Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (excerpt) – an apocalyptic finale for the Third Reich

In April 1945, as Berlin laid in ruins at the end of WW2, the Nazis chose to stage one extraordinary last concert.

The music was carefully chosen – a piece by Hitler’s favourite composer Richard Wagner, from the opera Götterdämmerung.

The immolation scene – depicting the world of the gods destroyed by fire – seemed a perfect mirror to the Third Reich as it too went up in flames.