dapplez The strength of this documentary is that it presents the facts without flinching, and without being judgmental or emotional. The result is a picture of Auschwitz of great clarity, from its historical beginnings. The question is whether the viewer can watch it without turning away.I have been watching lots of documentaries about World War II lately, trying to put the many pieces together into a coherent picture. I am a baby boomer who is getting older, and I feel I must confront this now.My grandfather died in Auschwitz, along with an unknown number of other family members. I have always known this. I, like most others, have seen the emaciated bodies, the dead bodies stacked like cord wood of dead and dying Jews. Now I know the day my grandfather arrived in Auschwitz and the day he died, from a database on the internet. And with this documentary, I am closer to grasping the reality of what he experienced, up to a point. This, of course, is not the complete story; no one documentary or movie can do that for World War II, or any one aspect of it.I wish everyone would watch this documentary because Auschwitz was the very epicenter of Nazi evil. To remember, to understand, is to instill meaning into the millions of murders of Jews, Poles and countless others. That is the peculiar quirk of the Nazi regime: without these deaths, some might forget how evil it was, even apart from the Holocaust.Any sensible person would have thought that, surely, this would have marked the end of genocide, forever. But it has not, and genocide, in the millions, has occurred again and again around the world. And it can, again.I think the documentary's one weakness is that it focuses too much on Nazi's demonization of the Jews, which, sadly, continues in some corners of the globe. The real issues are more general, particularly that of one nation believing itself to be a race that is racially superior to other nations and peoples, as did Nazi Germany. Once you believe your group to be superior, it is almost rational to think it is your duty to kill those who are not in your group.While Western Europe has grown beyond that phase, there are still countries that believe themselves to be racially superior to everyone else; I lived in one such country in Asia, and this message of racial superiority and hatred is taught in the schools from an early age.Economic and political turmoil in Germany set the stage for the Final Solution. We could see such economic and political turmoil in the future in many countries. We must learn from history.

Weasel100 Scratch the surface of a modern human being and you don't have to go too far to reach the barbarian that lies within us all. We may wish to deny it but this documentary series proves the point. Well to do and well educated Germans followed a madman who held out hope of a bright future for them, but always in the full knowledge that their prosperity would come at the cost of others (in this case, a large percentage of Europe's Jews, gypsies, disabled and above all, innocent children).I believe that there is no way that Germans living in Germany at the time of the Holocaust could have been unaware of what the SS was doing in places like Auschwitz, Belsen and Treblinka, convenient as it might be for them after the event to claim that they had no idea that mass murder was being committed in their name.This is a wonderful documentary series. I have not been to Auschwitz but I did visit Dachau outside Munich a few years ago. Dachau was horrifying enough but was a very minor player in the murders that were committed by the Germans.It was interesting and horrifying too to hear the stories that were told by Auschwitz's survivors but what I found most disturbing was the retelling of events by SS officers and guards who were at Auschwitz at various times. Right up to the time of the making of this documentary, these guys stated that what they did at the camp was right. Many of them maintain to this day that what they did was necessary and right for the survival of the German people. One would have thought that there wouldn't be one of these animals left who would not cringe and beg forgiveness for their part in the atrocities that they were involved in. Quite extraordinary that these guys still don't understand the magnitude of the crimes they committed.A must see documentary.JMV

d-wilhelm My parents are German. They emigrated to Canada in 1950. My mother has always denied knowledge of the Holocaust. My father died too young for me to know what he thought- but he was a kindly man and I believe he would have acknowledged the crime. As a dual German-Canadian citizen, I am proud that Germany has recognized the atrocity and made it a crime to deny it. Now, I challenge other nations to admit the same crimes. Canada and the United States against their native cultures. The United States about black slavery. South Africa and Germany have pointed the way. History should not be denied. This is the lesson the survivors of Auschwitz would have wanted us to learn. One cannot watch this film without being moved, both by the cruelty and greed of the oppressors and by the kindness and self sacrifice of those who aided the oppressed.

Paul Archer I'm not a Jew so I have no axe to grind.This is probably the most comprehensive account of the most infamous death-camp of them all. Not only are ex-inmates interviewed, but also ex-SS guards who are extraordinarily candid about their work & their attitude to the prisoners. The whole machinery involved in the organisation & efficiency of what amounted to an entire murder camp system.This 6 part documentary cannot be ignored, once you have seen the evidence & heard the testimony there will be no doubt in your mind. It did happen & it was done by people not much different from the rest of us.It cannot be allowed to happen again.