[narrator] They’re highly secretive. They have knowledge they keep to themselves. They operate clandestinely. And they practice ancient, mysterious rituals. They are secret societies. Are secret societies a hotbed of evil? They are certainly the subject of countless conspiracy theories. They are accused of pursuing a sinister objective: of seeking to rule the world.
Perhaps, as many claim, they rule it already. Time and again, people sense perfidious conspiracies everywhere. [chatter over radio] [narrator] But which of their suspicions are well-founded, and which are based on mere fiction, created by successful authors like Dan Brown? Secret fraternities have existed for thousands of years.
Their members are in our midst – everywhere. Join us as we delve into the dark parallel world of secret societies. [suspenseful music] [narrator] Marian Füssel is a historian from Göttingen in Germany. He is about to embark on a search for traces of the most influential and most secretive fraternities on our planet.
Hermann Schüttler, from Gotha, is investigating the background of the legendary Illuminati, a mysterious secret society which originated in Germany. Andreas Hensen, from Heidelberg, wants to find out what influence the ancient mysterious cults still exert today. [sinister music] [narrator] An April night on the east coast of America.
Life for a young man is about to change radically. He has been selected by its members to join a secret organization that is extremely elitist. The order’s initiation process is bizarre. -[eerie music] -[footsteps] [narrator] The ritual is repeated every April, and has been for the last 200 years.
This secret society is based in Yale, the distinguished American university, in upmarket New Haven, Connecticut. [dramatic music] Marian Füssel has come to Yale where many of America’s elite have studied. How much truth is there in the rumors surrounding the mysterious student organization? Anyone who studies in Yale has virtually made it.
But even experts puzzle over what happens in secret here. [speaking in German] One major question is: how does this fraternity manage to remain so secretive? In today’s media society especially, where many people are so communicative, it’s striking that so little is known about the order’s practices, its rituals, and also is membership.
That is most unusual and, naturally, provokes questions. [narrator] The fraternity’s activities are said to be diabolical. The society’s only goal, it is claimed, is absolute power. Every student would love to be asked to join, because membership is the springboard to a career. Anyone who is selected receives strange instructions.
Leave the Harkness Tower tomorrow evening at the time agreed, and go along the High Street, southwards. You must not carry metal, nor Sulphur nor glass on your person. Take the right-hand book in your left hand and knock three times on the holy gate. Remember what you have heard here, but be silent.
[narrator] For a novice, things will soon change forever. He will become a member of a secret society at the center of the wildest conspiracy theories. [eerie music] [suspenseful music] [narrator] Marian Füssel is familiar with many of the myths and legends. And now Alexandra Robbins is about to reveal more to him. [indistinct chatter]
She herself studied in Yale. After graduating, she made a detailed investigation of the fraternity and published a book on it. It took Robbins years to find out anything about “Skull and Bones.” Her research was viewed with suspicion. [Robbins] I talked to more than 150 members of Skull and Bones.
However, more than twice that many yelled at me or harassed me or hung up on me… because they do not, and they are not, supposed to talk about what goes on inside. I did get threats from some members of the society that made me both uncomfortable and also more intrigued.
Why were they so protective of this organization? [narrator] The “Brotherhood of Death,” as it is known, shuts itself off completely from the outside world. Even so, information can still be obtained. The archives in Yale’s university library contain documents from the early days of Skull and Bones. The secret society is 180 years old.
That much is certain. It is said to have built up a key position for itself in the US power structure and established its members in party and government office, in industry, and in the secret service. Up until 1970 its index of members was open to public inspection.
But since then, it has been kept locked away. An entire panoply of secrets, weird customs, and abstruse rituals was thought up by William Russell, the student who founded the society. [suspenseful music] Russell came from a wealthy family. In 1832, Russell studied in Germany for a year where, it’s said,
Was initiated into a student fraternity of which Skull and Bones was a branch. The numbers 3-2-2 are always found beneath its logo. They could be a reference to one of the fraternity’s models: Athenian orator Demosthenes. His rhetoric is legendary. Demosthenes died in the year 322 B.C. Alexandra Robbins knows more.
She has brought Marian Füssel to an old, forbidding building on the campus of the elite university, known as the “Tomb.” This is the headquarters of Skull and Bones. The interior is said to contain ghoulishly furnished assembly rooms. [eerie music] [Robbins] The inside of the tomb is lined with skeletons and skulls.
It’s almost like an obsession with death. And the reason they do that is because they have this… phrase in the tomb: Memento mori, “remember that you must die.” They like to pretend that they are apart and above the rest of the world. [narrator] Skull and Bones has cultivated this self-perception
Right from the start. Its members rise to the very pinnacles of power: like George Walker Bush, for example. [narrator] When Bush contested the presidency with Democrat John Kerry, it was a battle between two Bonesmen. You are both members of Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale. What does that tell us?
Not much, because it’s a secret. [laughs] You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society. [Bush] It’s so secret we can’t talk about. [narrator] Only rarely do bizarre aspects of the society become public knowledge. Inside the “Tomb,” members are said to have their own standard time
Which differs from ours by five minutes. It’s believed that cutlery which once belonged to Adolf Hitler, is preserved here. [sinister music] The iron ring of silence is ideal for Hollywood fiction departments. With Matt Damon in the leading role, the manifold activities of Skull and Bones were portrayed in the film The Good Shepherd.
It tells of rounds of confessions in the Tomb. Biographical details and sexual proclivities had to be shown in graphic detail. [dramatic music] It wasn’t an accident. My father killed himself. [narrator] No matter how insignificant, every detail of members’ confessions is recorded in black books.
They are the actual secret behind the success of the fraternity. It is the fear of publication that bonds members together. For the CIA, Skull and Bones is a wonderful reservoir for suitable employees. That, at least, is what is claimed. Very few can free themselves from this intimate embrace.
So is psychological dependence on the confraternity, one of the secret society’s fundamental principles? [Heiko Ernst speaking German] The boundaries between sects, between secret religious or secret political societies are becoming blurred. Naturally, by exposing personal secrets and personal weaknesses, perhaps, this society exerts power over its members. They know something.
It’s like secret knowledge within this group with which they could damage someone who, say, wanted to leave, especially in anger. [narrator] Secret societies always create a counter world to what they regard as imperfect reality. And, they seek contact with power. They themselves strive to exercise it.
Marian Füssel has come to the heart of the United States, the world’s super-power. For conspiracy theorists, Washington DC is honeycombed with secret societies. And it is not only Bonesmen who are found in the top echelons of the US government. There, Skull and Bones is said to compete with other secret societies.
It was freemasons who laid the foundation stone for the Capitol. And another fraternity is said to have infiltrated the US administration in order to secretly rule the world. Conspiracy theorists claim that the new world order is even immortalized on the Great Seal of the United States. The seal bears the words
Novus ordo seclorum, Latin for “new order of the ages.” Those words are also found on every one-dollar bill. So, is this secret society so powerful that it can print the symbols of its dominion on the most important banknote on our planet? [dramatic music] [narrator] Since 1862, the design of the American currency
Has been in the hands of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. And in all the years since then the appearance of the one-dollar bill has hardly changed. Only the security features are regularly upgraded. The United States prints 35 million banknotes every day, five million of which are the legendary one-dollar bill.
Does a secret society really have its finger in the currency pie as the supporters of conspiracy theories claim? Marian Füssel has come to meet his colleague Professor Robert Hieronymus, an expert in symbolism in the United States. Professor Hieronymus has made a close study of the one-dollar bill
Which differs from every other currency in the world. [Füssel] …a combination between those people will never… [narrator] It is full of strange signs and symbols. [Hieronymus]…you’d need a magnifying glass for this. See this blue area, above the stripes? That one right there. [narrator] The Eye of Providence, the symbol of absolute power!
Thirteen stars above the eagle. Thirteen steps are said to correspond to the hierarchy of the secret order. And last but not least: a tiny animal, an owl, the symbol of wisdom. All just pure coincidence? Benjamin Franklin was a great teacher about educating people about our country. And he had felt very strongly
That he could teach what was important about America through its currency, because everyone was handling it and would look at it and they knew symbols. [dramatic music] [narrator] Was Benjamin Franklin perhaps involved with the ominous secret society that uses the same symbols as a one-dollar bill? Marian Füssel wants to know more.
Does a conspiracy really exist? Or is it merely a product of the imagination of those who suspect a secret behind absolutely everything? Füssel’s research has brought him into contact with an old book. In it, the historian has found a familiar symbol: the owl on the American one-dollar bill.
The owl was once revered by a particularly secret society, a sinister order known as the Illuminati. Written in this mediaeval-looking font, the name “Illuminati” is an ambigram: a word that reads exactly the same upside-down. Monstrous things are ascribed to the Illuminati, material that has been handled skillfully
By successful authors like Umberto Eco and Dan Brown. But who actually were the Illuminati? They, too, had to take a vow of silence. They were forbidden to speak openly about the society’s rituals and aims. Here, too, different levels of hierarchy exist. Not three as in the case of the freemasons
But as many as thirteen. And a neophyte has to pass through them all before he can be made privy to the greatest secrets. The brethren are encouraged to spy on and denounce one another. In this way, renegades can be quickly recognized and neutralized. Allegedly structured like a cadre party, the order, it’s said,
Focuses primarily on political intrigue and subversion. [suspenseful music] [Füssel speaking in German] The Illuminati have long stirred people’s imagination, figuring in literature, the cinema, and other media for many years. Some people even claim that the Illuminati still exist today and clandestinely control politics, business, and various other fields.
[narrator] The quiet town of Ingolstadt. This is where the legend of the Illuminati ruling the world originated. In the years leading up to the French Revolution there was also foment in rural Bavaria. It was a time of radical change. People were seeking answers to pressing social problems.
In Ingolstadt, Adam Weishaupt taught ecclesiastical law and practical philosophy. He was the only secular professor. His colleagues were all priests. Frustrated with Church dogma and spiritual stagnation, Weishaupt wanted to introduce change. But how? -[explosion] -[mob shouting] [narrator] People’s heads were filled with the ideas of the Enlightenment.
