- could have been hidden here.
- Yup.
We're talking about cashes
for nazis on the run
with money, maps,
contacts, whatever they need.
So, if you're gonna be funding
a fourth reich,
you need sort of an unlimited
amount of money.
You're not taxing people.
You better have another way
so we get counterfeits.
You're not only
funding your cells,
but let's say you've decided
to attack the united states,
so you just flood it
with counterfeit notes
and the currency collapses.
The government collapses,
it goes into default.
An attack on a country doesn't
have to be with armed force.
You hit it from various areas.
And if you're looking to set-up
the fourth reich
a full year
before the end of germany,
the idea would for the nazis
to move all this money
out of europe,
set-up some place
that's secure like argentina.
And we saw
in previous investigations
just how much success
the nazis had.
[music]
narrator: In the remote area
of misiones, argentina,
at a secret postwar nazi
compound deep in the jungle.
Mike: Hello, daniel?
Narrator: The team met
with daniel schavelzon,
the head archaeologist
of the mysterious nazi site.
Tim kennedy: Inside
there are several things.
Narrator:
Here they discovered proof
that nazi money had successfully
been transported
across the atlantic.
Here we have the coins.
Man: That's a swastika.
- Tim: A nazi coin.
- Man: Yeah.
Tim: From the period
of the third reich.
Oh, my god.
To see a nazi coin,
it takes your breath away.
Finding these gold coins
at misiones,
tells us that the nazi get gold
from europe to argentina
and get it
in the one of the most
remote parts of the world.
The gold thing has an appeal
to our imaginations,
you know, nazi gold,
but you can look at it this way,
when the germans are talking
about the fourth reich,
they're talking
about an alternate state.
To create a state,
you need an enormous amount
of money.
A revenue stream that's gonna
keep you going forever.
Narrator:
In search of key nazis
that could help keep
the fourth reich
funded with unlimited money,
bob turns back to the report
from the french spy
who infiltrated the secret
meeting of high-ranking nazis
in 1944 to set out the plan
for the fourth reich.
You look at this meeting,
you look at this list of people
that attend the meeting
and then they had
big industrialists.
They're the giants
of german industry.
I mean, take this one family,
the krupp family
which is very famous,
they made all the u-boats,
the tanks,
they came out
of world war ii intact.
Then, look at this,
you've got volkswagen.
It was hitler's car company.
And it's one of the largest
auto manufacturers
in the entire world.
And then you've got, rochling,
another german giant.
Today, it's got a revenue
of two billion dollars.
Just these three companies alone
are worth hundreds of billions
of dollars.
And if hitler sat these
companies down in '44
and said "we're not done, guys,
we may have lost the battle,
but we haven't lost the war.
We're gonna make a comeback
with the fourth reich
and we need a bit of income."
you've got billions
upon billions of dollars,
you could devote
to the fourth reich
and they were at this meeting.
So, what we're talking
about the fourth reich
is truly a economic giant.
The nazis would've had
all the money they needed
to set up and to launch
an attack
on the united states.
Narrator:
Bob baer is investigating
the nazi secret plans
to set up a fourth reich.
After uncovering
that billions of dollars
could have funneled to nazi
sleeper cells...
- Bob: Look at this...
- Narrator: Bob discovers
a recent news headline that
could unravel the true extent
of the nazi's
financial resources
after world war ii.
For me, this in incredible.
This is... this is
from March 2020.
What was found
was a list of 12,000 nazis
holding swiss bank accounts
found in argentina.
The wiesenthal center
has revealed a list
of over 12,000 nazis
living in argentina
who apparently
held bank accounts
with what is now credit suisse.
The list was discovered
by argentine investigator
pedro filipuzzi
while he was searching
in the store room
of a former nazi headquarters
in buenos aires.
What's important
is it's just the number of nazis
with bank accounts in argentina.
And what you do in switzerland
is you just simply open
a nominee account.
That's not in your own name.
Anybody could hide money there
and it was perfectly safe.
So, I mean,
the germans knew this
and the fact that it's...
We don't know about this
until 2020 tells you
how safe it was.
But, the important thing
on this,
it's not so much
that the swiss laundering money,
the fact that when the money
arrives in argentina
it's held
in the nazi headquarters.
There's no possible reason
that fleeing nazis
would store
all their bank records
in one place, what's the point?
Unless this is considered
state money,
hundreds of millions
to billions of dollars
was being prepared
for something else.
And the only thing it could be
prepared for is a fourth reich.
Now the question is,
the names for these lists.
I mean, who were they?
Were they corporate accounts?
Were they individuals?
What were the nazis using
that money for in buenos aires?
We're looking for hard evidence
of the fourth reich
and its plans and intentions.
[music]
- [phone beeps]
- [phone ringing]
hey, how's going?
It's me baer.
Narrator: Bob reaches out
to his contacts
- in argentine intelligence.
- Good.
I need a favor from you.
Have you seen this article
about the 12,000 nazi accounts?
- Man: Yeah. Yeah, I saw it.
- The recent one, yeah.
It would really be helpful
if you could get those names
- on those accounts.
- Man: Yeah, let me dig in.
Yeah, send them on
my proton account.
Man: Yeah, copy that.
Give me maybe a half an hour.
Okay.
The proton?
I use protonmail
for anybody that wants
to send something sensitive
usually other intelligence
contacts.
Everybody uses it.
We all assume since the service
go through switzerland
that it's safe.
[music]
narrator: Bob stands by
for information
from his argentine
intelligence contact.
- [device beeps]
- here we go, I got the email.
Narrator: And within an hour,
he receives a message.
Investigators are still
going through all of the names,
but here are a handful
they've identified
as significant account holders.
Look, there's a...
There's a bank in here.
Probably a nazi fake bank.
If you really wanna
launder money buy a bank.
And then there's
a bunch of names.
Ig farben.
Come on.
That's the biggest
chemical company in the world.
Are you kidding me?
They made zyklon b.
This is what they gas people
in the concentration camps with.
These are the guys that made
sarin for the nazis.
So, what in the hell
are they doing
post-world war ii
in a secret bank account
held in a nazi headquarters
in buenos aires?
Now, this is big.
It really is big.
Ig farben is holding
a secret account
in a nazi facility
post-world war ii.
I mean, if you want any evidence
these guys weren't giving up,
here it is.
What should catch our attention
is that they made sarin gas.
Remember, in our investigation
at colonia dignidad,
they were... they were making
sarin gas.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a highly-fortified compound
in the mountains of chile
known as colonia dignidad.
That was believed to have ties
to the nazi's fourth reich.
The team focused
their investigation
on a mysterious warehouse
at the center of the compound
where they met with a man
who lived at colonia dignidad
as a young boy.
When you lived here,
what were you told this was?
Man: [speaks spanish]
what would happen to you
if you came
and tried to look here?
[speaks spanish]
tim: What went on here?
[speaks spanish]
narrator: While investigating
this weapons warehouse,
the field team
was suddenly interrupted
by the groundskeepers.
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
[speaks spanish]
are you telling us
we have to leave?
Woman: Yes, we have to
leave right now.
Okay.
Narrator: With the current
owners of colonia dignidad
shutting down
the investigation...
[speaks spanish]
narrator: The team
was able to track down
a chilean attorney.
[speaks spanish]
senior fernandez, gerrard.
Gerrard williams.
Nice to meet you.
Narrator:
With inside information
about what was going on
inside that compound.
What can you tell me
about the colony making guns?
[speaks spanish]
man: There was also chemical
weapons like the sarin gas.
Sarin gas?
[speaks spanish]
sarin in its gas form
is a very, very nasty chemical.
If it gets into the hands
of the wrong people,
a lot of people are gonna die.
How did they make sarin gas
in the middle of chile?
[music]
in colonia dignidad, fine,
they were producing sarin gas,
but it's a new story
if ig farben is overseeing this.
This wasn't some amateurish
al-qaeda-like attempt.
The potential here is huge
because making
small batches of sarin,
you're not gonna do much damage.
But if you get ig farben
making industrial sizes
of sarin,
that's different.
We're talking about
the potential here
to execute this nazi plan.
We have established the nazis
were setting up sleeper cells
post-world war ii
in the united states.
You've got major
economic interests,
funding money into the nazis
in south america.
And now
we have one of the most
able chemical companies
in the world building
or producing weapons
of mass destruction.
They weren't making sarin
for fertilizer
or for air freshener.
The more evidence we get,
the nazis were planning
for all-out war.
[music]
narrator: Armed with hundreds
of newly declassified
intelligence documents,
21-year cia veteran bob baer
has reopened his investigation
into the secret activities
of high-ranking nazis
after world war ii.
With the declassified
cia document revealing
that the nazis were planning
a three-phase strategy
to form a fourth reich
with the united states
as their primary target,
bob has now uncovered hundreds
of massive corporations
that were likely funneling money
to the nazis,
including chemical weapons
company ig farben.
Finding ig farben
in south america
connected to a nazi
clandestine facility is big.
If you combine that
with this cult in chile,
colonia dignidad
making sarin gas,
and you could only conclude
that ig farben was making
weapons of mass destruction
in south america.
The only target that you would
wanna make industrial quantities
of sarin gas
is the united states.
You know, two plus two
often equals four.
It's very clear that up until
now the nazis had successfully
put together the first two
phases of their plan.
One is setting up secret cells
inside the united states.
And number two, finding a way
to fund these cells.
You know, I look at these find
of the ig farben account
in nazi party headquarters
in buenos aires,
and it tells me
they were well on their way
to phase three of their plan
which is to make weapons
of mass destruction
so they could get
the united states.
Narrator: Bob returns to
the declassified 1944 cia file
from a french spy
who infiltrated
a high-ranking meeting of nazis
setting the blueprint
for the fourth reich,
and digs into
the report specifics
of the third phase
of their plan.
Here's what the report said,
"it is immediately required
that large factories in germany
create small, technical offices
in foreign countries.
These bureaus will receive
plans and drawings
of new weapons.
These offices
are to be established
in little villages near sources
of hydro-electric power
where they can pretend
to be studying
the development
of water resources."
couldn't be clearer.
They're telling german
industrialists,
don't do this work overtly,
do it clandestinely.
The only reason
why you would do that,
to setup a cover facility,
is for nefarious activities.
In this case, weapons.
Now, I have seen this term
"new weapons"
in previous investigations
and documents.
And when the germans
refer to new weapons,
in these instances,
it's nuclear weapons.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered
a declassified mi6 file
detailing the nazi plan
to develop new weapons.
This file was
from December 9th, 1944,
just four months after
the nazi's secret
fourth reich meeting.
Bob: "the most important
technical advance in the war
is the research
on this new type of weapon.
Germany has a large
hydroelectric plant
for this in the vicinity
of rjukan, norway."
they've got a special weapons
plant here in rjukan, norway.
What's going on in rjukan
will tell us
what their plans were
for the fourth reich.
Narrator: Bob then dispatched
a field team
to investigate this mysterious
hydroelectric facility
in the mountains of rjukan.
Tim: Huh, it's impressive.
Man: Yeah.
Made fertilizers?
So phosphate mining here?
That's right, yeah.
But you can also make
explosives from fertilizer?
No.
Heavy water
is... it was made here?
It was made here, yes.
Heavy water is one
of the most important
components of a nuclear bomb.
Heavy water plus uranium
equals plutonium,
and that's a nuclear bomb.
Narrator: Heavy water is a form
of water with added mass
in alternate
chemical properties.
It's created
by running large amounts
of electrical current
through normal water.
