All language subtitles for Auschwitz.Countdown.To.Liberation.2025.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

(tense, sombre music)

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NARRATOR: Auschwitz. A place where
humanity was extinguished,

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and the unimaginable became reality.

A symbol of suffering, cruelty,
and loss.

In the shadow of Auschwitz,
the echoes of anguish still persist.

- Sorry to tell you,

but your parents and your sister
are burning right now.

- (via translator)
I don't remember smelling anything,

because I was already
living in that smoke.

(gunshot)

- (via translator) You start asking
yourself, why, why, why?

NARRATOR: This place witnessed
the unthinkable,

absorbing the pain of millions.

- (via translator) Many people
did not live to see the liberation.

They died of hunger,
of exhaustion, from the cold.

- (via translator) They had
no strength to laugh

or to enjoy the fact
that some other army had come in.

These were people in apathy.

NARRATOR: 80 years ago,
the gates of Auschwitz opened,

revealing the darkest depths
of human cruelty.

But what really happened in those
final months before liberation?

Did the prisoners,
already trapped in a nightmare,

sense a shift in the air,
a glimmer of distant freedom?

What did they feel when the gates
of Auschwitz opened to freedom?

And what about the people
living nearby?

What did the liberators witness?

We will hear the testimonies
of those who were present on the day

of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

- They were after the Germans.
They couldn't care less about us.

- (via translator) I only remember
how those corpses were laying there.

NARRATOR:
Where were the perpetrators?

- (via translator) My hatred towards
the Jews is too great.

- (via translator)
I still suffer from it today.

I can't forget it.
I think about it every day.

NARRATOR: We will uncover
what happened in the months

leading up to January 27th, 1945.

The day of
the Liberation of Auschwitz.

With the help of witness testimonies
and unique archives,

we will shed new light on the story
of how Auschwitz was liberated.

Counting down
to that moment of freedom.

Step by step,

we will uncover the final moments
of the darkest chapter in history.

- When the Soviets arrive
at Birkenau,

they get there almost by chance.

- (via translator) We had no idea at
that time what it was really like,

what kind of camp it was.

NARRATOR:
Among the many survivor testimonies,

we will also hear from those
still with us today.

Through their living voices,

we will learn about the days
before the camp's liberation.

This is not just a story
of suffering.

It is a story of strength.

A story of those
who fought to survive

and those who fought
to end the terror.

This is a story of liberation.

(low, sombre music)

NARRATOR: May 15th, 1944.

257 days until the Liberation.

This date marks the beginning
of one of the most dramatic

and swift extermination campaigns
carried out by the Nazis,

with Auschwitz at its heart.

In 1944,
over 700,000 Jews lived in Hungary.

Fearing a possible surrender
to the Allies,

Hitler ordered the occupation
of the country on March 19th.

Adolf Eichmann, a key architect
of the "Final Solution"

initiated in 1942,

was sent to oversee
the deportations.

(tense, sombre music)

From May to July, around 440,000
Jews were sent to Auschwitz,

where most were murdered
in gas chambers.

Auschwitz's capacity
was pushed to its limit.

Every day,
trains arrived from Hungary,

filled with women,
men, children, and the elderly.

The SS worked tirelessly
to process the new prisoners.

(speaking in German)

(low, tense music)

- "We executed about 400,000
Hungarian Jews alone

at Auschwitz in the summer of 1944."

That is all true, witness?

- (via translator) What was horrible
was precisely the fact

that they took all these
achievements of human culture...

..to produce death.

(whistle hoots)

- (via translator) They told us
they were resettling us.

Our turn came and they piled us
into the railroad cars.

The train was packed.

80 or 90 people
in a single railroad car.

NARRATOR: This process of death
had been going on continuously

for years.

(low, tense music)

- (via translator) I don't know
if you know the ramp at Birkenau,

but there is a gate there,
through which the train enters.

- (via translator) This is
the topographical plan of Birkenau.

I made it 80 years ago.

This is the ramp.

This is 900 metres
and here are the crematoria.

NARRATOR: 226 days
until the Liberation of the camp.

The Nazis continued
their vile work of death...

..while for the prisoners, only
faint hopes of survival remained.

- (via translator) We looked out
from these four little windows,

we had to see outside.

We saw barbed wire and barracks,

then we heard about
a hundred Germans arriving,

accompanied by these shepherd dogs,

barking precise, barbaric orders
in German.

- When we got to Auschwitz
and the train doors opened.

The German soldiers, shouting,
Raus, Raus, and schnell, schnell.

- Schnell.

- (via translator)
Raus, Schnelle, Verfluchte.

They flung open the sealed doors
of the boxcars.

They threw us down
like sacks of potatoes.

- Thousands of people were standing
there, pushing, shoving, crying.

It was the most confusing place
that I can remember.

- There were dogs barking, and
it was a sea of humanity, really.

- (via translator) It was Hell.

NARRATOR: This is
the infamous selection process.

With a simple movement of the hand,

SS officers decided
the life and death of the deportees.

- Everybody's in total shock.

We absolutely no idea
what's going to happen to us,

hardly have time to say goodbye
to my mother and two sisters

because they are separating
the women from the men.

- (via translator)
That's where our selection was.

Some sort of officer who was showing
here, here, here.

- (via translator)
Then came the order:

"Women on one side,
and men on the other side."

My father,
who raised this beautiful girl,

but what will they do
to this daughter of mine,

whom I raised,
who is like a flower.

He keeps her.

Three of them, three Germans came
to tear her from his hands;

they beat him mercilessly.

This man. How can I forget this?

- They had no idea that most of
the people are going to be ending up

in a gas chamber the same day.

(low, tense music)

- (via translator) Those who were
fit for work, went to work,

while those who were not fit,
were immediately sent to the gas.

(tense, dramatic music)

NARRATOR: On one side,
an atrocious temporary survival;

on the other side, immediate death.

For the weakest: children,
the elderly, pregnant women,

there was no hope.

- And we are lined up five in a row
and start marching toward this line

of SS officers,
who are basically playing God.

And my question was: how come
that my father went to one side.

- I realised that my father and my
two older sisters were not with us.

They disappeared in the crowd.

Never ever did I see them again.

