Synopsis:
Auschwitz was the site of the largest mass murder the world has ever seen. This landmark, 6-part series charts the evolution of the camp and the mentality of the perpetrators, and shows how the place related to the Nazis overall campaign of extermination. Written and produced by award-winning filmmaker Laurence Rees, and using new research, the series offers a unique perspective on the camp in which more than one million people were ruthlessly murdered.
- Surprising Beginnings: tells of the camp's early days and how it was originally intended for a very different purpose than the murder of the Jews.
- Orders and Initiatives: tells of the lengths travelled to in trying to reach the orders of 'the final solution', and how despite claims that they were only following orders, many of the perpetrators were conscious of their actions. The film includes the first television interview with one such person.
- Factories of Death: looks at the increasing efficiency of the exterminations at Auschwitz and Treblinka, and the widening field of capture for Jews, including France and the British Channel Islands.
- Corruption: tells the story of the widespread corruption by SS officers at Auschwitz, taking valuables from the bodies of those gassed and having affairs with prisoners, and the even more corrupt way in which this was handled.
- Frenzied Killing: as the scale of the fight heated up, so did the killing, with the entrance of Adolf Eichmann into Hungary and the liquidation of the gypsy camp at Auschwitz.
- Liberation and Revenge: tells the story of the chaos following the liberation of the camps, as Nazis escape into hiding and Jews struggle to find somewhere to settle, some forming avenging groups.
Synopsis:
Auschwitz was the site of the largest mass murder the world has ever seen. This landmark, 6-part series charts the evolution of the camp and the mentality of the perpetrators, and shows how the place related to the Nazis overall campaign of extermination. Written and produced by award-winning filmmaker Laurence Rees, and using new research, the series offers a unique perspective on the camp in which more than one million people were ruthlessly murdered.
- Surprising Beginnings: tells of the camp's early days and how it was originally intended for a very different purpose than the murder of the Jews.
- Orders and Initiatives: tells of the lengths travelled to in trying to reach the orders of 'the final solution', and how despite claims that they were only following orders, many of the perpetrators were conscious of their actions. The film includes the first television interview with one such person.
- Factories of Death: looks at the increasing efficiency of the exterminations at Auschwitz and Treblinka, and the widening field of capture for Jews, including France and the British Channel Islands.
- Corruption: tells the story of the widespread corruption by SS officers at Auschwitz, taking valuables from the bodies of those gassed and having affairs with prisoners, and the even more corrupt way in which this was handled.
- Frenzied Killing: as the scale of the fight heated up, so did the killing, with the entrance of Adolf Eichmann into Hungary and the liquidation of the gypsy camp at Auschwitz.
- Liberation and Revenge: tells the story of the chaos following the liberation of the camps, as Nazis escape into hiding and Jews struggle to find somewhere to settle, some forming avenging groups.