But there was also great uncertainty as to how they might be implemented. Within a few years an enraged mob would spill blood, and even execute Louis XVI. Adam Weishaupt welcomed the first signs of change in France. But he rejected violence. What he had in mind was something different.
Weishaupt wanted to undermine the state from within. And he sought to achieve this with the help of a secret society. The first people he convinced of his idea of a perfect state were his students. His vision was of a state modelled on Athens, one based on reason,
A concept totally in line with the ideals of the Enlightenment. [speaking in German] But professor, how is this to be achieved? By force of arms? [speaking in German] No revolution! Violence improves nothing! What matters is to tie the hands of evil, to govern without domination! But that’s impossible! By no means!
The mighty of this world must be surrounded by a legion of men who will tirelessly pursue the grand plan of guiding mankind! [foreboding music] [narrator] Adam Weishaupt wanted to set up a secret government. A monstrous idea even today. [Ernst speaking in German] Secret societies were also a melting pot for hotheads, for revolutionaries,
For people who nurtured highly unusual ideas and who could express themselves within a fraternity without having to suffer persecution. People who could also discuss and try things out, perhaps, on a small scale. That was a major motive for joining a secret society. [dramatic music]
[narrator] In the troubled times that preceded the French Revolution, secret societies also flourished in Germany, and the newly founded Illuminati made full use of the situation. They set up countless lodges and attracted hundreds of new members, especially academics. Their number included Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the most famous writer of his day,
Philosopher Gottfried Herder, and influential educationalist Heinrich Pestalozzi. The Illuminati were well aware of the high risk of opposing absolute rulers. But they shared Weishaupt’s passionate rejection of throne and altar. Weishaupt was convinced of his idea. Above all, though, he was convinced of himself. Self-opinionated, Weishaupt was seen as narcissistic and domineering.
With his fraternity, he wanted nothing less than to change the world. [speaking in German] The aim is to raise the state to a higher degree of purity and perfection. [narrator] The supreme figure amongst the Illuminati demanded absolute loyalty from his members. [dramatic piano music] [narrator] We know from their records how clandestinely
The Illuminati operated in those days. Stored at Friedensstein Palace in Gotha, they provide valuable insights into the inner life of the order. Perhaps Marian Füssel will discover here why the Illuminati gave themselves Greek cover names, and why they introduced their own time standard. Historian Hermann Schüttler has deciphered and studied encoded Illuminati documents.
A domineering character, Adam Weishaupt had a weakness for the ancient Athenians and their ideas. He valued their democratic principles. That is why he chose the Athenian owl as the symbol of his order. It stood for wisdom. -[tense music continues] -[talking indistinctly] The Illuminati believed that they were experiencing
The dawn of a new era. And they wanted to participate in this positive transition. In Ingolstadt, Weishaupt forged a plan that was simply audacious. But he was successful. He had tapped the pulse of the age. [Schüttler speaking in German] Change in society, in the Church, in the state,
Can only be achieved with a longer-term project. Thus, Weishaupt wanted to educate people. So his was an educational project right from the start. But it would take time. Weishaupt said that 200 years could well pass before success was achieved, before the “enlightenment” triumphed. [narrator] The secret organization grew in size.
In its heyday, the Illuminati had around 2000 members, all of them high-ranking representatives of society. Weishaupt specifically poached his men from the freemasons. Despite its rich tradition, many lodge brethren found their association dull. The new secret society was more exciting and more radical. [speaking in German] We will create the perfect state! [clapping]
[narrator] The lodges were run with unsparing strictness. Like in Skull and Bones, members had to lay bare their private lives, a requirement some were at odds with. [speaking in German] The Illuminati, it seems, were very strict and hierarchy-oriented. And many people were put off by this. Friedrich Schiller, for example, refused to join
Even though friends of his were Illuminati. So sometimes the society also had this off-putting effect on people. Someone with the status of a prince of poets was not going to subordinate himself to a mediocre Illuminatus. In a secret society, too, that is simply asking too much. [wind howling]
[narrator] The bigger and more influential the organization grew the more resistance it faced. The absolutist rulers hit back. And those in power were helped by accident. In 1785 one of the order’s couriers was taking secret papers to France when he was struck by lightning and killed.
On his body, the police found a list of members. Only ten years after being founded, the Illuminati were banned. Membership now carried the death penalty. [dramatic music] Fearing for his life, Adam Weishaupt fled from Ingolstadt to Gotha disguised as a craftsman. But, did this really mean the end of the Illuminati?
If so, why do people still nurture thoughts of them? That’s perhaps because before he fled, Weishaupt succeeded in achieving another major coup. He established contact with leading figures in the United States. [speaking indistinctly in German] [narrator] Hermann Schüttler knows of three letters written to Benjamin Franklin. In them, the Illuminati asked for permission
To set up a colony in “Elysium,” their code name for the United States. But the old Illuminati records make no mention of what reaction the request received. The letters fuel fantastic speculation time and again. What if a number of Illuminati had escaped to the New World to implement their ideas there?
Would it not then have been possible for them to influence politics in the United States? And, couldn’t the Illuminati then also have printed their symbols on the American one-dollar banknote? No theory seems too abstruse. Marian Füssel has taken another close look at the one-dollar bill on which the owl is portrayed.
The sacred animal of the Athenians and the identification symbol of the Illuminati. [dramatic music]] Printed in Roman numerals is the year 1776, the year in which the Illuminati were officially founded. The Eye of Providence over the pyramid is a symbol which, allegedly, was also used by the secret society.
Novus Ordo Seclorum means the “New Order of the Ages.” In other words, it clearly states the goal of the Illuminati. And why the number 13 is found everywhere? The secret society had 13 hierarchical levels. I don’t believe the secret societies have the power, nor the interest,
To be able to rule any country on this planet. Instead, you have corporate powers, multi-billions, trillions of dollars within these corporate structures. [narrator] The stance adopted by the US authorities is unambiguous. Conspiracy theories are all nonsense. The symbols, they say, have a harmless, historical background, and nothing to do with the Illuminati.
1776, for example, was the year when the American Declaration of Independence was written. But one thing is certain: the Illuminati are no figment of the imagination. Their founder, Adam Weishaupt, created the secret society to undermine the ruling class in order to seize power himself. But he wasn’t alone in this.
There were also the Rosicrucians. Back then they, too, operated clandestinely. But their meetings are said to have taken a very different pattern from those of the Illuminati. The Rosicrucians were said to possess all the knowledge in the world, and the potential to give people salvation. [eerie music] [speaking in German] Brothers,
Jesus means everything to me, the freedom of the Gospels, the glory of God. My brothers, let us begin. [narrator] The history of this mysterious society can be traced back to a legend. [dramatic music] In the book Fama Fraternitatis, which appeared in 1614, it is stated that the members of a secret society
Had discovered the intact body of its deceased founder. His name: Christian Rosenkreuz. Legend has it that before he passed away Rosenkreuz was made privy to ancient mysteries. [Füssel speaking in German] In reality, of course, this Christian Rosenkreuz never existed. But the character was cleverly chosen because it embodies the ideals
And goals of the Rosicrucian Order in an exemplary way. For every member the figure of Christian Rosenkreuz is a kind of spur on the path to understanding. So it was well suited to motivating people to join the Rosicrucian order. [bubbling] [narrator] In the early 17th Century the Rosicrucians
Wanted to free Society from the confines of its narrow order through diligent Bible study, and alchemy. In this epoch between mediaeval religiosity and nascent science, alchemy, the art of making gold, was very much in vogue. The Thirty Years War was brewing. People everywhere felt insecure.
They were questioning the Christian view of the world. Science offered more plausible explanations. This was the perfect breeding ground for a secret society. [Ernst speaking in German] The alchemists tried to preserve this magical world, to carry it over into the new world, also via secret societies.
They held firm to the belief that there was a secret form of knowledge, a fifth state of matter, a quintessence, a philosopher’s stone. All those terms date back to the time of the alchemists. [narrator] In the 17th Century the ideas of the Rosicrucians proved more and more people appealing,
Not only in Germany but throughout Europe, including Cambridge, the center of rational science. Teaching at Cambridge in those days was Isaac Newton: one of the fathers of modern natural science. But he could not resist the lure of pre-scientific alchemy. [somber music] Newton’s study in Trinity College bears witness to this double life.
During the day Newton engaged in serious research. But at night he turned to alchemy, hoping to find the mysterious Philosopher’s Stone and make gold. Secretly, this scientific genius was very taken by the ideas of the Rosicrucians. Later, Newton was made a member of the legendary Royal Society,
Which had many Rosicrucians in its governing body. A Mecca of scientific rigor, today the Royal Society has its headquarters in the heart of London. No-one has any idea that it was Rosicrucians and alchemists who thought of establishing such a society. [dramatic music] Historian Marian Füssel is looking for information
On the history of the Rosicrucians. He has been promised the assistance of the Royal Society. Stored in a specially secured archive in the basement is a historical treasure: Isaac Newton’s original manuscripts. This brilliant thinker saw the world we live in as a puzzle God left mankind to solve.
For Newton, this involved not only natural phenomena and heavenly bodies but also ancient civilizations and mysterious writings. Simply everything, in fact. Newton, of course, we understand as being a great British scientist for his work on gravity and the laws of motion. So, we get very excited, when we find new Newton manuscripts.
It doesn’t tell you very much about science, but it tells you quite a bit about Newton. [narrator] Like the Rosicrucians, Newton was convinced that divine mysteries are inherent in Nature. The Rosicrucians even speculated on the means by which immortality could be achieved. [dramatic music] In London, Marian Füssel has been allowed to see
What Newton wrote at Trinity College after nights of experimenting. It’s the legendary scientist’s main alchemistic work. [mysterious music] Strange symbols, signs, and formulae abound. Whether Newton himself was a member of the Rosicrucians is a matter of dispute. But his work shows how captivated he was by the ideas of the secret society.
