Netherlands' Nazi Collaboration Files Spark Privacy Debate | Focus on Europe

Oct 23, 2025 | The Dutch National Archives hold records on 425,000 people who collaborated with the Nazis. What should be done with the files?

Brutal End of Jewish Nazi Collaborator & France’s Richest Man

Aug 19, 2025 | Narrator: Marchand Steenkamp.

About the story: Mandel Szkolnikoff was born on the 28th of January 1895 in the small town of Sharkawshchyna, today’s Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire. In the early 1930s, Mandel Szkolnikoff settled in France and changed his first name to Michel to disguise his Jewish background. In September 1934, he and his brother Gessel founded a company called Textima, which traded in second-hand and surplus fabrics. By 1936, Szkolnikoff had established himself in Paris, and was known locally as “Monsieur Michel.” Though his business appeared modest, he lived comfortably and drove a rare American luxury vehicle - a Cord automobile. Rumors circulated that Szkolnikoff also engaged in the trade of paintings and jewelry brought from Russia. Multiple convictions followed for fraud, illegal banking, and practising medicine without a license. In 1937, a court ordered his expulsion from France, but as a stateless Jew, the sentence could not be enforced. Placed under police surveillance, Szkolnikoff continued his operations, and in the final years before the outbreak of World War 2, his business flourished as he bought up stock from failing competitors, and supplied goods to major Parisian department stores. The Second World War started on the 1st of September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. As German occupation of France began, Mandel Szkolnikoff saw opportunity. While much of the population faced repression, hunger, and fear, he built a vast fortune by serving the Nazi war effort.

From Mudlarking to the German Occupation of Guernsey during WW2 as Told by the People Who Were There

Feb 13, 2022 | What was it like working for the Guernsey Secret Underground Press during the German occupation of WW2? What was it like as a child to steal potatoes from the Germans? What about the slave labourers building the fortifications?

In 2021 I had the opportunity to speak to 5 people who told me their stories. One of these people was Magda Royall, the daughter of Jerzy Mroch - a slave labourer, who fell in love with a Guernsey woman. Molly Bihet was 9 years old when the war started and she told me how life became increasingly difficult as time went on, with severe food shortages. Mary has gone on to write four books and you can find these at her website: The Channel Islands Occupation Society »

Mary Sim's parents worked for GASP - the Guernsey Secret Underground Press. Mary belongs to the Occupation Society and would love to hear from anyone if they have any stories relating to the Occupation or GASP.

Paris 1941 - Les Halles - Market - Occupation allemande - German Occupation

Jul 10, 2024 | A detailed visit to the Paris market district of Les Halles in 1941 during World War II and the German occupation. The scenes were filmed under the guidance of the occupying authorities and are considered propaganda material to show an excellent food supply and a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere in German-occupied France. The names of the producers Serge Griboff and Richard Chenay can be found in many documentary projects for the occupation authorities at the time.

Une visite approfondie du quartier parisien "Les Halles" en 1941 pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale et l'occupation allemande. Les scènes ont été filmées sous la direction des autorités d'occupation et sont considérées comme du matériel de propagande pour montrer pour montrer un excellent approvisionnement alimentaire et une atmosphère paisible et détendue dans la France occupée par l'Allemagne. Les noms des producteurs Serge Griboff et Richard Chenay se retrouvent dans de nombreux projets documentaires pour les autorités d'occupation de l'époque.

Ein ausführlicher Besuch im Paris Marktviertel Les Halles im Jahr 1941 während des Zweiten Weltkriegs und der deutschen Besatzung. Die Szenen wurden unter Anleitung der Besatzungsbehörden gedreht und gelten als Propagandamaterial. Die Aufnahmen sollen absolute Normalität ausstrahlen. Dazu gehört eine reiche Auswahl an Lebensmitteln sowie eine friedliche und entspannte Atmosphäre. Die Namen der Produzenten Serge Griboff und Richard Chenay und der Firma Nova Film finden sich damals in vielen Dokumentarfilmprojekten für die Besatzungsbehörden. Anfragen/requests:

Anfragen/requests: archiv@koelnprogramm.de archiv@koelnprogramm.de

How the Nazi Puppet Government Betrayed the French People | Nazi Collaborators | Documentary

Jun 21, 2024 | After the fall of France in 1940, the Vichy government was created to collaborate with their captors and was detested by the French people. Guilty of selling out their own people to the Nazi's and by actively participating in the holocaust, after the liberation of France these people were not treated well.

In France, German Time (1940 to 1944)

Jun 5, 2024 | The occupation and liberation of France, from 1940 to 1944, seen through the films and amateur photos of French and Germans, witnesses of these years of war. Told at a human level by those who experienced it - going beyond the stereotypical views that each camp has long had on the other - this story will be told through the films and family photos found on both sides of the border and commented on by the protagonists themselves.

How did the French, the French population (and not the French State) behave with the occupier? How did the German soldiers experience these 4 years in contact with the French?

Director: Serge de Sampigny

Nancy Wake - Gestapo's Most Wanted Resistance Fighter | Free Documentary History

May 5, 2021 | New Zealand-born Nancy Wake (1912-2011) was a wartime agent, commander and famously blunt raconteur who led a life of extreme adventure in the French resistance. She earned the nickname ‘The White Mouse’ when she hit the top of the Gestapo’s ‘most wanted’ list, but famously slipped through their net.

As a hunted resistance courier, Wake was forced to flee from occupied France in 1943, leaving her husband Henri Fiocca behind. She embarked on a life of excitement and danger as an agent in Churchill’s secret army, the Special Operations Executive.

Spectacular Colorized Film of the Beginning of the German Occupation of The Netherlands during WW II

Premiered Apr 23, 2023

1940-1944: When Paris Was German

Aug 23, 2022 | June 14, 1940, Wehrmacht troops enter Paris. This is the beginning of the occupation of the French capital, then relegated to the rank of an open city. The enemy will rule there for more than four years, until August 1944. Many things have been said and written about the daily life of the French during this very special period, made up of shortages, repressive measures and raids. But never on the side of the occupier... What about the German soldiers? How did they experience this period? What were their living conditions? Did they have contact with the French population?