The truth must be spoken...
... to stop this bulshit.
Take for example fascism.
Writer Aris Chatzistefanou
Production manager Thanos Tsantas
Editor Aris Triantafyllou
Research: L. Vatikiotis - A. Fotiadis
Original Music Ermis Georgiadis
Music The last Drive - John Aggelakas
Franklin Roosevelt once said that fascism...
...comes when private interests...
...become more powerful than a democratic government.
The OSS (Office of Strategic Services)...
...was the first intelligence service created in the United States.
It is, in a way, the predecessor...
...of post-war CIA.
The historian Laudani studies the stories of American agents in World War II...
...and has made an unexpected discovery.
In order to understand the phenomenon of fascism...
...the American secret intelligence agencies looked to Karl Marx.
They invite to Washington three members of the renowned Frankfurt school:…
...Neumann, Marcuse and Kirchheimer.
It is as if the spirit of the Hegelian left...
...resided in Washington.
When we think of spies, we think of adventurous people...
...that are always hiding and passing on classified information.
However, we should think of a context...
...that is very similar to the academic context.
For all three members of the Frankfurt school...
...Nazism is not an inexplicable phenomenon.
It comes from the flesh of the dominant economic system.
For them, Nazism represents the way in which...
...Germany makes its transition to modernity; fundamentally, to capitalism.
When the result of World War II seemed certain...
...and Washington was preparing for the near future...
...the OSS consulted the three analysts...
...on how to handle the Nazi sponsors.
There are references to a long list...
...prepared mainly by Marcuse...
...of economic war criminals...
...part of a group of German manufacturers that...
...according to them, should also be tried with the Nazi leaders.
The Nuremberg trials will go down in history...
...for the conviction and execution of the leaders of the Third Reich...
...including a journalist and publisher that supported Nazi ascent.
The economic criminals are brought to trial...
...the following year, in 1946.
During the subsequent trials...
...indictments were brought in against members of the financial elite..
...including doctors, judges, military officers, industry owners...
...e.g. the lawsuit against IG Farben...
...or against Krupp.
The main problem of the court was...
...that in order to convict those responsible for fascists' ascent...
...it had to convict capitalism itself.
They tried to find the people who were responsible...
...and not to accuse the whole economic system.
Specific leaders and officers were accused and sentenced instead.
McCloy in Germany
John McCloy, US high commissioner in Germany...
...arrives in Berlin.
After the war, Washington appoints as high commissioner in Germany ...
....the banker, John McCloy.
He is an old acquaintance of Hitler and former lawyer of IG Farben...
...the company that produced the chemicals used in the gas chambers...
...before it was separated in its subsidiaries: Bayer, Agfa and BASF.
And McCloy started releasing the industry owners...
...that had supported Hitler.
The prison sentence imposed on Krupp was relatively mild...
...and all of the accused were eventually released after 1951.
Fascism was born on March 23, 1919 in this building...
...the seat of the Italian Industrial Alliance in Milan.
Mussolini promises to declare war against socialism...
...the working class and small farmers...
...and stays true to his promise.
The armed squads he controls, called the Blackshirts...
...are directly financed by manufacturers and landowners.
They attack strikes and sit-ins in factories...
...such as the Alfa Romeo factory.
The owners of these factories will never forget their debt.
From our hearts rise with renewed enthusiasm...
...the cheers to Italy and its Duce.
Viva Benito Mussolini.
The same practice will be followed by Hitler's stormtroopers...
...this time for the sake of the German industry owners.
As long as profit is ensured they don't care who's in power...
...but the political power that Hitler offered them...
...meant the total destruction of trade unions.
Fascist armed squads murder trade unionists, hit workers...
...and destroy the offices of newspapers of the left.
The police watch from a distance or participate in the assaults...
...always with the tolerance of the judicial system.
Fascism and Nazism offer the paradise that industries and banks dream of...
...in a dictatorship context.
However, democracy did not die in the hands of Mussolini and Hitler.
It was clinically dead before they came to power.
The term "democracy" derives from the Greek "demos" and "kratos".
"Demos" is a part of the people in the district of ancient Athens...
...and "kratos" is the government.
So it means popular government.
But the people never ruled, not even in the Weimar Republic.
In order to legitimize the presence of Mussolini and Hitler...