[Füssel speaking in German] It is generally fascinating that someone who is seen as the epitome of the scientific revolution and the early Enlightenment should show as deep an interest in alchemy and occult science as Isaac Newton. All in all, Newton seems to have left behind more manuscripts
Dealing with alchemy and the hidden arts, so to speak, than actual mathematical and physical writings. [dramatic music] [narrator] The Rosicrucians still reside in Vienna today. Since Newton’s time the A.O.R., the Ancient Order of Rosicrucians, has changed. Today, it presents itself with a new livery. Elias Rubenstein is the Grand Master of the Rosicrucians.
He cultivates the ancient traditions of the secret society. -[eerie music] -[footsteps] Here in the temple, they perform their rituals. But what exactly do they engage in? The battle between the Church, science, and esotericism ended long ago. So what or whom are modern-day Rosicrucians fighting for? [speaking in German] Let there be light.
[speaking in German] You must uphold justice. [Rubenstein speaking in German] The goals of the Rosicrucians are simple: we are working for the freedom of mankind. Thus, Rosicrucian doctrine is intended for everyone, not just for some elite class. The basic issues we work with are for the whole of mankind. [solemn music]
[narrator] At the end of a long road, an insight is gained into the “secret knowledge of mankind.” At one time, those in power also felt drawn to it. At Schönbrunn Palace, Emperor Joseph the Second is said to have met with the inner circle of the Rosicrucians for meditation.
But there is also a dangerous side to the legend of Christian Rosenkreutz. [eerie music] Esoteric sects have abused Rosicrucian ideas time and again. In the 1990s members of the Order of the Solar Temple committed mass suicide in Canada and Switzerland. Over seventy people died. A suicide statement said:
“We shall return because the Rosy Cross is immortal.” Marian Füssel knows that the followers of the cult were convinced that their death merely meant transition to a better world. The general public had no idea what took place within the sect, which had sealed itself off from the outside world. [Füssel speaking in German]
Naturally, the concealment and mystery that surround many secret societies are also highly suitable for manipulating members. They offer sect leaders in particular a way of securing even more power and of inveigling members to do all kinds of things they might perhaps not want to. In this respect secrecy is always an ambivalent issue.
It protects the society outwardly but can further abuse within. [suspenseful music] [narrator] Legend has it that Christian Rosenkreutz drew his secret knowledge from the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians, a civilization countless secret societies refer to. Does some secret key to knowledge lie hidden in the ancient mystery cults?
In Egypt, well over 2000 years ago, a cult emerged, traces of which are still visible today, even in Germany. The Mysteries of Isis and Osiris. The Nile is at the center of a saga that dates back to Egypt’s very beginnings. After a long search, Isis found the body of her husband Osiris.
He had been drowned in the Nile by his brother and hacked to pieces. Isis put all the body parts together again and magically breathed new life into Osiris. [dramatic music] Isis was a kind of “super-woman” and “super-mother.” And precisely that is the secret behind the cult’s success.
From Egypt it spread throughout the Roman Empire, even to far-off Germania. [eerie music] [narrator] The Isis cult was sensuous. So, often, women were also present in the temples. This sensuousness was previously unknown to the Romans. In the temple, novices were ritually sprinkled with water. After this purification, they experienced a mystic journey
Through the realm of the dead and to Heaven, returning to Earth as divine creatures. Rebirth was a major theme, as it later was with many other secret societies. The Isis cult was appealing, and it became increasingly popular. Isis adherents established countless temples throughout the Roman Empire. In Pompeii, they survived.
Relics that have been found provide an insight into the activities of the Isis cult. The mysterious import from Egypt caused a furor amongst the normally so prosaic Romans. [suspenseful music] [narrator] In Rome, Marian Füssel has met his colleague Andreas Hensen. Hensen is an expert on ancient cults.
Very little of the once pompous Isis temple has survived. This marble foot was part of a huge statue. The Egyptian goddess was also a superstar in Rome. [Hensen speaking in German] The Isis cult clearly served an important need. It dealt with the question of what happens to the soul
After death and the best way to prepare the soul for the hereafter. What is more, people were fascinated by the rich symbolic language, by symbols, they didn’t really understand and by the exotic character of the culture. In that respect the Romans were no different from people today. [eerie music]
[narrator] The Isis cult established itself on all levels of society. Its success stemmed from the fact that women felt particularly at ease in an Isis temple, because in Isis communities, men and women were regarded as equals, quite astonishing in the male-dominated world of Rome. Exotic origins, complex, mystically charged rituals:
There is no doubt that Isis, the Mother of All, had just what it takes to be an imperial super-goddess. [eerie music] [narrator] People found solace in their mystery cult. They sought salvation from a doleful existence. The hope of a blessed life after death, played an important role.
[Ernst speaking German] Even on entering a secret society people experienced something akin to a rebirth. They became a new person. They assumed new characteristics. They belonged to a totally new circle. Their old life was left behind. Thus the ritual of rebirth, as practiced in the Isis cult,
For example, and in other cults, is a perpetual element of religions, secret societies and other associations. [narrator] In the end, however, the Isis cult could not withstand the challenge from Christianity. [suspenseful music] In A.D. 354, all pagan cults were banned in the Roman Empire.
From then on, Christianity was to be the sole religion for its citizens. Yet one cultural legacy of Isis remains. Andreas Hensen has brought Marian Füssel to the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva which is decorated with freemason symbols. The image of Isis holding the infant Horus lives on in pictures
Of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. The mystic ideas of Isis priests also survived the destruction of the temples. [Füssel speaking in German] The ancient mystery cults often served as points of reference for secret societies which came later, like the freemasons and the Illuminati, who tried repeatedly
To extend their own history back to ancient traditions. They clearly saw this as an important way of authenticating their own history. If societies could refer to ancient models and traditions, that would, to certain degree, bolster the dignity and prestige of their own project through to the present day. [solemn music]
[narrator] Skull and Bones, Illuminati, Rosicrucians, freemasons, Isis disciples. Secret societies bear many names. For thousands of years, they have also been a part of human civilization. They operate in our midst, meeting needs which otherwise cannot be met. They are surrounded by a wall of silence which results in secret societies themselves
Being the biggest enigma of all. [suspenseful music] Marian Füssel from Göttingen. His aim is to reveal the true story of the freemasons. The search for clues will take him around the world. [tense music] Archaeologist Kate Raphael, from Israel. She is searching for vestiges of the legendary Knights Templar.
Donald Ritchie, from Washington, deciphers the secret symbols that are hidden all over the American capital. I, George Herbert Walker Bush… [narrator] A late summer’s day in Hamburg. [ominous music] In the venerable Church of St. Michael, the members of what is probably the biggest secret society in the world are celebrating a jubilee:
275 years ago, the freemasons established their first lodge in Germany. The fraternity’s elite have come to Hamburg to celebrate the anniversary. For the first time, a camera has been allowed to film their ritual meeting. Normally, such assemblies are off-limits to the outside world. [mysterious music] World-wide there are five million freemasons.
In some countries where the society is banned members risk their lives when they meet. What kind of people are these freemasons who operate in secret and who have always been persecuted? What sort of knowledge do they take into their lodges? And why is the outside world kept in the dark about the organization?
A hidden parallel world exists in our midst, one with its own special symbols and strange rituals. Historian Marian Füssel has spent years studying the freemasons. He knows a great deal about the secret society. [eerie music] Legends have centred on the freemasons for centuries, because members must not disclose what happens inside a temple.
They have taken a vow of silence. Naturally, this provokes outsiders to come up with all kinds of suspicions and assumptions. So, it is hardly surprising that time and again in their history the freemasons have been accused of involvement in all kinds of dark deeds. [narrator] This secret society selects its members.
Mozart belonged to the fraternity as did Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. [tense music] But, so did Walt Disney… and Winston Churchill. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was also a member, as was George Washington, one of the founding fathers of the United States. What goes on behind the locked doors of a freemason temple?
Is it really just a case of a good person being turned into a better one? Many critics are convinced that in reality the strange rituals bear testimony to less humane goals. Every freemason takes a vow of silence. Nothing must be leaked to the outside world.
In the past, however, several brethren have spoken out. As a result, we are able to reconstruct some rituals. A freemason begins his career as an apprentice. Later he becomes a journeyman, and only after that is he elevated to the rank of a master. In the ceremonies the candidate dies symbolically
To be reborn in the circle of his secret brethren. [speaking German] Boas, the flesh is leaving the bone. [narrator] To outsiders the ritual seems bizarre. But to the freemasons it is important because it forges a bond. [dramatic music] [speaking German] You can’t become a member through your own will or efforts.
You have to be selected. That’s also the special status that is conferred. It’s not like deciding to join a club. You have to be chosen. And this fact alone boosts a person’s self-esteem and elevates their status. [mysterious music] [narrator] It’s often a person’s mentality that prompts them to accept the offer
To join a secret society: the need to cut oneself off from others, to belong to the elite, to know more than people in general. Frequently, the motives are highly egoistic. Orders like the freemasons fulfil the dream of individuality in a mass society. [speaking German]
[narrator] And candidates are prepared to accept a great deal for the certainty of being something special. The initiation rite binds each individual freemason to the fraternity. [man speaking German] And triumphs over time and death. So let the leaves fall And the flowers never fade. [tense music] [narrator] London.
The British capital is at the hub of the freemason movement. The Freemasons’ Hall is home to the world’s oldest Grand Lodge. Marian Füssel has come to visit this venerable building which is regarded as the world headquarters of freemasonry. Will the historian find out more here about the true aims of the fraternity?
He hopes for some answers from John Hamill. According to Hamill’s visiting card he is “responsible for special questions”. Everywhere Füssel sees objects and symbols which offer an insight into the freemasons’ beliefs. John Hamill knows the legends surrounding his secret society. The Internet is full of murky conspiracy theories.
The freemasons are said to have been responsible for the French Revolution. The First World War is also on the list of their dark deeds. For a long time we ignored the conspiracy theories, we ignored the outside world and we paid for it in the short term.
And we’re delighted now, that we’ve reversing it, and we’re back out being open and transparent with people, and… with this building as open to the public anybody can walk in. [dramatic music] [narrator] But if that’s the case, why are freemasons not allowed to talk about what happens inside their temples?
