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00:06On April 1, 1933, Adolf Hitler's first official act to persecute Germany's Jews is an attempt
00:15to sever them from all commercial life with a boycott. What follows over the next 12 years
00:22is an organized, sustained cruelty unparalleled in human history. It unfolds step by step.
00:32When he first grasps the enormity of the evil, Winston Churchill calls it the crime without
00:39a name. It becomes known as the Holocaust. All wars change the world, but none of them
00:49change the world like the Second World War did. Japan's on the march. Germany's on the march.
00:56No one can imagine a nightmare they're about to unleash. The most destructive war in human history.
01:03Suddenly the world is turned upside down and all hell is let loose.
01:09The West is stunned by the speed of the advance.
01:13You get the allies led by the big three. Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. Men who are dealing with
01:21immensely complicated questions. It's the biggest military operation of human history.
01:29The allies have to come together, not just militarily, but industrial scale. It's a global perspective.
01:35They have to fight in every climate from the Arctic to the jungles of the Pacific to the deserts of
01:41Africa
01:42and the depths of the ocean.
01:47But there was no certainty of victory. It was going to be a horrific bloodbath.
01:53We see humans at their absolute worst, how they treat other human beings.
01:58And we see them at their absolute best, willing to give their lives that others might live.
02:02World War II was a struggle in which there could be one victor
02:07and one vanquish.
02:19World War II
02:20World War II
02:37In early 1939, Germany has seized Austria.
02:43Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer, wants to take even more land in Europe.
02:51On January 30, Hitler tells the German Reichstag that if war comes, it will not be his fault.
03:00The blame will lie with one people, the Jews.
03:27Two months later, Hitler will take all of Czechoslovakia.
03:33On September 1, he invades Poland and World War II begins.
03:43One of the things that's critical for us to understand about the history of World War II
03:47and history of the Holocaust is that all of these things are inextricably linked together.
03:53The ebb and flow of the war itself impacts the way the Holocaust unfolds on the ground.
04:01Anti-Semitism is central to Hitler's and the Nazi Party's philosophy,
04:05which he clearly stated in his book Mein Kampf, or My Struggle.
04:13Mein Kampf is a manifesto-slash-autobiography of the young Hitler.
04:19Hitler, it contains a rough sketch for the world as he would like it to be,
04:24and an endless documentation of all the groups of people he has grievances against.
04:32Hitler reserves his greatest grievance for Germany's Jews.
04:38He uses base metaphors to describe them, playing on long-held anti-Semitic tropes.
04:45He portrays them as exploiting or manipulating the German people.
04:51In order to understand Hitler, one has to understand the importance of race
04:56that underlines every single thing that he does.
05:00He believes that the whole human race is divided into categories.
05:07The Aryan race is at the top of that category.
05:10The Jews are at the bottom.
05:12Hitler is obsessed with Jews.
05:15He's obsessed with Jews as an internal enemy, as impure racially, as non-German.
05:26And he believes that Germany will fulfill its destiny when it's free of Jews.
05:34In 1934, Hitler appoints himself the Fuhrer, the leader of Germany.
05:42And he will quickly turn his hatred of Jews into law.
05:50In the fall of 1935, at a Nazi gathering in Nuremberg,
05:56Hitler's deputy Hermann Göring unveils a sweeping set of legal measures
06:00targeting the country's Jewish population.
06:17The laws prohibit marriage or sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews
06:24and strip German Jews of their citizenship.
06:29For Jews living in Germany, the Nuremberg laws are a huge turning point.
06:36It doesn't matter if you're not religious.
06:40Identity is now biological.
06:43It plants the seeds for saying Jews are a separate race that are polluting Germany.
06:51The Nazis intend to make life so difficult for German and Austrian Jews
06:55that they will want to emigrate.
06:58Around half of Germany's Jewish community of 500,000 go into exile.
07:08In November 1938, the Nazis coordinate a brutal wave of destruction and violence across Germany.
07:16Jewish businesses are looted and burned.
07:21Synagogues razed.
07:24And homes left in ruin.
