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Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution

Season 1
It was the site of the largest mass-murder the world has seen - yet few know its full horror. This landmark series builds into the most complete history of Auschwitz, the evolution of the camp and the mentality of its perpetrators. With the help of computer graphics, reconstructions and people who were there, including former SS members, the steps taken towards the 'Final Solution' are revealed.
20056 episodes
TV-14
Free trial of BBC Select

Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Surprising Beginnings
    January 10, 2005
    47min
    TV-14
    Over a million Jewish people died there - but Auschwitz was originally made for a different purpose. Part one of this landmark series looks at how the camp was first built to imprison and terrorize anyone who resisted Germany's occupation of Poland. But Auschwitz was expanded and became integral to the Nazis' 'Final Solution' - and is now a byword for the mass-murder of an ethnoreligious group.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  2. S1 E2 - Orders and Initiatives
    January 17, 2005
    48min
    TV-G
    By 1942, Auschwitz was established as a place to murder thousands of people - but the horrific Nazi regime demanded yet more killing at the camp. The second part of this landmark series looks at how the Germans involved Poland's Jewish Ghetto leadership in choosing who would go to Auschwitz to be murdered, and how commanders at the camp struggled to organize mass-murder on a terrible scale.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  3. S1 E3 - Factories of Death
    January 24, 2005
    48min
    TV-PG
    In 1942, events in northern Europe led to the largest number of annual killings in the 'Final Solution'. Part three of this landmark series looks at how France became the first Western country to deport its resident Jewish people to Auschwitz and the nearby Treblinka camp. As the murders increased, the likes of German officer Albert Battel risked his own life to save those of detainees.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  4. S1 E4 - Corruption
    January 31, 2005
    47min
    TV-G
    In 1943, life was good for those in power at Auschwitz. Many of the SS stole wealth from Jewish inmates as brothels were opened at the camps. Part four in the series also looks at physician Josef Mengele, who carried out horrific pseudo-scientific experiments on inmates at Auschwitz. He was particularly interested in children and twins, using them to research the power of genetic inheritance.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  5. S1 E5 - Frenzied Killing
    February 7, 2005
    48min
    TV-G
    1944 was the most frenzied period of killing in Auschwitz's grim history, with Germany's occupation of Hungary leading to the deportation of its Jewish people. This episode examines how the Western Allies considered bombing the camp, and Adolf Eichmann made an offer to one of the most politically involved members of the Jewish community - a million Jewish lives saved for providing certain goods.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  6. S1 E6 - Liberation and Revenge
    February 14, 2005
    47min
    TV-PG
    The final part of the series. On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. They were utterly shocked by what they saw: walking skeletons, remains of gas chambers and piles of human hair. The episode also follows the stories of Jewish people who sought revenge on the Nazis after the war ended, and a former SS garrison member who, near the end of his life, confronted Holocaust deniers.
    Free trial of BBC Select

Details

More info

Audio languages
English
Subtitles
English [CC]
Directors
Dominic SutherlandDetlef Siebert
Producers
Laurence Rees
Starring
Samuel West
Studio
BBC
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