And what role is played by the ancient oriental pictures and symbols which decorate the massive bronze door to the holiest of holies? They show people constructing a building. The temple of the Freemasons’ Hall is full of symbols pointing to the ancient roots the freemasons refer to.
In front of the Master’s Chair is the pentagram. The five points stand for wisdom, justice, strength, moderation, and diligence. Rectangular forms show the importance of geometry which fundamentally regulates human activity… or so the freemasons believe. The temple is based on a legendary model:
The Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem which is mentioned in the Bible. It, too, had pillars like those next to the Master’s Chair. [dramatic music] Over eight metres high, the pillars known as Yachin and Boas flank the entrance to the Temple of Solomon. The building was intended to express something of a divine nature.
Jerusalem today. Are there any indications here as to why freemasons revere the Temple of Solomon so much? Our search leads us to where it all began: to the Temple Mount. At one time the Temple of Solomon towered up in the heart of Jerusalem.
The Temple Mount is equally sacred to Christians, Jews, and Moslems. Kate Raphael is one of Israel’s leading archaeologists. She knows a great deal about the history of the Temple Mount. She also understands the importance of King Solomon’s Temple. [Kate] King Salomon’s Temple is the first that was build
In the first time the capitol was established. So, it’s the first time since, that Jewish people left the desert, established a capital and King Salomon’s Temple was the first house of God, for the first time build in stone. [mysterious music] [narrator] No other building is as steeped in legend as this one temple.
Its dimensions are described in the Bible. But that is the only source. No remains have ever been found. Kate Raphael is about to descend into the underworld of the Holy City. Close to the Wailing Wall, there is a labyrinth of tunnels. [indistintic chattering] She and her colleagues pay regular visits to this place
Which is so rich in history. She is convinced that down here is where the supporting walls of King Solomon’s Temple must have stood before it was destroyed in 586 BC. But what made the building so special? Why do freemasons try to copy the edifice?
As yet there are no answers to be found down here. Only a stone’s throw from the Temple Mount, archaeologists collect what has been removed from the system of galleries in recent decades. It’s the overburden from various excavation campaigns. Researchers know that each shovelful could contain an important clue
Towards helping them to learn more about the history of the Temple Mount. [adventure music] Every day they come across relics of the distant past. Gabriel Barkay is in charge of this exceptional treasure trove for archaeologists. We have rich finds, which are even an arrowhead of the army of Nebuchadnezzar
Which was shot in the destruction of the temple mount. We have seals, seal impressions, we have pottery in abundance, and even inscribed materials, so… We have enough material from the first temple period to, uh… to justify much activity upon the temple mount in that time. [dramatic music] [narrator] The divine construction plan
Which makes the Temple of Solomon so unique is described in the Bible. It is accessible to everyone, including freemasons. [adventure music] But it was others who brought the legend of the temple to Europe. [men yelling] [suspenseful music] In the early 11th century the Crusaders set out from Europe for the Middle East.
[man shouting] [narrator] Their mission was to drive out the Moslems and take possession of the Holy Sites of Christianity. Bloody battles were fought. In 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem. [yelling] The Crusaders were the first Europeans able to explore the Temple Mount. [weary music] No one knows what they sought beneath the Wailing Wall:
Divine knowledge from the King Solomon’s Temple, or precious relics, perhaps? One thing is certain: even the Crusaders were fascinated by the Temple Mount and its history. So it was understandable that the temple should play a central role in the founding of a new order. Its members called themselves the Poor Knights of Christ
And of the Temple of Solomon: or, for short, the Knights Templar! The men took the vows of their order before the Patriarch of Jerusalem. They promised to live in poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Templars quickly developed into one of the leading orders of knights.
They saw themselves as an elite, as the spearhead of Christianity. Soon no one knew the tunnels beneath the Temple Mount better than the Templars. [tense music] Did the Templars discover the legendary treasure from the Temple of Solomon in the galleries, or did the knights use the tunnels to hide the riches
They had accumulated over time? [spades digging] [suspenseful music] Kate Raphael knows that some people are still searching for the legendary treasure of the Knights Templar, whatever that treasure might be in reality: relics, gold, perhaps, or as some suspect, the Holy Grail? Or perhaps it could be secret knowledge of King Solomon’s Temple
Which the knights revered so much. The Templers were aware of the possibility that the treasures of the temple were still in the location. They ruled the temple mount for 80 years. They could have searched for this temple more than anybody they came after them. But we have no evidence.
We don’t have archaeological evidence, we have no historical evidence that they ever found anything, and took it with them to Europe. [dramatic music] [narrator] As years the passed, the Templars became more and more powerful. They did not feel accountable to any worldly authority. Back then the order acted
Just like major international corporations do today. The Knights Templar manufactured goods, and engaged in trade and financial operations. From the 12th century their network of facilities spanned Western Europe. The Templars had become a confraternity, that had sealed itself off hermetically. [ethereal music] The Knights’ clandestine activities were to have an impact in Europe.
With their dark legend of the Temple of Solomon, the Templars influenced the secret societies that came later, like the freemasons. In London, the British Knights Templar built their own church, Temple Church. Its circular interior is modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. [mystical music]
Temple Church was blessed personally by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1185. [church bells ringing] Paris. For many years, the French capital was the headquarters of the Order of the Knights Templar. For centuries no one knew where the seat of the order had been located. Then, in 2011, a construction unit
Discovered the remains of its legendary headquarters. It was a world sensation! Prior to that only street signs had given any indication of a society shrouded in mystery. In Paris, Marian Füssel hopes to find out whether there is a link between the Knights Templar and fraternities like the freemasons.
His research has brought him to the National Archives. [tense music] Stored here are original documents from the days of the Templars, a historic treasure that could help Marian Füssel in his research. Ghislain Brunel, has spent many years studying the documents. It is still seems astonishing that this mighty international organization
Should have disappeared virtually overnight. [indistinct chattering] [speaking German] The exact reasons for the trial of the Templars and for the persecution of the order are still the subject of speculation today. One possible reason could be the military power it possessed. Members of the order were trained professionally
And retained their weapons even in times of peace. So, they constituted a serious military threat even in their own country, constituting a challenge to the king’s monopoly on the use of force. [tense music] [narrator] But it was not only the Templars’ military clout that was a thorn in the French king’s side.
He, too, had his sights set on the Knights’ alleged treasure. And so, Philipp the Beautiful forged a plan to destroy the Templars. [ethereal music] -[yelling] -[dramatic music] At dawn on October the 13th, 1307, Philipp had his troops storm the Templars’ residences, and arrest the knights. [man yelling]
The day has gone down in history as black Friday. Since then “Friday the 13th” has been regarded as unlucky. It was the beginning of a swift end for the Templars. For late mediaeval Europe it was a shock comparable today with the sudden collapse of the entire banking system.
The king wanted to eradicate the Knights’ Templar. [indistinct chattering] [narrator] The historical files tell the details. Philipp the Beautiful simply concocted the allegations that were supposed to justify his brutal course of action against the Templars. [Ghislain speaking French] In the initiation ritual the new Templar
Had to spit on the Cross three times and deny Christ three times. Novices had to kiss the other members on the mouth, on the naval, and on the buttocks. Homosexuality was one of the classical accusations levelled at heretics. Ever since the third century, heretics had been accused of being homosexual,
Of being in league with the Devil and of worshipping idols. At their meetings, it was alleged the Templars worshipped a bearded head and even a black cat. [tense music] [narrator] These concocted accusations proved disastrous for the Templars. No one knew anything about the inner life of the order.
The general public was taken in by the lies. In this case, the strict secrecy they upheld meant the death penalty for the once so proud Knights Templar. [yelling] In Paris, on March the 18th, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the fraternity’s last Grand Master, was led to the stake.
He never disclosed the secret of the legendary Templar treasure. -[people yelling] -[ominous music] Rumours were rife. The Templars’ ships, it was claimed, had set sail from La Rochelle, heading for an unknown destination with the treasure on board. Just a myth? Perhaps Jacques de Molay knew the truth when he was executed.
The king had him burnt on damp willow: a particularly horrific punishment, because the wood burns poorly. [fire crackling] On that day, the order was officially crushed. And yet numerous tales describe how the Templars lived on in secret, under a new guise. [weary music] After the order was smashed, some Templars, it is said,
Found a new home in Scotland. Ever since then this country on the fringes of Europe has been seen as a stronghold of clandestine societies. But is there any real proof that this is where the French Templars fled to? Historian Marian Füssel is on his way to the Kilmartin Valley, on the west coast.
Füssel believes that a cemetery might yield clues. [birds chirping] Will this expert on secret societies be able to use them to reconstruct what happened to the Templars after the trials? And indeed, Füssel has found something unusual. Ancient gravestones, decorated with swords, knights in armour, and flowers: symbols of the Knights Templar.
[Marian speaking German] A row of gravestones that seem to date back to the 14th and 15th centuries is particularly exciting. First and foremost, they depict noble knights. Some researchers see these gravestones as an indication that those laid to rest here might have been Templars, that Templars came to Scotland
And were buried here in the 14th century. [narrator] If the knights found a new home in Scotland, couldn’t the order still exist there today? Within their ranks the knights could well have handed down their secret knowledge of the Temple of Solomon and its treasures. -[church bells ringing] -[birds chirping]
Scarcely anyone has played more with this possibility than best-selling author Dan Brown. His novels and the screen adaptations of them have fascinated millions. [ethereal music] [Tom Hanks] Jewish, Christian, Egyptian, Masonic, pagan, Templar crosses, pyramids. [mysterious music] [narrator] Located near Edinburgh, Rosslyn Chapel is something of an enigma,
A feature Dan Brown made skilful use of. He saw the chapel as a literary melting pot of religions and secret societies. Marian Füssel is also familiar with the legends centred on the church. It was commissioned by Sir William Sinclair, who had the church decorated with numerous secret symbols, including statues of knights.
The Lamb of God: a symbol found on many of the Templars’ seals. Füssel then spots two pillars that seem familiar to him. He’s seen them once before somewhere. The same pillars stand in the freemasons’ temple in London. Marian Füssel has returned to the Freemasons’ Hall.
