BBC - Auschwitz The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (2005) Part 4 Corruption (April 1943-March 1944)

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 4 Corruption (April 1943-March 1944)

In 1943, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp had over 40 sub-camps. Most of them housed forced laborers for armaments and other industrial companies - a lucrative source of income for the Nazis. Corruption is rampant. At the same time, Mengele made his cruel human experiments on concentration camp prisoners. “Corruption” reveals why Auschwitz was unique in the Nazi state as the only site that was both a concentration and an extermination camp. The reason was simple-money. At Auschwitz, the Nazis wanted to kill “useless mouths” instantly and work stronger prisoners to death as slave laborers in places like the nearby IG Farben factory. Meanwhile, the SS profited from the belongings of those they killed. By 1943, life was good for many of the SS. Eyewitness accounts recall how those in power at Auschwitz lined their pockets with wealth stolen from Jewish inmates while also engaging in illicit affairs-so much so, that in the summer of 1943, an investigation was launched into corruption in the camp and the commandant was removed. Elsewhere, individuals and nations are finding ways to resist the spread of deportations. Denmark, for example, is able to protect its Jewish population from Auschwitz.

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