(low, tense music)

- (via translator)
And at one point, I saw a signpost.

"zur Sauna"

meaning to bathe, to sauna.

- I remember myself...

..going to the showers
and having to...

..to stand outside naked
in the cold.

So it was always a question of,
would I be coming back?

NARRATOR: The deportees were led
into the gas chambers

in groups of up to 2,000 people
at a time.

The doors of the gas chambers
were sealed,

while Zyklon B
was dropped from above.

On contact with the air,
the chemicals evaporated,

turning into a deadly poisonous gas.

NARRATOR: Occasionally someone would
still be breathing,

but the SS would finish off
these innocents with a gunshot.

(gunshot)

(low, sombre music)

(low, sombre music)

NARRATOR: There are still 202 days
until the Liberation of the camp.

Far too distant to ignite
any hope among the prisoners.

In Auschwitz, the atmosphere
of terror and madness,

perpetuated by the Nazis,
still reigned.

- We arrived at Auschwitz and
we were taken to one of the barracks

and tattooed, got numbers.

NARRATOR:
Those who survived the selection

were taken to overcrowded barracks
and forced to live

in inhuman conditions,

with the constant fear of death
looming over them.

- (via translator)
These little diagrams,

each one is a barrack.

There are 19 in a row.

In each barrack were
a minimum of 350 prisoners,

up to a maximum of 700.

NARRATOR:
We should not think of Auschwitz

as a single concentration camp,

but rather as a vast complex
of about 50 camps

spread over a large area.

The three main camps were
Auschwitz I,

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

and Auschwitz III (Monowitz).

Established by the Germans
in spring 1940,

the camp initially targeted
Polish political prisoners

and intellectuals.

By 1942,

it became also a central site for
the extermination of European Jews.

Other groups from many nations,
including Romani communities,

and Soviet prisoners of war,
were also held there.

Many prisoners arrived at the camp
without adequate clothing

and were often forced to wear
the infamous striped uniforms

after being stripped
of their personal belongings.

The conditions of these garments
further contributed

to their dehumanisation

and the harsh living conditions
they had to endure.

- There was a pile of jackets,
blue and white striped jackets,

then pile of pants,

there was some rope and wire
to hold up your pants,

a pair of wooden shoes,
a little blue and white cap,

one dish, one cup and a spoon

and this was
your worldly belongings now.

- These two girls,
they tried to tell us

what on earth this place was.

And I said, well, what are
they burning so late at night?

They said, well I told you,
they are burning Jews.

Sorry to tell you,

but your parents and your sisters
are burning right now.

(low, sombre music)

NARRATOR: At Auschwitz,
prisoners had their heads shaved.

An act of dehumanisation...

..disguised as hygiene.

This process erased their
identity...

..and even their hair was exploited
by the Germans

for industrial purposes.

- (via translator) My mother came
back from somewhere,

where they had herded them.

She was naked
and had no hair on her head.

I asked her:
And where are your scythes?

That means braids,
that's what they were called.

But mom didn't answer anything,
she just cried.

NARRATOR: Many of the prisoners
would die from exhaustion,

starvation, or disease.

To the Nazis, they were nothing more
than a mass of slaves

to be exploited until the last drop
of life was drained from them.

- (via translator) The deaths of
prisoners are not only condoned,

but it is actually part
of the system...

..be it through malnutrition,

be it through the exposure to wind
and weather

with inadequate clothing...

..or inhuman labour,

which also leads
to complete exhaustion.

NARRATOR: The SS at Auschwitz
held absolute power

over the lives of prisoners,

deciding who would live or die.

They conducted selections
for the gas chambers,

carried out summary executions,

subjected prisoners
to brutal medical experiments,

and used psychological terror
to maintain control.

This authority enforced a constant
and dehumanising regime of fear.

- (via translator)
It was an entire process

which led one to regard the other
not as a person,

but as a number.

(low, tense music)

- (via translator) An SS man could
basically do whatever he wanted.

He could take a prisoner's cap,
throw it further away,

tell him to go for it,

and when the prisoner moved away
to take that cap,

shoot him under the pretext
that he was trying to escape.

- I remember
the guards hitting people.

- Some prisoners were taken out
of the group...

..and lined up against a ditch...

..and shot.

- (via translator) The main camp
of Auschwitz was like a small town

with its gossiping and chatting.

There was a canteen,
there was a cinema,

there was a theatre
with regular performances.

There was a sports club
of which I was a member.

It was all fun and entertainment,
just like a small town.

Alcohol played a big role at meals.

Throughout Auschwitz,
there was no discipline.

We went to bed completely wasted.

It was like a partisan camp, there
were no guards posted in Birkenau.

Going to bed with a pistol,

if someone was too lazy
to turn off the light...

..we just shot it out.

Nobody said anything
about the bullet holes in the walls.

(glass shatters)

- When you look at Auschwitz,

when you look all
those concentration camps,

it's no exaggeration to say
they were real hells on Earth.

- (via translator)
You are left with anxiety and fear.

And from then on,
it just stays with you,

but it is necessary to experience it
yourself to believe it.

(low, sombre music)

NARRATOR: There is one word

that appears
in numerous survivors' testimonies.

Apathy.

- (via translator) On the second day
when you enter Auschwitz,

you begin to suffer from apathy.

And you don't give a damn about
everything that happens around you.

Especially what happens
to those close to you.

- (via translator) That hope was
seen as something necessary

to still have the will
to fight death at all.

So as not to fall completely
into apathy.

NARRATOR: One of the most haunting
images we have of the prisoners

in all Nazi concentration camps is
that of the so-called 'Muselmanner.'

These are men,
reduced to living shells,

completely apathetic
and unresponsive to the world

around them.

Many of them no longer
even remember their own names.

But it was hunger that represented
the most horrific condition

at Auschwitz.

Italian survivor Primo Levi
described it with these words:

"The Lager is hunger;
we ourselves are hunger,

living hunger."

- (via translator) She was so weak,
so sick.

Mom weighed 28 kilos in all,
when she came out of the camp,

it was inhumane.

NARRATOR: August 1st, 1944.

180 days remain
until the Liberation.

Warsaw rose up against
the German occupation,

while the vanguard of the Soviet
army stopped just a few kilometres

from the city.