Obviously, at some time in the past, the Templars inspired the freemasons with their knowledge of the Temple of Solomon. John Hamill is showing the historian symbols which testify to a fascination for precise architecture. These include a compass and a square. [Marian speaking German] The origins of freemasonry are largely unknown,
A fact which leads time and again to speculation. Modern research tends to see its origins in the Bauhütten movement of the Middle Ages. In the environment of cathedral architects and within this movement, which was organized on a guild basis, structures developed which led to modern freemasonry. [tranquil music]
[narrator] In the Late Middle Ages, the members of the “Bauhütten” church mason’s lodges covered the entire continent with a network of magnificent cathedrals, like those in Chartres, Cologne, and Salisbury. Architects and the “Bauhütten” guild enjoyed immense privileges. They had their own laws. Secret hand signs revealed who was a member
And what rank they held. [solemn music] In England, these architects referred to themselves as “free masons”. They moved from cathedral to cathedral, offering their services. In those days ordinary folk lived in dark, low huts. So for them, the Gothic cathedrals built by the master stonemasons, the freemasons, were architectural miracles.
The “Bauhütten” were a secret society of knowledge. [Marian speaking German] These weren’t simple masons but architects: an intellectual elite, in other words, who had access to monarchs, who were at the very apex of society. This had nothing to do with some low trade but people who had specific technical expertise and who, naturally,
Were also able to exercise a certain degree of power in society. [narrator] Does this mean in fact that fugitive Templars and ambitious architects got together? [tense music] Marian Füssel has received permission to view historical documents in the secret society’s internal archives. They include the statutes of the fraternity
And the founding document of the world’s oldest Grand Lodge. It points to a decisive transition. The document was signed in 1717, by a certain “Mr. Antony Sayer, Gentleman”. So, the first Grand Master was no longer a craftsman but an educated figure from a comfortable middle-class background. The former craftsmen’s association had developed further
Into a class-spanning fraternity. But why? What do lodge brethren experience in their clandestine meetings? What does this elitist circle, which operates in secret actually plan? The freemasons sought the proximity of the rich and powerful of their day. For the individual this could well have been just as fascinating as the appeal of secrecy.
[Marian speaking German] In the 18th century, freemasonry soon developed into something of a fad. It became very attractive for the social elite to become members, mainly because there was a great need at the time for class-spanning sociality: to be able to freely exchange views with others in secret,
To discuss issues of all kinds beyond the bounds of politics and religion. The freemasons were able to satisfy this need for sociality to a particular degree. [narrator] Close commercial links saw freemasonry spread from London to Hamburg. In 1737, the first German lodge was founded: the “Loge d’Hambourg”.
In Germany, too, the freemasons immortalized themselves in monumental buildings, and sought greater influence and power. -[ominous music] -[birds chirping] But the authorities found their ideals dubious. They suspected the freemasons of pursuing anarchy and subversion. King Frederick William the First of Prussia demonized the freemasons. He feared the competition from this exclusive society.
But not even the monarch could prevent the fraternity from gaining a footing amongst the elite. At a secret meeting in Braunschweig, even the king’s own son was accepted into the order. In the course of just one evening, the brethren elevated Frederick the Great, to the level of Master.
Was the inclusion of the elite part of a secret plan geared to gaining control of the world? Why else should the society go to such lengths to ensnare those with power? [Marian speaking German] It is fascinating to note how quickly the freemasons succeeded in acquiring members even from the highest echelons of society,
And in finding numerous supporters even among the most powerful figures in Europe. So we are not talking simply about some bourgeois association, even the nobility and ruling princes were also a part of the freemasons. [narrator] Time and again, the freemasons were associated with dark mysteries. These rumours culminated
In the bizarre mindscape of Heinrich Himmler. The head of Hitler’s SS was looking for the Holy Grail, and suspected that it was part of the treasure of the Knights Templar. Himmler reckoned that the freemasons were closely linked to the old order and that through them, he could acquire the coveted treasure.
So, in January 1937, he had the freemasons’ lodge near the Alster lake in Hamburg pulled down. [speaking German] Heil Hitler! Good evening. We have found a clue! You’d better be right! [narrator] Himmler felt totally justified in destroying the fraternity’s temple. The National Socialists saw the freemasons
As part of huge world conspiracy that had to be combated. Members of the order had performed their rituals in the temple in Hamburg for two hundred years. But then, the Nazis banned the secret society. Being a freemason in the Third Reich meant risking your life. [mysterious music]
[speaking German] This must have been the room where the secret rituals took place. [narrator] In their search for the great secret the fraternity was believed to have kept, the Nazis had the freemasons’ temple demolished brick by brick. Himmler was obsessed with esoteric ideas. He surrounded himself with diviners and had archaeologists,
With the German Ancestral Heritage Society research occult themes. The freemasons did not fit in with the image of the “Ancient Germanic Religion”, which was to be used henceforth to explain the world. The Nazis didn’t find any treasure in the Hamburg Lodge, but they did cause serious harm to the secret society.
As long as they were in power, the freemasons had to go underground. Professor Rüdiger Templin is Germany’s leading freemason. As he heads for the lodge, he looks no different from an ordinary businessman. It’s only inside the building that the brethren put on their freemason’s dress.
The apron has its origins in the “Bauhütten” church mason’s lodges. It protected the stonemasons from flying chips. The top hat is an ancient symbol of freedom. The white gloves represent pure and spotless acts. [indistinct chattering] [Rüdiger speaking German] The real secret is the emergence and growth
Of a person’s character in freemasonry, starting with the initiation experience. That’s something you need to have experienced personally. It’s hard to describe. That is why the search for a secret will always remain futile. [narrator] Is it this seclusion that spurs the imagination and engenders conspiracy theories?
But why all the secrecy if there is nothing to hide? [mysterious music] The fact that the freemasons are not as insignificant as they sometimes claim is evident in Washington, D.C. Is the capital of the world’s leading economic and military power also the centre of a secret world government as some claim?
In scarcely any other city on our planet are secret fraternities as active as they are here. Some presidents are known to have been members of several secret societies at once. Do the fraternities clandestinely determine the guidelines of American policy? Marian Füssel has come to Washington, D.C.
To gain an impression of how far secret societies have infiltrated American politics. His first stop is the Capitol. He has arranged to meet Donald Ritchie, the U.S. Senate’s chief historian. Ritchie knows the Capitol like the back of his hand. He tells his colleague that it was constructed by freemasons
Who immortalized themselves in the building hundreds of times over. Enthroned in the famous dome, is no less a figure than George Washington himself. The freemason, who here has ascended into Heaven in godlike fashion, laid the Capitol’s foundation stone. Key circles strove to emulate him.
One third of the generals in the American War of Independence belonged to the secret order. [dramatic music] Throughout the Capitol Marian Füssel finds signs and symbols of the kind the freemasons also used. The heart of the world’s super-power seems like a set-in-stone tribute to the secret society.
Now, my great privilege and my honor… [narrator] Even today, American presidents are still sworn in on the same freemasons’ Bible, on which George Washington once took his oath of office. The last president to be sworn in with this Bible was George Bush senior. I, George Herbert Walker Bush… -So help me God. -Congratulations!
[applause] [narrator] But, in whose interest does the President act? Does he serve the American people, or the secret fraternity? [Heiko speaking German] Democratic power is given only for a limited period, but the members of a secret society belong for life. The presidency, too, is sometimes like an order.
One problem is that you almost need a split personality because of the various loyalties involved. With the oath of office the state rightly demands total loyalty and the scrupulous performance of duties. This can result in conflict with the objectives of some secret societies. [narrator] There are three million freemasons in the United States.
The capital’s biggest temple is located only a stone’s throw from the White House. The founding father of the United States, George Washington, after whom the capital is named, is honoured with his own monument. Built by freemasons, it stands impressively in Alexandria, near Washington, D.C.
It’s not only monumental buildings, the entire capital, in fact, is said to have been laid out in line with a secret plan drawn up by the freemasons. The lodge’s brethren are believed to have immortalized themselves everywhere. [indistinct chattering] Historian Donald Ritchie knows these dark theories. But neither he nor Marian Füssel
Can see the most impressive symbols from the ground. That is only possible from the air. From a satellite perspective it becomes clear what conspiracy theorists have detected. On the city map, they have identified a pentagram, a compass, a cross, and right angles, all of which are freemason symbols.
Did the fraternity really immortalize itself in the layout of the streets? The Kiplinger Library is the oldest in Washington. Here, historians are allowed to examine plans dating back to the time when the city was founded. It turns out that city planner Pierre L’Enfant himself, was not a freemason.
However, those who commissioned him most certainly were. And, they wanted clear, geometrical lines in the urban layout. But we cannot say whether they directly commissioned freemasonry symbols like pentagrams and compasses. We have a great long history of conspiracies and speculation. And it affects our politics, it affects everything else…
It doesn’t surprise me at all that people can look at this and see something that perhaps, wasn’t intended at all, but fits their plan. [solemn music] [narrator] In 1982, the suspicion that the freemasons do not exist solely for reasons of self-discovery and personal development received fresh impetus
After pedestrians in London made a horrific discovery. Hanging from a nylon cord, under Blackfriars Bridge was a body. The dead man came from Italy. His name: Roberto Calvi. [tense music] The trail led to Rome, to the Vatican. Roberto Calvi was the Pope’s banker. His brief was to increase the church’s multi-billion dollar fortune.
Marian Füssel has good reasons for his interest in the Calvi murder case. Why had Roberto Calvi travelled to London where he met such a dreadful fate? Perhaps journalist Mario Guarino knows the answer. He followed the Calvi case for many years. That is how long the official investigations took.
They revealed that the Pope’s banker belonged to a secret fraternity. Its name: Propaganda Due, known for short as P2. But what was the nature of this secret society? [Mario speaking Italian] The P2 was a kind of parallel government. It didn’t want to bring down the government.
