Auschwitz

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Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State makes for compelling viewing. It is divided into 6 chapters. The first chapter is titled "Surprising Beginnings" which basically introduces us to the origins of Auschwitz and how it was not initially designated as an extermination camp for Jews, but basically to house Polish political prisoners and later Russian POWs. In fact, the first gassing experiments in the camp were targeted at the Russian POWs.

In the second chapter "Orders and Initiatives", we learn of the plans of Hitler, Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich to kill the Jews on a massive scale. Auschwitz is prepped for this purpose by the construction of gas chambers and the use of Zyklon B, a form of poisonous gas that was initially used to exterminate vermin and a disinfecting agent. We also learn about the Lodz Ghetto and its infamous Jewish leader, Rumkowski who seemed a controversial character in oppressing his own people, though not spared death himself, in the end. The crude initial gas chambers at Auschwitz are also shown, in reconstructions.

In the third chapter "Factories of Death", the documentary explores how the systematic annihilation of the Jews was put into full operation, stretching all over Europe with Auschwitz being the center of extermination. The French authorities are also portrayed as being complicit in helping transport masses of Jews out of France to the "east". The other camps of death are also discussed such as Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor. It also mentions what happened to children of adult Jews who were sent off to work in the camps.

The fourth chapter "Corruption" focusses on the blatant appropriation of murdered Jews and other peoples' belongings and valuables for the use of the Third Reich. Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz himself was removed from his position under charges of corruption [though he would return later to oversee mass killing on an astronomical scale]. This chapter also mentions Dr Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor of death, and also about the setting up of a brothel in the camp. Most importantly, this episode also deals with the resistance against the Nazi oppressors, most famously the uprising in Sobibor.

The fifth chapter "Murder and Intrigue" deals with the playing out of international politics during the last nine months of 1944 and how nothing much was done by the Allies despite knowing by then that the jews and other innocents were being systematically and mechanically murdered by the Nazis. This was much to the detriment of the Hungarian Jews in particular, for they were deported to their deaths at a time where the gas chambers and crematoriums at Auschwitz in particular were operating at their optimum capacity. It also focusses on the Sonderkommando, the Jewish inmates who were forced to help process new arrivals designated for gassing, collecting their possessions, and disposing of their corpses.

The final chapter "Liberation and Revenge" deals with how the Nazis tried to conceal their atrocities towards the end of the war. It also covers some of the trials of the Nazi war criminals after the war, the impact of liberation on the surviving camp inmates etc.

Each chapter has at the end an interview between Linda Ellerbee with various personalities, mainly members of faculty of universities about the issues raised by each chapter.

The series is not only well-put together with the extensive research compiled, but also the reenactments of historical events with actors and actresses [which I felt enhanced the series and not detract from it], the computer generated graphics of the camps as they were [they are mainly ruins now], and also most importantly, the testaments of the survivors in the present. It is a truly heartwrenching experience to see and hear these brave souls relive their horrific memories of such a bleak period in the history of mankind. A must-watch. I would also recommend "Shoah", a documentary that has more testimonies by survivors on the horrors they endured during World War Two.

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