07:31The event is called in German, Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass.
07:39The windows of Jewish shopkeepers are smashed.
07:49There's also incursions into their homes.
07:53They're kicking in the doors.
07:55They're dragging people out.
07:56They're beating them up to petrify the Jewish population.
08:03Police or military were instructed not to wear their uniforms
08:08when they went out to commit the violence on Kristallnacht
08:11to make it look like it was more spontaneous than it actually was.
08:15But it is a government-coordinated terrorist attack against Jews.
08:25The morning after Kristallnacht, the Nazis arrest 30,000 Jewish men
08:30and march them off to concentration camps.
08:35I think Kristallnacht is an inflection point
08:37because it showed the Nazi government
08:40that average Germans would be willing to go along with the violence.
08:44By the late 30s, Jews living within Germany and Austria
08:50face persecution and intimidation.
08:53Even worse dangers are on the horizon.
09:11In early September 1939, German forces invade Poland.
09:26In just a few weeks, the Poles are conquered.
09:30Poland's three million Jews are now controlled by Hitler and the Nazis.
09:38When the Nazis enter Poland, they have no real coherent strategy
09:42about what they're going to do with Jews.
09:44So they start to improvise pretty quickly.
09:48And one of the things that emerges as part of this improvisation
09:51is an idea about creating ghettos.
09:55Within days of the German occupation,
09:58many Polish Jews are forced into ghettos.
10:03Jews are ordered to wear armbands
10:05and are restricted on entering and leaving.
10:10The decision is made in Warsaw to create a closed ghetto.
10:15There is movement across the gates of guards and of Poles,
10:18but not of the Jews themselves.
10:20They are locked into the ghetto.
10:21And a wall is created to restrict Jewish movement.
10:26It's a very visible signal
10:28of the racial segregation of the city of Warsaw.
10:32Over 100,000 Jews who lived in other parts of Warsaw
10:35had to move into this area.
10:37It was 1.3 square miles, so it was tiny.
10:42The circumstances of the ghettos
10:44actually create the perfect breeding grounds for disease.
10:48This is exacerbated by the fact
10:50that running water is limited
10:52and sewage systems are not adequate,
10:55especially with the size of the population.
11:01Mendel Jakubowicz is 14
11:03when his family is sent to the ghetto
11:06in Oistrowicz, southeast Poland.
11:12He later writes,
11:15I remember that as a small boy,
11:18I used to walk the ghetto streets
11:20and I could see people dying,
11:22people screaming.
11:26There was no food,
11:27especially for the people that had no money.
11:36The Jews fight to survive in the ghetto
11:40and even look for opportunities to resist.
11:46There were smugglers who would smuggle in food
11:49and smuggle out people sometimes.
11:51For forced labor,
11:53they would sometimes slow their work
11:54or make sure that whatever they were told to do
11:57would be broken by the time the Nazis get it.
12:01There was all sorts of work that they were doing
12:03to try to resist as long as possible.
12:08For the first year of the war,
12:10life in the ghetto is the cruel daily reality
12:13of Poland's Jews.
12:16But Hitler is planning a new campaign
12:19and millions of people
12:21are about to descend into horror.
12:33By mid-1941,
12:36Germany controls much of Western Europe.
12:44But Hitler's true goal
12:45is to create Lebensraum,
12:48living space for the German people,
12:52which will be found in the East.
12:55Hitler now realized
12:57that this was the ideal moment
12:59to begin the secret planning
13:01of the invasion of Russia,
13:03the great climax of his life's work,
13:07the destruction of the entire Soviet Union,
13:11Barbarossa.
13:16For Operation Barbarossa,
13:18Hitler and his generals
13:19will deploy three army groups
13:21and three million men,
13:26supported by thousands of tanks
13:28and aircraft across a vast front.
13:34The German preparations for Barbarossa
13:37are on a scale,
13:39it's almost unimaginable.
13:42This is going to be
13:44and remains
13:45the largest invasion
13:46in human history.
13:51Hitler adds another mission
13:54to the plan.
