Encore Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV + Sunday, Feb. 20 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2
—Film Details a Nazi Plot That Is Almost Too Unbelievable to be True—
In addition to their monstrous ideas on the future of the human race, the German Nazi party also attempted to take control of the animal kingdom. “Hitler's Jurassic Monsters” brings to light the Third Reich’s confounding plan to recreate the primeval forests of Germanic folklore, complete with breeds of long-extinct beasts. Started as a private project between two zoologist brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck, the plot was embraced by the Nazi party after the two befriended Hitler’s second-in-command, Hermann Göring.
The two creatures they focused upon were auroch (a super-sized, wild and violent breed of cattle) and tarpan (the wild and aggressive ancestor of the modern horse). The area the Nazis earmarked for this project was the Bialowieza forest in Poland, which was home to packs of wolves, the elusive Eurasian Lynx, the European moose, and some of the last surviving European bison. How close they were to completing their plan still remains a bit of a mystery to this day.
“Hitler's Jurassic Monsters” was acquired by American Public Television from Quickfire Media for syndication to public television stations nationwide.