In the 1940s,
heavy water reactors,
fueled by uranium,
were used to create plutonium,
the explosive component
in a nuclear bomb.
Tim: So how much did
they make here?
This is scary.
It's adolf hitler developing
a component
for a nuclear weapon.
And that would have changed
the world completely.
Narrator: The field team
then investigated the area
where the heavy water production
facility was located
now covered in 15 feet
of rubble from allied bombs.
Tim:
There's nothing in there.
Those barrels
of heavy water are gone.
We have to know where it went
and what they were
gonna do with it.
Narrator: And just north
of the heavy water facility
in narvik, norway,
the team discovered
a port used by hitler
and dozens of u-boats
at the end of world war ii.
We have a document
that says the fuhrer
had his yacht here in narvik
after germany surrendered.
Do you think that that heavy
water got out of norway?
Looking back in norway,
this makes total sense.
You fill up a u-boat
with heavy water,
take it across the atlantic,
dock it in south america,
move this stuff,
heavy water is just one
component of a nuclear weapon.
I mean, you need a bunch
of other things.
You need enriched uranium.
You need all sorts of equipment
to handle enriched uranium.
What we need to do is look
for any evidence
of other components that they
could have allowed them
to do this.
Look what I just found.
You got to take a look at this.
It is a brand new article.
"an amateur treasure hunter
in germany
has stumbled across what could
be radioactive material
from a secret facility
dating back to world war ii.
German authorities
have revealed that the area
of oranienburg was the location
of adolf hitler's
secret uranium
enrichment facility."
we were in a race with the
germans
to make a nuclear weapon.
We know that.
We just don't know
how close they came.
If the germans could
enrich uranium
to the point it's weapons-grade,
they could have made a bomb,
it means they could
have knocked down manhattan.
Narrator: Bob baer has just
uncovered breaking news
from germany that may shed light
on the nuclear
capabilities of the nazis
at the end of world war ii.
"an amateur treasure
hunter in germany
has stumbled across what could
be radioactive material.
German authorities
have revealed that the area
of oranienburg was the location
of adolf hitler's secret uranium
enrichment facility."
if the germans
could enrich uranium
to the point
that it's weapons-grade,
I mean, this is huge.
Because if in fact
they could have made a bomb,
they could have changed
the course of history.
You think 9/11 was bad?
Think about a nuclear bomb
in new york.
We've got to get in touch
with this author
and find out what she knows.
Narrator: Bob makes contact
with fiona keating,
journalist and editor
of britain at war magazine
who just recently broke
this story.
Hi, fiona.
Hi, bob.
How you doing?
Good. I was just reading
your article.
I'm very compelled
by this subject.
In fact we are riveted
by this subject.
Tell me how you came about this.
When I first came upon the story
about an amateur
treasure hunter,
he'd found with his
metal detector
a shiny piece of metal which
turned out to be radioactive.
Now, what was really
interesting about the story
is the location where
he found the material.
Well, it's a secret nazi
research facility
which was producing
a nazi atomic bomb.
And that's where we have
the actual german authorities
saying this was in fact
nazi material.
Was it weapons-grade?
Yes, it was.
It was weapons-grade plutonium.
This is quite remarkable.
Is this the first piece of
evidence
they've actually found
from this facility
of enriched plutonium?
Fiona: Yes.
And what's really interesting
is that the german authorities
shut down on this
and refused to go further
into the story.
They just shut it down
completely.
Why would they do this?
I mean,
what possessed the germans
not to further investigate?
I think they want to leave
the past alone.
They don't really want it
all brought up again.
I see.
I mean is there enough
evidence here for you
to make the case that the nazis
had a bomb and tested it?
I mean the fact
is there's more to discover.
More evidence
is coming to light.
The most compelling
evidence is a declassified
file of hans zinsser,
a german test pilot and also
a rocket expert
who talks about some really
amazing stuff that he's seen.
If you could send us that,
it would be very interesting.
- Yes, of course.
- Thank you so much.
It was very helpful.
Narrator:
With the help of fiona,
bob gets his hands on
a rarely seen declassified
us military intelligence file,
detailing the testimony
of a german rocket expert
named hans zinsser.
This is a dated document.
It's classified secret.
Look what he says here.
"in early October 1944,
I flew away 12 to 15 kilometers
from a nuclear test station.
A cloudlike shaped
like a mushroom
with turbulent
billowing sections
stood at 7,000 meters.
Strong electrical disturbances
and the impossibility
to continue
radio communications turned up."
I mean, the fact that he
describes a mushroom cloud,
you know, back before
nagasaki and hiroshima
should tell us something.
He's describing a cloud
from a nuclear explosion.
There's just no other way
to put it.
So, they were testing
something at the site
which was a high explosive
or a nuclear explosion.
It certainly makes what
we found in thuringia
that much more interesting,
absolutely.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered an eyewitness
from thuringia, germany
who described seeing a weapons
test remarkably similar
to the testimony
of hans zinsser.
All right.
Here's a deposition
of claire werner
on March 4th, 1945.
"I was at my window.
There was suddenly
a brightness like hundreds
of bolts of lightning."
so bright that you could read
a newspaper.
Afterwards,
there was a very powerful wind.
Later I had,
like many residents in the area,
nosebleeds, headaches
and pressure in the ears.
This explosion fits
a nuclear bomb.
Exactly fits one.
Narrator: Bob sent a field team
to thuringia
to investigate the location
where this nazi
nuclear bomb
may have been detonated.
Look at that.
It's basically empty.
Nazis were pushing hard
for nuclear weapon.
And this is evidence that maybe
they got closer than we know.
I mean, with the ultimate goal,
we know what that is.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered
a declassified nazi file
revealing a detailed plan
to attack the united states.
John:
This is a map of manhattan.
This map came
from the internal files
of an engineer
in the nazi luftwaffe,
the air force.
It depicts
a plan developed in 1944
to bomb the united states,
and more specifically
manhattan island.
This is chilling.
I mean I guarantee you
that even after the war,
they were all the more
motivated to hit manhattan
because
that was their only hope.
Only once the united states
was brought down
could the fourth reich come.
We know
in our previous investigations
this was their target.
But now that we have
a new eyewitness,
I'm quite sure they were capable
of launching a nuclear strike.
We're talking about hundreds
of thousands of casualties.
In nuclear weapon, you know,
we would take all manhattan.
If you had said
a year before 9/11
that bin laden was gonna hijack
four airplanes
and run them into two buildings
in new york and the pentagon,
you would have been dismissed
as a crank.
And then we all know
what happened next.
So many of these attacks
are aspirational.
But the fact that
they didn't happen
doesn't mean
they weren't in the works.
A nazi attack in new york city
that killed
hundreds of thousand people
would have destroyed our morale.
Look at japan at the end
of world war ii,
they gave up.
It was... the fight was knocked
out of them
and that's exactly what
the nazis were counting on
and that they would continue on
establish the fourth reich.
The fact that we're even talking
about this should be alarming.
Narrator: While investigating
a secret nazi plan
for the formation
of a fourth reich,
bob baer has uncovered evidence
suggesting the nazis
could have successfully
created a nuclear bomb
at the end of world war ii,
technology that could have
been used by the fourth reich.
At this point,
it's fairly certain
that the nazis were far
advanced in the nuclear weapon.
We know they were planning
in developing
and using new weapons.
And during our earlier
investigations,
we found suspected nuclear sites
in south america.
We had originally thought
it was for research.
But now, if in fact the nazis
had full capability
to make nuclear weapons,
that sheds a new light on these
facilities in south america.
[music]
narrator:
In bariloche, argentina,
the field team investigated
a remote island
where nazi scientist,
ronald richter,
executed top secret
nuclear research after the war.
Tim: Oh, my god.
[music]
tim: What was inside of here?
How many more buildings
like this?
These are the power buildings?
Gerrard williams:
This is massive for the time.
- Tim: This old cement.
- Gerrard: Yeah, amazing.
Three, four feet thick,
with view holes
to witness whatever's
going on in here.
This is to prevent
radiation from escaping.
That's how close they were.
And that's scary.
[music]
narrator: The team
then traveled from argentina
to uruguay where they
discovered a mysterious
400-acre hydroelectric facility
in the small town of rincon
that was run by nazis
after the war
and rumored to have connections
to nuclear research.
They have everything
they need here.
Go to an airport.
They can land seaplanes.
They can bring boats.
They have energy
with the hydroelectric dam.
And this could be their
manhattan project
of south america.
Everything that we see
says there's something
more going on here.
Look at that light bulb.
Oh. It is a swastika.
It's a... it's a beacon.
This is letting everyone know
that there are nazis here,
and they're not scared,
and they're gonna operate
in the open.
Narrator: The team met with
the facility's chief engineer,
pablo tamasite,
who uncovered secret
blueprints and schematics
left behind by the nazis.
Your understanding
is that their intent
was the production
of heavy water?
[speaks spanish]
tim: Heavy water is one
of the most important
components of a nuclear bomb.
There was a plan in place
to make heavy water right here,
this hydroelectric facility.
The absolutely
necessary to facilitate
the rise of the fourth reich.
Looking at these facilities,
especially rincon,
they very well could've been
making a nuclear weapons.
Look, if they can cover up what
they were making in germany,
they certainly were
in a position to cover up
what they were doing
in south america.
Well, I think the evidence
is clear.
The nazis are capable
of working on nuclear weapons,
producing them in south america.
But in order to launch a strike,
they would need to get
these weapons within
distance of the united states.
Argentina and uruguay
are definitely out of range.
But we knew in... from
our previous investigation
they could set themselves up
to be within 3,000 miles
of new york city.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered a declassified
fbi file
that could place the nazis
within striking distance
of the continental united states
after the war.
May 22nd, 1948.
This places hitler
in bogota, colombia.
Hitler, two german physicists
and two pilots traveled
by a plane,
they carried with them
secret plans
for the v-3 sky rocket bomb
and the complete record
of the german nuclear
investigation.
Hitler arriving with nuclear
scientists talk about,
you know, raising the tone
in all of this,
just look at the map.
You... you've got colombia.
Clearly a v-3
from the designs we know
could go the 2,000 miles
and hit the united states.
We know from our previous
investigations
hitler is reportedly
landing in colombia
which is one step closer
to their sworn enemy,
the united states of america.
But what didn't sit
well with me is
up until 1948,
colombia was an allied country.
That was always a question
in my mind, why colombia?
How could they possibly
do anything in a country
that was anti-nazi?
Just to be clear,
the president was rounding up
and arresting people
that he believed
to be members of the nazi party,
is that correct?
[speaks spanish]
they were rounding up nazis.
How could they set up?
Why would they set up there?
Why would they risk this?
As you start to look
at these mi5 files,
I'm starting to see
what's going on.
Narrator:
Bob has discovered a page
from newly declassified
mi5 files from 1949,
providing insight into
why nazi agents may have been
operating
in unfriendly territory.
Let me read this to you.
"the agents were to lie low
and at any given time
were to start organizing
national movement
which would stir up unrest
culminating in civil war
so that the nazi party
could in time reappear
in a suitable disguise
to build up the fourth reich.
I mean, there it is. Colombia
was an unstable country.
And if you wanna create
more instability
to take advantage of it,
you find out who's gonna cause
the most trouble.
You pay them and they create
political chaos.
And then you prepare the ground
to use colombia as a rear base.
Narrator: In April of 1948,
six weeks before
the declassified fbi documents
placed hitler
and high ranking nazis arriving
in bogota
with the nuclear plant,
the president of colombia,
jorge gaitan,
was assassinated.