13:55He issues a directive
13:57stating in the invasion
13:58there will be special tasks.
14:02In charge of these
14:03will be Heinrich Himmler,
14:05head of the SS.
14:08If you want to know
14:09what Hitler's thinking,
14:10look at what Himmler was doing.
14:13Because Himmler was talking
14:14to and meeting Hitler
14:15very, very frequently
14:17across these periods of time.
14:19Himmler has been a member
14:21of the Nazi party
14:22since 1923.
14:25By all appearances,
14:27Heinrich Himmler seems like
14:28an ordinary human being.
14:29He was born to a good family,
14:32went to decent schools.
14:33He hooks up
14:34with various kinds of occupations.
14:36He's a chicken farmer,
14:38sells fertilizer for a time.
14:40And like so many young men
14:42of his generation,
14:43came under Hitler's spell.
14:49Himmler's mobile death squads,
14:52the Einsatzgruppen,
14:53will follow the advancing
14:55German army
14:56into Soviet territory.
14:58They have orders
14:59to move into
15:00occupied communities
15:01and kill anyone
15:02who threatens the operation.
15:06The Einsatzgruppen
15:08will follow the Wehrmacht
15:09in the Barbarossa campaign,
15:10and their task
15:11is the long-term pacification
15:13of Soviet society.
15:14They are above all targeting
15:16what they believe
15:17are the two key facets
15:18of the Soviet social system,
15:20commissars
15:21or communist political leaders.
15:23And they particularly
15:25single out Jews.
15:28The conflict now
15:30was being raised
15:31to a new level
15:32of ideological
15:33and racial warfare.
15:35The annihilation
15:36of certain groups
15:37was encouraged,
15:40sanctioned,
15:40and ordered.
15:41And this is a dark step.
15:44The world is darkening visibly
15:46as this operation begins.
15:55In June 1941,
15:57the Wehrmacht smashes
15:58through Soviet defenses
15:59and makes rapid advances
16:01across the front.
16:04There are over 5 million Jews
16:07in the Soviet Union.
16:10The Jewish communities
16:11in the Soviet Union
16:12were very different
16:13from those
16:14in many parts
16:15of Eastern Europe
16:16like Poland and Romania.
16:17They weren't generally
16:18communities
16:19of orthodox Jews
16:20with ringlets
16:21and black hats.
16:23Jews in the Soviet Union
16:25were assimilated
16:26within the general population.
16:30In the wake of the German army,
16:33the Einsatzgruppen
16:34begin their special task.
16:37Einsatzgruppen
16:38didn't know enough
16:39about who was Jewish,
16:40so locals would volunteer
16:42or be seized
16:43in order to give them
16:44exactly the information
16:45they wanted.
16:49There are groups
16:50within Eastern Europe
16:51of people
16:52who are already
16:53very anti-Semitic
16:54and you will
16:56voluntarily sign up
16:57to be auxiliaries
16:59and help these units.
17:03A Einsatzgruppen
17:03usually would round up
17:04the Jewish populations.
17:06They're then assembled
17:07at a central location
17:08where they're guarded
17:09and then marched
17:11in groups
17:11to a killing site.
17:16They would be taken
17:17to a place of execution
17:18on the edge of the town.
17:20They would be very often
17:21forced to dig pits
17:22for their own bodies
17:25and then they would be
17:27shot into these pits.
17:33Sometimes they used
17:34wooded areas or forests
17:35and sometimes these executions
17:37were remarkably public.
17:48They're bringing Jews
17:49to a killing site
17:51often in family groups
17:54forcing them to undress
17:57and then making them
17:59lie down on the bodies
18:00of people that have
18:01already been murdered
18:01to wait to be shot themselves.
18:06This is grown men
18:08standing, aiming at
18:10another human being.
18:11that could be a man,
18:13it could be a woman,
18:14it could be a baby
18:16and firing a gun at them.
18:18And it's happening
18:19on a huge scale
18:21over a huge territory.
18:26Einsatzgruppen killed
18:27nearly half a million Jews
18:29in the Soviet Union
18:31in the first six months
18:32of Operation Barbarossa.
