New TV series explores secret hideouts of Europe’s most notorious 20th-century dictators

From Adolf Hitler to Joseph Stalin, from Benito Mussolini to Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu, these dictators held the continent in their iron grip during the last century. But built below thesurface of their brutal regimes are numerous underground bunkers, secret tunnels and clandestine palaces, more than a match for anything Bond author Ian Fleming could have imagined.

Now a new six-part TV series explores six ruthless leaders’ hideouts. They include Stalin’s secret underground super bunkers in Moscow, Hitler’s clandestine Riese (meaning giant) headquarters in the Owl Mountains of what is now Poland, and Ceausescu’s People’s Palace in Bucharest.

Sky History’s fascinating new documentary also explores Enver Hoxha, often referred to as the “Hitler of Albania” and Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president who is still alive today and living in exile in a Moscow suburb.

Each episode delves into the dark confines of these megalomaniacs’ mega-projects during the Cold War era.

British author and editor of nine books on the Second World War, Guy Walters, contributed to the series.

He said: “It is the paranoia that leads these dictators to create hideouts.”

Author and historian of Germany and Eastern Europe Alexandra Richie said: “It was their obsession with defence that led to building of so many bunkers”, while Fathali Moghaddam, a professor of the psychology of war concludes “every dictator eventually loses touch with reality”.

ADOLF HITLER, POLAND

While Hitler’s bunker in Berlin is well known, less known are the miles of tunnels and chambers in a remote region of Poland codenamed Riese.

Countless Nazi prisoners were forced to dig the tunnels, creating a network of mega bunkers in what was Nazi Germany’s largest mining and construction project.

Excavation began in 1943, deep below Ksiaz Castle. More than just an HQ for Hitler it was intended to house mysterious labs to construct the atomic bomb.

JOSEPH STALIN, RUSSIA

Infamous for his bunkers constructed during the Second World War and throughout the Cold War, Stalin’s hideouts have maintained a shroud of secrecy for decades.

Now, for the first time, documents and a book banned in , unveil the mysteries of the “Man of Steel’s” Soviet-era shelters.

The documentary makers visit his unassuming dacha in Lipki, the sanctuary hidden in the forest in Sochi and they explore the Moscow metro system, where a clandestine second metro line connects numerous high-end bunkers for the USSR’s elite.

BENITO mussolini, ITALY

In Italy, Mussolini’s tenure had led to numerous disastrous defeats for Italy’s Fascists. As his losses mounted, the desperate “Duke” fled, jumping from one hideout to the next, desperate to find a base from which to survive WW2. His solution was to build a mega bunker in Monte Soratte near Rome so advanced that it would go on to act as a NATO base following Italy’s defeat.

Secret excavation work began on three miles of underground tunnels dug into the bowels of the mountain and reinforced with a layer of cement up to two metres thick.

Extending over 300m deep, the bunker had a water supply, a heating system, electric generator, sewers, radio communications, dormitories, kitchens and arms deposits.

But the elaborate complex, initially supposed to be nine miles long, was never completed because of the Italian capitulation.

ENVER HOXHA, ALBANIA

In Albania, Enver Hoxha drove his country into geopolitical isolation, further fueling his paranoid notions of an imminent invasion. His first plan, Bunkerisation, involved the mass construction of hundreds of thousands of bunkers throughout the country, allowing his citizens to wage guerilla warfare against the enemy he was sure would come.

Albania was driven to financial ruin due to mass expenditure needed for the project.

Yearning yet more security, Hoxha established the megabunkers BUNK’ART 1 and BUNK’ART 2, before building Corovoda, his mountain bunker – The Capital of War.

NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, ROMANIA

In the centre of Bucharest still stands a monolith that hides a grand secret. Casa Poporlui or People’s Palace, was the home of bloodthirsty dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu.

Immediately ballooning in both expense and scale, the palace, emblematic of his megalomania, resulted in billions wasted on a monolith so large and heavy that it sinks 6mm into the ground every year.

An anti-atomic super bunker underneath the palace was connected to a city-wide network of tunnels below its surface.

Viktor Yanukovych, UKRAINE

More recent is Viktor Yanukovych, ’s ousted fourth president and Putin puppet who fled to amid violent protests in 2014. His Mezhyhirya Residence north of Kyiv is now a museum showcasing a luxurious lifestyle at his people’s expense.

Dan Korn, of A+E Networks EMEA, who made the series, believes it is especially relevant today in light of the – war. He said: “With Europe once again plunged into conflict, it’s fascinating to look back at what these edifices and fortresses tell us about the mind-sets and paranoia of European rulers and tyrants of yesteryear.”

●Dictators’ Hideouts starts on Wednesday, 9pm, on Sky History.