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Average Customer Rating:

Very comprehensive

Customer Rating:

Having read many books on Auschwitz and the holocaust this is an excellent summary of what went on. It covers all aspects of the horror that went on in enough detail for the casual viewer and the use of original film was well used if not at times valuably disturbing. Well done on a very well and documented production. My only (minor) criticism could be that some of the chapters are not totally aparant and 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

Customer Rating:

This DVD series epitomises the best of the BBC - flawless, direct and 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 detritus in 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, and probably Spielberg's "Schindler's List". The imagination of man cannot reproduce the horror and sheer disgust committed by men and women to their fellow human beings just a little over 60 years ago. This is a monument to those dark deeds, and once seen will never be forgotten. The BBC should take a closer look at its scheduling and make a promise to transmit this every year - and all schools should show it unerringly. German schoolchildren are constantly taught of those dark awful days, we in 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 and the world should serve as a timely reminder of what happened in 1933 and continued through to 1945. Let me put this subtly - anyone who dares contemplate voting BNP or even UKIP should watch this and reconsider their values very carefully. As Srebrenica, Darfur and Kosovo prove beyond doubt, it seems as a race we never learn from the lessons of history. Watch this, weep, and remember...

A great documentary about the worst place in the world

Customer Rating:

I watched this programme while it was coming out and found it gripping viewing. Impeccably researched and sensitively presented, it is TV history at its finest. Nothing can prepare you for what Auschwitz is like. I visited it in 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 and 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 and eventual dissolution. It should be shown in schools.

The most incredible place on earth - compelling viewing

Customer Rating:

Auschwitz should be included on the list of places a person should see before they die. Why? Well, despite it looking inhospitable and at certain times of the year, cold and hostile - it is also the place where one man tried to wipe an entire race of people off the face of the earth and given the number of people he targeted, it could be said he very nearly succeeded. Yes, there are those out there who say Stalin and 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 and screams could probably be heard from every place. The BBC did an incredible job on this programme with their computer enhanced images and the role playing to allow the viewer to become more involved in the story telling. What amazed me was that there were people who actually managed to escape and 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 and keeping his emotions in check, I cannot imagine. My 2nd year history teacher told us of her trip to Auschwitz when I was a 14 year old in 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...

Customer Rating:

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.