18:36Just incredible numbers
18:38of human beings
18:39murdered, you know,
18:40by shooting over and over
18:42and over again.
18:44There's a close relationship
18:45between the actual
18:47military campaign,
18:48Operation Barbarossa,
18:49and the Holocaust.
18:51The Holocaust really begins
18:52the moment they cross the border
18:53into the Soviet Union.
18:55The war enabled
18:57the entire Soviet Union
18:59to be treated
18:59as a killing zone.
19:01It meant that the lifting
19:03of norms of civilized behavior,
19:05the lifting of norms
19:06of warfare,
19:07all restraints were removed.
19:15The killing of Jews
19:16is reported back
19:18to Berlin every day.
19:20Senior Nazis discuss
19:21the next stages
19:22of Hitler's plan.
19:25Hitler's deputy,
19:26Hermann Göring,
19:27writes to Reinhard Heydrich,
19:30the SS official
19:31responsible for executing
19:32Nazi plans
19:33for the Jewish population.
19:36Reinhard Heydrich
19:38is one of the key figures
19:39in the SS.
19:40He's distinctly Aryan
19:42in his visage.
19:43He has icy,
19:45cold blue eyes,
19:46and his face registered
19:47almost no emotion.
19:50In late July 1941,
19:53Göring sends
19:54an official communique
19:56to Heydrich.
19:57He asks him
19:58to promptly submit
20:00an overall plan
20:01for the execution
20:03of the intended
20:04final solution
20:05of the Jewish question.
20:08This is essentially
20:09the order
20:10authorizing Heydrich
20:12to begin preparations
20:13for the final solution
20:16of the Jewish question
20:17in Europe.
20:19They're going to remove them
20:21from the world
20:22by murdering them.
20:33As the German army
20:34advances across
20:35the Soviet Union,
20:37the Wehrmacht
20:38works with units
20:39liquidating communists
20:41and Jews,
20:42the SS
20:43and particularly
20:44the Einsatzgruppen.
20:52In August,
20:54SS leader
20:54Heinrich Himmler
20:55visits Minsk
20:56in Nazi-occupied
20:58Belarusia.
21:00Himmler maintains
21:01a really close watch
21:02on what the Einsatzgruppen
21:03are doing
21:03because ultimately
21:04they're his responsibility
21:05so he travels a lot
21:06around the Eastern Front.
21:09Himmler realizes
21:10that the shootings
21:11are taking an emotional
21:13toll on his men.
21:15It's difficult
21:16no matter who you are
21:17to wake up in the morning
21:18and to shoot people
21:20all day long
21:21and then to try
21:21to go to bed at night
21:22and know that
21:23the next morning
21:23you're going to wake up
21:24and do it all over again.
21:28A massacre of 100 people
21:30is set up for him
21:32so that he can see
21:32how difficult it is
21:33to actually watch
21:35the killing
21:36of human beings
21:38because Himmler
21:39has never had
21:39to do this before.
21:40He's never really seen
21:41death firsthand.
21:44He reacts very badly
21:46to the sight of bodies
21:48being murdered
21:49in front of him.
21:49He turns green
21:50and he almost throws up.
21:52Himmler returns to Berlin
21:54to help design ways
21:56to execute mass killings
21:58that are more efficient.
22:03On the Soviet front,
22:05the killing continues.
22:11Babi Yar is a ravine
22:13just outside Kiev
22:15in Ukraine.
22:18In September 1941,
22:21over 33,000 Jewish men,
22:23women, and children
22:24are marched here.
22:29Across two days,
22:30they are all shot
22:32and then buried
22:34in a mass grave.
22:40The Nazis had already
22:43developed a method
22:44of mass murder.
22:47At the start of the war,
22:49Hitler authorized
22:51the killing of patients
22:52with disabilities,
22:54a euthanasia program
22:56known as T4.
