Auschwitz, The Nazis and the Final Solution

First part in the BBC 6-part documentary series, ‘Surprising Beginnings’ (March 1940-September 1941), sets the stage for the series and examines the radical increase in violence against all opponents of the Nazi state during this 18-month period. In particular, the program explores the importance of the German Army's invasion of the Soviet Union during the summer of 1941 and connects this campaign to the first gassing experiments in Auschwitz, which were aimed at Russian prisoners of war, not Jews. In the final segment, Linda Ellerbee talks with Michael Berenbaum, professor of theology at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and author of Anatomy of the Auschwitz Nazi Death Camp (published in association with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1994); and Melvin Jules Bukiet, professor of creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and author of Nothing Makes You Free: Writings by Descendants of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.