Part one looks at how the SA, the Storm Detachment of the NSDAP, began as a group of thugs and criminals, many of whom had fought in World War I. This group helped Hitler rise to power after the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. The SS, originally Hitler's black shirted personal bodyguard regiment, was fiercely loyal to Hitler and soon became an elite and powerful group. Lead by former chicken-farmer Heinrich Himmler, the SS soon became more powerful than the SA. This episode also looks at the rising opposition Hitler faced from within the SA and the measures he took to eliminate this group. There are personal interviews with survivors and with those men who served the inhuman SS system.

When the "Third Reich" surrendered, Heinrich Himmler's elite order became the "Army of Outlaws". Some perpetrators are brought to trial and convicted by the Allies as war criminals, but some of the most wanted SS henchmen manage to escape abroad in a mysterious way... What became of the SS after the war? This question leads to an almost impenetrable web of Nazi legends and historical facts that sound so unlikely that one can hardly believe. Soon after the war ended, a mysterious organization "Odessa" — short for "organization of former SS members" — appeared in secret files of the American secret service. The fear is widespread that the elite of Nazi rule could re-form underground. How influential could this underground network be? This final episode features interviews with Nazi hunters Beate Klarsfeld, Ephraim Zuroff and Serge Klarsfeld; former members of the US secret service and army officers William Gowen, James Milano and Wolfgang Robinow and former SS members.