Gaitan's assassin,
juan roa sierra
was a suspected nazi supporter
who worked at the german
embassy in bogota,
and according to his mother,
had swastikas
hanging in his bedroom.
Gaitan's assassination
sparked a massive civil war
known as la violencia
which endured for over a decade.
[indistinct shouting]
when you have
the assassin having worked
into the german embassy,
it's a coincidence.
But where you have this document
where the nazis
are planning to create chaos,
so many coincidences
add up to something.
It's as simple as that.
They knew what they
were doing in colombia.
The nazis had a plan.
They were making all
the right moves
to set up for a nuclear
strike on america.
Narrator: Bob baer has uncovered
a declassified mi5 file
that reveals
the nazi fourth reich
may have been connected
to the 1948 assassination
of colombian president,
jorge gaitan
and the ensuing
decade-long civil war
known as la violencia.
Look at this,
this is after the assassination
of gaitan, look at the chaos,
this is the purpose
of an assassination like this
of a popular leader,
nazi fingerprints
are all over this.
This is exactly
what they wanted.
Everything is unfolding
for the fourth reich plan,
they've got cells
all across the americas,
they've got funding
to pay for these cells,
an enormous amount of money,
and now they have created
a political hurricane
and they have now a rear base
right south
of the united states,
but they never mounted
an attack from colombia.
Yeah, it had the perfect
circumstance
but they didn't.
So what happened in '48?
Did they just give up?
Did somebody foil their plans?
Narrator: Although what happened
in colombia in 1948 is unclear,
bob discovered previously
in the investigation
that the nazis continue
to operate in argentina
well into the summer of 1948.
The following information
was given in may 1948.
"I was invited officially
by the argentine government
to argentina in order to do
some work
in nuclear reactor development.
Here's a nazi nuclear scientist,
he was in charge
of research laboratory,
it's one too many
coincidences for me.
- I agree.
- When there's this much smoke,
there's got to be fire.
A lot of things
are happening in '48,
argentina is allied
with the nazis,
the peron regime,
it's the same time
you're hearing rumors
about hitler showing up
in colombia.
And now you
have huemul island in argentina
where there is a nuclear bomb
making facility.
That's, like,
no other way to describe that.
And they're still preparing
the new weapon
and they are going full steam.
A lot of things
are coming together
in '48 then a couple years later
we saw who showed up
in paraguay.
Narrator:
In asuncion, paraguay,
the field team
was granted access
to secret government
intelligence files
detailing nazi post-war
activities in the country.
Do we have
any information from these files
about nazis escaping their
war crimes here in paraguay?
[speaking spanish]
this is huge.
Bob: Right here,
martin bormann,
chief of the nazi party
came to paraguay.
This is 1956,
10 years after the war,
where we have bormann,
the number two
in the nazi regime
is showing up
in the neighborhood.
According to this
intelligence report,
bormann is in paraguay.
Bormann guarded by four men,
equipped with walkie-talkies,
has four different hideouts.
He's got multiple safe houses.
He's seen with multiple
security guards,
had some sort of militia,
is very active,
he's not a man who's hiding.
Bormann and the nazis
were continuing through the '50s
to build up
fourth reich infrastructure
and we saw what it looked like
at colonia dignidad.
Narrator: The field team
investigated colonia dignidad,
a mysterious compound
in the remote mountains of chile
which was operated
by former nazis in the 1960s
and was outfitted
with advanced security
and communications
infrastructure.
Mike: He's roughly as high as
a six-story building right now.
Tim kennedy: I've been
in special forces for 15 years,
that tower is better than
some of the things that I had
in my own fire bases
in afghanistan and iraq.
Nothing could go in or out
of colonia dignidad
for a hundred miles
without somebody seeing it
form here.
Mike?
- Yeah?
- Tim: You got to see this.
Mike: What the hell is that?
This looks to me
like an infrared sensor.
The only reason
you're doing things like this
is if you are protecting
the people at the highest level.
[speaking spanish]
mike: Look at this.
Tim: Hundreds,
if not thousands of sensors.
Holy [bleep]
we have a massive room.
What the [bleep]
mike: Yeah.
Mike: Yeah.
There's so much [bleep] in
here, I didn't expect.
Colonia dignidad,
it had security,
it had military-grade fences,
it had watchtowers,
it had weapons facilities.
The nazis could've used
this facility
to run the fourth reich.
Colonia dignidad is constructed
by the nazis in 1961.
We're talking 15 years
after the war.
Think about
they still have money,
they still have the will
to do this.
By 1961, the nazis are going
full steam.
Where is this all leading?
You know what we have
to consider is
what's going on globally,
not just south america,
and that is the cold war.
The cold war
is starting to rage,
you've got relations
between the soviet union
and the united states
deteriorating by the day.
The united states is not focused
on nazis in south america,
the soviet union
is our existential enemy,
not fascism.
They've got a nuclear bomb.
Joseph stalin
is as scary as adolf hitler.
So the world's attention
is focused on moscow,
not on south america,
not on the nazis
which provides the nazis
the fourth reich
a different sort of vacuum,
and the vacuum is
nobody's paying attention to it.
So if you're a nazi,
watching events,
you're saying, "wait a minute,
united states has no time for us
and where is this conflict
with the soviet union going?"
and they simply couldn't wait
for their two main enemies
to take each other out
and then they're golden.
Strategically,
it makes perfect sense
but is there evidence of it?
Narrator: Bob turns
to the hundreds of recently
declassified intelligence
documents
and discovers an mi5 file
from November of 1949
that appears to expose
a shocking detail
of the nazis' fourth reich plan.
Listen to this,
"agent has revealed plans
for an underground organization.
Engage in espionage
to foment distrust
between americans and russians.
They're reckoning on germany
becoming powerful once again.
The collisions of spheres
of interests
will cause the tension
to go beyond the breaking point.
There will be
a third world war."
there you go.
This is an amazing document.
It's as close as we're gonna get
to the thinking
of the fourth reich.
If you've got two countries
pointing their nukes
at each other,
if you're a nazi,
forget hitting manhattan,
the damage that the soviet union
and america
could do to each other
is infinitely more
than anything the fourth reich
could inflict
on the united states.
Just wait till these two guys
go at it
and then you fill the vacuum.
Narrator: In his investigation
of the nazis' fourth reich plan,
bob baer has uncovered
a shocking mi5 document
from November of 1949,
revealing a nazi plan
to insight tensions
between the united states
and soviet union
that they could later exploit.
"agent has revealed plans
for an underground organization
to engage in espionage,
to foment distrust
between americans and russians.
The collisions of spheres
of interest
will cause the tension
to go beyond the breaking point.
There will be
a third world war."
the damage that the soviet union
and america
could do to each other
is infinitely more than anything
the fourth reich could
inflict on the united states.
Just wait till these two guys
go at it,
and then you fill the vacuum.
Things played
out as they planned.
From the end of world war two
for the next two decades,
we're almost at war
with the soviet union.
1947, you have
the truman doctrine.
1949, the soviets
test their first nuclear bomb.
1950, mccarthy starts
the communist witch hunt.
1953, the nuclear arms
race is on.
Cuban missile crisis,
we were almost at war
with the soviet union.
In '63,
you have the assassination
of the american president
by a man who came out of russia.
Here's the question,
did the nazis
have incredible insight
or were they doing something
to incite tension
between the united states
and the soviet union?
Narrator: Bob digs through
the hundreds of recently
declassified cia files
in search of any documents
that could connect
the nazi fourth reich
to the cold war.
De mohrenschildt?
You knew who that is?
George de mohrenschildt,
I know this guy well.
I've seen this guy's name
a thousand times.
He is at the center
of the jfk assassination.
Look, I've spent years
looking at the kennedy
assassination
from both inside
and outside the government.
One of the most fascinating
characters around this
is george de mohrenschildt.
He was very close
to lee harvey oswald.
In the summer of '62,
he helped bring lee
harvey oswald
from fort worth to dallas,
and then months later,
oswald assassinates kennedy.
No one even knows
half the story about this guy
because during that jfk
investigation,
when the investigators came
and knocked at his door,
he shot himself.
And the facts about him
are hard to come by.
But, look at this,
richard helms,
then cia director,
said that de mohrenschildt,
he applied for a job
with the cia in 1942
but was rejected
because he was alleged
to be a nazi espionage agent.
I mean, don't you find
that amazing?
What are we talking about here?
There's a nazi spy
in the middle
of the kennedy assassination?
There's lots
of circumstantial evidence
that de mohrenschildt
was connected
to the kennedy assassination.
My question is what
were his ties to the nazis?
Was he part of a stay-behind
operation?
Narrator:
Bob is able to get access
to george de mohrenschildt's
official government file
from the investigation
into jfk's assassination.
Here's what interests me
is allegations
of de mohrenschildt's nazi
activities.
There's a whole section on this.
On October 8th, 1942,
the us department of state
placed a refusal
or lookout in de mohrenschildt's
passport file.
Get this, the reason given
for the lookout
in de mohrenschildt's file was,
and I quote,
"alleged to be nazi agent."
the warren commission
also questioned de mohrenschildt
about the background
of his uncle, baron maydell,
and the allegation
that maydell may have
had connections with the nazis.
This guy is very suspicious.
And then look at this,
it even gets deeper.
De mohrenschildt's uncle's
apartment was raided
and many films of a pro-nazi
nature were discovered
which were intended
to show the force
and effectiveness
of the german army.
You know, how much clearer
it could get?
De mohrenschildt was a nazi.
This is not some crazy [bleep]
conspiracy theory,
this is a matter
of public record
and a confession
on de mohrenschildt's part.
It's right there, he was a nazi.
The whole kennedy association
is tainted
with stupid conspiracy theories
that have no backing.
But what I can tell you
right now,
and little did I think
this was possible,
you have a nazi agent,
according to the united states
government,
in the middle
of a kennedy assassination.
You know, what is going on here?
Look at the facts side by side
and the possibilities
you can't ignore.
In 1944, the nazis have a plan
to create the fourth reich
and takedown the united states.
Twenty years later,
they're involved right next
to the assassin
who shoots the president
of the united states
and kills him.
And the guy commits suicide?
Doesn't that strike you
as inherently suspicious?
The nazi plan all along
was to cause world war iii.
Any nazi planning a fourth reich
would've had to assume
that assassinating
the american president
very well could cause
world war iii.
They succeeded
in a smaller scale
when a nazi assassin killed
the president in colombia
and kicked the country
into total chaos.
So why wouldn't in '63
they might say,
"let's try the same thing.
Worked in colombia,
why not try it in america?"
I mean,
this sounds conspiratorial
but in the vaults of the cia,
there are secrets
that could change
the course of history.
Clearly, the nazis did not
nuke manhattan,
they did not invade.
The fourth reich
didn't rise in argentina
with a flag and a capital.
But what we've missed
is they got a lot closer
in executing this plan
of going to war
with the united states
than we've ever suspected.
Mike: No way.
That's a swastika.
Bob: The nazis
were wildly successful
in the three phases
for their post-war plan.
They were establishing nazi
sleeper cells
inside our borders.
They had a bottomless
well of money.
Tim: Oh, my god.
Bob: They were moving
infrastructure
into south america
to potentially make
a weapon of mass destruction.
And now we know
a nazi was in the company
of the man
who assassinated the president
of the united states,
it changes everything.
Now that I've seen
what we've uncovered,
no doubt about it
the history books
need to be rewritten.
[music]
bob baer: Hey, it's me.
I need a trace on somebody,
a guy named koehler.
It's a code name
used by somebody in the ss.
