How Hitler Got That Mustache, and What Else We Learned From 'World Wars’

The World Wars portrait of Hitler Photo by Nigel Parry Copyright 2014

History's “The World Wars” begins with German soldiers in a trench, pulling gas masks over their faces. A skinny private with a bushy mustache finds that his mask won't seal because his whiskers are too thick. As soon as the gas clears, he takes out a knife to cut his mustache into a compact rectangle.

The little-known account of how Adolf Hitler got his strange mustache is only one of the surprising stories told in the series, which is Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction, Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.