- I was walking in a Warsaw street.

I can see a friend of mine.

He says: "Bolek, would you
join the underground army?

(tense, dramatic music)

63 days we were fighting.

NARRATOR: The uprising is
a cornerstone of Polish history,

symbolising the fight for freedom
as insurgents bravely resisted

Nazi oppression for 63 days.

Ultimately, German forces prevailed,
reducing Warsaw to rubble.

15,000 insurgents
and 200,000 civilians perished,

while 13,000 inhabitants of the city
were deported to Auschwitz.

The Polish population never
surrendered to the Germans;

even in Auschwitz, an underground
resistance network remained active.

- (via translator) In the beginning,

it was obviously
a Polish resistance movement.

Because the majority were
Polish prisoners, often,

moreover,
with some military experience.

- When you look at the last period
of the camp's existence,

there's this far greater cooperation

between the different
resistance cells.

NARRATOR: Their task was mainly
to provide medicine and food

and to exchange information
with the outside word.

- (via translator) My brother,
who was an electrician...

..worked in a company to Germans

and it was they who took
the medicine for these prisoners.

And this medicine was again smuggled
in by the Silesian priests.

- (via translator) And there it was
just passed around amidst food.

My mother, mom's sister,
my grandmother,

everyone took part in helping
the prisoners of the camp.

There were SS guards who turned
a blind eye,

when there was someone who
delivered something under the fence,

food in particular.

NARRATOR: There was only so much
the Polish resistance

and the population of Oswiecim
could do to help,

but it was certainly instrumental
in saving thousands of lives.

But above all,

the prisoners knew they were not
alone in facing this hell.

NARRATOR:
On the evening of August 2nd 1944,

179 days still separated
the prisoners from liberation.

That night, the Nazis moved
to liquidate the Roma camp.

(tense sombre music)

NARRATOR: The Romani people,
also known as Roma or Sinti,

are a historically nomadic group
who arrived in Europe centuries ago.

Long marginalised and misunderstood,

they endured generations
of prejudice and persecution.

Under Nazi rule,
this hatred turned deadly,

as the Roma were marked
for extermination

alongside other targeted groups.

This night is tragically remembered

as the "Night of the Extermination
of the Roma."

Almost all prisoners
in the "Zigeunerlager,"

the section designated for the Roma,
were taken to the gas chambers.

- The Gipsy camp was very close
to our barrack,

and we could hear it.
And the night was unbelievable.

(low, tense music)

- (via translator) The Germans had
driven in with trucks.

They threw the children in them.

And if one of them jumped out,

they would hit him on the leg
or the arm with a wooden club,

break it and throw him back in
so that he couldn't jump out again.

he couldn't get out because
his limb was just hanging there.

- They took the Gypsies.

And the gypsies were crying. They
knew where they are taking them.

Full of screaming and crying.

- (via translator)
Everybody defended themselves.

They bit, they scratched...

Defended themselves to the last.

NARRATOR:
On that fateful night alone...

..approximately 4,200
lost their lives.

In total, around 23,000 Romani
prisoners were held at Auschwitz,

with 21,000 perishing
as a result of Nazi madness.

On August 19th, 1944...

..162 days still separated
the prisoners

from the day of Liberation.

An Allied reconnaissance mission
flew over occupied southern Poland.

The targets were the huge
German industrial complexes

in the vicinity of Oswiecim,

the town which the Germans
had renamed Auschwitz.

- The whole region,
the whole complex of Auschwitz,

attracts many factories
and many industries

and the bosses there thought
these places were great

because they've got
these railway lines leading to them.

NARRATOR: IG Farben,
a large factory complex at Monowitz,

where forced labour from Auschwitz
prisoners was exploited

under brutal conditions.

Krupp Steel Company
used forced labour.

Siemens utilised concentration camp
prisoners for the production

of electrical equipment.

Deutsche Ausrustungswerke.

This SS-run company produced
furniture and other goods.

Topf & Sohne.

Responsible for supplying
the crematoria and gas chamber

ventilation systems.

- There's lots of coal and other
important raw materials around.

And better still, you've got
this big supply of labour.

And that labour, of course,
comes in the form of prisoners.

(low, tense music)

These people, make no mistake,
are slaves,

and they're slaves being
worked to death.

NARRATOR:
For just a few marks a day,

these factories could exploit
Auschwitz prisoners,

forcing them to work
in their facilities.

The Nazi mindset was brutal
and without conscience.

Prisoners were not seen
as human beings.

- (via translator) Why should we use
horses to pull ploughs

when we have enough women
in the camp

who can pull the ploughs instead.

Besides,
we have children in the camp.

We will use these children
and we will use their strength.

- (via translator)
So it's like a slave market.

As a consequence, we went to work
and ended up for some time

at the carriage factory
in Czechowice-Dziedzice,

to sort out the oil refinery.

It was owned by
the Vacuum Oil Company,

but the workers were
in the records of Auschwitz.

And so it is with the name,
enrolment and registration.

- (via translator) They were
building the factory

of IG Farben Industry.

And they were coming back carrying
the corpses of their colleagues

who didn't survive it
on their backs.

- There's this huge pile
of steel rails.

Your shoulders are just totally,
totally painful,

they start bleeding,

people are falling under
the weight of the steel rails.

(low, sombre music)

You start seeing prisoners die

and this is terrible because
I'm looking at the dead body

and I'm thinking
this is somebody's father,

somebody's son,
somebody's husband.

NARRATOR: On that clear August day,

the reconnaissance plane flew
over the area around Oswiecim,

intent on carrying out its mission:

capturing sharp images
of the industrial zone below.

(low, sombre music)

- But when that plane gets back,
what's revealed is something

very new and very different...

..because there's
this other complex,

and it's about
seven kilometres away.

And what those photos reveal

is the presence of the most sinister
Nazi death camp of them all.

NARRATOR: Barracks,
barbed wire fences,

buildings with huge chimneys.

- (via translator) Then there was
the bombing of those chemical plants

in Blachownia, in Oswiecim.

(tense, dramatic music)

The planes that flew were preceded
by reconnaissance planes,

which were throwing
these so-called "zlotkys".

This was aluminium which simply
interfered with radar pulses.