Former us intelligence contact:
So he's a confirmed
nazi sleeper agent
in new york city.
The guy was a nuclear physicist.
Why did they send
a nuclear physicist?
Former us intelligence contact:
Koehler was actually
double-crossing j. Edgar hoover.
That's amazing.
A nuclear physicist
sent to the united states,
outsmarts the fbi.
We have no idea
what his true mission was here.
[music]
[birds chirping]
bob: Look at this,
"the main purpose
"was to make
the ally's postwar task
"as hard as possible
"so that the nazi party
could in time
"build up a fourth reich."
narrator: For decades
historians and experts
have debated exactly
what the nazi party
was planning
at the end of world war ii.
But recently hundreds of mi5,
cia, and nsa documents
have been declassified
exposing new secrets
of the nazi postwar agenda
for the first time.
As far as I'm concerned,
this is the most authoritative
document dump
we've seen so far.
And they all point
in one direction.
Did the nazis had a plan
for a fourth reich?
Narrator: Bob baer
is a 21-year cia veteran
and one of the most
respected minds
in the intelligence community.
With the recent release of these
hundreds of intelligence files,
bob opens a new face
of an investigation
that has spanned
over five years.
This is report after report.
Narrator: In 2015,
- bob launched a global manhunt.
- Bob: Look at this.
Narrator: Led by
declassified government files.
"the american army
have not located hitler's body."
narrator: To determine
if adolf hitler
could have escaped the bunker
at the end of world war ii.
- We will get to the truth.
- That's got to be it.
Narrator: With the help of the
world's top military experts...
Man: Right there.
- Narrator: Man hunters...
- Oh, look at this.
Narrator: Scientists
and historians.
That's where the trail leads us.
Narrator: The team uncovered
a sophisticated escape route.
- Man: Oh, my god.
- Narrator: Spanning
four continents
that helped high ranking
nazi officials
successfully escape
after the war.
Man: We got an escape tunnel.
[music]
man: I see a room back there.
Bob: We found
indisputable evidence
that the nazis
were fleeing germany.
Hey, hey, hey,
right here, right here.
Bob: And they had multiple
contingencies
to get hitler to south america.
Man: Behind that door
you would find
a vast labyrinth
of underground tunnels.
Bob: There has never been
an escape network of this size.
Man: You're not gonna believe
what I just found.
Bob: The nazis had
transportation.
Bob: They had military bases,
communications.
- They had multiple safe houses.
- Man: Look at this.
Bob: Hitler's resources
were infinite.
Man: Oh, my god.
Bob: Hitler very easily
could have escaped
but it didn't matter
because the nazis
were focused
on something much bigger.
[device beeping]
man: An explosive detected.
This paints a picture
of a man who's trying to setup
a nazi army in argentina.
- Hitler was here.
- He said so.
Bob: Hitler had one goal
and that was world domination
and he wasn't gonna stop
until he succeeded.
And to achieve this he knew
he had to take out
the world's superpower.
Man: This map depicts a plan
to bomb the united states.
[music]
- narrator: Now...
- Bob: Look at this.
Narrator: Bob will analyze
these newly declassified files,
talk to world
renowned experts...
With weapons-grade plutonium.
Plutonium.
Narrator: And uncover
never before seen evidence
to determine just how close
the nazis were
to building a fourth reich
and launching an attack
on america.
Bob: These files corroborate
what we knew
at the end of our investigation.
The germans did not consider
themselves defeated
and they were gonna come back
with the fourth reich.
Now, these new documents
will allow us
to answer the final question,
how close did the nazis come
to attacking america
and achieving global domination?
[music]
one of the most revealing
documents,
this is a us military
intelligence report.
Narrator: Digging
into the hundreds
of newly declassified mi5, cia,
and nsa documents,
bob uncovers a cia file
that includes a detailed report
from a french spy
who infiltrated
a secret meeting
of senior nazi officials
on August 10th, 1944.
Look at this,
"high level nazis said,
"germany must also
prepare itself
"to finance the nazi party,
"which would be forced
to go underground.
"germany must realize
that the war cannot be won,
"and then, it must take steps
"in preparation for a postwar
"fourth reich campaign."
this is an amazing document.
This exposes the blueprint
for the fourth reich strategy.
Keep in mind this isn't
the spring of 1945
where the nazis
are scrambling to escape
and save what they can.
This is 1944.
The nazis were already a year
before the end of the war
planning not to win the war
but rising from the rubble
to create the fourth reich.
This document clearly sets out
there are three phases
to this campaign.
Phase 1 was to establish
sleeper cells around the world.
Phase 2 is to fund these cells
clandestine funding,
and phase 3
is to build new weapons
to arm the fourth reich.
This is a very
organized approach.
They knew exactly
what they were doing.
I mean, this is the classic way
to setup a gorilla campaign.
We know what the plan was.
The question is
how close were they?
Was this just all planning
or did they actually execute it?
Narrator: Bob begins
his investigation
by focusing on phase 1
of the nazis'
secret fourth reich plan.
Were the nazis' able
to establish a worldwide network
of sleeper cells after the war?
Sleeper cells do two things.
One is collect intelligence
and they also go out around
the world and they recruit
more nazis.
These are undercover agents
who act in behalf
of nazi germany.
We saw on our previous
investigation
just how successful
the nazis were
in setting up sleeper cells
all around europe.
[music]
dr. John cencich:
Our team has uncovered
die spinne, the spider network
setup to facilitate
the exfiltration
of nazi war criminals.
Narrator: Centered
in barcelona, Spain,
die spinne was a highly
secretive nazi spy network
allegedly run
by hitler's second-in-command
martin bormann.
Bob: Bormann is without a doubt
the brain behind die spinne.
Narrator: Bob dispatched
a field team to barcelona
to investigate the postwar
activities of die spinne.
[speaking spanish]
[speaking spanish]
[speaking spanish]
there were 500 spies
and leading nazis.
You know, that's an awful lot.
Clearly something big
was going on here.
Well, what we saw
in Spain made sense.
Francisco franco,
the fascist dictator of Spain
was closely aligned with hitler.
But then we learned
that it wasn't just Spain,
the nazis were spreading
sleeper cells to morocco.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation...
- Bob: There we go.
- Narrator: Bob uncovered
a declassified mi6 file
revealing that martin bormann
may have been setting up
a secret nazi
intelligence headquarters
in tangier, morocco.
It's a huge statement.
Bormann goes to tangier
to setup the fourth reich.
Big statement has to be
backed up by big intelligence.
[music]
james: What was the scene here
in the 1940s and 1950s?
Where you got spies that means
you've got safe houses,
knowledge, infrastructure.
[music]
narrator: After narrowing down
the possible location
of bormann's
intelligence headquarters
to the german neighborhood
of marshan,
the field team
made a shocking discovery.
Oh, look at this.
Narrator:
A military grade structure
topped with a world war ii era
communications antenna.
Mike simpson: It's literally
like you built it
to withstand an attack.
I mean, this is like
a fortification here
what I'm looking at.
So, the ocean's right that way.
A u-boat can surface
right out there
just off the coast
and I put this antenna up
high enough
I can go all the way out
to where they are.
I can give them an update.
They can tell me
they're ready to come in.
This has all the markings
of a military command center.
Martin bormann
can control his finances.
He can control personnel,
arms, ammunition, supply lines,
all from right here.
If the nazis had a headquarters
for the fourth reich,
it's here.
And don't forget
that morocco at this point
is occupied by the allies.
So, no country was off
the table.
This is incredibly brazen.
They had huge plans
and they had the ability
to pull this off.
But in order
for the fourth reich
to mount an attack
on the united states,
they would have had
to establish sleeper cells
inside our borders.
Today we think this is even
possible the nazis
could put sleeper cells
in the united states.
But I think we're all forgetting
that there was a huge movement
in the united states
that were very pro-nazi.
Narrator: In 1936,
the american nazi bund
launched in new york city to
build nazi support in america.
- [crowd cheering]
- narrator: By the early 1940s,
the bund had amassed
over a hundred thousand members
with seventy chapters and twenty
operational hitler youth camps.
You know, it's quite amazing
when you look at this.
This was an open organization,
loud and proud.
They filled
madison square garden.
The most important
public venue in this country
and these people
were demonstrating
their loyalty to adolf hitler.
Think about that.
Talk about a recruited pool.
But at the same time
after pearl harbor
they had to go underground
which meant they needed cover.
Most important thing
for a sleeper cell is secrecy.
You can't go around
and explain who you are
and what you're really doing.
Could the nazis have gotten away
with extensive espionage
in the united states
without the us government
knowing about it?
That's the question
we have to answer.
Narrator: Armed with hundreds
of newly declassified mi5,
cia, and nsa files,
21-year cia veteran bob baer
has reopened his investigation
into nazi activity
after world war ii.
And a shocking declassified
cia document
has revealed that the nazis
may have been building
a fourth reich
aimed in attacking america.
Look at this.
Narrator: Bob uncovers another
recently declassified cia file.
The interrogation
of ss commander eugen steimle,
which reveals details
of the nazis' plan
to establish sleeper cells
inside the united states.
Bob: This is
a very key paragraph,
"to insure success
it would have been necessary
"to establish an "anlaufstelle"
"starting point or station
or perhaps several of them.
"and the point of these things
were to furnish them,"
these are the agents,
"with the necessary papers,
money, and keys."
what steimle
is referring to here
is a black station,
places that sleeper cells
could go
and get physical things
they would need
to carry out an operation,
fake documents,
a false passport.
I mean, there it is.
This is how you run
a clandestine organization.
This is huge.
You need people,
moles in the united states
who will bring it down
from within.
[crowd cheering]
at the end of the war,
black stations
in the united states
would've changed the game
for the nazis.
If you're a nazi spy and you
arrive in the united states,
you come to a black station
doing an identity transfer
and you're good to go.
They completely clean you up.
And we know how sophisticated
the nazis were
in setting up
and using black stations.
They were very good at it.
They set up these stations
where an agent could go
collect new documentation
and become a new person.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a nazi black station
in a non-descript monastery
in the countryside of Spain.
Gerrard williams: We're here
to look at the movements
of germans, escaped criminals
through Spain
at the end of the war.
When the german war ends
in 1945,
they began to come
to the monastery.
Here in the monastery
there's a lot of german military
dressed like monks.
And they used
to do false documents
to give them new identity.
It wasn't just for a night
or temporary shelter.
What we saw in Spain
at the monastery was
they were giving them
new identities.
They were posing as monks
to get out.
So this was much more than
an ad hoc deal.
It was the catholic church
truly protecting these people.
Here we go.
Summary of nazi activity
in rome.
Narrator: With the help
of a declassified us army file,
bob and the team discovered
that these nazi escape routes
had the support
of the highest level
of the catholic church in rome.
Bob: All this activity
seems to stem
from the vatican through
the monastery of san girolamo.
This is huge.
And then we saw
that the nazi connections
of the catholic church
went far deeper.
And their means
of changing identities
were much more sophisticated
than we ever thought.
Narrator: Bob dispatched
a field team to rome
to investigate
the catholic monastery
of san girolamo that
was reported to have nazi ties.
Gerrard: We have a document
which puts this church
right at the heart of the
escape plans through rome.
[speaks italian]
they were organizing documents
in order for them
to get to south america.
So mateo, are they printing
documents here?
Are they forging documents here?
[speaks italian]
the red cross then?
Look at this
identification here.
This is adolf eichmann,
a well-known war criminal
that used a legitimate
red cross id
to travel and live.
