BBC - Auschwitz The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (2005) Part 1 Surprising Beginnings (March 1940-September 1941)

Auschwitz represents a crime unique in human history. Hailed as one of the world's best documentaries ever, this 6-part BBC series tells the story of the Auschwitz Death Camp, site of the largest mass murder in history. 'Auschwitz and The Final Solution' leads the viewer on an unadorned and undisguised journey to the shocking horrors of the Second World War. Writer Laurence Rees and his team interviewed over 100 eyewitnesses, including former Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their story is brought to life through the use of archived footage, recreations of key moments, computer reconstructions based on recently discovered plans of the camp, and their testimony. The series follows the traces of the mass murder. It begins with the construction of Auschwitz as a concentration camp for Polish political prisoners and shows how it developed into the largest extermination camp during World War II. It explains the liberation of the camp by the Red Army in January 1945 and shows the fates of victims and perpetrators in the post-war period. Series combines the memories of victims and perpetrators with archive footage and very carefully staged drama reconstructions of many key scenes in the history of the camp. For the first time, the buildings of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex are reconstructed using the latest CGI computer animations. The animations are based on plans from the design offices that were confiscated after the end of the war, as well as eyewitness accounts and aerial photographs. They not only show the real Auschwitz, but also make it clear with which visions the Nazis set up the camp. “The name Auschwitz is quite rightly synonymous with horror,” says series producer Laurence Rees, “but the problem with horror is that our natural reaction is to want to turn away from it.” The series still wants to show what happened. But it's not just about the shocking and unimaginable suffering of the victims. It also addresses the question of why the perpetrators acted the way they did. “I am convinced that feeling horror is not enough. We must also try to understand how such horror could have happened if we are to be able to prevent it from happening again in the future”, says Rees. Three years of intensive research preceded the filming. In the course of the production, survivors and perpetrators had their say in almost 100 interviews, many of whom spoke about Auschwitz in front of a camera for the first time. Many documents and plans that were used for the production have only been accessible since the archives in Eastern Europe were opened.

Part 1 Surprising Beginnings (March 1940-September 1941)

Auschwitz is the site of the greatest mass murder in human history. More than a million men, women and children were killed in the concentration camp. In order for the destruction machine to run efficiently, the methods were constantly being further developed. “Surprising Beginnings” sets the stage for the series and examines the radical increase in violence against all opponents of the Nazi state during this 18-month period. In particular, the program explores the importance of the German Army's invasion of the Soviet Union during the summer of 1941 and connects this campaign to the first gassing experiments in Auschwitz, Poland, which were aimed at Russian prisoners of war, not Jews.

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