...the political establishment places them within coalition governments.
The left is presented at the time as a terrorist group...
...that will bring disaster.
This is a very convenient myth...
...that Hitler will use in order to come to power.
Three years before he came to power...
...Germany is in a constant state of emergency.
Article 48 allowed the president of democracy...
...to impose his decisions by means of legislative acts.
It was in a way a presidential dictatorship.
The president of democracy, in reality the Chancellor, governed...
...whereas parliament sessions were very rare.
The state of emergency permits payment, pension and allowance cuts.
Strikes are often declared illegal and rallies are restricted.
However, the economic establishment is not satisfied.
One of the myths about Mussolini and Hitler...
...is that they came to power violently...
...and that politicians and businessmen did not have a chance to react.
In reality, they broke into open doors.
Italian fascism based its myth on the March on Rome.
Thousands of Blackshirts were supposed to march in the Italian capital...
...spreading fear on the political establishment.
It was one of the greatest bluffs in modern history.
The only Blackshirt that gets to Rome in time is Mussolini himself.
He buys a first-class ticket from Milan...
...and at each stop takes pictures with his supporters...
...that are supposed to be marching with him.
When he arrives at the Italian capital...
...King Victor Emmanuel hands him power...
...because this is the decision of the industry owners of northern Italy.
Hitler thinks he can march in Berlin in 1923...
...with the so-called Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.
He has not yet understood that no fascist ever came to power...
...without the permission of the industry owners of his time.
Even though the fascists tried to support this coup...
...he neither had the people's support...
...nor was the bourgeoisie interested in 1923...
...to promote Hitler to power.
The political and economic establishment in Germany...
...proves that it can crush Nazism anytime.
However, it holds on to it as its last resort.
Hitler learns his lesson.
Ten years later during a speech to the industry club in Dusseldorf...
...he too promises a paradise for the large industries...
...and an inferno for the working class.
He promises disciplined workers with no rights or trade unions.
He promises new markets for the German products...
...and commissions for the war industry.
Mainly, he promises that the state is going to serve private capital.
The Government will not protect the interests of the German people...
...by the circuitous method of an economic bureaucracy...
...but by the utmost furtherance of private initiative.
This means that the business world knew all too well...
...who it gave power to.
For the landowners and the heavy industry in Italy and Germany...
...Mussolini and Hitler are not the best solution.
However, the capitalist system faces the greatest crisis in its history...
...and the political establishment can't protect its interests anymore.
The parties that fought the workers' movement did not succeed.
An efficient mass movement from the right was needed...
...to confront the mass movement from the left.
Perhaps some of you here are unable to forgive me...
...because I eradicated the Marxist party.
But my friends, I also eradicated all the other parties.
Hitler is given the green light by the parties of the political center...
...which he will then defeat.
On February 20...
...during a meeting with representatives of the industry...
...he says that parliamentary democracy should not be allowed in Germany...
...that trade unions and Marxism should be eliminated.
At the end, he invites Mr. Schacht to the cashier's office.
Mr. Krupp, who represented the industry...
...and Mr. Schacht, who represented the banks, came to an agreement.
At the culmination of the crisis in 1932...
...there is this letter by which the representatives of the industry...
...ask of President Hindenburg...
...to appoint Hitler, leader of the largest party, as Chancellor.
Thyssen began to support the national socialist party...
...as well as Hitler and Goering, by offering large sums of money.
This took a different form.
Hermann Goering used to withdraw cash...
...from Thyssen's casino whenever possible.
There were other sponsors as well such as IG Farben...
...that offered large or small sums.
The nationalist socialist party funding was steady from 1930.
Every hour, every day I think only of Germany.
The people, the Reich...
...the German nation and the German people.
Sieg Hail.
This so-called system of industrial self-management...
...was the absolute dictatorship of the German monopole-bourgeoisie...
...within the scope of fascism.
Henceforth, every action of the Nazi state...
...serves specific economic and political interests...
...even the persecution of the Jews.
Germany has a strong middle class and a large part of it is Jewish.
The elimination of the Jews allows Germany in the late 1930's...
...to lead in what we today call department stores.
The racist pogrom has economic and political goals.
Who is to blame for the unemployment rates?
The scapegoats are the Jews that take the jobs.
Economic and political interests are even behind the concentration camps...
...the special economic zones of the time.
