Initially, the young Henry Kissinger found himself in this extraordinary melting pot of young men in training camps that were spartan, to put it mildly.

[Kissinger] I thought it was a tremendous experience.

Not every minute of which I enjoyed, but I now think it was one of the most important experiences of my life.

I had never met any really native born Americans.

And these people from the Midwest were very tolerant and friendly.

I got to know America a a result of serving in the Army.

Kissinger lands in France five months after D-Day in November 1944.

And someone clearly recognizes his linguistic talents.

And he's put into the counterintelligence part of the 84th Infantry Division.

It's not long after D-Day that Kissinger finds himself in one of the great battles of the war in Europe, the Battle of the Bulge.

The 84th is trapped in a Belgian town, Marche-en-Famenne.

And Kissinger works in the courthouse with the general and other staff, monitoring everything and helping to organize the defense of the town.

It was especially dangerous for Kissinger because, as a German Jew by birth, he risked execution if he were captured.

After the Battle of the Bulge, the 84th Infantry Division heads towards the city of Hannover, where they come across Ahlem concentration camp.

And it is a horrendous place.

[Reporter] Out of a thousand Polish men brought here ten months prior to April 1945.

Only 200 remain.

Prisoners who could walk were removed before American troops entered Hannover.

The others were left to starve and die.

Horrified, they radioed to the headquarters which is where Kissinger is.

And he drives up.

And they come into this camp and Kissinger is just staggered by it.

[Reporter] When questioned.

Most of these men could not remember when they'd last eaten a decent meal.

Many had been beaten and tortured so long their minds had failed.

My father descrbed his experience liberating the Ahlem concentration camp as something that words could not entirely communicate.

The power of knowing that it couldve been him.

in that camp.

That stays with Henry Kissinger.

It was an illustration, for him, that strength was an unavoidable facet of resisting evil.

That the attempt to deal with evil through compromise sometimes was not enough.

The Kissingers are not spared the Holocaust in Germany.

Kissinger loses 13 members of his family in the Holocaust.

And I think for Kissinger it generated a deep pessimism about the idea that norms and rules are going to protect you.

Really, at the end of the day, the only thing thats going to protect you is power.