This BBC six-episode documentary film series presents the story of Auschwitz and the Holocaust through interviews with former inmates and guards and re-enactments. The first episode explores the beginnings of Auschwitz, and how the camp was originally intended for a purpose very different from that of the genocide of the Jews.
Originally a Prisoner of War camp for Soviet soldiers, SS Commander Rudolf Hoss oversaw the transition of Auschwitz from a political camp to a place to murder thousands of people. In the Autumn of 1941,the Nazis were about to embark on the most crucial few months in the planning of what they called 'The Final Solution' - the extermination of the Jews.
ln 1942 through an horrific process of trial and error these Nazis created something entirely new in History - killing factories capable
of murdering millions. With the increase in killing at Auschwitz and nearby Treblinka, people are showing tremendous courage, like German officer Albert Battel risking his life to save detainees.
In the fourth episode of the series, eyewitnesses recall how those in power at Auschwitz lined their pockets with wealth stolen from Jewish inmates while also engaging in illicit affairs.