These are not fake ids
from somebody's basement
that you can look at and say,
"hey, this isn't real."
these ids
are what's called backstop
by the red cross,
by the vatican.
That means there's a record of
it that shows it's legitimate.
If you're gonna be part
of the fourth reich,
this is exactly what you want.
But setting up a black station
in Spain or Italy,
very easy to do.
The nazis had the full support
of the political leaders.
Setting up one
in the united states
is something
completely different,
a lot more difficult.
So how could the nazis
have pulled this off?
We know they had the plans to.
How did they do it?
Narrator: Bob digs through
the newly declassified documents
in search of any evidence
that could reveal
the nazi strategy
for planning espionage agents
within the united states.
Here we go.
This is a cia document,
an interrogation
of an ss commander,
1945 December.
"attempts were often mentioned
to transport
"gestapo undercover agents
to the usa in submarines."
nazi submarines,
they call them u-boats,
were the most powerful
and stealthy machines
created until that time.
Prior to the end of the war,
nazi u-boats would've been
the perfect vehicle
to move people
to the united states,
put them ashore,
and set up black stations.
Did the nazis pull this off?
Look at this right here.
It's a cia document
which says it is almost certain
that a third group
of german agents
landed in the usa
at about the same time
as the pastorious groups
and is still at large.
Narrator: Operation pastorious
was a highly secretive
nazi intelligence operation
launched in June 1942,
in which two u-boats
successfully disembarked
eight nazi spies on the
atlantic coast of america.
But both missions failed
just two weeks later
when the fbi intercepted
the nazi agents.
The german secret service
definitely intended
and still intends to send
further groups to the usa.
Who knows if the fbi didn't know
about this additional group,
how many more
could there have been?
This is huge but keep in mind
the pastorious groups
landed during world war ii.
So did they use u-boats
to move people
to the united states
after the war?
We found in our investigation
even though
the nazis surrendered,
they were still using u-boats.
Narrator:
Earlier in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a secret nazi port
in vigo, Spain where u-boats
were operating
completely undetected
after world war ii.
Lenny depaul: So in 1945,
german soldiers were here
in u-boats.
- No doubt. Absolutely.
- Lenny: Really?
Were people using
this port to escape?
Were the nazi criminals using
vigo to escape from europe?
Narrator: The field team
then traveled
to the spanish-owned
canary islands
where they uncovered
a clandestine nazi u-boat base
operating after the war.
Man: He's telling me that they
did not just repair the u-boats.
- Okay.
- They also supplied with food
- and guns and torpedoes.
- But ask him though,
this is a big secret going on.
Nobody knows about this.
How did they communicate?
- [speaks spanish]
- man: [speaks spanish]
one second. [speaks spanish]
- he mentioned the word enigma.
- Enigma.
Gerrard: Is he telling me
there was an enigma machine?
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
gerrard: Enigma
was seriously important.
That was the germans'
almost impossible to break code.
The nazis would have used enigma
to get their information
back to nazi germany
and also to get all these
instructions from nazi germany.
To find four of them here,
they were planning
on something huge.
You know, from what we saw,
the nazis very clearly
were carrying out
clandestine missions
after world war ii.
Forty-six u-boats
that had gone rogue.
Narrator: On may 7th, 1945,
the nazis surrendered
to the allies
and all u-boats
were ordered to return to port.
But for months, 46 nazi u-boats
continued to operate in secrecy.
Bob: When we first looked
at these u-boats,
we just thought
they were shuttling people
to south america.
But now when you look at
these new documents
it's clear the nazis were
preparing for spy missions.
And for me,
there was always one u-boat
that was particularly
mysterious.
And that was u-530.
Narrator: At the end
of the war, nazi submarine u-530
disappeared and then resurfaced
in mar del plata, argentina
over two months later.
The u-boat's captain and crew
refused to tell officials
where they had been
or their mission.
Two months
after the end of the war,
this boat shows up
on the coast of argentina.
The crew never talked
and we still don't know
what u-530 was up to.
Two months in a u-boat is enough
to get around the world twice.
What's the big secret?
Everything connected
to the u-530
points to a larger mission.
I wanna find out
what that mission was.
Was it connected
to nazi espionage?
- Hey, roy.
- Narrator: Roy wallace
is a world war ii historian
who has recently discovered
a never before seen
piece of evidence
from the u-530,
a diary from the chief engineer
that could finally reveal
the truth
behind u-530's mysterious
postwar activity.
Thanks for getting on the line.
Absolutely. Thanks bob.
The diary you have on the u-530,
what does it tell you
what that boat was doing
in the months
after the surrender?
The one thing
that does confirm for us
is that there was a
greater strategic objective here
that the germans
were trying to fulfill.
There was a much
bigger plan here at play.
[music]
narrator: Bob baer
is investigating
newly declassified
intelligence documents
that revealed
the nazis' secret plan
to former a fourth reich aimed
at attacking the united states.
And new information suggests
the nazis could've been
using u-boats
as part of their plan
to get spies
inside american borders.
Hey, roy.
Thanks for getting on the line.
Narrator: Roy wallace
has uncovered
a never before seen diary
from the crew of the nazi u-530,
a vessel that mysteriously
disappeared for two months
after the war
before surfacing in argentina.
The diary you have on the u-530,
what does it tell you
what that boat was doing?
It essentially adds
to the mystery of what happened
at the end of world war ii.
The u-530 was used
a number of times
conducting espionage activities,
delivering foreign agents.
Perfect example of that
is the rendezvous
in the middle of the ocean with
the japanese submarine I-52.
Out there in the middle
of the ocean,
they transferred an enigma
coding machine to the japanese.
Germans unloaded agents
onto the I-52 as well
so it wouldn't be
a far stretch to reimagine
that similar activities
were being undertaken
by the u-530 later on.
I mean, it was... it was
a spy submarine essentially.
It would've been
the perfect submarine
if you were delivering
people somewhere
on the... in the atlantic.
What we know, bob,
that it was active
on the east coast of america
as late as March 1945.
Perhaps one of the u-boats
that was most familiar
with the east coast
of america at that time.
Bob: And by the time
it gets to argentina,
the u-530 is completely
scrubbed clean,
- is that right?
- Absolutely.
That vessel sailed
into mar del plata
effectively a ghost ship
with no enigma machine,
no coding papers, no logbook,
no nothing, but the crew.
This diary effectively could be
the only documentary evidence
that has actually survived
and come off that vessel.
It's ironic
that in this particular diary
there's details of all
their previous voyages
but no details of this voyage.
I think it's utterly damning
how meticulous the nazis were
of keeping records.
So why would they not have
any records on u-530
unless it was intentional
to get rid of them,
unless this was
a secret mission?
You would only ever do
those such things
if you actually had something
of value to hide.
Amazing, isn't it?
Thank you so much.
You know,
you look at this diary,
you look at u-530.
There's too much here
not to conclude
that it was on a secret mission.
We know for a fact
that the gestapo and the ss
were intending to send agents
to the united states.
And the u-530 would've been
the perfect vessel to do it.
It knew the east coast.
It had a discreet crew.
This investigation is starting
to take steam seriously.
Now the question is
did any of these agents
actually take hold
in the united states?
And what did they do
once they got here?
Narrator: Bob digs back into
the newly declassified files
in search of any intelligence
that nazi sleeper cells
successfully took hold
in america after the war.
Look at this.
This is a cia document.
This is from an ss commander,
eugen steimle.
Two wireless transmission
connections
existed between
the united states
and kdm hamburg,
which is a receiver
transmitter in germany.
One v-man
had the codename koehler.
This is very valuable
information.
Not only have they infiltrated
but they've actually set up
a communications network
in new york city.
The question I have is
if they are gathering
information,
what information?
We don't know
who this koehler is.
But it's a lead
that we should really pursue.
Narrator: Through
his intelligence contacts...
Look, I need a trace
on somebody,
a guy named koehler.
Narrator: Bob is able to track
down information
on a possible nazi spy
connected with
the declassified document.
Agent:
His name is walter koehler.
So, that's his actual name
is koehler,
- just not a codename?
- Agent: That's right.
So, he's a confirmed nazi
sleeper agent in new york city.
The guy was a nuclear physicist.
Why did they send
a nuclear physicist
in that role, I mean...
Agent: That's the million
dollar question.
- Yeah.
- Agent: So, early in the war,
he turns himself into the fbi
and offers his services
to j. Edgar hoover
as a double-agent.
Hoover accepts koehler offer.
Then 30 years later,
koehler's messages
are discovered,
koehler was
actually double-crossing
j. Edgar hoover.
That's amazing.
A nuclear physicist
is called v-man,
sent to the united states,
outsmarts the fbi.
We have no idea
what his true mission was here
and what purpose he served.
Agent: That's right.
All right. That's good.
- Thanks.
- Agent: No problem.
Not only are they getting
the cell members in,
but they're fooling the fbi.
I mean, he could be out there,
you know,
collecting nuclear secrets.
It's... look,
I've run assets forever
and I have frankly never run
an asset like this
who's so sophisticated
with this sort of education
and the ability to beat the fbi.
I think it's nuts, I mean,
you know,
I have never attempt
something like this.
I would never even attempt
to put an agent
in that position,
but the fact is
this guy knew what he was doing.
[music]
so, the germans are not stooges,
they can actually get
into new york city
and conduct an operation,
a clandestine operation,
right under the noses
of the fbi.
Koehler would have been
a perfect asset
to take out new york city.
Irradiate manhattan.
Narrator: While investigating
the nazis plan
for a fourth reich, bob baer
has uncovered a shocking
declassified report
revealing that a nazi
intelligence agent,
a nuclear scientist
named walter koehler,
secretly infiltrated the fbi
in an effort to set up nazi
sleeper cells
in the united states
after world war ii.
It's very clear with koehler
that the nazis
were wildly successful
in phase one
of their fourth reich plan.
That's a matter of record now.
They were able to establish
sleeper cells
in the united states.
They gained the trust
of american intelligence.
They knew exactly
what they were doing.
Koehler gives us
an entirely new perspective.
Look at operation paperclip,
at the end of the war we brought
1,500 german scientists
to the united states
to work on our nuclear program.
How many of those
were loyal to the fourth reich?
They could have had access
to the entire nuclear program.
We let the enemy through
the front gate.
If that's not success
for the nazis
in the first phase of the plan,
I don't know what is.
They were establishing
nazi sleeper cells
and black stations
and infiltrating agents
inside the united states.
Now, what I have to do
is go back to
the fourth reich meeting
and it's very clear
that phase two
was moving money abroad
to fund the fourth reich.
Narrator: Using the
declassified cia document,
from a french spy who uncovered
the nazis secret
three-phased plan
to set up a fourth reich,
bob shifts the investigation
to examine phase two,
secretly financing
nazi sleeper cells
after the war.
Now that they have all
these cells in place
what we need to know is
did they funnel out money
and fund these cells?
Earlier in our investigation,
we saw the nazis' countless
examples of moving money
out of germany through europe
into south america.
[music]
narrator: In the tyrol
region of northern Italy...
- Look.
- Mike: Oh, that must be it.
Narrator:
The field team uncovered
a shocking nazi tactic
to provide financial support
for their secret operations
after the war.
- James: Counterfeit money?
- Yes.
So, they hid it
with the intention
- of coming back for it.
- Yes.
This was the dead drop
for the escaping nazis.
Narrator: The field team
then focused their investigation
on key areas
where these nazi caches
were said to have been hidden.
Mike: Go ahead.
[music]
it looks like a shovel to me.
This clearly means
someone else was digging
in this exact same spot.