There were a lot of these zlotkys,
these were the only toys we had.

- There are many people today
who are wondering

why was Auschwitz never bombed?

Why couldn't you bomb
the railway line?

NARRATOR: These questions echo
in the history of Auschwitz.

For already at that time,

there were reports on the crimes
being committed at Auschwitz;

written and published by prisoners
who had escaped from Auschwitz.

- (via translator)
How effective would that have been?

We know that the war industry,
the service-related industry

and the entire industrial
or logistical front line

was a pretty well-functioning
German machine.

So here I have some doubts

as to how effective
these raids would have been.

NARRATOR: There may have been
other strategic priorities,

political pressures,

or even a lack of coordination
with the Soviets.

Perhaps the intelligence
was incomplete.

But one thing remains undeniable,

no one at the time could have
fully grasped the scale

of the unimaginable tragedy
unfolding at Auschwitz.

- Nothing in Auschwitz ever
reminded me

of human existence...

..but that pilot flying over there,

was the one hope I had to hang onto.

NARRATOR: These photos,
archived and forgotten,

would later resurface as evidence
of what the world failed

to recognise at the time.

They captured Auschwitz at
the height of its deadly efficiency:

visible from the air,
but tragically misunderstood.

NARRATOR: On October 7th, 1944.

113 days remained
until the camp's liberation.

At Auschwitz, the Sonderkommando
prisoners rose up

in a desperate act of rebellion
against SS men.

(tense, dramatic music)

They were the prisoners forced
to work in the gas chambers

and crematoria, eyewitnesses
to the Nazi extermination,

who feared they would be murdered to
hide the evidence of the atrocities.

(low, sombre music)

- (via translator) One girl came,
I don't know where from,

and she started talking German
to me:

"I know I'm being taken,
here is the end of my life".

I said : "That's not true, you take
a shower and get out to work.

I didn't tell her the truth.
What could I say?

You are going to die?

- The Nazis think is that they've
just completely subjugated

the prisoner's will

and they really don't think
that all these deportees,

all these prisoners,
have the strength,

both physically and morally,
to organise a revolt.

NARRATOR: But the Sonderkommandos
still have the strength

to rebel against their fate.

- (via translator) There was already
some discussion

within the Sonderkommando.

How to carry out such an action?

- (via translator)
They were mainly young men,

almost all Jews
from different transports,

primarily strong, young men.

- (via translator) And those members
who came from Poland

made it a goal to escape.

Whereas those who came from Hungary
or Yugoslavia, for example,

for them,
the purpose of the uprising

was to destroy
the extermination machine.

NARRATOR:
Four women were fundamental

in the Sonderkommando uprising,

their names are:
Roza Robota, Ala Gertner,

Estera Wajcblum
and Regina Safirsztajn.

- It took them maybe 12 months.

Little by little,
they smuggled the dynamite powder,

to the men.

Powder by powder.
It took them a long time.

NARRATOR: On 7th of October,
the uprising began.

The Sonderkommandos,
armed only with poor tools,

attacked the guards.

- (via translator) One called Isack,

he was hitting the German with
the hammer on the back of his head

and the Germans started shooting.

NARRATOR: Using stolen gunpowder,

the Sonderkommandos set fire
to Crematorium 4,

destroying one of
the death machines forever.

- At 3 in the morning one day,

we see flames coming from
the Crematorium...

..and we didn't know what it was.

The only thing we knew is,
in that morning, you know,

you try to get out

and maybe get rid of the camp
and go.

And they couldn't do it,
because the SS were there.

- (via translator) The Germans came,

and they caught us immediately.

We didn't manage to do anything.

- (via translator)
It could not have been otherwise,

after all
the Sonderkommando prisoners

had practically no weapons
except for their work tools.

Several hundred Sonderkommando
prisoners were shot

after the uprising.

- (via translator) I saw the SS men
with my own eyes,

they put a bullet in their heads.

- And they killed 600 of them...

..and the morning we had to put them
in the oven ourselves.

- (via translator) Well, at least we
had a feeling that we did something,

anyway we had nothing to lose.

NARRATOR: The Sonderkommando
uprising ended in bloodshed,

but hope still lingered
in the hearts of the prisoners,

fuelled by the Red Army cannons
that were unleashing the offensive.

(German broadcast)

(tense, dramatic sting)

On November 25th, 1944,

63 days remained until liberation.

The SS, under the direct orders
from Himmler,

began the dismantling
of the gas chambers.

In Poland, the Soviets had stalled,

but were advancing on other parts
of the Eastern Front.

The Nazis knew that time was
running out

and they had to eliminate
the evidence of their crimes

at Auschwitz.

At the height of the deportations,

around 10,000 Jews a day were
murdered in Auschwitz.

Where did all this madness
originate?

How did the Nazi extermination
methods evolve?

To understand this,

we must go back in time,
to the origin of evil.

(dark music)

- (via translator) The persecution
and murder of the Jews

by National Socialist Germany
took place in several stages.

A basic prerequisite was of course
rampant and radical anti-Semitism,

whose roots go back at least
to the 19th century

and which, of course, can be
found in Hitler's book Mein Kampf.

- (via translator) We were convinced
by our worldview

that we had been betrayed
by the entire world

and that there was a great
conspiracy of the Jews against us.

NARRATOR: A few years after
the publication of Mein Kampf...

..Hitler was able to put
his murderous follies into practice.

The climax of this hatred
occurred...

..on the 30th of January 1939,

when Hitler delivered a solemn
speech in front of the Reichstag,

announcing the destruction
of the Jewish race.

NARRATOR:
During the course of the war,

the Nazis began to realise
the murderous plans of their Fuhrer.

- (via translator) The first means
were the police task forces

that carried the mass shootings
of the Polish and Jewish population.

- (via translator) Try to imagine
there is a ditch

with people on one side
and behind them, soldiers.

I only thought, aim carefully
so that you hit properly.

That was my thought.

That was us, standing behind, the
soldiers, and we were shooting.

And those who were hit
fell down into the ditch.

My hatred towards
the Jews was too great.

My thinking on this point is unjust.
I admit this.

NARRATOR: For many SS troops,

the psychological burden of
shooting hundreds, thousands of men,

women and children was too great.