The Dachau concentration camp serves the industries...
...as it provides cheap work force...
...to the large BMW factories that produced airplane motors at the time.
In times of harsh oppression, there is much talk...
about high and lofty matters.
It takes courage, at such times, to write of low and ignoble matters...
...such as food and work.
October 28, 1940.
A young businessman is woken up at 5.30 a.m. by the war sirens.
Fascist Italy attacks Greece.
John Voulpiotis knows this sound very well.
It's the sound of the sirens he sold to the Greek government himself.
Those were Siemens sirens...
He recognized the sound and realized what was going on.
Voulpiotis was Siemens's son-in-law...
...and an executive of this large German group.
This used to be my parents' house on Vasilissis Sofias street.
On the other side of the road was the German embassy.
Nearby lived the (future) PM G. Papandreou with the (famous actress) Kyveli.
Here, at 2 a.m., he was informed that he would get arrested...
...and he went out and crossed the street and notified Papandreou.
The following day, they helped him escape.
Voulpiotis takes care of the interests of the multinational company in Greece.
He is also one of the businessmen...
... that pull the strings of the political scene.
My father had met Hitler twice I think...
...for professional reasons of course.
In one of those meetings...
...he asked him to go find (dictator) Metaxas...
...and award him with a medal.
He went to Metaxas and he accepted the medal.
While Germany is trying to conquer Europe...
...in the occupied countries the businessmen have to decide...
...whether they will cooperate with the Nazi regime or not.
The answer is almost always the same.
Renowned businessmen outside Germany are fascinated by Nazism.
The French economy is led in part by people who support the regime.
The famous Renault family is among them.
Greece will not be an exemption.
Nazism offers to the business world...
...what the previous governments could not offer...
...public works and a docile work force.
It is a myth that there were industries that did not cooperate.
They were interested in catering for the occupation army.
The basis of the collaboration is not moral.
Production relations are developed throughout the occupied Europe.
The concentration camps are a source of free work-force...
...for the Greek industry owners and contractors; mainly the contractors.
I am sorry to say so but...
...capital concentration is always promoted as development.
The Nazi occupation success story needs promotion by the media.
The most prominent publishers are always ready to collaborate.
The Germans came to Athens on April 27, 1941.
A German company called Mundus came along.
50% of it belonged to the ministry of propaganda under Goebbels...
...and the other 50% to the ministry of foreign affairs under Ribbentrop.
A company was established with the Lambrakis press group...
...that not only undertook the Lambrakis press group publications...
...but also started cooperation with the largest bookstores of the time...
...Eleftheroudakis and Kaufmann.
When it is clear that the Germans are going to lose the war...
...the Nazi collaborators are faced with the liberation movements...
...that fought against Fascism.
In Greece, they are against the resistance forces of EAM and ELAS...
...that are fighting for freedom as well as social change.
They therefore need again a fascist group to protect their interests.
The first mass fascist movement in Greece are the Security Battalions.
They gave an oath to Hitler.
They supported the occupation forces.
Voulpiotis is behind all that.
He tries to ensure the creation of the battalions.
He evens gets the German's approval which was of utmost importance.
He was friends with the military attache...
...Klemm von Hohenberg.
They even went for a walk to the royal garden...
...and he showed him the tsoliades of the presidential guard.
The Germans approved of course.
In a way, he helped them...
...avoid uprisings in Greece and facilitated their departure.
It was his idea but four prime ministers agreed.
Voulpiotis finances the so-called German - tsoliades himself...
...but also asks for the help of rich businessmen.
There were also black marketeers...
...that my father visited and took money from.
Those were people that became rich those days...
...and wanted to preserve their fortunes.
He thought that there was no other solution.
Without the Security Battalions, Greece would be a communist country.
You ought not to cringe before the powerful, nor betray the weak.
It is very hard not to cringe before the powerful...
...and it is highly profitable to betray the weak.
In 1973, at Saint Demetrius church in Ambelokipoi...
...a young model, Della Runik...
...gets married with one of the most powerful men of the Junta...
...the commander of the National Intelligence Service, Roufogalis.
Years later, she remembers in her memoirs the guests of the first row.
Oil Tycoon P. Vardinogiannis, shipowner Theodorakopoulos with his son, Takis...
...Kostas Drakopoulos of the oil refineries...
