Product Description

Movie DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3568 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2005-03-29
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, German, Hungarian, Polish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 300 minutes

Amazon.com
More than any previous documentary about the Holocaust, Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State reveals the inner workings of the Nazi implementation of Hitler's infamous "final solution." Drawing on the latest academic discoveries, this remarkable BBC series presents a wide-ranging, meticulously researched biography of the titular "killing factory" and its evolution into a highly efficient location for industrialized extermination of well over one million Jews, gypsies, and other so-called "mongrel races" between 1940 and 1945. From "Surprising Beginnings" to "Liberation & Revenge," the six-chapter program chronicles the gradual process that escalated into the Holocaust, focusing its expansive European timeline on the detailed movements of preeminent (and highly corruptible) Holocaust engineers like Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Höss, and "death doctor" Josef Mengele. Through painstakingly authentic reenactments of crucial meetings including the Wannsee Conference (where the "final solution" was secretly devised), we see and hear the Nazi thought processes, built on virulent hatred and bigotry, that "justified" mass murder on an unprecedented scale.

Subtle but exacting use of computer-animated effects allows three-dimensional exploration of newly discovered architectural plans and buildings long-ago destroyed, revealing the transformation of Auschwitz as World War II progressed. Along with rare archival footage, thorough documentation, and frank testimony from Holocaust survivors and Nazi perpetrators (not all of them penitent about their crimes), these programs make expert use of commanding narration by Oscar®-winning actress Linda Hunt, who brings depth and gravitas to a grim litany of sobering facts and figures. The result is an all-encompassing portrait of Auschwitz unlike anything seen before, masterfully written and produced by Laurence Rees with equal parts tenacity, intelligence, and integrity, informed by an overriding sense of moral outrage that is entirely appropriate to the history being examined. It's a remarkable achievement, as important as Shoah as a definitive exploration of one of the darkest chapters in human history. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Explaining the Incomprehensible
Movie: ***** DVD Transfer: ***** Extras: *****

A unique and highly informative 6-part documentary that examines the establishment and development of the Auschwitz-Birkenow concentration camp within the historical context of the Nazi's changing strategies and goals during the Second World War. Using historical photographs, filmed re-enactments, recent interviews with both survivors and perpetrators, and computer models based on recently discovered blueprints of the camp, the filmmakers painstakingly trace the evolution of Auschwitz from a detainee facility built to house Polish prisoners, to a forced labor camp, and finally, to an infamous and horrifyingly efficient factory devoted to mass murder. Brilliantly and movingly narrated by actress Linda Hunt (Oscar-winner for "The Year of Living Dangerously"), the 4-1/2 hour series is intellectually stimulating, educationally astonishing, and emotionally overwhelming as it attempts the almost impossible task of explaining the incomprehensible. That "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State" succeeds so well in its mission is a testament to the commitment and skill of the filmmakers.

The DVD also includes a revealing interview with filmmaker Lawrence Rees, who produced the series; and a series of six short interview segments with Holocaust and genocide authorities, each of which is hosted by esteemed journalist Linda Ellerbee. These interviews, originally designed to air as companion pieces to the six parts of the documentary, are invaluable tools in providing modern day context to the lessons and legacy of Auschwitz, and a framework in which to consider the ongoing horror of genocide. Literate and immensely powerful, this 2-disc DVD set is most highly recommended viewing for those wishing to educate themselves about one of the darkest chapters in all of human history.

Harrowing triumph
No film or documentary could ever fully cover the enormity of the Shoah, everything that went on, every last aspect, but this one really hits the mark on the area of the Shoah it chose to focus on. This three-part documentary focuses on Oswiecim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-Birkenau) in general and on the inner-workings of the camp, the blueprints for genocide, in particular. There are interviews with people who were actually there (on both sides), multiple historical re-enactments, pictures, documents, diagrams, blueprints, plenty of narration, you name it. We start from the beginning, the seeds that led to genocide and the first baby steps towards it (euthanising the mentally ill in Germany), to the creation of the camp and some of its first victims, such as the orphaned French children (prior to early 1942 the camp had only housed male Polish political prisoners and criminals), and finally to the period of the camp's highest murder rate, the arrival of Hungarian Jewry starting in May of 1944, through to liberation, what happened to the survivors, how some of the people in charge were caught and brought to justice, and how some, such as Mengele, were never. We also get, along the way, information about some of the other death camps, such as Treblinka, and how that camp did not start out as a model camp (it was run so "inefficiently," not enough people murdered quickly enough and then disposed of in a quick and speedy matter, that the person running the camp, "Dr." Irmfried Eberl, was dismissed). Also included are episodes about how the power corrupted many of the Nazis running or working at the camp, sometimes leading to intrigue. It was also a welcome change of pace for there to be a segment on the notorious sadistic Irma Grese (who was hanged for crimes against humanity shortly after the War); too often all these kinds of books and documentaries talk about are male Nazis, when history shows that there were a number of women, such as Grese, who were equally cold, brutal, top-ranking, and sadistic. The extras are also very good, featuring some very insightful interviews with a variety of people, on topics such as why genocide is still allowed to occur, what we have learnt from the Shoah, and young peoples' reactions to the documentary.

excellent series
This is an excellent BBC production on Auschwitz. Rees has managed to produce a series of programs aimed at a broad audience, but with a strong academic foundation. He avoids simple moral judgments by hearing different eyewitnesses, such as victims, perpetrators and bystanders. The series uses different kinds of sources, virtual reality and it uses actors to portray some of the key Nazis in the decision making process.It describes the history of the camp, but it does so much more. Individual stories bring the story to life without ever becoming over-emotional.It also pays attention to the importance of local decisions and sentiments for the fate of millions of people, such as local anti-Semitism but also rescue operations. Rees' series is not just on Auschwitz, it is a story of Europe and the Holocaust. In the last episode he even tells the story of the return of victims of the camp to their home country and the cold welcome they received.Personally I found the testimony of the former SS man who had worked in Auschwitz very telling. Rees is a brave man for portraying this man in his moral ambivalence.
Strongly recommended. Also suitable for use in schools and education. It is also a far better introduction to the Holocaust than Lanzmann's film Shoah.