Instead, the aim was to penetrate it, with deputies, senators, businessmen and bankers. The P2 had control of the finances. Many banks were headed by members of the P2. [solemn music] [narrator] Through his investigations, Marian Füssel opened up a can of worms. Initially, the Propaganda Due was just a simple freemason’s lodge.
Then, it was infiltrated by criminals. The secret meetings were held in the Hotel Excelsior. In Italy, the lodge is notorious. Initially, the brethren still supported social projects. [indistinct chattering] But in Calvi’s day the lodge had long since changed and become a dangerous network, whose true goals no one really knew about.
Did ultra-right puppet-masters want to make Propaganda Due Italy’s secret government? Backed by the United States, it was driven by fierce anti-communism and a craving for money and power. [indistinct chattering] Later, in its judgement, a court ascertained that the men who met in the Excelsior were financing other criminals.
Terror was to be used to create a charged, overheated atmosphere which the lodge brethren would then utilize for their own ends. [speaking Italian] Please… Roberto Calvi operated amongst unscrupulous wheeler-dealers who wanted to change Italy. [tense music] [narrator] In 1980, a bomb planted at Bologna railway station killed 85 people. [eerie music]
Two years previously, the president of the ruling Christian Democrats, Aldo Moro, had been abducted and murdered. Here, too, there were links to Propaganda Due. Was the aim to pin the blame for the attacks on the communists? It’s hard to work out what was really behind all the accusations. Propaganda Due remained shadowy.
What is clear, however, is that politicians, bankers, and Mafiosi met here. They forged plans and did crooked deals. [indistinct chattering] Roberto Calvi wanted to profit from this network. The head of the Banco Ambrosiano was supposed to provide the Church with fresh money to support the struggle of Christians in Eastern Europe.
[speaking Italian] Mr. Calvi. Investigators today suspect that Calvi borrowed money from the Mafiosi in Propaganda Due, in order to speculate. [speaking Italian] The Vatican will not accept this… [narrator] But profits failed to materialize. The Mafia wanted its money back. Calvi realized too late that he had made a pact with the Devil,
And there was no getting out of it. Or was it merely the criminal environment that fascinated Roberto Calvi about Propaganda Due? [Heiko speaking German] The suspicion has been confirmed often enough also through trials, that criminal elements belong to this secret society, that criminal wheeling and dealing
Was also part of the activities of this association, that those who perhaps weren’t criminals when they entered the society definitely planned to accept certain advantages, that they said: it wouldn’t hurt to have links with this milieu, too, especially in Italy where the Mafia has probably infiltrated every organization already.
[narrator] In the end, his contacts with the Mafia proved fatal for Roberto Calvi. His bank had outstanding debts of around 750 million euros. In his desperation, the banker wrote a letter to the Pope. He accused the Pontiff of leaving him in the lurch.
A few days later Roberto Calvi was dead, hanged from a bridge. The Calvi murder trial ended with acquittals for the accused. But questions remain. The case shows that secret societies can also be dangerous. Propaganda Due was banned. But the proceedings had no effect on the freemasons as a whole,
Even though they are often accused of being the breeding ground of evil, especially as no one knows for certain what happens behind their closed doors. [Marian speaking German] From the point of view of conspiracy theorists, those who like to believe in the power of secret societies, such an acquittal changes nothing.
Indeed, it generates even more suspicion that this judgement, too, was engineered. So, there is actually no escape from this conspiracy fixation. My belief is that, if organizations which are regarded as secret have any power at all, this power is founded on legend and not on their actual activities. [solemn music]
[narrator] Secret societies have been around for a long time. They hold a mysterious appeal. But what are their real goals? Precisely what are they planning? We can only guess. Much can be explained. And much is even banal. Yet for a long time to come people will continue trying to bore their way
Into the inner workings of these secret orders. [suspenseful music] Marian Füssel from Göttingen is on the trail of perhaps the most fantastic conspiracy in Christianity: the possibility that Jesus had descendants. If that is true, are they being protected by a secret order? Daniel Ganser from Zurich is a peace researcher.
He believes that we still have no idea of the true story behind the terrorist attacks of September the 11th. Ulrich Walter from Munich is investigating the suspicion that staff at NASA conspired to fake the lunar landing. [radio voice] For 2,000 years, the Vatican has been a center of spiritual power
And of secular dominion. [bell chimes] The focus here is on the salvation of the human soul but also on influence and power. The Vatican is the subject of much speculation. A sensational secret is believed to be kept within its walls, a secret that, were it to be revealed, would rock the world.
It involves Jesus Christ. Located in the catacombs in Rome are the oldest depictions of Jesus. [bells chime] They show a young man full of joys of life, a man who is said to have had a wife: Mary Magdalene. Verse 55 of the apocryphal Gospel of Philip states
The companion of the Savior was Mary Magdalene. According to the manuscript, he loved her more than all the other disciples and would often kiss her on the mouth. If that were true, Christian history and theology would have to be re-written. So is the Vatican suppressing a truth that would undermine its power?
The Da Vinci Code, the best-seller by Dan Brown, made the story of Jesus and Mary accessible to a broader public. And the film with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou certainly did. But how could Christ have a blood line, unless… Mary was pregnant at the time of the Crucifixion. For her own safety,
And for that of Christ’s unborn child, she fled the Holy Land and came to France. And here, it is said, she gave birth to a daughter: [baby screams] Sarah. [narrator] The south of France: this, then, is where the descendants of Jesus are said to live:
In our very midst, protected, according to Dan Brown’s novel, by a secret fraternity. Marian Füssel is heading for the place where it all began: Rennes-le-Château. [dramatic music] This sleepy hamlet has a strikingly pompous church. Many see this as an indication that Rennes-le-Château is the epicenter of a large-scale conspiracy.
A remarkable church full of mysterious symbols, it seems totally out of place in such a small village. Terrifying creatures greet the visitor. Do the statues here portray the Mother of God, or perhaps Mary Magdalene holding Christ’s child? [in German] This small village, and especially its church, is steeped in legend.
Its redevelopment and pompous refurbishment around 1900, along with the construction of other buildings nearby, have given rise to questions as to how it was all financed. The work must have consumed fairly large sums and even today, the question of where the money came from is the subject of much speculation. [birds chirping]
[narrator] The incongruities surrounding the church go back to the summer of 1885 when Father Bérenger Saunière took up office in Rennes-le-Château. At the time, the parish really was as poor as the proverbial church mouse. Nevertheless, the priest soon embarked on the expensive conversion of his church.
It wasn’t long before his flock began to wonder where Abbé Saunière had managed to find so much money for his construction project. [suspenseful music] Marian Füssel sees the building project and the mysterious blood line of Jesus Christ as elements of a major conspiracy theory. Christian Doumergue has provided him with further details.
He has examined the village priest’s estate and knows all the legends associated with Rennes-le-Château. [Doumergue speaking French] [Doumergue in French] The sums spent by Abbé Saunière went far beyond his means. It was clearly not his income as a priest that enabled him to construct all the buildings.
Back then that raised one or two questions amongst the villagers. It gave rise to the rumor that the he must have found some treasure. [narrator] And for a long time, the nature of this treasure was the source of much speculation. Was it cash? Valuable relics, perhaps? Or ancient documents proving, as many suspect,
That Jesus had descendants? Saunière is said to have used the documents to blackmail the Catholic Church into giving him hush money not to reveal the secret of Christ’s daughter. The figure at the center of this major scandal was Mary Magdalene. Leonardo da Vinci is said to have immortalized Jesus’ wife
In his famous painting of the Last Supper. The claim is that it is not the beardless disciple John who is pictured to the left of Christ but Mary Magdalene. The legend that Jesus had a family was embroidered more and more. His descendants were said to be protected by a secret fraternity.
Best-selling author Dan Brown plays with this incredible version in his novel: The Da Vinci Code. Who are you? There have been many names: the keepers… …guardians… …the Priory of Sion. [narrator] Although the Priory of Sion is said to be ancient, its existence was not documented until the 1970s
When French author Pierre Plantard wrote about it. Had he betrayed secret knowledge of the fraternity? [dramatic music] The trail leads us to Paris where the Priory of Sion is believed to have been active. The most important documents on the “Brotherhood of Sion” are kept in the French National Library. A venerable institution,
What is stored here appears to be incontestable. Religious scholar Frédéric Lenoir is fascinated by the brotherhood and by the idea of Christ having descendants. He has made a detailed study of the files. In his research Lenoir came across an important document: a list of the grand masters of the Priory of Sion,
Catalogued as such by the National Library. The neatly typed list goes back to the time of Jesus. It includes such famous names as that of universal genius Leonardo da Vinci. Legendary scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton is also mentioned. One illustrious figure after another, but were they all really members of the inner circle?
[in French] When you look at the list you notice at once that all the historical facts seem to be right. The dates are correct and so are the coats of arms. But you then realize that some of the figures on the list could never have had anything to do with the Priory.
Leonardo da Vinci, for instance, had no contact with the Knights Templar. Here, reality has been mixed with fiction. [narrator] But the general public and the media jumped at the blend of fact and fiction. It was the grain of reality that made the fiction credible.
But that’s something the authors of such products of the imagination are also aware of. When they merge the two, it is hard to see the result of exactly what it is. [in French] What struck me was the creation of a modern legend
In exactly the same way the ancient Greeks concocted their amazing myths which still exist today. In the form of the Priory, a modern myth was created which has enjoyed global success. And that’s quite extraordinary. [narrator] Doubts over the Priory of Sion also arise from the fact
That the list of grand masters cannot be authenticated. It was passed to the National Library anonymously and was only accepted into obligatory storage. A conclusive document exists in the form of the Priory’s deed of foundation, signed by Pierre Plantard… in 1956. So, the Priory of Sion is a 1950s invention,
As Plantard himself admitted in the late eighties. The ancient brotherhood, dedicated to protecting the blood line of Christ, never existed. Another theory also rests on an unsound footing. [dramatic music] In Rennes-le-Château Marian Füssel discovers why the priest had so much money at his disposal.