It's reasonable to assume
that something
- could have been hidden here.
- Yup.
We're talking about cashes
for nazis on the run
with money, maps,
contacts, whatever they need.
So, if you're gonna be funding
a fourth reich,
you need sort of an unlimited
amount of money.
You're not taxing people.
You better have another way
so we get counterfeits.
You're not only
funding your cells,
but let's say you've decided
to attack the united states,
so you just flood it
with counterfeit notes
and the currency collapses.
The government collapses,
it goes into default.
An attack on a country doesn't
have to be with armed force.
You hit it from various areas.
And if you're looking to set-up
the fourth reich
a full year
before the end of germany,
the idea would for the nazis
to move all this money
out of europe,
set-up some place
that's secure like argentina.
And we saw
in previous investigations
just how much success
the nazis had.
[music]
narrator: In the remote area
of misiones, argentina,
at a secret postwar nazi
compound deep in the jungle.
Mike: Hello, daniel?
Narrator: The team met
with daniel schavelzon,
the head archaeologist
of the mysterious nazi site.
Tim kennedy: Inside
there are several things.
Narrator:
Here they discovered proof
that nazi money had successfully
been transported
across the atlantic.
Here we have the coins.
Man: That's a swastika.
- Tim: A nazi coin.
- Man: Yeah.
Tim: From the period
of the third reich.
Oh, my god.
To see a nazi coin,
it takes your breath away.
Finding these gold coins
at misiones,
tells us that the nazi get gold
from europe to argentina
and get it
in the one of the most
remote parts of the world.
The gold thing has an appeal
to our imaginations,
you know, nazi gold,
but you can look at it this way,
when the germans are talking
about the fourth reich,
they're talking
about an alternate state.
To create a state,
you need an enormous amount
of money.
A revenue stream that's gonna
keep you going forever.
Narrator:
In search of key nazis
that could help keep
the fourth reich
funded with unlimited money,
bob turns back to the report
from the french spy
who infiltrated the secret
meeting of high-ranking nazis
in 1944 to set out the plan
for the fourth reich.
You look at this meeting,
you look at this list of people
that attend the meeting
and then they had
big industrialists.
They're the giants
of german industry.
I mean, take this one family,
the krupp family
which is very famous,
they made all the u-boats,
the tanks,
they came out
of world war ii intact.
Then, look at this,
you've got volkswagen.
It was hitler's car company.
And it's one of the largest
auto manufacturers
in the entire world.
And then you've got, rochling,
another german giant.
Today, it's got a revenue
of two billion dollars.
Just these three companies alone
are worth hundreds of billions
of dollars.
And if hitler sat these
companies down in '44
and said "we're not done, guys,
we may have lost the battle,
but we haven't lost the war.
We're gonna make a comeback
with the fourth reich
and we need a bit of income."
you've got billions
upon billions of dollars,
you could devote
to the fourth reich
and they were at this meeting.
So, what we're talking
about the fourth reich
is truly a economic giant.
The nazis would've had
all the money they needed
to set up and to launch
an attack
on the united states.
Narrator:
Bob baer is investigating
the nazi secret plans
to set up a fourth reich.
After uncovering
that billions of dollars
could have funneled to nazi
sleeper cells...
- Bob: Look at this...
- Narrator: Bob discovers
a recent news headline that
could unravel the true extent
of the nazi's
financial resources
after world war ii.
For me, this in incredible.
This is... this is
from March 2020.
What was found
was a list of 12,000 nazis
holding swiss bank accounts
found in argentina.
The wiesenthal center
has revealed a list
of over 12,000 nazis
living in argentina
who apparently
held bank accounts
with what is now credit suisse.
The list was discovered
by argentine investigator
pedro filipuzzi
while he was searching
in the store room
of a former nazi headquarters
in buenos aires.
What's important
is it's just the number of nazis
with bank accounts in argentina.
And what you do in switzerland
is you just simply open
a nominee account.
That's not in your own name.
Anybody could hide money there
and it was perfectly safe.
So, I mean,
the germans knew this
and the fact that it's...
We don't know about this
until 2020 tells you
how safe it was.
But, the important thing
on this,
it's not so much
that the swiss laundering money,
the fact that when the money
arrives in argentina
it's held
in the nazi headquarters.
There's no possible reason
that fleeing nazis
would store
all their bank records
in one place, what's the point?
Unless this is considered
state money,
hundreds of millions
to billions of dollars
was being prepared
for something else.
And the only thing it could be
prepared for is a fourth reich.
Now the question is,
the names for these lists.
I mean, who were they?
Were they corporate accounts?
Were they individuals?
What were the nazis using
that money for in buenos aires?
We're looking for hard evidence
of the fourth reich
and its plans and intentions.
[music]
- [phone beeps]
- [phone ringing]
hey, how's going?
It's me baer.
Narrator: Bob reaches out
to his contacts
- in argentine intelligence.
- Good.
I need a favor from you.
Have you seen this article
about the 12,000 nazi accounts?
- Man: Yeah. Yeah, I saw it.
- The recent one, yeah.
It would really be helpful
if you could get those names
- on those accounts.
- Man: Yeah, let me dig in.
Yeah, send them on
my proton account.
Man: Yeah, copy that.
Give me maybe a half an hour.
Okay.
The proton?
I use protonmail
for anybody that wants
to send something sensitive
usually other intelligence
contacts.
Everybody uses it.
We all assume since the service
go through switzerland
that it's safe.
[music]
narrator: Bob stands by
for information
from his argentine
intelligence contact.
- [device beeps]
- here we go, I got the email.
Narrator: And within an hour,
he receives a message.
Investigators are still
going through all of the names,
but here are a handful
they've identified
as significant account holders.
Look, there's a...
There's a bank in here.
Probably a nazi fake bank.
If you really wanna
launder money buy a bank.
And then there's
a bunch of names.
Ig farben.
Come on.
That's the biggest
chemical company in the world.
Are you kidding me?
They made zyklon b.
This is what they gas people
in the concentration camps with.
These are the guys that made
sarin for the nazis.
So, what in the hell
are they doing
post-world war ii
in a secret bank account
held in a nazi headquarters
in buenos aires?
Now, this is big.
It really is big.
Ig farben is holding
a secret account
in a nazi facility
post-world war ii.
I mean, if you want any evidence
these guys weren't giving up,
here it is.
What should catch our attention
is that they made sarin gas.
Remember, in our investigation
at colonia dignidad,
they were... they were making
sarin gas.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
the field team uncovered
a highly-fortified compound
in the mountains of chile
known as colonia dignidad.
That was believed to have ties
to the nazi's fourth reich.
The team focused
their investigation
on a mysterious warehouse
at the center of the compound
where they met with a man
who lived at colonia dignidad
as a young boy.
When you lived here,
what were you told this was?
Man: [speaks spanish]
what would happen to you
if you came
and tried to look here?
[speaks spanish]
tim: What went on here?
[speaks spanish]
narrator: While investigating
this weapons warehouse,
the field team
was suddenly interrupted
by the groundskeepers.
- [speaks spanish]
- [speaks spanish]
[speaks spanish]
are you telling us
we have to leave?
Woman: Yes, we have to
leave right now.
Okay.
Narrator: With the current
owners of colonia dignidad
shutting down
the investigation...
[speaks spanish]
narrator: The team
was able to track down
a chilean attorney.
[speaks spanish]
senior fernandez, gerrard.
Gerrard williams.
Nice to meet you.
Narrator:
With inside information
about what was going on
inside that compound.
What can you tell me
about the colony making guns?
[speaks spanish]
man: There was also chemical
weapons like the sarin gas.
Sarin gas?
[speaks spanish]
sarin in its gas form
is a very, very nasty chemical.
If it gets into the hands
of the wrong people,
a lot of people are gonna die.
How did they make sarin gas
in the middle of chile?
[music]
in colonia dignidad, fine,
they were producing sarin gas,
but it's a new story
if ig farben is overseeing this.
This wasn't some amateurish
al-qaeda-like attempt.
The potential here is huge
because making
small batches of sarin,
you're not gonna do much damage.
But if you get ig farben
making industrial sizes
of sarin,
that's different.
We're talking about
the potential here
to execute this nazi plan.
We have established the nazis
were setting up sleeper cells
post-world war ii
in the united states.
You've got major
economic interests,
funding money into the nazis
in south america.
And now
we have one of the most
able chemical companies
in the world building
or producing weapons
of mass destruction.
They weren't making sarin
for fertilizer
or for air freshener.
The more evidence we get,
the nazis were planning
for all-out war.
[music]
narrator: Armed with hundreds
of newly declassified
intelligence documents,
21-year cia veteran bob baer
has reopened his investigation
into the secret activities
of high-ranking nazis
after world war ii.
With the declassified
cia document revealing
that the nazis were planning
a three-phase strategy
to form a fourth reich
with the united states
as their primary target,
bob has now uncovered hundreds
of massive corporations
that were likely funneling money
to the nazis,
including chemical weapons
company ig farben.
Finding ig farben
in south america
connected to a nazi
clandestine facility is big.
If you combine that
with this cult in chile,
colonia dignidad
making sarin gas,
and you could only conclude
that ig farben was making
weapons of mass destruction
in south america.
The only target that you would
wanna make industrial quantities
of sarin gas
is the united states.
You know, two plus two
often equals four.
It's very clear that up until
now the nazis had successfully
put together the first two
phases of their plan.
One is setting up secret cells
inside the united states.
And number two, finding a way
to fund these cells.
You know, I look at these find
of the ig farben account
in nazi party headquarters
in buenos aires,
and it tells me
they were well on their way
to phase three of their plan
which is to make weapons
of mass destruction
so they could get
the united states.
Narrator: Bob returns to
the declassified 1944 cia file
from a french spy
who infiltrated
a high-ranking meeting of nazis
setting the blueprint
for the fourth reich,
and digs into
the report specifics
of the third phase
of their plan.
Here's what the report said,
"it is immediately required
that large factories in germany
create small, technical offices
in foreign countries.
These bureaus will receive
plans and drawings
of new weapons.
These offices
are to be established
in little villages near sources
of hydro-electric power
where they can pretend
to be studying
the development
of water resources."
couldn't be clearer.
They're telling german
industrialists,
don't do this work overtly,
do it clandestinely.
The only reason
why you would do that,
to setup a cover facility,
is for nefarious activities.
In this case, weapons.
Now, I have seen this term
"new weapons"
in previous investigations
and documents.
And when the germans
refer to new weapons,
in these instances,
it's nuclear weapons.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered
a declassified mi6 file
detailing the nazi plan
to develop new weapons.
This file was
from December 9th, 1944,
just four months after
the nazi's secret
fourth reich meeting.
Bob: "the most important
technical advance in the war
is the research
on this new type of weapon.
Germany has a large
hydroelectric plant
for this in the vicinity
of rjukan, norway."
they've got a special weapons
plant here in rjukan, norway.
What's going on in rjukan
will tell us
what their plans were
for the fourth reich.
Narrator: Bob then dispatched
a field team
to investigate this mysterious
hydroelectric facility
in the mountains of rjukan.
Tim: Huh, it's impressive.
Man: Yeah.
Made fertilizers?
So phosphate mining here?
That's right, yeah.
But you can also make
explosives from fertilizer?
No.
Heavy water
is... it was made here?
It was made here, yes.
Heavy water is one
of the most important
components of a nuclear bomb.
Heavy water plus uranium
equals plutonium,
and that's a nuclear bomb.
Narrator: Heavy water is a form
of water with added mass
in alternate
chemical properties.