- (via translator) I will not forget
it for the rest of my life.

The faces are still in front of me.

This is the big crime.

And from then on, the SS was
no longer an elite unit for me.

The next day I had to go
to the SS commissioner and I said:

'Be careful, I joined the Waffen SS
because it was an elite force.

I'm not a murderer
who kills women and children'.

And he says: 'Take it easy.

We know it too,
it is an unpleasant task,

but it must be done.
The world has to be rid of the Jews.

NARRATOR: During Barbarossa, 1941,
the Germans started to murder

thousands of Jews in executions.

So they wanted to find a more
effective, cheaper alternative.

This is why they thought
of using gas.

- It's much easier, psychologically,
to gas them.

And one of the ways in which
that done initially

was actually to make big vans
or small lorries

into these very basic, rudimentary
gas chambers.

NARRATOR: These were vehicles
equipped with a hermetically sealed

compartment, where exhaust gases
were channelled inside

when the vehicle was in motion.

But where to throw
the innocent bodies of the executed?

NARRATOR: The next step in German
engineering was the gas chambers.

Topf & Sohne was one of
the main companies involved

in the construction of crematoria
throughout the Reich.

To optimise efficiency,

gas chambers and crematoria
were often interconnected.

- (via translator)
I don't remember smelling anything,

because I was already
living in that smoke.

- (via translator) So many people
died in the war, not only Jews.

So many things happened.
So many were shot. So many burned.

If I thought about that, I wouldn't
have wanted to live a minute longer.

- (via translator) I still have
nightmares about it to this day.

I see those women, the men
and everything,

and how they ran around there
until they died.

(low, sombre music)

- (via translator) So contradictory
that the ideals that people had...

..that they imagined for Germany,
for its future...

..were completely turned
into the opposite.

Unfortunately,
I still suffer from it today.

I can't forget it.

I think about it every day.
Every day.

NARRATOR: In December, 1944...

..56 days remain until liberation,

the tide had turned against
Nazi Germany.

Facing an Allied victory
and the Soviet advance,

the regime took desperate measures
to cover up Holocaust atrocities,

especially in the camps.

- (via translator)
They were perhaps aware

that this would be used
against them.

As very specific individuals
who were steeped

in this greatest murder in history.

- (via translator) They knew
that what they did in Auschwitz

was wrong,
that they had to hide this crime.

NARRATOR: Despite their efforts,

the Nazis could not fully erase
the evidence.

Soviet forces found overwhelming
proof of genocide in the camps,

including remains,
personal belongings,

and survivor testimonies.

- (via translator)
That's what mom said,

the Germans burned the barracks
and all the documents.

- (via translator) Perhaps only
5, 7, 8%

of what the camp chancellery
had created remained.

- (via translator)
Only one page was found.

Historians handed me
just a sheet of paper

and there is a list of children.

And there just before the last name,
is my camp number and my surname.

(soft sombre music)

NARRATOR: January 12th, 1945...

..just 15 days until liberation.

The Red Army launched its
unstoppable offensive

on the Vistula River,

a crucial strategic manoeuvre
designed to drive the Nazis

out of Western Poland
and advance into Germany.

The Soviets had an overwhelming
force, three times that of Germany.

- You have the Soviets carrying out
this major offensive

and that's gonna take them
as far as the river Vistula.

(distant explosion)
(low, tense music)

Actually right into the heart
of the whole area,

the whole region of Auschwitz.

- (via translator)
The Vistula-Oder Offensive

was supposed to take place there.

We found out that on the way there
were concentration camps.

- (via translator) They were firing
cannons across the sky at Auschwitz.

Through the upper windows you could
always see the stretch

of the Katyusha at night.

NARRATOR: Thousands of Soviet tanks
pierced the German defences,

advancing tens of kilometres a day.

All that remained for the Nazis
was to escape.

January 17th, 1945.

Only 10 days before the liberation.

Auschwitz entered one of
its most harrowing chapters:

the camp's evacuation.

With Soviet forces advancing,

the Nazis sought to erase
evidence of their genocide,

but tens of thousands of prisoners
remained,

the most damning proof
of these crimes.

- (via translator)
The Liberation is now approaching,

but we don't hope for it.

I didn't expect to see
this liberation.

- (via translator) Firstly, they did
not want to leave

the approaching Soviets
with witnesses

who could testify
against the camp personnel.

There was also the calculation
of using the prisoners as hostages

if the Americans
or Soviets were confronted.

NARRATOR: At that time, over 55,000
prisoners remained in Auschwitz.

The Nazis conducted one final,
brutal selection.

On one side,
those too weak to walk

marked for death,
to eliminate any witnesses.

On the other,

prisoners still able to walk
who were forced to take part in

what became known as
the Death Marches.

(tense, dramatic music)

- (via translator)
Then, all of a sudden,

one day there was an assembly.

A sudden roll call.

- And then all of a sudden,
at one point,

we were asked to...

..to line up.

- We didn't know
what's going to happen?

Are we going to be freed?
Are we going to be shot?

- I remember the feeling
because it was probably

the first time I really felt fear,

an instinct to fear,

like an animal knows
when it's going to die.

There's something about
this action that terrified me.

(low, sombre music)

- (via translator) Then they decide
to put me on the death march.

They line us up in rows of five
and make us move forward.

I'm staggering now,

barely able to keep myself upright.

My mind isn't working,
and if it does,

I go on only for a few metres,

a few kilometres, freezing to death,
frigid, 25 below zero.

How can you go on at only 23 kilos?

I manage two and a half kilometres.

I fall to the ground
and wait for the final blow.

Yes, because at the back there are
these killers with precise orders

to deliver the last shot,

so you don't survive to testify
to the Russians about everything

they had created
at the death factory in Birkenau.

I had fallen.
I was waiting for my final blow.

- Every time somebody fell down,
another one was shot.

- (via translator)
Anyone who stopped for a moment,

they shot him in the head.

(low, sombre music)

- It was a very cold night,
and we had to keep marching.

Anybody that stopped or fell out
of line was shot, and that was it.

We just kept going.

- And then there were motorcycles
came around

who picked up the dead ones.

