Die große Flucht
"A five-part series directed by (TV) historian Guido Knopp about the story of millions of Germans who had to flee from the approaching Red Army under the worst conditions at the end of the war or were expelled. More than 1000 contemporary and eyewitnesses were interviewed - including Russians, Poles and Czechs. Research in the former Eastern Bloc countries and insight into previously closed archives have accompanied this documentary series, which sets a sign against forgetting and every expulsion. The memory of the dramatic events begins in East Prussia. The "Vistula Spit" - a narrow strip of land off the Baltic coast southwest of Königsberg. In the freezing winter of 1945, the first act in the drama of the great escape of the Germans from the East took place here, amid dunes and pine forests. For over two million East Prussians, the narrow Spit Road was the last "way out" to the West after the Red Army had encircled the country in January 1945. For many, it was a departure of no return or to their deaths. Hundreds of thousands perished. The Soviets' major offensive was predictable. But Hitler strictly refused an evacuation - in order not to have to admit the imminent defeat. So most of them left only when the dull rumble of the front could already be heard."