...Nikos Tavoularis of the shipyards...
.. the magnate Bodosakis with his wife...
...Kannelopoulos of the cement industry "Titan"...
...businessmen Tom Pappas, Latsis and many more.
I will burn anybody's head, gentlemen.
But I will not allow anyone to burn down the Greek society.
If necessary, I will crush them.
The families of the masters of the economy...
...are happy to mingle and to associate...
...with this quaint lot.
The quaint dictator Papadopoulos...
...lives in a mansion that Onassis has given him...
...while his wife does her shopping all around Europe...
...driving in the limousines of shipowners such as Latsis.
The Junta needs glamour.
The rest need to build an oil refinery without having to answer to anybody...
...or to build a hotel grabbing the land they wanted.
During a banquet in honor of the prime minister...
...the president of the Shipowners Association, Mr. Andreadis...
...read a resolution of the association's general assembly...
...by which the prime minister...
...was nominated lifelong honorary president of the association...
...in recognition of his interest in the Greek commercial navy.
Papadopoulos, in his turn, awards the Greek flag to shipowners...
...such as Onassis, Goulandris, Handris and Niarchos.
He offers almost total tax immunity to them...
...with severe consequences on the state budget.
It is a status quo that no government dares to touch until now.
At the same time, the salaries are frozen, strikes are forbidden...
...and the businessmen enjoy scandalous privileges.
After the Occupation, the period of the Junta...
...is exactly when the Greek capital...
...achieves accumulation in order for capitalism to thrive.
It is the period when the shipping industry groups are marching on...
...or the oil industry groups.
But how was this new economic elite created...
...and moreover why was it ready to cooperate...
...with one of the most bloodthirsty dictatorships of post-war Europe?
After the end of the Occupation, there are families...
...that became very rich thanks to the black market.
The people that constitute the main body of the power network...
...are those who succeeded during the Occupation.
Greece is the only example in Europe...
...where the Nazi collaborators did not lose the war.
Instead they established themselves in power.
Reminding us of Aggelopoulos' movies...
...when things are quiet...
...the Nazi collaborators hide in the parties of the political centre.
Not even a drop of Greek blood will be shed...
...only the dishonest traitor blood...
...of the partisans and the communists...
...so that Greece can be saved.
They come to the front...
...whenever the political and economic establishment needs them.
While in most European countries the Nazi collaborators are punished...
...in Greece they are rewarded even by the Marshall plan.
The large sums of the Marshall plan were given to industry owners...
...that were the same ones, by some weird coincidence...
...that profited greatly from the Occupation.
For example, the textile industry of Lanaras.
When this money is spent...
...the former members of the Security Battalions return to power.
That is why when there is no progress...
...for the promised but never achieved development of Greece...
...the Junta comes to put things in order...
...and allow the capital to function for a few years.
The Junta is the second opportunity marriage of the Greek businessmen...
...with the Nazi collaborators and the post-civil war state and parastate.
And our story continues...
You are immortal!
In the beginning of 2013, descendants of the Nazi collaborators...
...people who are missing the Junta and neo-Nazi MPs...
...say farewell to someone they held dear.
People, army, nationalism
The last imprisoned actor of the military coup, Nicholaos Dertilis.
Before turning this black page, the supporters of the Junta...
...have seen to it that hatred is sown.
Greek citizens, follow the EPEN with zeal...
...determination and the national uplift...
...that is felt in the soul of our race in those critical circumstances.
While in prison, Papadopoulos creates the National Political Union...
...and gives his blessing to Voridis and Michaloliakos...
Two politicians that we'll meet again in a few decades.
I am told to ask Mr. Voridis...
...who was with Mr. Michaloliakos in the EPEN group...
...to tell us how it feels that they are now adversaries...
...and how he sees Mr. Michaloliakos' course till now.
We were never there together.
-There is a time gap... -Were you there before or after him?
After him. There was an 8 month difference.
So we were never there together.
In 1993 under New Democracy the index is 950 units.
In 1999, under PASOK the index is almost 4,000 units.
The apparent prosperity of the '80s and '90s...
...does not allow those longing for the Junta and the Occupation...
...to play the role they are dreaming of.
But when the party of the so-called modernization...
...is interrupted with a whimper and a bang...
...and when crisis hits Greece the situation changes.