NARRATOR: Death Marches,

there is no other term
to describe this atrocity.

The prisoners were forced to march
to Gliwice and Wodzislaw

from where trains departed and some
of the prisoners were taken

to concentration camps such as
Gross-Rosen,

Buchenwald, Theresienstadt,
Sachsenhausen.

Packed into overcrowded wagons
with no food, water or sanitation,

many died from starvation
or suffocation.

Damage to rail lines often forced
prisoners off trains

to continue on foot,

with those who died
left along the way.

The Nazis were brutal and merciless.

Any trace of humanity
had long vanished,

and during the march,
there was no pity for the prisoners.

- (via translator) I just remember
how those corpses were laying there.

They did not have the strength
to go further,

so they started falling over.

So here, these areas are soaked
in the blood of these martyrs.

- (via translator) Two prisoners...

..did something unimaginable.

I didn't expect any help.

In those conditions,

they barely have the strength
to help themselves.

They spotted a corner with
a pile of bodies,

left me there and moved on.

Then I dragged myself along.

There were steps leading into one of
those brick buildings at Auschwitz.

I went inside that brick building
to find some shelter.

Then, there, I lost consciousness.

NARRATOR:
Such cruelty is unimaginable.

Thousands upon thousands
of exhausted human beings

dragged themselves
through the snow like automatons.

The roads were littered with
the bodies of women, men,

and children,
victims of Nazi brutality.

- (via translator) But the prisoners
were so bowed down,

they were bowing forward
with the remnants of their strength.

- (via translator) My mother also
left then with that Death March.

For 60 kilometres, they walked
in very difficult winter conditions.

And things, such as cannibalism,
were happening there.

And I ask her: "And you?"

And she replied: "You see I'm alive.
Don't ask me about it".

NARRATOR: We have no firm estimates,

but for scholars,
between 9,000 and 15,000 people died

during the Death Marches.

A humanity lost because of a hatred
that cannot be understood.

At the same time as the prisoners,

many Nazis also began
evacuating Auschwitz

to avoid capture by the Soviets.

Richard Baer,
the last commandant of Auschwitz,

along with numerous SS officers,

fled the camp comfortably seated
in their cars.

Among them was Josef Mengele,

the man responsible for
horrific experiments on prisoners.

Especially children and twins.

Mengele today is the symbol
of how medical science can be used

as a method of horror.

But Mengele was only one of many,
many criminal doctors at Auschwitz.

- You've got other names,
you've got Kramer, you've got Hirt,

you've got Kaschub,
you've got Entress,

you've got Vetter,
you've got Wirths,

you've got Klein, Rode, Konig,
Capesius, Weber, Fischer, Thilo.

NARRATOR: Not only were the officers
fleeing Auschwitz...

..but the entire Nazi network
was in retreat.

Non-commissioned officers,
soldiers, guards,

and civilian personnel were
dispersing.

Among them were the young
supervisors of the women's barracks,

Irma Grese and Elisabeth Volkenrath,

responsible for
unspeakable atrocities.

January 20th, 1945...

..just one week before liberation.

The skies above Auschwitz
were shattered by the deafening

roar of explosions.

The Nazis blew up
crematoria II and III.

After which they continued to try
and erase the evidence

of their crimes.

It was a fight against time,
because the Soviets were coming.

- (via translator) And we hear
the rumble of the crematoria

and gas chambers being blown up,

the remnants of which
are there today.

(sinister music)

- (via translator) First of all,

it is a very moving object
that shows everything

that went on in the gas chambers.

We see the peephole that the guards
used to look through

to see whether everyone was
already dead.

It is the hard evidence
that there were gas chambers.

- (via translator) They blew up
the biggest extermination machines.

They burned the camp archives.

- (via translator) They blew up
those crematoria and gas chambers.

They tried to obliterate the traces
of their criminal activities...

..but they didn't manage
to destroy everything,

there were corpses
next to each barrack.

There was a mass grave,
but they didn't even have time

to throw them in.

NARRATOR: 21st January,
just six days before liberation.

(tense, dramatic music)

Prisoners observed a change
that increases their hope.

The guard posts were abandoned.

Only a few SS patrols remained.

Most of the Auschwitz personnel
had fled,

along with the Death March convoys.

The remaining prisoners were
utterly devoid of energy.

Left with no other option than
to wait for the Soviets to arrive.

About 40 kilometres separate
the Soviets from Auschwitz,

with their advance almost unimpeded.

- (via translator) The Germans,
afraid of being encircled,

began their retreat southeast,
towards Silesia.

After that we were ordered
to continue moving forward.

NARRATOR: 23rd January 1945.

Four days before the Liberation.

The Soviet troops were advancing
westward toward Oswiecim.

At the same time,
flames engulfed Auschwitz,

as the Nazis burnt "Kanada",

the warehouse complex for
items confiscated from prisoners,

clothes, shoes, valuables,
and other personal belongings.

Hundreds of thousands of these
items have came into our possession,

and bear witness to the murderous
madness of Nazism.

On that same day,

the Red Army finally reached
the outskirts of Oswiecim.

Now, only a few kilometres separated
the Soviets from the town

and the Auschwitz camps.

- (via translator) I come to my
house and on the threshold

sits a soldier, who has a rifle.

He shows me a seat next to him.

So I sit down, but you know,
he pulls out a bayonet, a knife...

..pulls out some bread and pulls out
some piece of pork fat.

- (via translator)
There were these white figures

walking around in hoods.

And the fact that they were white
made me curious

and their weapons were pointed
either downwards or forwards,

they weren't pointing upwards
as with the Germans.

- (via translator) We don't know
the full composition

of those brigades which passed
through Oswiecim, Auschwitz,

through Birkenau...

..but we do know the composition of
that army which marched

more or less from Krakow
towards Wroclaw.

(dramatic music)

And there just over 40%,

something like 41% were Russians,
and about 39% were Ukrainians.

And that gives this dramatic context
to what we are seeing today.

(low, tense music)

NARRATOR: 26th January, 1945.

One day to go
until the liberation of Auschwitz.

The SS blew up crematorium V.

It was the Nazis' last desperate
attempt to erase the evidence

of the extermination perpetrated.

But they were running out of time.