It's created
by running large amounts
of electrical current
through normal water.
In the 1940s,
heavy water reactors,
fueled by uranium,
were used to create plutonium,
the explosive component
in a nuclear bomb.
Tim: So how much did
they make here?
This is scary.
It's adolf hitler developing
a component
for a nuclear weapon.
And that would have changed
the world completely.
Narrator: The field team
then investigated the area
where the heavy water production
facility was located
now covered in 15 feet
of rubble from allied bombs.
Tim:
There's nothing in there.
Those barrels
of heavy water are gone.
We have to know where it went
and what they were
gonna do with it.
Narrator: And just north
of the heavy water facility
in narvik, norway,
the team discovered
a port used by hitler
and dozens of u-boats
at the end of world war ii.
We have a document
that says the fuhrer
had his yacht here in narvik
after germany surrendered.
Do you think that that heavy
water got out of norway?
Looking back in norway,
this makes total sense.
You fill up a u-boat
with heavy water,
take it across the atlantic,
dock it in south america,
move this stuff,
heavy water is just one
component of a nuclear weapon.
I mean, you need a bunch
of other things.
You need enriched uranium.
You need all sorts of equipment
to handle enriched uranium.
What we need to do is look
for any evidence
of other components that they
could have allowed them
to do this.
Look what I just found.
You got to take a look at this.
It is a brand new article.
"an amateur treasure hunter
in germany
has stumbled across what could
be radioactive material
from a secret facility
dating back to world war ii.
German authorities
have revealed that the area
of oranienburg was the location
of adolf hitler's
secret uranium
enrichment facility."
we were in a race with the
germans
to make a nuclear weapon.
We know that.
We just don't know
how close they came.
If the germans could
enrich uranium
to the point it's weapons-grade,
they could have made a bomb,
it means they could
have knocked down manhattan.
Narrator: Bob baer has just
uncovered breaking news
from germany that may shed light
on the nuclear
capabilities of the nazis
at the end of world war ii.
"an amateur treasure
hunter in germany
has stumbled across what could
be radioactive material.
German authorities
have revealed that the area
of oranienburg was the location
of adolf hitler's secret uranium
enrichment facility."
if the germans
could enrich uranium
to the point
that it's weapons-grade,
I mean, this is huge.
Because if in fact
they could have made a bomb,
they could have changed
the course of history.
You think 9/11 was bad?
Think about a nuclear bomb
in new york.
We've got to get in touch
with this author
and find out what she knows.
Narrator: Bob makes contact
with fiona keating,
journalist and editor
of britain at war magazine
who just recently broke
this story.
Hi, fiona.
Hi, bob.
How you doing?
Good. I was just reading
your article.
I'm very compelled
by this subject.
In fact we are riveted
by this subject.
Tell me how you came about this.
When I first came upon the story
about an amateur
treasure hunter,
he'd found with his
metal detector
a shiny piece of metal which
turned out to be radioactive.
Now, what was really
interesting about the story
is the location where
he found the material.
Well, it's a secret nazi
research facility
which was producing
a nazi atomic bomb.
And that's where we have
the actual german authorities
saying this was in fact
nazi material.
Was it weapons-grade?
Yes, it was.
It was weapons-grade plutonium.
This is quite remarkable.
Is this the first piece of
evidence
they've actually found
from this facility
of enriched plutonium?
Fiona: Yes.
And what's really interesting
is that the german authorities
shut down on this
and refused to go further
into the story.
They just shut it down
completely.
Why would they do this?
I mean,
what possessed the germans
not to further investigate?
I think they want to leave
the past alone.
They don't really want it
all brought up again.
I see.
I mean is there enough
evidence here for you
to make the case that the nazis
had a bomb and tested it?
I mean the fact
is there's more to discover.
More evidence
is coming to light.
The most compelling
evidence is a declassified
file of hans zinsser,
a german test pilot and also
a rocket expert
who talks about some really
amazing stuff that he's seen.
If you could send us that,
it would be very interesting.
- Yes, of course.
- Thank you so much.
It was very helpful.
Narrator:
With the help of fiona,
bob gets his hands on
a rarely seen declassified
us military intelligence file,
detailing the testimony
of a german rocket expert
named hans zinsser.
This is a dated document.
It's classified secret.
Look what he says here.
"in early October 1944,
I flew away 12 to 15 kilometers
from a nuclear test station.
A cloudlike shaped
like a mushroom
with turbulent
billowing sections
stood at 7,000 meters.
Strong electrical disturbances
and the impossibility
to continue
radio communications turned up."
I mean, the fact that he
describes a mushroom cloud,
you know, back before
nagasaki and hiroshima
should tell us something.
He's describing a cloud
from a nuclear explosion.
There's just no other way
to put it.
So, they were testing
something at the site
which was a high explosive
or a nuclear explosion.
It certainly makes what
we found in thuringia
that much more interesting,
absolutely.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered an eyewitness
from thuringia, germany
who described seeing a weapons
test remarkably similar
to the testimony
of hans zinsser.
All right.
Here's a deposition
of claire werner
on March 4th, 1945.
"I was at my window.
There was suddenly
a brightness like hundreds
of bolts of lightning."
so bright that you could read
a newspaper.
Afterwards,
there was a very powerful wind.
Later I had,
like many residents in the area,
nosebleeds, headaches
and pressure in the ears.
This explosion fits
a nuclear bomb.
Exactly fits one.
Narrator: Bob sent a field team
to thuringia
to investigate the location
where this nazi
nuclear bomb
may have been detonated.
Look at that.
It's basically empty.
Nazis were pushing hard
for nuclear weapon.
And this is evidence that maybe
they got closer than we know.
I mean, with the ultimate goal,
we know what that is.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered
a declassified nazi file
revealing a detailed plan
to attack the united states.
John:
This is a map of manhattan.
This map came
from the internal files
of an engineer
in the nazi luftwaffe,
the air force.
It depicts
a plan developed in 1944
to bomb the united states,
and more specifically
manhattan island.
This is chilling.
I mean I guarantee you
that even after the war,
they were all the more
motivated to hit manhattan
because
that was their only hope.
Only once the united states
was brought down
could the fourth reich come.
We know
in our previous investigations
this was their target.
But now that we have
a new eyewitness,
I'm quite sure they were capable
of launching a nuclear strike.
We're talking about hundreds
of thousands of casualties.
In nuclear weapon, you know,
we would take all manhattan.
If you had said
a year before 9/11
that bin laden was gonna hijack
four airplanes
and run them into two buildings
in new york and the pentagon,
you would have been dismissed
as a crank.
And then we all know
what happened next.
So many of these attacks
are aspirational.
But the fact that
they didn't happen
doesn't mean
they weren't in the works.
A nazi attack in new york city
that killed
hundreds of thousand people
would have destroyed our morale.
Look at japan at the end
of world war ii,
they gave up.
It was... the fight was knocked
out of them
and that's exactly what
the nazis were counting on
and that they would continue on
establish the fourth reich.
The fact that we're even talking
about this should be alarming.
Narrator: While investigating
a secret nazi plan
for the formation
of a fourth reich,
bob baer has uncovered evidence
suggesting the nazis
could have successfully
created a nuclear bomb
at the end of world war ii,
technology that could have
been used by the fourth reich.
At this point,
it's fairly certain
that the nazis were far
advanced in the nuclear weapon.
We know they were planning
in developing
and using new weapons.
And during our earlier
investigations,
we found suspected nuclear sites
in south america.
We had originally thought
it was for research.
But now, if in fact the nazis
had full capability
to make nuclear weapons,
that sheds a new light on these
facilities in south america.
[music]
narrator:
In bariloche, argentina,
the field team investigated
a remote island
where nazi scientist,
ronald richter,
executed top secret
nuclear research after the war.
Tim: Oh, my god.
[music]
tim: What was inside of here?
How many more buildings
like this?
These are the power buildings?
Gerrard williams:
This is massive for the time.
- Tim: This old cement.
- Gerrard: Yeah, amazing.
Three, four feet thick,
with view holes
to witness whatever's
going on in here.
This is to prevent
radiation from escaping.
That's how close they were.
And that's scary.
[music]
narrator: The team
then traveled from argentina
to uruguay where they
discovered a mysterious
400-acre hydroelectric facility
in the small town of rincon
that was run by nazis
after the war
and rumored to have connections
to nuclear research.
They have everything
they need here.
Go to an airport.
They can land seaplanes.
They can bring boats.
They have energy
with the hydroelectric dam.
And this could be their
manhattan project
of south america.
Everything that we see
says there's something
more going on here.
Look at that light bulb.
Oh. It is a swastika.
It's a... it's a beacon.
This is letting everyone know
that there are nazis here,
and they're not scared,
and they're gonna operate
in the open.
Narrator: The team met with
the facility's chief engineer,
pablo tamasite,
who uncovered secret
blueprints and schematics
left behind by the nazis.
Your understanding
is that their intent
was the production
of heavy water?
[speaks spanish]
tim: Heavy water is one
of the most important
components of a nuclear bomb.
There was a plan in place
to make heavy water right here,
this hydroelectric facility.
The absolutely
necessary to facilitate
the rise of the fourth reich.
Looking at these facilities,
especially rincon,
they very well could've been
making a nuclear weapons.
Look, if they can cover up what
they were making in germany,
they certainly were
in a position to cover up
what they were doing
in south america.
Well, I think the evidence
is clear.
The nazis are capable
of working on nuclear weapons,
producing them in south america.
But in order to launch a strike,
they would need to get
these weapons within
distance of the united states.
Argentina and uruguay
are definitely out of range.
But we knew in... from
our previous investigation
they could set themselves up
to be within 3,000 miles
of new york city.
Narrator: Previously
in the investigation,
bob uncovered a declassified
fbi file
that could place the nazis
within striking distance
of the continental united states
after the war.
May 22nd, 1948.
This places hitler
in bogota, colombia.
Hitler, two german physicists
and two pilots traveled
by a plane,
they carried with them
secret plans
for the v-3 sky rocket bomb
and the complete record
of the german nuclear
investigation.
Hitler arriving with nuclear
scientists talk about,
you know, raising the tone
in all of this,
just look at the map.
You... you've got colombia.
Clearly a v-3
from the designs we know
could go the 2,000 miles
and hit the united states.
We know from our previous
investigations
hitler is reportedly
landing in colombia
which is one step closer
to their sworn enemy,
the united states of america.
But what didn't sit
well with me is
up until 1948,
colombia was an allied country.
That was always a question
in my mind, why colombia?
How could they possibly
do anything in a country
that was anti-nazi?
Just to be clear,
the president was rounding up
and arresting people
that he believed
to be members of the nazi party,
is that correct?
[speaks spanish]
they were rounding up nazis.
How could they set up?
Why would they set up there?
Why would they risk this?
As you start to look
at these mi5 files,
I'm starting to see
what's going on.
Narrator:
Bob has discovered a page
from newly declassified
mi5 files from 1949,
providing insight into
why nazi agents may have been
operating
in unfriendly territory.
Let me read this to you.
"the agents were to lie low
and at any given time
were to start organizing
national movement
which would stir up unrest
culminating in civil war
so that the nazi party
could in time reappear
in a suitable disguise
to build up the fourth reich.
I mean, there it is. Colombia
was an unstable country.
And if you wanna create
more instability
to take advantage of it,
you find out who's gonna cause
the most trouble.
You pay them and they create
political chaos.
And then you prepare the ground
to use colombia as a rear base.
