Hannes Schuler

Glanz und Elend deutscher Zarinnen

Between love madness, scandals, intrigue and happiness - the stories of German princesses on the Russian tzar's throne were shaped by strokes of fate. Princess Charlotte of Prussia was married on exactly her 19th birthday in 1817 with the future Russian Tsar. She joined a long line of German princesses at the Tsar's court, beginning with Catherine the Great and extending to the last Russian Empress. 200 years later, her descendant Maria in St. Petersburg is searching for the traces of these German women.

The Emperor's Lost Harbour

In the heart of a metropolitan city of 15 million people and among the construction of a new billion-dollar transportation network, an archaeological sensation has been discovered: the ancient harbour of Theodosious, lost from the history books for over 1000 years.

Hitler's Museum

One and a half years before the begin of the Second World War during the annexation of Austria in March of 1938, Hitler conceived the megalomaniac idea of creating the largest European art center in his home town of Linz. At the beginning of the war on the 1st of September 1939, not only did his armies advance but also his art thieves began to fan out in their great foray of art plundering; an expedition on a previously unheard of scale began. Not only did the task forces of diverse National Socialist organizations pillage the occupied countries; Nazi bigwigs like Goering also took whatever they felt was valuable. This documentary includes the long and eventful journey of an exceptional masterpiece of European art: the Ghent Altar, created by van Eyck.