We are now on the eve
of the camp's Liberation

and thousands of prisoners
are desperately waiting.

- You have around 7,000 prisoners
waiting to be released

and the conditions they're in
are absolutely terrible.

- I was really in bad shape.

I had all sort of scabs
and boils on my body.

- (via translator) And us,
the children in that barracks,

were left alone.

NARRATOR: Only the weakest
and sickest were left in Auschwitz.

And their condition worsened
day by day.

- (via translator)
For the last ten days or so,

they basically had no food left.

Many people did not live
to see the Liberation.

They died of hunger and exhaustion,
and from the cold too.

- (via translator)
I had reached January 1945,

practically giving up my soul.

I weighed 23 kilos;
I was a skeleton.

Striped pyjamas, a striped hat,

a pair of wooden clogs is all
that's covering your body,

just a skeleton, skin and bones.

You stand up, you hold on, and say,

"Samy, you have to make it."

But how? How can you?

NARRATOR: Whole parts of Auschwitz
were left unguarded

and the prisoners who still had
the strength to move,

began to desperately search
for food.

- There were storage facilities
in Auschwitz that were robbed

or basically opened up
by the prisoners.

- I think a lot of people
got themselves very ill and died

as a result of over eating,
eating on such empty stomachs.

NARRATOR: Hunger had haunted
the prisoners from their first day

in Auschwitz,

and now,
by an atrocious twist of fate,

food was finally proving to be
a fatal poison

in the hands of the prisoners.

- (via translator)
We raided the warehouses etc.,

I found a notebook
and titled it diary.

Oleg Mandic's diary.

And that's it. The writing.

The notebook.

The value of this diary is
that it comes from Auschwitz.

NARRATOR: Saturday 27th of January,
1945.

It is a cold day and
snow covers the Auschwitz camps.

Some prisoners trudge between
the barracks in search of food,

blankets and medicine.

Many others lie helpless
in their straw beds and await death

because they are too weak and sick.

The few remaining Germans no longer
care about the prisoners.

Some leave the camp
with the very last convoys...

..and others are forced to stay
and fight.

The Soviets advance cautiously
through the snow...

..following the railway line.

- What the soviets do next is
to send scouts to examine the camp.

And once they've done that,

you then have all these troops
from the 100th Infantry Division

liberating Auschwitz 3.
Just before noon.

And after they liberated the town
and then make a way to the outskirt

of Auschwitz II, Birkenau.

(low, sombre music)

NARRATOR: The Soviets do not know
what they are about to discover.

For the soldiers, who quickly
advance through the snow,

that endless expanse of barracks,
fences and watchtowers...

..it is nothing more than another
Nazi prison camp.

- (via translator) We received
an order to be careful,

not to shoot, not to open fire

because there were people imprisoned
in those camps.

But we were still ready for combat.

So we took Auschwitz
almost without fighting.

We saw that barbed wire
that the Germans made electric.

- (via translator) We had no idea at
that time what it was really like.

What kind of camp it was?

- (via translator) We saw barracks

and the smell of the dead
still lingered in the air.

NARRATOR: At Birkenau,

the Soviet forces met minimal
resistance from the Germans..

Following brief exchanges of gunfire
between 3 and 5 PM

on the afternoon
of January 27th, 1945,

Red Army soldiers reached the
entrance of Auschwitz I,

now recognised as the iconic gate.

- (via translator)
Until the end of the war,

I worked as a film cameraman.

We were given the task of filming
the camp

by the head of our film crew.

What I saw and filmed
there was the most horrible thing

I ever saw.

NARRATOR: In front of them stand
'living ghosts':

individuals devoid of strength...

..devoid of a smile...

..their dull eyes staring
into emptiness...

..and their protruding bones
barely covered by fragile skin.

- I remember standing at the wires

and watching the Russian army
coming in.

And we couldn't believe it.
No more Nazis over us.

And my feelings were, now what?

What's going to be now?

- (via translator) It's clear
that someone wanted someone else

to stay alive.

I have always wondered, why me?

It's a question you ask yourself,
but never find an answer to.

- Was I there? Was it truth?

Was I really there in that time,
in such places

and lived through all these things.

It can't be. It can't be, but it is.

(sombre dramatic music)

- When I was liberated,
I didn't have a stone,

a grave to go to talk to my mother,

to cry, to tell her what happened.

- And although the Germans were able
to take away all my physical,

almost everything, except my life.

They left me alive.

You know, but whatever could be
removed from my body,

they removed from my body.

They couldn't remove my soul.

NARRATOR: These historic images were
filmed several days after

January 27th, 1945,

by cameraman and Red Army officer
Alexander Vorontsov.

The footage captures a moment
of liberation,

but does not fully represent
the deep and complex emotions felt

by the prisoners.

While Vorontsov's film evokes
an image of unbridled joy,

survivors' testimonies reveal
a far more nuanced reality.

A mosaic of fear, numbness...

..hope, and, finally, joy.

Over time,

Vorontsov's footage would be widely
used as Red Army propaganda,

shaping the narrative of liberation.

- (via translator)
They were all standing there.

All in uniforms.

Just eyes, just eyes.

It was very, very terrible.

- (via translator) I don't think
even our army command

had an idea of the scale of
the crimes committed

in this largest
of concentration camps.

These memories will be with me
for the rest of my life.

- (via translator) We saw a huge
pile of human waste,

clothes, shoes, braids, hair,

remains of human bones.

I have a feeling of hatred
when I think about Auschwitz.

- (via translator)
They were practically skeletons,

covered with skin,
their eyes staring blankly.

- (via translator) I realised they
were prisoners and not workers.

So I called out:
You are free, come out!

- (via translator) I only remember
that they had a star on the cap.

- (via translator) There was joy,
such joy, seemingly simple,

as if they didn't believe it yet.

There was freedom outside the gate,
and they didn't believe it yet.

- These people had lacked
any emotion, at that point.

- I did understand the joy
that something good had happened.

However, by that time,
I myself was quite ill,

and I had been
just lying on the floor.

I could not even get up,
at that point.

NARRATOR: When we listen to
all these testimonies,

we can truly grasp the wide range
of experiences

the prisoners went through.

Some were able to celebrate,
while others had no strength left,

and still others were consumed
by complete apathy.