Records he left show that it came from an illegal trade in “intercessions for the deceased.” Saunière was a confidence trickster. [in German] The account books that have been preserved show quite clearly that there was no treasure involved, just a systematic trade in Mass services. But that did not affect the legend.
People still suspected that hidden treasure was involved, and went on searching for it. [narrator] It’s astonishing that Saunière should have gotten away with his scam for so long. How gullible his villagers were. [dramatic music] The legend continues to be spun out, however,
For belief in such mysteries lies in the very nature of the human soul. Marian Füssel has analyzed what convinces people most of all. He has found that the more significant and the more fantastic a secret sounds, the more likely it is to be believed. Precisely what is involved is actually of secondary importance.
[in German] Where the theory of the Priory of Sion is concerned, one individual, Plantard, wanted to get rich. That in itself is relatively harmless. But there are other conspiracy theories which focus on entire groups. And those theories can become a real danger. [narrator] That was also the case
With the most sinister conspiracy theory in history: the myth of a Jewish world conspiracy. In the first half of the 20th century the Jews were blamed for all ills. They were accused of wanting to bring countries to their knees, first of all with capitalist money and then with the help of Bolshevism.
Their alleged goal: global dominance. Wealthy Jewish entrepreneurs served as proof of these crude assertions: families like the Ballins… …the Rothschilds… …the Guggenheims… …and the Astors. The Jews were painted as the enemy. [applause] [croud cheering] [narrator] The story of a Jewish world conspiracy, an imaginary plot, begins in Prague,
At a most unusual, indeed creepy location. Every 100 years leading Jews were said to gather at Prague’s Jewish cemetery, as the “Elders of Zion,” a Jewish shadow government whose alleged aim was the suppression of the Gentiles. But the myth of this meeting, a product of the imagination, was to have dire consequences.
In Berlin, the fear of a Jewish world conspiracy was used to stir up hatred of the Jews. Marian Füssel wants to find out how this production of the imagination came about and why so many people still believe in it even today. He has come to the Jewish Museum in Berlin
To meet historian Wolfgang Benz, an expert on anti-Semitism. Benz has made a close study of the accusations levelled at Jews in the 20th century. [inaudible] The theory of a world conspiracy comes from a small book entitled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Virtually no other inflammatory publication of the last century
Has wrought as much havoc as this pamphlet. With great skill, the author plays with fears, prejudices and enemy stereotypes. The defamatory propaganda involved in creating enemy stereotypes draws people to support the existing center of power. [Benz speaking German] It is a dark and gloomy narrative. Allegedly, every 100 years
The Jewish elders meet at the cemetery in Prague to report on their progress in permeating the world’s structures. But the report is headed “Protocols” to give the impression of it being an authentic, official document. [narrator] The claim is that the protocols were recorded secretly
At the first Zionist World Congress which actually took place. But in reality the focus was on something totally different. The World Congress was convened by Theodor Herzl. But he wasn’t nurturing visions of global dominance. Herzl wanted to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. So why was the truth twisted?
[in German] Minorities have always been exposed to prejudices and made into enemy stereotypes. The end result in this case was a compact, rounded picture: the Jews are evil. The Jews are a threat to non-Jews, the Jews want sovereignty of the world. [narrator] St. Petersburg.
The true story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion begins during the time of the Russian Empire. [suspenseful music] Nowhere was hatred of the Jews more widespread than among the people ruled over by Czar Nicholas II. More Jews lived in the Russian Empire than anywhere else.
Regarded as the enemies of Orthodox Christians, they were persecuted. [speaking Russian] [narrator] The head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Pyotr Rachkovsky, used the anti-Semitic mood in the country for a political ploy. He wanted to pin the blame for oppositional attacks on the Czar on the Jews.
To achieve this all he had to do was discredit them even further. Rachkovsky needed a document that would enable him to defame the Jews. Since he didn’t have one, Rachkovsky had one prepared at short notice. [speaking Russian] Matvei Golovinski was commissioned with the task and disaster took its course. [speaking Russian]
Can a specific group really be vilified so quickly in society? And why is this done? [Ernst speaking German] People need scapegoats. And those in power certainly do. They need scapegoats to conceal their own failures or weaknesses, or to mobilize people for some goal or other. Where conspiracy theories are concerned, of course,
This is taken to extremes. And the worst extreme is the conspiracy theory based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jews as a whole are stigmatized and made responsible for all the world’s ills. [dramatic music] [narrator] Intelligence officer Golovinski was actually a specialist in producing bogus press articles.
But now he wrote the basic inflammatory pamphlet for many years to come. He shamelessly plagiarized and mixed fiction with reality. Entire passages were lifted word for word from the satirical French novel The Dialogue in Hell by Maurice Joly. Golovinski finished by heading his text “Protocols” to indicate its authenticity,
Even though everything was an utter fabrication. In the Russian Empire what was probably the most dangerous document to appear in the 20th century was reprinted time and again. [explosive music] Within a few years, the fabricated “Protocols” began their triumphal global advance.
The mendacious pamphlet had its finger on the anti-Semitic nerve of the time. In the end, Golovinski’s text was translated into around 60 languages. In Germany, too, it was regarded as authentic. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion dovetailed perfectly with the crude mindscape of the National Socialists.
It was soon alleged that the text was a fabrication. But once a conspiracy has been exposed it is hard to allay all suspicions. [in German] The National Socialists referred to this fictitious protocol as if it provided actual proof of a Jewish world conspiracy. Ultimately, all anti-Semitic propaganda,
The whole persecution of the Jews, was based on this document. [airplane engine sounds] [narrator] Under the National Socialist terror regime the “Protocols” led inevitably to the Holocaust. Six million Jews were systematically murdered before Nazi Germany capitulated. [inaudible] The Protocols of the Elders of Zion survived the shock of the Holocaust
And the fall of the Third Reich. They continue to spread hatred of the Jews even today. Marian Füssel re-discovered the inflammatory pamphlet on the home page of Hamas, the radical Islamic movement. Its charter contains excerpts from the “Protocols,” as if they were an authentic document and not a fabrication.
[in German] Conspiracy theories simplify complex issues in an extreme way. There are no shades of grey, just black and white, good and evil. One such conspiracy theory is the Jewish world conspiracy which is still in the heads of millions of people world-wide. Time and again it is used for achieving political ends
And for interpreting current events. [narrator] New York, the scene of events which saw The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the spotlight once again. [airplane noise] [man] Holy shit! [narrator] When two aircrafts flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre on September the 11th, 2001, the world held its breath.
More than 3,000 people died. [people screaming] [narrator] Pictures of the collapse of the Twin Towers burned themselves deep in the collective memory of mankind. Millions of television viewers world-wide looked on as the symbols of America’s claim to world leadership crumbled. [unintelligible voices] [man] There it comes. I am getting behind a car.
[shots fired] [narrator] In the Islamist strongholds of the Arab world there was spontaneous jubilation. The United States is the most important guarantor of the existence of the state of Israel. In the eyes of many Moslems, the “Great Satan” had been pierced to the core. [car honking] The instigator was soon identified:
Osama bin Laden, the head of the Al-Qaeda terror network. It was he who gave the order for the terrorist attacks. That, at least, is the official version. But soon after September the 11th, doubts were raised as to the accuracy of the government version of events. Marian Füssel in New York.
Even today, many people, and not only in the United States, believe that they do not know the true story. No other event in recent times is as steeped in conspiracy theories as September the 11th. Did the terrorists have allies in the United States? Was the US government possibly behind everything
In order to justify invading Afghanistan and later Iraq? Or was a totally different power perhaps involved? [in German] The enormity of September 11th was hard to comprehend. But at the same time there was an urgent need for explanations. Who was responsible and why had they acted?
So it was clear that people would fall back on existing patterns of conspiracy theories. [ambulance siren] [narrator] Once again, a Jewish conspiracy had to carry the blame. [screaming] This time, fanatical Islamists claimed, it was aimed at the Arab world. They saw a Jewish plot instigated by people
Who had sacrificed thousands of innocent lives in order to plunge the world into a war and thus serve their own ends. This argument bears a striking similarity to the Jewish world conspiracy as described in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. You wanna get farther away? [speaking Arabic]
[narrator] In the wake of the attacks, a well-known cleric actually said on Egyptian television that the story of September the 11th is that of a Zionist conspiracy. [speaking Arabic] Marian Füssel has examined such allegations. Did the Israeli government really warn Jews
Not to go to work in the Twin Towers on September the 11th, as one Syrian newspaper claimed? [knocking] Professor Bronner. -Hi. -Hi. [narrator] Political scientist Stephen Bronner is only too familiar with such allegations. He has studied the events of September the 11th.
Numerous Jews were also killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. [speaking German] [in German] This, of course, is complete nonsense. First of all there were between 250 and 400 Jews who died in the attack. The second thing is that, the question would be how were these Jews informed?
And the argument was that Mossad… …informed them… And that is because Mossad has the phone number of every Jew in the world. Or the email address of every Jew in the world. And therefore it was an easy task. One doesn’t even know what to say about that. [narrator] Despite that realistic assessment,
The conspiracy theories still persist. Time and again sceptics discover new, supposed inconsistencies, like that of the missing aircraft. At 9:37 on September the 11th, a massive explosion shook the Pentagon. Even today some people refuse to believe that it was caused by the impact of hijacked American Airlines Flight 77. After all, they say,
CCTV footage shows an explosion but no aircraft. Conspiracy expert Marian Füssel has checked the footage. He knows the theory of the missing aircraft. But he doesn’t regard it as plausible. [in German] The theory of a Pentagon conspiracy, that there was no plane crash, is relatively easy to refute.
Because of its technology, the closed-circuit TV camera only took intermittent pictures. So there are gaps in the recording. And because of the tremendous speed at which the plane was approaching its target, it appeared in one of those gaps, so to speak. So the camera could not capture it on film.
Its recording technology alone explains why the footage does not show an aircraft. [narrator] The official investigation report ascertained that the terrorists had planned their attacks in Hamburg. Research is being carried out in the north German city by a man who regards the US government’s report as incomplete. Peace researcher Daniele Ganser
Has analyzed the documents published on the terrorist attacks. Ganser dismisses all wild conspiracy theories. He sticks to the facts. And they, he says, speak for themselves. In his opinion, what is particularly striking, is that the official report blithely ignores one event: the collapse of the third tower.