In 2013 Greece, like in 1933 Germany...
...the bourgeoisie and specifically the power network decision makers...
...are willing to play with Fascism.
Homeland, honor, Golden Dawn
I think that since the political changeover...
...it is the only movement that was originally born.
Am I saying this because I support the Golden Dawn?
Golden Dawn poll projection
Technocratic government of Lucas Papademos
Second austerity package
General elections - May 2012
General elections - June 2012
-Hail to Golden Dawn! -Hail!
-Hail to the leader! -Hail!
Swearing-in ceremony
30 years after the dictator's calling...
...his spiritual heirs will appear once again in the Greek Parliament.
Voridis is a member of the governing party, New Democracy...
...and Michaloliakos is the leader of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
The neo-Nazis present themselves as an anti-systemic party...
...that is fighting for the poor and the unprivileged.
In reality, they function as the military branch of neoliberalism.
The Golden Dawn members of the Parliament...
...are for public asset sellout by means of privatizations.
They are even talking about selling Greek islands.
As for the second amendment...
...for acquisition rights on private and public islands and islets...
...we are voting for it.
In order to break the collective agreements...
...and to reduce the minimum wage...
...the Golden Dawn party opens employment agencies only for Greeks...
...bearing comparison to slave-trading conditions.
Michaloliakos' party supports the public television shutdown...
...offering millions to the major private TV station owners.
It is on the side of multinational companies such as Eldorado...
...that is accused of environmental pollution.
Its favorite topic however is offering support to shipowners.
In a matter of months, the Golden Dawn introduces 140 topics...
...regarding the interests of Greek shipowners.
It votes for the favorable arrangement of the debts of shipowners...
...that manage football teams.
And sends its armed squads to beat up the unionists at the ship repair zone.
We are on the side of our shipowners because we depend on them.
The repair zone will function, the ships will return...
...and the lackeys of PAME and of the communist party...
...who have taken advantage of the situation for years, will go away.
Michaloliakos and Kassidiaris are products...
...of the state mechanism and the media...
...of the capitalists that control the state mechanism and the media.
Rise! All rise!
While the country is heading towards Kaiadas, we brought Kaiadas here.
The famous Kaiadas who shouted "All rise".
-Did you say it that way? -I was more strict.
ANT1 Channel: Kyriakou family - shipping magnates
-Were you a good student? -I got accepted in the University.
Mega Channel
32.73% Bobolas family - constructions 22.11% Stavros Psicharis - publishing
He is a young man, a child of our generation.
I.Kasidiaris - Golden Dawn MP
My schedule is so busy that I cannot satisfy my personal needs.
I cannot do laundry, nor cook.
You made him look spontaneous and he spoke nicely.
STAR Channel Vardinogiannis family - oil tycoons
Why can't we accept a more serious Golden Dawn...
...that will support, as is the case in many other countries...
...or as it happened in Norway yesterday...
...a conservative coalition?
SKAI channel 90 % I.Alafouzos - shipowner
In order to legitimize the neo-Nazi presence...
...the media compare them with the moderate left...
...by means of the theory of the two extremes.
At the end, they thanked the Golden Dawn...
...for showing them, as they say, the violent face of the left.
The opportunity of the Golden Dawn...
I get really angry when I see that today...
...Fascism is supported...
...by newspapers such as those of the Lambrakis press group.
Their precursors had supported Fascism after World War I.
And there is Kathimerini...
...that was also until recently clearly for the Golden Dawn party.
Once again, Fascism does not appear in a healthy political system...
...but in a parody of democracy.
After the imposition of the memorandum...
...the most important decisions are not made by the Parliament...
...but by means of enactments of a legislative content.
Demonstrations are prohibited when German officials visit the country.
The largest strikes are declared illegal...
...and the strikers are pressed into service.
Fascism is not just the Golden Dawn.
Fascism was defeated and crushed...
...by the fronts that the people set up all over the world.
After the murder of the rapper Pavlos Fyssas and the massive protests...
...the establishment is forced to constrain the Golden Dawn.
History has shown, however, that this isn't always easy.
The problem of the bourgeoisie with Fascism is that it is a movement...
...which means that it is uncontrollable.
You cannot start and end it whenever you like.
The people who have the least historical experience...
...understand that it can become dangerous for those who started it.
