Christiane Ratiney

German women may be perceived as passive witnesses to the horrific crimes committed by the Nazi regime, but many were active participants that were as brutal and merciless as their better-known, male counterparts. Over the past 15 years, a new generation of international historians has been digging into the truth of how deeply the Third Reich’s women were involved in the atrocities. Combining their fresh analyses with striking archival footage, this film reveals previously unknown stories about the women who refused to live in the shadow of Nazi men.

Portugal managed to get through all of World War II without firing a single shot. Caught in a vise between the Axis and the Allies, Antonio Salazar, the country’s strongman, used every trick in the book to get his country through unscathed. In this war of nerves in which anything went, the Portuguese dictator took brilliant advantage of the only weapon available to maintain his country’s independence: neutrality.

German women may be perceived as passive witnesses to the horrific crimes committed by the Nazi regime, but many were active participants that were as brutal and merciless as their better-known, male counterparts. Over the past 15 years, a new generation of international historians has been digging into the truth of how deeply the Third Reich’s women were involved in the atrocities. Combining their fresh analyses with striking archival footage, this film reveals previously unknown stories about the women who refused to live in the shadow of Nazi men.

German women may be perceived as passive witnesses to the horrific crimes committed by the Nazi regime, but many were active participants that were as brutal and merciless as their better-known, male counterparts. Over the past 15 years, a new generation of international historians has been digging into the truth of how deeply the Third Reich’s women were involved in the atrocities. Combining their fresh analyses with striking archival footage, this film reveals previously unknown stories about the women who refused to live in the shadow of Nazi men.

Portugal managed to get through all of World War II without firing a single shot. Caught in a vise between the Axis and the Allies, Antonio Salazar, the country’s strongman, used every trick in the book to get his country through unscathed. In this war of nerves in which anything went, the Portuguese dictator took brilliant advantage of the only weapon available to maintain his country’s independence: neutrality.