politalX Politics Store - Auschwitz - The Nazis And The Final Solution
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List Price: £19.99
Our Price: £6.98
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
Directed By: Dominic Sutherland, Martina Balazova, Detlef Siebert
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5014503150525
Format: Box set
Label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: 2 Entertain Video
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2005-02-14
Running Time: 300
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
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Editorial Reviews:
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Combining rare footage with CGI illustrations and dramatic reconstructions, this documentary attempts to unfold the story and horrific ideologies behind the microcosmic Nazi State of Auschwitz.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Should be shown in every school...
Comment: The eye witness accounts including confessions of some of the SS guards and harrowing recollections of some of the survivors is shocking. What happened at Auschwitz wasn't just due to the Nazi participants but also to the collective blind eye that was the rest of Europe. I had never realised before that the camps could have been bombed but were not, or that other governments had refused refuge to the Jews trying to escape. I also now understand why this subject should never be forgotten or dismissed as having happened "in the past". Recent world events involving "ethnic cleansing" such as in Bosnia are reminders of how a "modern" cultured nation can still descend into this type of insane hell. This 6 part series should be shown to all school kids, as part of their curriculum.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrifying but essential viewing
Comment: Laurence Rees is one of the BBC's outstanding historical documentary producers and one of his principal interests is the havoc wrought in Europe by Hitler and his henchmen. Ten years ago, he gave us the six-part series "The Nazis, A Warning from History". This series, homing in on one aspect of Nazism, was broadcast on the BBC around the time of the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz' liberation by the Red Army in January 1945. When it was broadcast I was unable to tear myself away from the screen and I seized a copy of the 2-DVD set as soon as I saw it in the shops.
The series mixes actual footage, interviews with victims and perpetrators and computer generated images of the two main camps (the "administration centre" at the confluence of the Sola and Vistula rivers in Auschwitz itself and the later Auschwitz-Birkenau some 3km away, where most of the mass murder took place).
Rees, ably supported by series consultant Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, traces the story of Auschwitz from its beginnings in April 1940 to its liberation in January 1945. They show how its development was a reaction to different Nazi priorities as World War II progressed. It was only after the infamous Wannsee conference in January 1942 that it developed as an extermination camp, but throughout its life it was a centre for Polish political prisoners, Russian prisoners of war and only later did it become a death camp as well.
It is one thing to watch old, blurred black and white pictures and scratched films, but quite another to follow a CGI image through the dimly-lit changing rooms into an underground gas chamber, one of the four that were the final destination for over a million victims of Auschwitz. This is disturbing viewing, definitely not for the faint hearted, but neither should it be ignored if we are to avoid repeating this black episode in recent history.
One thing that struck me was a CGI view of the yard between blocks 10 and 11 of the main camp, the so-called "death yard". I watched the DVD to remind myself of Rees's comments a few days after a visit to Krakow in March 2007. During that visit I took the 60km or so journey to Auschwitz and was able to pause my DVD player at that stage, point to a particular spot on the screen and say "I stood right there a few days ago". That brought it home to me that this is living history.
At times frightening, at times heartbreaking, but always completely riveting.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good but flawed
Comment: Like other reviewers I found this a must watch series and was gripped by it. However as I have studied the holocaust over many years I was horrified to see the manipulation of various aspects withing this series. If you saw The Nazis-A Warning From History, you would be expecting hard fact only in this series but oh no we get speculation and pandering to the myth of the gas chambers. I will be precise. One statement in voice over talks about the design and functionality of the gas chamber at Auschwitz. He said 'no plans exist of the gas chamber but if they did it would look something like this. Pardon? Read this statement again and like me you will start to question a lot of content in this otherwise tremendous series. I am not a holocause denier but as a jewish friend of mine once said on the subject 'we would be better off if we started with hard facts on the matter' Auschwitz was a terrible place where unimaginable things were done against many jews and others of course. But if you start to research the whole thing you begin to find more questions than answers. This series is however a must see but unlike one other reviewer having seen this programme I decided NOT to visit the place as I would lose my respect and compassion for the whole subject.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Auschwitz - final solution
Comment: A very indepth and informative DVD.
Just thought that with a 295mt documentary, we could have done with better b&w footages rather than reconstructions.
Also felt it could have been compiled in about 90-120 mts iso 245.
However, excellent BBC documentary, as always!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unrivalled masterpiece
Comment: Many documentaries exist regarding the concentration and extermination camps but not many have Sir Ian Kershaw as the script writer. To have the world's authority on the Nazi state work on such a project speaks volumes for its quality.
This 6 part series focusses on the emergence of Auchwitz as a detention centre for political prisoners and eventually its transformation as a killing centre for the Jews of eastern europe. It's flawless in it's design and presentations. Even the music used at times, for me in particular, the Symphony of Sorrowful songs, really hit home the gravity of the whole thing.
The series used computer technology to recreate the gas chambers and crematoria with striking accuracy. These reconstructions are based around documents only recently found. This part in particular I found fascinating. It is one thing to look at maps of Auschwitz in books, but quite another to be taken on a virtaul tour down dimly lit corridors to a huge gas chamber.
Interviews are given from a huge variety of people ranging from SS guards who (allegedly) did not like working at Auschwitz, Polish prisoners, Jewish prisoners, Slovakian guards, gypsies and Soviet prisoners.
Some of the stories the people interviewed tell are genuinly moving, such as the story of the SS guard who fell in love with a Jewish woman (interviewed) and his determination to save her sister for her but unfortunatly could not save the children. The Jewsih woman expresses that she hated the guard but eventually admits she loved him for what he did and gave evidence on his defence at his post war trial. Another story was of a Nazi official who, upon realising the ghetto was to be liquidated, hid as many Jews as he could, and actually risked his life by driving into the ghetto with trucks and simply driving the Jews elsewhere. He is now remembered in the Avenue of the Righteous in Jerusalem. Such acts of humanity among the seemingly endless stories of evil stick with the viewer.
Other stories made me wonder about the mentaility of those telling them. Some, such as the Slovakian guard, show no remorse at their past deeds and even smirk while telling their stories. Their defense 'they were convinced that the Jews deserved it'. Sickening, but nonetheless represents the mentaility of the perpetrators. We will never understand their actions, but their comments show their pattern of thought.
This series also made cry at times. In particular the Jewish woman who claimed the worst part of what she had to deal with was going home. She claimed that the thought that some day she might go home gave her the drive to survive, but when it finally did happen, it was the worst thing she had to deal with as her home was no longer hers, and the town's inhabitants were as hostile to her as the Nazis were. Another story was one of Dr Mengele's twin children used for experimentation who remembered being liberated by the Soviet Army and being given chocolate. She said that they soliders also attempted to cuddle them and that meant more than anything because they had been starved of love for so long.
The footage of tiny children going to the gas chambers, or going to Dr Mengele's labs was enough to make me sick to my stomach but as one of the Jewish men interviewed said 'this must not be forgotten. What happened must never be forgotten'. On a similar note, an ex-SS guard interviewed said the same thing. That the only reason he was apprearing was to emphasise that what happened at Auschwitz must be remembered so that it does not happen again.
What is so refreshing about this particular telling of Auschwitz's story is that almost every party involved has the chance to have their say. Too frequently such documentaries are obviously anti-German but this is not the case. It is unbiased and broad in terms of verbal sources and also offers insights into the mind of Rudolph Hoess using his journals.
I could go on forever reviewing this series but to be honest, all that needs to be said is this in a very well written and presented piece of work. You will not find a broader ranging source for the development of Auschwitz anywhere. Nor will you find one created around the expert advice of Ian Kershaw.
Absolutely first class.
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