Narrator: In April of 1948,
six weeks before
the declassified fbi documents
placed hitler
and high ranking nazis arriving
in bogota
with the nuclear plant,
the president of colombia,
jorge gaitan,
was assassinated.
Gaitan's assassin,
juan roa sierra
was a suspected nazi supporter
who worked at the german
embassy in bogota,
and according to his mother,
had swastikas
hanging in his bedroom.
Gaitan's assassination
sparked a massive civil war
known as la violencia
which endured for over a decade.
[indistinct shouting]
when you have
the assassin having worked
into the german embassy,
it's a coincidence.
But where you have this document
where the nazis
are planning to create chaos,
so many coincidences
add up to something.
It's as simple as that.
They knew what they
were doing in colombia.
The nazis had a plan.
They were making all
the right moves
to set up for a nuclear
strike on america.
Narrator: Bob baer has uncovered
a declassified mi5 file
that reveals
the nazi fourth reich
may have been connected
to the 1948 assassination
of colombian president,
jorge gaitan
and the ensuing
decade-long civil war
known as la violencia.
Look at this,
this is after the assassination
of gaitan, look at the chaos,
this is the purpose
of an assassination like this
of a popular leader,
nazi fingerprints
are all over this.
This is exactly
what they wanted.
Everything is unfolding
for the fourth reich plan,
they've got cells
all across the americas,
they've got funding
to pay for these cells,
an enormous amount of money,
and now they have created
a political hurricane
and they have now a rear base
right south
of the united states,
but they never mounted
an attack from colombia.
Yeah, it had the perfect
circumstance
but they didn't.
So what happened in '48?
Did they just give up?
Did somebody foil their plans?
Narrator: Although what happened
in colombia in 1948 is unclear,
bob discovered previously
in the investigation
that the nazis continue
to operate in argentina
well into the summer of 1948.
The following information
was given in may 1948.
"I was invited officially
by the argentine government
to argentina in order to do
some work
in nuclear reactor development.
Here's a nazi nuclear scientist,
he was in charge
of research laboratory,
it's one too many
coincidences for me.
- I agree.
- When there's this much smoke,
there's got to be fire.
A lot of things
are happening in '48,
argentina is allied
with the nazis,
the peron regime,
it's the same time
you're hearing rumors
about hitler showing up
in colombia.
And now you
have huemul island in argentina
where there is a nuclear bomb
making facility.
That's, like,
no other way to describe that.
And they're still preparing
the new weapon
and they are going full steam.
A lot of things
are coming together
in '48 then a couple years later
we saw who showed up
in paraguay.
Narrator:
In asuncion, paraguay,
the field team
was granted access
to secret government
intelligence files
detailing nazi post-war
activities in the country.
Do we have
any information from these files
about nazis escaping their
war crimes here in paraguay?
[speaking spanish]
this is huge.
Bob: Right here,
martin bormann,
chief of the nazi party
came to paraguay.
This is 1956,
10 years after the war,
where we have bormann,
the number two
in the nazi regime
is showing up
in the neighborhood.
According to this
intelligence report,
bormann is in paraguay.
Bormann guarded by four men,
equipped with walkie-talkies,
has four different hideouts.
He's got multiple safe houses.
He's seen with multiple
security guards,
had some sort of militia,
is very active,
he's not a man who's hiding.
Bormann and the nazis
were continuing through the '50s
to build up
fourth reich infrastructure
and we saw what it looked like
at colonia dignidad.
Narrator: The field team
investigated colonia dignidad,
a mysterious compound
in the remote mountains of chile
which was operated
by former nazis in the 1960s
and was outfitted
with advanced security
and communications
infrastructure.
Mike: He's roughly as high as
a six-story building right now.
Tim kennedy: I've been
in special forces for 15 years,
that tower is better than
some of the things that I had
in my own fire bases
in afghanistan and iraq.
Nothing could go in or out
of colonia dignidad
for a hundred miles
without somebody seeing it
form here.
Mike?
- Yeah?
- Tim: You got to see this.
Mike: What the hell is that?
This looks to me
like an infrared sensor.
The only reason
you're doing things like this
is if you are protecting
the people at the highest level.
[speaking spanish]
mike: Look at this.
Tim: Hundreds,
if not thousands of sensors.
Holy [bleep]
we have a massive room.
What the [bleep]
mike: Yeah.
Mike: Yeah.
There's so much [bleep] in
here, I didn't expect.
Colonia dignidad,
it had security,
it had military-grade fences,
it had watchtowers,
it had weapons facilities.
The nazis could've used
this facility
to run the fourth reich.
Colonia dignidad is constructed
by the nazis in 1961.
We're talking 15 years
after the war.
Think about
they still have money,
they still have the will
to do this.
By 1961, the nazis are going
full steam.
Where is this all leading?
You know what we have
to consider is
what's going on globally,
not just south america,
and that is the cold war.
The cold war
is starting to rage,
you've got relations
between the soviet union
and the united states
deteriorating by the day.
The united states is not focused
on nazis in south america,
the soviet union
is our existential enemy,
not fascism.
They've got a nuclear bomb.
Joseph stalin
is as scary as adolf hitler.
So the world's attention
is focused on moscow,
not on south america,
not on the nazis
which provides the nazis
the fourth reich
a different sort of vacuum,
and the vacuum is
nobody's paying attention to it.
So if you're a nazi,
watching events,
you're saying, "wait a minute,
united states has no time for us
and where is this conflict
with the soviet union going?"
and they simply couldn't wait
for their two main enemies
to take each other out
and then they're golden.
Strategically,
it makes perfect sense
but is there evidence of it?
Narrator: Bob turns
to the hundreds of recently
declassified intelligence
documents
and discovers an mi5 file
from November of 1949
that appears to expose
a shocking detail
of the nazis' fourth reich plan.
Listen to this,
"agent has revealed plans
for an underground organization.
Engage in espionage
to foment distrust
between americans and russians.
They're reckoning on germany
becoming powerful once again.
The collisions of spheres
of interests
will cause the tension
to go beyond the breaking point.
There will be
a third world war."
there you go.
This is an amazing document.
It's as close as we're gonna get
to the thinking
of the fourth reich.
If you've got two countries
pointing their nukes
at each other,
if you're a nazi,
forget hitting manhattan,
the damage that the soviet union
and america
could do to each other
is infinitely more
than anything the fourth reich
could inflict
on the united states.
Just wait till these two guys
go at it
and then you fill the vacuum.
Narrator: In his investigation
of the nazis' fourth reich plan,
bob baer has uncovered
a shocking mi5 document
from November of 1949,
revealing a nazi plan
to insight tensions
between the united states
and soviet union
that they could later exploit.
"agent has revealed plans
for an underground organization
to engage in espionage,
to foment distrust
between americans and russians.
The collisions of spheres
of interest
will cause the tension
to go beyond the breaking point.
There will be
a third world war."
the damage that the soviet union
and america
could do to each other
is infinitely more than anything
the fourth reich could
inflict on the united states.
Just wait till these two guys
go at it,
and then you fill the vacuum.
Things played
out as they planned.
From the end of world war two
for the next two decades,
we're almost at war
with the soviet union.
1947, you have
the truman doctrine.
1949, the soviets
test their first nuclear bomb.
1950, mccarthy starts
the communist witch hunt.
1953, the nuclear arms
race is on.
Cuban missile crisis,
we were almost at war
with the soviet union.
In '63,
you have the assassination
of the american president
by a man who came out of russia.
Here's the question,
did the nazis
have incredible insight
or were they doing something
to incite tension
between the united states
and the soviet union?
Narrator: Bob digs through
the hundreds of recently
declassified cia files
in search of any documents
that could connect
the nazi fourth reich
to the cold war.
De mohrenschildt?
You knew who that is?
George de mohrenschildt,
I know this guy well.
I've seen this guy's name
a thousand times.
He is at the center
of the jfk assassination.
Look, I've spent years
looking at the kennedy
assassination
from both inside
and outside the government.
One of the most fascinating
characters around this
is george de mohrenschildt.
He was very close
to lee harvey oswald.
In the summer of '62,
he helped bring lee
harvey oswald
from fort worth to dallas,
and then months later,
oswald assassinates kennedy.
No one even knows
half the story about this guy
because during that jfk
investigation,
when the investigators came
and knocked at his door,
he shot himself.
And the facts about him
are hard to come by.
But, look at this,
richard helms,
then cia director,
said that de mohrenschildt,
he applied for a job
with the cia in 1942
but was rejected
because he was alleged
to be a nazi espionage agent.
I mean, don't you find
that amazing?
What are we talking about here?
There's a nazi spy
in the middle
of the kennedy assassination?
There's lots
of circumstantial evidence
that de mohrenschildt
was connected
to the kennedy assassination.
My question is what
were his ties to the nazis?
Was he part of a stay-behind
operation?
Narrator:
Bob is able to get access
to george de mohrenschildt's
official government file
from the investigation
into jfk's assassination.
Here's what interests me
is allegations
of de mohrenschildt's nazi
activities.
There's a whole section on this.
On October 8th, 1942,
the us department of state
placed a refusal
or lookout in de mohrenschildt's
passport file.
Get this, the reason given
for the lookout
in de mohrenschildt's file was,
and I quote,
"alleged to be nazi agent."
the warren commission
also questioned de mohrenschildt
about the background
of his uncle, baron maydell,
and the allegation
that maydell may have
had connections with the nazis.
This guy is very suspicious.
And then look at this,
it even gets deeper.
De mohrenschildt's uncle's
apartment was raided
and many films of a pro-nazi
nature were discovered
which were intended
to show the force
and effectiveness
of the german army.
You know, how much clearer
it could get?
De mohrenschildt was a nazi.
This is not some crazy [bleep]
conspiracy theory,
this is a matter
of public record
and a confession
on de mohrenschildt's part.
It's right there, he was a nazi.
The whole kennedy association
is tainted
with stupid conspiracy theories
that have no backing.
But what I can tell you
right now,
and little did I think
this was possible,
you have a nazi agent,
according to the united states
government,
in the middle
of a kennedy assassination.
You know, what is going on here?
Look at the facts side by side
and the possibilities
you can't ignore.
In 1944, the nazis have a plan
to create the fourth reich
and takedown the united states.
Twenty years later,
they're involved right next
to the assassin
who shoots the president
of the united states
and kills him.
And the guy commits suicide?
Doesn't that strike you
as inherently suspicious?
The nazi plan all along
was to cause world war iii.
Any nazi planning a fourth reich
would've had to assume
that assassinating
the american president
very well could cause
world war iii.
They succeeded
in a smaller scale
when a nazi assassin killed
the president in colombia
and kicked the country
into total chaos.
So why wouldn't in '63
they might say,
"let's try the same thing.
Worked in colombia,
why not try it in america?"
I mean,
this sounds conspiratorial
but in the vaults of the cia,
there are secrets
that could change
the course of history.
Clearly, the nazis did not
nuke manhattan,
they did not invade.
The fourth reich
didn't rise in argentina
with a flag and a capital.
But what we've missed
is they got a lot closer
in executing this plan
of going to war
with the united states
than we've ever suspected.
Mike: No way.
That's a swastika.
Bob: The nazis
were wildly successful
in the three phases
for their post-war plan.
They were establishing nazi
sleeper cells
inside our borders.
They had a bottomless
well of money.
Tim: Oh, my god.
Bob: They were moving
infrastructure
into south america
to potentially make
a weapon of mass destruction.
And now we know
a nazi was in the company
of the man
who assassinated the president
of the united states,
it changes everything.
Now that I've seen
what we've uncovered,
no doubt about it
the history books
need to be rewritten.
[music]