World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West

World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West is a 2008 six-episode BBC/PBS documentary series on the role of Joseph Stalin and German-Soviet relations before, during, and after World War II, created by Laurence Rees and Andrew Williams.

It carries new controversial material from the Soviet archives that became available to the public only after the end of the Soviet Union. Each episode lasts approximately one hour and features reenactments of the situations subject.

Background
The 2008 film combines narrative-led documentary segments interwoven by dramatic re-enactments with actors representing main political figures of the period. The original narrative voice-over was performed by Samuel West, while Keith David, a veteran of Ken Burns's PBS series, narrates the American version. Joseph Stalin is portrayed by Alexei Petrenko, Winston Churchill, by Paul Humpoletz, and Franklin D. Roosevelt by Bob Gunton.

The series delves into such matters as the British, American, and Soviet cover-up of the Katyn Forest Massacre; Churchill's agreement at Yalta that Stalin should keep his gains of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, including Poland's prewar Kresy (eastern borderlands); the Polish population transfers (1944–1946); and the betrayal or persecution of figures such as Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and John H. Noble. The British historian Laurence Rees did the research compilation and the lead writing for the series, and the drama was directed by Andrew Williams.

Cast

 * Aleksei Petrenko as Joseph Stalin
 * Bob Gunton as Franklin D. Roosevelt
 * Paul Humpoletz as Winston Churchill
 * Ziyad Abou Chair as Adolf Hitler
 * Michael J. Reynolds as George C. Marshall
 * Simon Thorp as Anthony Eden
 * Valery Zhakov as Vyacheslav Molotov
 * Krzysztof Dracz as Lavrentiy Beria
 * Richard Alleman as Harry S. Truman

Companion book
Rees, Laurence (2008). World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West. Barnes & Nobles Publishing. ISBN 978-0-307-37730-2.