Dictators' Hideouts - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Hitler's Last Secret
The numerous bunkers, palaces and hideouts around Europe built by dictators to secure their authoritarian rule. The episode examines the purpose of the Riese network of bunkers, which was Nazi Germany's largest mining and construction project. The bunkers were dug by Nazi prisoners in a remote region of Poland, beginning in 1943. The programme explores whether the bunkers were a headquarters for Hitler or if they were used to build atomic bombs.
Mussolini's Underground Refuge
Three underground shelters intended to protect the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his family, built beneath Villa Torlonia, his family's home in Rome after Italy entered the Second World War.
Hoxha's Bunker Madness
Albanian communist revolutionary and politician Enver Hoxha, who led his nation from 1944 until his death in 1985. He authorised the construction of hundreds of thousands of bunkers throughout the country, allowing his citizens to wage guerilla warfare against the enemy he was sure would come.
Stalin's Atomic Bunker
Infamous for his bunkers constructed during the Second World War and throughout the Cold War, Stalin's hideouts maintained a shroud of secrecy for decades. Here, new documents, along with a book banned in Russia, unveil the mysteries of the 'Man of Steel's' Soviet-era shelters.
Ceausescu's Delusions of Grandeur
In the center of Bucharest stands a monolith that hides a grand secret. Casa Poporlui, known abroad as the People's Palace, is the magnum opus of Romania's most bloodthirsty dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. Immediately ballooning in both expense and scale, the palace becomes emblematic of Ceausescu's megalomania, resulting in billions wasted on a monolith so large and heavy that it sinks six millimeters into the ground every single year. But could the rumors of an extensive anti-atomic super bunker connected to the Spring Palace bunker through a city-wide network of tunnels below its surface be true?
Yanukovych's Hidden Palace
Having siphoned billions from his people, Ukrainian dictator Viktor Yanukovych spent decades enriching himself and his cadre of oligarchs. In order to obscure his ill-gotten wealth, Yanukovych turned to Mezhyhirya, a sprawling 150-acre estate north of Kyiv. With Mezhyhirya in his grasp, Yanukovych ratchets his corruption to levels never seen before, in a scheme that spans multiple countries, numerous banks, and countless individuals. But when angry protesters storm the estate, they encounter excess on an entirely different level: an 18-hole golf course, a private zoo, a state-of-the-art laboratory, a private car museum, a luxury galleon-themed restaurant, and his piece de resistance, Honka House, a multi-million-dollar mansion connected to a secret tunnel. Can Mezhyhirya save Yanukovych from the wrath of the Ukrainian populace?
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