The horror of Auschwitz: A journey through history
Overview of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, located in a part of Poland annexed and controlled by Germany during World War II.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Dinos Michail-iStock Editorial/Getty Images
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Badboo/Dreamstime.com; © 1957 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; TV Radio Mirror Magazine, March 1957Learn about cultural changes in East and West Germany during the 1950s.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Markwaters/Dreamstime.com; © Leklek73/Dreamstime.comLearn about Helmut Kohl's political career, including his role in the reunification of Germany.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.More than three decades after apartheid, South Africa is still considered the most unequal country in the world.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Camera Press/Globe Photos; © Romannerud/Dreamstime.comLearn about the role of the SS, headed by Heinrich Himmler, in Adolf Hitler's reign of terror.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J31391 (CC BY-SA 3.0)With German military losses mounting, Adolf Hitler ordered all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 to defend their homeland, 1944.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Department of Defense/National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.War in Europe ending with Germany's unconditional surrender, May 1945.
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records AdministrationJewish residents were required to wear Jewish stars makred “Jude” in many Nazi-occupied areas.
News •
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• Nov. 11, 2026, 3:43 PM ET (Deutsche Welle)
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• Nov. 5, 2026, 12:05 AM ET (Euronews)
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• Oct. 16, 2026, 10:22 AM ET (BBC)
Transcript
ZDENKA EHRLICH: "We only knew about transports to the East. That was the phrase. Otherwise we knew nothing."
NARRATOR: A road with no return. It leads to the extermination camp that becomes a synonym for the mass murder of European Jews: Auschwitz-Birkenau.
ESTHER BRUNSTEIN: "Let me tell you, I had never heard about Auschwitz, until I got there."
NARRATOR: No one can imagine what lies ahead.
HANS FRANKENTHAL: "And then my father asked 'what do you see?' And I said 'I see it is getting very bright; I see barbed wire, sentry towers, people with guns, machine guns, soldiers, and SS.' And then I said 'I see people in striped clothes.' And he said 'we’re in a concentration camp.' And then he said 'come away from there,' and I came to him, and he said 'if you should survive, go back to Schmallenberg. I, we won’t live through this.'
NARRATOR: The base camp of Auschwitz was too small for the ambitious extermination plans of Hitler's regime. They built the Birkenau camp to cope with the mass murder.
FRANKENTHAL: "Arbeit macht frei. Work sets you free. New arrivals saw we'd been there longer and, at the first or second roll call, they'd ask 'can we really leave if we work well?' And we'd say 'yes, everybody leaves Auschwitz, but not on their feet. They leave as smoke.'"
NARRATOR: On the ramp at arrival, the life or death decisions are instantly made.
RUTH ELIAS: "And I saw them standing on one side, elderly, infirm, women and, even worse, women with children."
NARRATOR: Pictures from an SS officer's photo album.
BRUNSTEIN: "They asked us 'your age, how old?' I pretended to be older and said 18. And then there was my mother. She said 44. She went to one side, I to the other. I wanted to run after her, but was pushed back. That was the last time I saw my mother. She just wasn't chosen to live."
NARRATOR: The elderly, the infirm and children are all killed immediately. They are of no use as a workforce. Even while laboring under the worst possible conditions, hope of survival still remains. But there is no way out, all roads lead to the gas chambers. The victims are duped until the bitter end.
JEHOSHUA ROSENBLUM: "And when the last were inside, they closed the door, from the outside, and instantly two SS men ran out to fetch the Cyclon B, and tossed it in."
NARRATOR: A pesticide is used to murder millions of people.
ROSENBLUM: "And then we heard the screams. It took a few minutes, 10-15 minutes."
NARRATOR: Five and a half million Jews fall victim to the extermination machinery of the Nazis. More than one million die in Auschwitz-Birkenau alone - a place that becomes a symbol for the gravest crimes against humanity.
NARRATOR: A road with no return. It leads to the extermination camp that becomes a synonym for the mass murder of European Jews: Auschwitz-Birkenau.
ESTHER BRUNSTEIN: "Let me tell you, I had never heard about Auschwitz, until I got there."
NARRATOR: No one can imagine what lies ahead.
HANS FRANKENTHAL: "And then my father asked 'what do you see?' And I said 'I see it is getting very bright; I see barbed wire, sentry towers, people with guns, machine guns, soldiers, and SS.' And then I said 'I see people in striped clothes.' And he said 'we’re in a concentration camp.' And then he said 'come away from there,' and I came to him, and he said 'if you should survive, go back to Schmallenberg. I, we won’t live through this.'
NARRATOR: The base camp of Auschwitz was too small for the ambitious extermination plans of Hitler's regime. They built the Birkenau camp to cope with the mass murder.
FRANKENTHAL: "Arbeit macht frei. Work sets you free. New arrivals saw we'd been there longer and, at the first or second roll call, they'd ask 'can we really leave if we work well?' And we'd say 'yes, everybody leaves Auschwitz, but not on their feet. They leave as smoke.'"
NARRATOR: On the ramp at arrival, the life or death decisions are instantly made.
RUTH ELIAS: "And I saw them standing on one side, elderly, infirm, women and, even worse, women with children."
NARRATOR: Pictures from an SS officer's photo album.
BRUNSTEIN: "They asked us 'your age, how old?' I pretended to be older and said 18. And then there was my mother. She said 44. She went to one side, I to the other. I wanted to run after her, but was pushed back. That was the last time I saw my mother. She just wasn't chosen to live."
NARRATOR: The elderly, the infirm and children are all killed immediately. They are of no use as a workforce. Even while laboring under the worst possible conditions, hope of survival still remains. But there is no way out, all roads lead to the gas chambers. The victims are duped until the bitter end.
JEHOSHUA ROSENBLUM: "And when the last were inside, they closed the door, from the outside, and instantly two SS men ran out to fetch the Cyclon B, and tossed it in."
NARRATOR: A pesticide is used to murder millions of people.
ROSENBLUM: "And then we heard the screams. It took a few minutes, 10-15 minutes."
NARRATOR: Five and a half million Jews fall victim to the extermination machinery of the Nazis. More than one million die in Auschwitz-Birkenau alone - a place that becomes a symbol for the gravest crimes against humanity.
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