- (via translator) And these were
people who were

very, very emaciated.

And some of these people couldn't-

they didn't have the strength
to laugh or to enjoy the fact

that some other army had come in.

They were people in apathy.

- They've been totally dehumanised.

- (via translator)
When I opened my eyes,

I saw a Russian woman soldier
massaging me,

covering me with a blanket.

And then I would drift back
into my journey toward death.

- (via translator) They looked at
our soldiers with fear in their eyes

because they didn't know that these
were Soviet soldiers...

..liberators,

and so they were expecting
the worst, death.

We explained to them who we were
and why we came here

because they did not understand
who we were and why we came.

- (via translator)
Two women came up to me,

one of them started clapping her
hands and the other was just happy.

One of them gave me a kiss.

- (via translator) A person
who lived many months,

sometimes more than a year,
in constant anxiety...

..these were dramatic moments
for these survivors.

It was only slowly coming to them
that they were really free.

- (via translator) Both women and
men would cry.

Some began to smile, a little,
through the tears.

- (via translator) We entered one of
the barracks, it was for women.

We saw excrement and blood
on the floor,

and there was
a terrible fetid smell.

It turned out there were
decomposing corpses in the corner.

NARRATOR: The Red Army soldiers
were not prepared for this hell.

With the limited means they had,
they tried to help the prisoners,

but how do you help
those returning from hell?

- The tragedy of it was that even
when we were liberated,

we were not suddenly
fed of the food we needed.

- (via translator)
There was total atrophy,

just bone and skin
from all the hunger.

Many had tuberculosis, many were
starved beyond recognition.

Every other one had a stomach ulcer,
rather multiple ulcers.

It's because they hadn't eaten
anything. Total avitaminosis.

NARRATOR: The local population
of Oswiecim had also rushed to help

the prisoners and this contribution
would be essential

for the survival of many.

- (via translator) Later on,
hospitals were established for sick.

A lot of people took children
from Auschwitz into their homes.

- A Polish lady who actually came
into the camp, picked me up,

put me on her shoulders,
and took me to her home.

- (via translator)
A woman came up to me.

I hugged her and felt such warmth.

And she asked me:
"Will you come with me?"

I will.

And I would go with anyone
who reached out to me.

NARRATOR: 27th January, 1945
was Liberation Day at Auschwitz,

but unfortunately this date did not
end the suffering of the prisoners.

About 20 percent of them
did not survive.

This is Auschwitz's
final atrocious blow.

- (via translator) They were
so exhausted that many of them

were dying within a few months or
a short period after the liberation.

(soft music)

NARRATOR: Over the following months,
those prisoners left Auschwitz,

and the last child to leave
the camp was Oleg Mandic.

- (via translator) For so long,
for so many years,

I have accumulated 91 of them.

I introduce myself as Oleg Mandic,

the last child of Auschwitz.

NARRATOR: After Oleg's departure,
no prisoners remained at Auschwitz.

Over time, Auschwitz transformed
into a site of remembrance,

where the emblematic gates of
the camp remain open to knowledge

and the preservation of memory.

Remembrance and awareness are duties
we have,

so that the terrible tragedy
of Auschwitz is never repeated.

We and future generations ought
to preserve this memory

that we did not experience,
but which we cannot forget.

(tense, dramatic music)

- (via translator) This number,
when I hold it tight,

I feel: hang on, Sami.

- (via translator)
I would rather talk about

how to help memory develop
in the new generation.

How to help these new people,

who have their new means
of communication...

their new problems,

just to transform this knowledge
from the past

into such living memory.

- (via translator)
The young people need me.

They need me.

They must know.

When I am no longer here,
they will be,

and they will make sure
this never happens again.

NARRATOR: What became of the Nazis
who perpetrated these atrocities?

Did they pay the price
they deserved?

Did they ever comprehend that
they had committed

the greatest crime against humanity?

There is another word forever
linked to Auschwitz:

Justice.

But has justice truly been served?

LAWYER: "I received all orders for
carrying out these mass executions

directly from RSHA."

Are those statements true and
correct, witness?

NARRATOR: Commandant Hoss was
executed in Poland

shortly after the liberation.

The first group of Auschwitz
perpetrators was tried in Poland

in the 1940s.

But in Germany,
only on December 20th, 1963,

the Frankfurt trial against
Auschwitz criminals began,

bringing the Western public
face-to-face

with the horrors of the Holocaust
at Auschwitz.

Until today,
many perpetrators went unpunished

or received very light sentences.

- The defendants stand accused
of having implemented

the Nazi mass extermination
programme

at Auschwitz concentration camp

in Poland, between 1940 and 1945.

They are charged with having
participated in countless selections

on the Birkenau ramp,

having sent prisoners deemed sick
or unfit for work

to the gas chambers...

..and having killed them with
the deadly Zyklon B gas,

then burning their bodies.

Having killed an untold number
of prisoners,

including many elderly people
and children,

in the most horrific
and unspeakable ways.

Having murdered newborns,
killed children, and raped women.

Having shot prisoners of war,

94 men and 8 women were executed
at the Black Wall

between Blocks 10 and 11.

Around 4,000 people were transported
and killed in the gas chambers.

Having tortured some prisoners'
genitals until death,

and having forced prisoners
to engage in

relentless physical exercises
until they died of heart failure.

Having hanged children and
forced other prisoners to watch,

administered corporal punishments,
whipped prisoners to death,

and compelled some prisoners
to torture others.

The defendants are charged
with having conducted

pseudo-scientific experiments
on countless prisoners;

having drained prisoners' blood,
forced them to test new drugs,

sterilised women through sadistic
procedures,

and forced prisoners to drink poison
just to observe how long it took

for them to die.

(testimony fades)
(low, sombre music)

(music fades, ends)

- (via translator)
My name is Stefania Wernik.

I was born in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

My mother told me that she was less
than two months pregnant at the time

and she hid the pregnancy because if
she had admitted to being pregnant,

the Germans would have simply sent
her to the gas chambers immediately.

I am a child born
in the very heart of hell,

but even from the darkness of hell,
life and hope can emerge.

Today, I am a great-grandmother
to 14 great-grandchildren.

Love always wins.

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