Customer Reviews
Very comprehensive - By: Mr. W. P. Pearce, 29 Dec 2008 
Having read many books on Auschwitz & the holocaust this is an excellent summary of what went on.
It covers all aspects of the horror that went onin enough detail for the casual viewer & the use of original film was well used if not at times valuably disturbing.
Well done on a very well & documented production. My only (minor) criticism could be that some of the chapters are not totally aparant & maybe it should have continued as a complete episode. Do not let this put you off as the Computer Graphics make up for the reality.
The interview with the SS man is equal to disgusting as it is revealing.
A staple viewing for all secondary schoolchildren - By: Koshmar_61, 11 Dec 2008 This DVD series epitomises the best of the BBC - flawless, direct & watchable documentary film-making.
When John Logie Baird first produced his television many moons ago, this is what he must have dreamed that his invention would be best put to use for - not the detritusin the Big Brother house, nor the sham of X Factor.
However, without coming over all pompous about social tastes, let me underline the main point of this review - this product should be seen by everyone at least once. This, & probably Spielberg's "Schindler's List". The imagination of man cannot reproduce the horror & sheer disgust committed by men & women to their fellow human beings just a little over 60 years ago. This is a monument to those dark deeds, & once seen will never be forgotten.
The BBC should take a closer look at its scheduling & make a promise to transmit this every year - & all schools should show it unerringly. German schoolchildren are constantly taught of those dark awful days, wein this country - as a valiant fighter against the evils of Nazism - should ensure the same practice.
The current rise of the extreme right throughout Europe & the world should serve as a timely reminder of what happenedin 1933 & continued through to 1945. Let me put this subtly - anyone who dares contemplate voting BNP or even UKIP should watch this & reconsider their values very carefully. As Srebrenica, Darfur & Kosovo prove beyond doubt, it seems as a race we never learn from the lessons of history.
Watch this, weep, & remember...
A great documentary about the worst place in the world - By: , 23 Oct 2008 I watched this programme while it was coming out & found it gripping viewing. Impeccably researched & sensitively presented, it is TV history at its finest.
Nothing can prepare you for what Auschwitz is like. I visited itin November 1996 with my wife. Camp I is grim, but the way a deserted hospital or minimum security prison is grim. You know that terrible things happened there, but it's a bit hard to imagine it. Camp II, however, is an awful place. The day we visited, the weather was chilly but dry & the sky was lightly overcast. The sheer size of the site is mind-boggling - it seems to go on to the horizon. The remaining barracks are as cold inside as they are outside, because the walls do not touch either the ground or the roof. You realise that it was truly a place where people were not supposed to live.
"Auschwitz" is an excellent account of the camp's origin, growth & eventual dissolution. It should be shownin schools.
The most incredible place on earth - compelling viewing - By: Diane Burke, 12 Sep 2008 Auschwitz should be included on the list of places a person should see before they die. Why? Well, despite it looking inhospitable & at certain times of the year, cold & hostile - it is also the place where one man tried to wipe an entire race of people off the face of the earth & given the number of people he targeted, it could be said he very nearly succeeded.
Yes, there are those out there who say Stalin & Mao killed many many more people but are there monuments to that today? In China, I would doubt it. The Nazis certainly did their best to wipe out the crematoria by blowing them up but what remains is a place where birds will not sing & screams could probably be heard from every place.
The BBC did an incredible job on this programme with their computer enhanced images & the role playing to allow the viewer to become more involvedin the story telling. What amazed me was that there were people who actually managed to escape & live to tell the tale. However, was there any retribution to this? Who can say - but it is chilling viewing coupled with excellent research by Laurence Rees. Samuel West's narrative is very well done - how he must have felt reading the text & keeping his emotionsin check, I cannot imagine.
My 2nd year history teacher told us of her trip to Auschwitz when I was a 14 year oldin 1978. It was she who told us of the lack of birdsong. That image has never left me.
For those who care about man's inhumanity to man - this is a must see.
Should be shown in every school... - By: S. KETTLEWELL, 06 Jul 2008 The eye witness accounts including confessions of some of the SS guards & 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 asin 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.