While everyone's attention was drawn to the Golden Dawn party...
...the parties of the political center were adopting its agenda...
...they were adopting the face of the beast.
The governments of PASOK and New Democracy...
...were looking for the next scapegoat...
...and ministers such as the "socialist" M.Chrysochoides...
...were setting up the biggest immigrant concentration camps.
PM Samaras: A security policy for the Greek citizen.
Illegal immigrants should be removed from this country...
...where they have become the tyrants of society.
This phrase that is repeated today, "illegal immigrants"...
...isn't it sort of a reminder?
That there are categories of people who are by definition illegal?
And who you can thus imprison, deport, deprive of their freedom...
...deprive them of food, deprive them of their lives, of whatever you like?
The same concentration camps will soon receive drug addicts as well.
When Andreas Loverdos was minister...
...HIV patients were pilloried by the media...
...for a few votes before the elections.
While the political scene becomes fascist...
...the economic reasoning in sectors such as that of health services...
...awakes the ghosts of the past.
When the eugenics issue was first addressed in Germany...
...it was addressed in a very simple way.
Let's check hospital finances, the health system finances....
There are categories of patients, suffering from chronic diseases...
...or mental illnesses...
...the disabled people, that cost a lot to the health system.
We are not there yet. But we are heading to this direction.
Imagine a health and welfare system...
...where one cares only about the costs and puts this above all else...
...and a minister of health is appointed...
There is the Greece of chaos...
...the Greece of anarchy, of terrorism, of SYRIZA...
...and all these fools, and there is the Greece that resists.
...who, thanks to his theatrical skills...
...says very important things as if he were a comedian.
That's exactly what he's doing. You see how things are going.
All these for less than 99 euros. I know you want them.
Buy them while you can.
We will not offer them on our next show. Take care.
During its brief history, Fascism has always had a secret ally.
It was born and developed under favorable conditions...
...that were formulated for its sake by the greatest European leaders.
In the Greece of the economic crisis...
...the EU and the creditors will politically legitimize the far-right...
...in order to bring to power a non-elected banker, Loukas Papademos.
Yes, Greece can make it.
Greece and Europe can make it together.
The EU is exerting pressure for a large coalition government...
...with the participation of LAOS...
Greece belongs to pure Greeks.
To the Greeks that love their country, that love the nation.
...a party that has had Junta supporters, anti-Semites...
...and even politicians that danced to Nazist slogans, as its members.
We will return and the earth will tremble.
Come to the distribution of power.
At the right of New Democracy is the Golden Dawn party...
...that has leading participants in the struggle...
...the EPEN, the royalists, those who believe. Don't we need them?
The European Union proves that it can put up...
...even with political offsprings of Mussolini...
...such as Gianfranco Fini in Italy.
As for the national-socialists in the Ukraine...
...they are kissing the hand of the European officials.
A short period of time separates Occupation from the Junta.
It's the same for Hitler's new Europe and Maastricht's unified Europe.
The plan is not the same of course.
The EU plan is far more modest. That's the main difference.
But the basic directions...
...are in a subtle way the same.
Disdaining labor cost and accumulating capital.
If, for example, the big German capital...
...has to choose between the mark and the euro...
...or the Wehrmacht...
...it will choose the euro, as it will not have to conquer Greece...
...while the Wehrmacht will have to do it.
Regardless of its strong supporters, in its course Fascism...
...has lost all the battles.
When Churchill was still praising Mussolini and Hitler, in 1936...
...the British fascist Oswald Mosley decided to march in London...
...alongside two thousands of Blackshirts.
The police was there to protect him...
...but he found before him 100,000 antifascist protestors...
...from various political parties, unions and syndicates.
Since then, Fascism has never lifted up its head in Great Britain.
But how can anyone tell the truth about Fascism...
...unless they are willing to speak about capitalism which brings it forth?
Those who lament over the barbarism that comes out of barbarism...
...are like those who wish to eat meat but dislike the sight of blood.
They raise their voices...
...only if the butchers don't wash their hands before serving the meat.
For the romantics
of this world
some relationships
will last for ever.
Behind every fascism, Walter Benjamin once said...
...lies a failed revolution.
The faster that certain people decided to crush Fascism...
...and the stronger their vision for a different society was...
...the more humiliating was its defeat.