A Filmmaker's Review: "Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution" (BBC, 2005)

A documentary created by the BBC to showcase the lives of the survivors of the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was first broadcast in 2005 and is now available on Netflix and other sites to view. It is a six-part documentary series that concentrates on the formation, building, usage and realisation of the Auschwitz death camp and from the survivors telling their tales of pain and torment to an surviving SS Officer who is haunted by his own ignorance and even to love stories which evolved between prisoner and officer in the death camp - this documentary shows us the interior of Auschwitz like we have never seen before. I bet they did not teach you about any of this stuff in school. It is absolutely heartbreaking.

One new thing I have to say I learnt was just how many countries were in on the situation at Auschwitz in some way, shape or form. Even England were aware of the fact that the place was a prison - though we are unaware of whether they knew it was a death camp or not. When England signed over two Jews to the death camp, I was shocked to learn that my own country would do such a terrible thing with little knowledge of what was happening to its own people. Canada, on the other hand, were completely aware that Auschwitz was a death camp and so, many of the Jewish folk escaped there to work in the Canadian factories etc. in order to not be executed. This part of the documentary is told to us by the survivors of the camp, those who had moved to Canada and those who had witnessed just how many dead bodies there were. One man explains how they, the Jewish folk, were made to clean the execution chamber of bodies before the next group went in. Then, you get to see some of the most horrific footage you’d ever see in your life - bodies upon bodies all over the ground.

Survivors of Auschwitz tend to talk about the people they lost there and it is heartbreaking to know that a lot of them were children. When we get into the depths of the documentary, it is relying heavily on its emotional output which is possibly for the best. I do not think I have ever met someone who has watched a documentary about the Jews in World War 2 and has not either cried or been completely disgusted by what they went through.

But, my only criticism is about when it comes to the executions at the trials after the war is over. The only mention of the executions altogether as a whole is once in the six-part documentary when it is stated just how many were arrested, charged and put to death. The other part that it is mentioned in is when the documentary talks about a particular Nazi and whether they were executed after the war. I think that these talks on those who were executed after the war seem to make the trials look like a good thing whereas, in reality, they couldn’t have gone more wrong. In my opinion, I would’ve felt like it would be more emotional and angering to the audience if the documentary would’ve set aside maybe half an hour for which guards were actually arrested and charged, imprisoned and executed in comparison to how many people actually worked at Auschwitz. It would’ve really provided some key information to the documentary.

All in all, the documentary was an extremely emotional look at one of the greatest demonstrations of inhumanity in history. Another thing it concentrates on which the audience would enjoy is the strength of the Jewish folk who were there. Those who survived and those who died - it did not show them as people who took it laying down and in one section they actually revolt against the Nazis. It is truly a documentary packed full of three dimensional looks at the situation and from each angle, it is an absolute travesty. From the interviews to the flashback scenes, the photographs and the footage of the dead, this documentary will absolutely break your heart and make you see exactly how bad this era really was for humanity.