Third Reich is a 2 part documentary from the History Channel. HC has a justly deserved reputation for producing less than stellar doc's on history related themes. Either they are too generalized or sometimes just plain wrong, perpetuating long held quasi myths about their subjects. On occasion though they produce something above average, and in my opinion this is one. This doc appears once or twice a year on the HC and might be remembered by the recurring line "if you were German in". Part one is titled 'The Rise' and covers up to the Munich crisis, Part two 'The Fall' take the story to the end of the war. While much footage is common, the use of home movie films from common German's elevates this doc. Another plus is the use of stories form 'ordinary' German's to illustrate the rise and fall of not only the Nazi's, but of those depicted. This is not a comprehensive account of WW II or even the European war as a whole but a sometimes lyrical look at the war from the German perspective, without becoming a 'fan boy' account that offers a context to the subject. It doesn't shy away from the crimes or its impact on German's, victims's, perpetrators and those caught in between.