'Clash of Futures' traces the history of Europe between the end of World War I in 1918 and the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. The series follows the fortunes of thirteen extraordinary men, women and children from France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden, Poland and the Soviet Union through their own diary entries, letters and memoirs. These persons include the communist Hans Beimler, the silent movie star Pola Negri, the later Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höß and the French anarchist May Picqueray.