Nat Geo Channel Inks Global Presale for HITLER'S DEATH ARMY: DAS REICH

By: Caryn Robbins Jun. 17, 2015

National Geographic Channel today announced it has acquired the worldwide rights to Hitler's Death Army: Das Reich (2x60), from factual distributor ZED. THE SPECIALS will air later this year in over 170 countries and in 43 languages.

Using unprecedented, re-colourised HD footage, this two-part documentary plunges the audience into the horror and chaos of the final year of WWII. The film looks back at the last year of the infamous Panzer elite division - Das Reich - best known for its mass murders on the Eastern front.

Called by Hitler to push the Allies back into the Atlantic, the SS division - with 15,000 men and more than 200 tanks - took six days to reach Normandy from the south of France, conducting VICIOUS reprisals and massacres of civilians along their way.

Produced by Nilaya Productions (Patricia Boutinard Rouelle), directed by Michaël Prazan, the film has been broadcast by France 3 and Arte, attracting 1,311,000 viewers (ARTE) and 2,300,000 viewers (France 3). For ARTE, it is the second largest audience of the year for its documentary slot.

With a total budget of over 1.1 million dollars, Hitler's Death Army is an ambitious project in content and in style. ZED has completed additional financing by closing deals with Smithsonian Canada, Radio Canada and ZED has released the DVD in French-speaking Europe.

This is the third prime time history program that ZED has presold to National Geographic Channel in the past two years, with Sacrifice D-Day by CC&C and Frédéric Lumière and Hitler's Last Year produced by Cinétévé.

Image courtesy of ZED