Very few people know that it wasn’t only the Twin Towers which collapsed on September the 11th, 2001. So, too, did World Trade Centre 7, a 170 meter high building, immediately behind the towers. But it didn’t crumble until several hours later. And it was never struck by an aircraft.
Did its overheated steel girders really buckle? Or was the building brought down in a controlled demolition operation? And why did some television stations report its collapse an hour too soon, while the building was still standing? Years later, the background to this occurrence is still the subject of speculation, and many questions remain unanswered.
Only submitted in 2008, the report on the collapse of the third tower, Daniele Ganser feels, is unsatisfactory. [Ganser in German] We still don’t know why the building collapsed. When you study the video footage, it looks like it has been dynamited. That’s because the upper three corners visible on the video
Come down more or less in free fall, without any major resistance. Construction experts are convinced that the building was demolished which gives rise to the question of whether we know precisely what did happen on September the 11th. [narrator] Another incongruity involves Wall Street. The day before the attacks,
Unknown investors bet that the shares of American Airlines and United would plummet and they were right. The aircraft used in the attacks were operated by those two airlines. Someone with insider knowledge of the impending deaths of thousands of people must have earned themselves a fortune. [dramatic music]
[Ganser speaking German] It’s obvious that someone must have known what was going to happen. After all, the attacks were planned by people and not by elephants or giraffes. So some people knew what was going to happen. To find out who was involved in this insider trading
You have to approach the Securities and Exchange Mission. But they refuse to release the information. Two airplanes… [narrator] Is it possible that the US government knew of the attacks or, as some people claim, even planned them? A monstrous allegation. But one that is not inconceivable.
The US military itself created the grounds for this mistrust. In 1962, it presented President John F. Kennedy with a perfidious plan. Amongst other things, Operation Northwoods, as it was known, recommended terrorist attacks on Washington and on civil air traffic. These would then be blamed on Fidel Castro. Kennedy rejected the idea.
[Füssel speaking German] Once the nation’s basic trust in political power has been shaken, those in power lose all credibility. This happened during the Cold War when disinformation was a deliberate policy. It led to a climate of insecurity, one in which conspiracy theories, of course, flourished particularly well because everything was questioned
And credibility as a whole suffered greatly. At such times, conspiracy theories hold center stage because they are especially popular. [dramatic music] [narrator] Mistrust of the government has always been deeply rooted in American society. One of the best known conspiracy theories led to a bizarre experiment in the Nevada desert.
On a summer’s night in 1976, a man set out to expose what, at the time, was the pinnacle of American science as a cheap fabrication. [dramatic music] Bill Kaysing did not believe that the Americans had landed on the Moon. The whole mission, he said, was just technologically impossible.
It was merely a political gambit in the Cold War. Kaysing suspected that the legendary Moon landing was actually staged on the Earth. And he reckoned he could prove it. On that summer’s night, Bill Kaysing took on the US government. [dramatic music] If Kaysing were right,
The world would no longer be talking about one of the great adventures of all time but about the greatest deception of all time. On July 16, 1969, a Saturn Five rocket weighing 3,000 tons lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Its destination: the Moon. The mission was a global spectacle.
World-wide, 500 million viewers excitedly watched its progress on television. [radio chatter] In a bold speech given in September 1962, John F. Kennedy set the tone for the space race. The US president was staking everything, because he knew that the plan to put a man on the Moon was highly ambitious.
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. [applause] [narrator] Kennedy needed to be successful, because in the space field, the Americans were lagging years behind their arch-enemy, the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Soviets had launched the first animal into orbit: a dog called Laika. Four years later, Yuri Gagarin went down in history as the first human being in space. Gagarin made a complete orbit of the planet. [Russian radio chatter]
“I see the Earth, it is so beautiful,” he radioed back from his spacecraft. Space seemed to belong to the Russians. NASA, however, had to cope with one failure after another, and the tragic loss of human life. The Apollo program was costing a fortune, but the success, that was so ardently desired,
Failed to materialize. In the psychology of the Cold War, this was a calamitous situation for the Americans. After all, two different political systems were vying for supremacy. [Ernst in German] The Sputnik success was a massive shock to the Americans who up to then had been world leaders, certainly leaders of the free world.
A country that played a dominant role in technology and commerce, in all other areas, in fact, found that it was now lagging behind in the important field of space research. Consequently, America made every conceivable effort to recover from its shock. It was about winning the battle of the systems,
A victory the Americans had to achieve at almost any price. [narrator] In July 1969, the decisive Apollo Eleven mission was launched. The goal: to establish US supremacy in space. [dramatic music] Twelve minutes after lift-off, the three astronauts on board entered the Earth’s orbit,
Hurtling through space at a speed of nearly 40,000 kilometers an hour. The flight to the Moon took three days. The astronauts orbited the Earth’s satellite three times. Then, Buzz Aldrin commenced the landing maneuver on to the dry Sea of Tranquillity. [radio chatter]
[man 1 on radio] Four forward. Drifting to the right a little. -[man2] 30 seconds. -[man 1] Forward drift. [man 2] Engines stopped. [man 2] Houston, the Eagle has landed. [Houston answering] We copy you down, Eagle. [Neil Armstring over radio] It’s one small step for man… …one giant leap for mankind.
-[man 3] But that looks beautiful to me. -[man 4] There you got it. [man 4] That’s a good step. It’s very pretty out here. Are you getting a pretty picture now, Houston? [narrator] A massive triumph. Or was it, in fact, nothing more than a giant con?
Bill Kaysing was the first to voice this suspicion. In 1976, he accused the government of having filmed the Moon landing on Earth. He was convinced that all the evidence for a landing, the photographs and footage, was manipulated. The flag, the footprints, nothing, he said, could have been photographed like that on the Moon.
And, in the Nevada desert, he intended to prove how easy it is to deceive people. After all, the terrain in the desert is very similar to that on the Moon. [camera clicks] Bill Kaysing took his own Moon photographs. And indeed, the material he produced bears a striking similarity to that presented by NASA.
So what is real, and what is fabrication? [camera clicks] [radio chatter] Was the triumphal return of the Apollo Eleven heroes merely part of a gigantic deception? To pull it off, the US government and NASA would have had to act as a giant secret organization. [siren] And if it had,
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin were wrongly celebrated as heroes. Marian Füssel has come to Munich to investigate the accusations levelled by critics of NASA and clear up matters 40 years after man, allegedly, first landed on the Moon. In 1993, Ulrich Walter from Munich Technical University was himself an astronaut.
He spent ten days in space carrying out scientific experiments. Today, Walter is Professor of Space Technology at the university. Month after month, Ulrich Walter receives hundreds of letters all asking the same question: Did the Americans really land on the Moon? Even today, countless people still believe
That they were duped by the Apollo 11 mission, even though NASA’s film and photographic material has been studied in great detail. [Walter speaking German] [Füssel in German] The theory of a conspiracy involving a faked lunar landing already received support in the 1970s,
Because of the Cold War climate and also because of the mistrust within America through Watergate and various other affairs. People could imagine the government, in this case NASA, doing absolutely everything to dupe the people. [narrator] Puzzle number one… Why are there no stars visible on the photographs? Puzzle number two…
Why is there no crater to be seen under the landing module’s propulsion unit. Puzzle number three… Why are the astronauts seen exiting the capsule brightly lit while the rest of the landing module is in shadow? Puzzle number four… Why is the American flag fluttering even though there is no wind on the Moon?
Those questions had already irritated a sceptic Bill Kaysing. In 1976, he published his concerns in a book, and earned a lot of money from it. What Kaysing began runs continuously through the story of this accusation of fraud. Conspiracy theorists have come up with new suspicions time and again.
But at the center of every dispute are the photographs that were taken on the Apollo mission to the Moon, or taken elsewhere. Ulrich Walter knows every detail of the photographs. He believes he can refute every single objection. The former astronaut is certain that every American Moon landing was totally bona fide.
Even though many people might find the idea of human beings walking around on another celestial body simply inconceivable. [Walter speaking German] [Walter in German] There’s a simple reason why the stars are not visible on certain photographs. With a really bright motif you have to close the aperture.
So, since the light from the stars is extremely weak, on some photographs they are no longer visible. [narrator] That’s also why the astronaut in the shade appears brightly lit. The Moon’s surface reflects sunlight. And what about the missing crater?
[Walter] A crater can only be created if there is scree under the landing module. But the surface of the Moon is relatively firm and covered with a layer of dust roughly two centimeters thick. So when the module landed the gases blew away the dust.
If the substrate hadn’t been fairly firm, the astronauts couldn’t have walked on it. That’s why there’s no crater visible. [narrator] And why is the flag fluttering? [Walter speaking German] One of the astronauts took the flag and stuck it in the ground. To drive it in firmly he moved it to and fro.
The shaking made the flag wave and this was interpreted as fluttering in the wind. [narrator] Marian Füssel does not doubt that the American Moon landing was genuine. It’s something else that troubles him. The fact that this conspiracy theory simply won’t go away, despite all the arguments against it.
Many people still find the Moon landing incomprehensible, along with many other things, too. [Füssel in German] Conspiracy theories will probably be around for as long as mankind is. That’s because they have more to do with what people believe than with what they know. They can’t be refuted with counter-evidence or counter-arguments
Because anyone prepared to believe a conspiracy theory will not be put off, let alone convinced, by them. That is probably the true power of a conspiracy: the fact that it simply cannot be eradicated. [narrator] In an age in which people find it hard to orient themselves, fantasies involving an explanation of the world
Are gratefully seized upon. Some people believe they are merely the playthings of dark forces, lied to by those whose structures they cannot peer into: the Church, governments, and secret societies. No conspiracy theory is so far-fetched that it cannot be spread world-wide. In fact, the more far-fetched it is,
The more likely people are to find it credible. Subtitle translation by: Magdalena Brnos
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