A Masterpiece!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's a very well done documentary but I feel it's one sided. All the script writers and experts have made plenty of programs on the same subject and have just refined the shock horror aspect and made it user friendly.A far more balanced documentary is Hitler, The Greatest Story Never Told. Watch both before you review anything, There are certainly two sides to every story. A lot of the Jewish people interviewed in this program have made a living out of their experiences and believe me they have changed a lot over the years. The authors are Jewish as well so a fair documentary would be impossible to obtain.Still great viewing, I enjoyed it but it kind of spoils it when you know a lot of it has been altered for TV viewing.

This series of films is a masterpiece. It's as simple at that. How one has been able to make an in depth and gruesomely precise dramatized film on such a black hole in human history is beyond me. But they have succeeded. The film is very precise, very direct, and, very honest. It tells the story of human beings at their worst. Sometimes one may want to stop the film, knowing what is going to come next, but something forces you to go on. It's like a powerful magnet, you can not stop watching. What makes this film worth while, is the way it has been built up for the viewer. It explains in clear precise words and pictures what had to be done in the Nazi state if you belonged to the chain of command in the SS organization. Most people don't realize it today, but many SS higher commanders where academically schooled in private life. Some where lawyers or doctors, others where economists or engineers. These men were intellectuals. The shocking trues is, that the SS was an intellectual elite bent into a warped idea of supremacy with no holds barred. This film makes you look at these cold hard facts. How in peacetime respectable men, became in wartime beasts and cold blooded murders. This film tells us something about...ourselves.

I watched a lot of documentaries about the Nazi state recently. My purpose is to understand the events, the effects, that led to this horrendous massacre. This one is definitely one of the best in depth analysis and reconstruction of events. The main cause, everyone should watch these films beyond remembering, is that we still live in the system which produced the radical nationalist party that rose to power and destroyed 55 million people. Stupidity and despair hand in hand can go farther we can imagine. A lot of us think it can't happen again. But it can and is happening. No one can question the importance of these films ever. They should air this on every national television and then the people should be more aware, what it means when radicals march in uniforms on our streets as it happened not long ago in my country. Uniforms are banned, but that happened in Germany as well before they seized power. The threat is alive!A lot of witnesses testify in this film, about the brutal truth. You may feel how crazy and surreal it all was. But the people who took part in the genocide felt justified to do it. And they thought they doing the right thing. If you want to understand in depth how it happened you may get closer by watching this film. Highly recommended!

This documentary is probably the most incise ever made on Auschwitz and the final solution. From it's humble inception as a detainment center to the camps vast expansion as history's largest killing machine, no detail has been omitted. Featured are archival footage of the camp along with reenactments based on historical documentation and eyewitness testimony from inmates and guards alike. Computer generated images show in frightening detail every aspect of the attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. At five hours in length, many will consider the film far too long. However if you are searching for a fact filled account of how this and the entire concentration camp system was operated, then this epic should be watched. This feature is narrated by actress Linda Hunt in a matter of fact monologue, but the images presented are what hold your attention. In the beginning, Auschwitz was constructed by Russian POW's, most of whom perished in the effort. It was built in an obscure corner of Poland along the rail line between Krakow and Vienna. It was surrounded by such solitude, that SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler considered establishing a sub-headquarters there. As the war progressed the final solution loomed ahead and Auschwitz was chosen as a operations center for developing an efficient method of killing over 11,000,000 Jews within the Reichs borders. After several attempts it was decided that cyanide based poison gas was the most economical way of committing mass murder and soon trains were rolling into Auschwitz on a regular basis. Gas chambers were quickly constructed along with crematoria to handle the vast number of victims. By 1944 the war had turned decisively against Germany and the Red Army was soon advancing into Poland. The Nazis increased the rate of killing and even extended the rail lines so that the trains arrived right at the gas chambers. One aspect of the war exposed in detail, was how the Allies, though fully aware of the camp, refused to bomb even the rail lines leading to it. Former inmates recount how they witnessed bombers flying overhead, only to have their hopes dashed when nothing happened.We are also introduced to the rogues gallery who kept the camp running. SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Rudolf Hoess was the commandant, who kept the machinery of murder running virtually until the Russians were at the gates. Several guards are also interviewed, none of whom have any remorse for their actions or corruption. The movie concludes with the execution of Hoess and several of his underlings. By then the viewer is left both spellbound and speechless.