22:58The T4 program,
23:00which is codenamed
23:02after Tiergartenstrasse
23:03No. 4,
23:04which is the building
23:05in Berlin
23:05that was the headquarters,
23:06was the program
23:08to murder
23:09with carbon monoxide,
23:11physically and mentally
23:12disabled Germans,
23:14because they were deemed
23:15to be drains
23:16on the state.
23:19The T4 program
23:20runs for two years
23:22before it's officially
23:23halted in August 1941.
23:27What you then have
23:28is a group of men
23:30with a particular
23:30set of skills,
23:31the use of gas
23:32to murder people,
23:34the transportation
23:34and logistics of that,
23:36the hiding
23:38of the evidence
23:39of that operation.
23:40And these people
23:42are then available
23:43to be used
23:44in another operation.
23:47The first extermination center
23:50where Jews are sent
23:51to be gassed
23:52is at Helmo,
23:54located in German-occupied Poland.
24:00The victims
24:01in the Helmo center
24:03are Jews from the ghetto
24:04of the Polish city
24:05of Lodz
24:06and the Romani,
24:08who the Nazis also regard
24:10as an inferior race.
24:14On December 8, 1941,
24:17the first Jews
24:18are killed
24:19using gas vans.
24:22They are vans
24:23where the Nazis
24:24could pipe
24:25carbon monoxide
24:26into the back
24:26of the bed
24:27of the truck.
24:31Shlama Berwiener
24:32is a Jew
24:33from central Poland
24:34who is deported
24:35to Helmo.
24:37Shlama witnesses
24:38the death
24:39of his family
24:40in gas vans.
24:42He writes about this
24:44in a letter.
24:46The leader
24:46of the Guard Detail
24:47was a high-ranking
24:48SS man,
24:49an absolute sadist
24:51and murderer.
24:52He ordered that
24:53eight men
24:54were to open
24:54the doors
24:54of the lorry.
24:56The smell of gas
24:57that met us
24:58was overpowering.
24:59Out of my family
25:01of about 60 people,
25:02I was the only
25:03remaining survivor.
25:05I was left alone
25:06in this world now.
25:10The war against
25:12the Jews
25:12is about to take
25:13an ominous turn
25:14as the Nazis
25:16build additional
25:17killing centers
25:18and devise
25:19new methods
25:20to destroy
25:21a people.
25:33December 1941.
25:36A villa overlooking
25:38Lake Wannsee
25:39in Berlin
25:39is the location
25:40for a gathering
25:41of officials
25:42representing different
25:43parts of the Nazi regime.
25:46The organizer
25:48of the conference
25:48is Reinhard Heydrich.
25:50The topic
25:51is the Jewish question.
25:54But the conference
25:55is postponed.
25:58The conference
25:59of Wannsee
26:00was initially scheduled
26:01on the 9th of December
26:02but it had to be postponed
26:04because of course
26:04on the 7th of December
26:061941
26:07the Japanese
26:08launched a massive
26:09attack on Pearl Harbor.
26:12Start against Pearl Harbor.
26:14In this island
26:15is the American Pacific
26:17the proudest of the USA.
26:28Three days after
26:29the attack
26:30at Pearl Harbor
26:30Adolf Hitler
26:32declares war
26:32on the United States.
26:41Hitler has long
26:43predicted
26:43a world war
26:44and now
26:46and now
26:46he has brought
26:46it about.
26:49In a speech
26:50he accuses
26:51the Jews
26:52of manipulating
26:53the American
26:54president
26:54Franklin D. Roosevelt.
27:14At a briefing
27:15on December 12th
27:16Hitler summons
27:17Nazi party leaders.
27:19In his diary
27:20propaganda minister
27:22Joseph Goebbels
27:23writes what is discussed
27:24the Fuhrer
27:26is determined
27:27to make a clean sweep.
27:29The world war
27:30is here.
27:31The destruction
27:32of Jewry
27:33must be
27:34the inevitable
27:35consequence.
27:39On January 20th
27:411942
27:42Nazi officials
27:44arrived at
27:45Lake Wannsee
27:45for Heydrich's
27:46rescheduled conference.
27:50The SS officers
27:52are in their
27:52full formal
27:53uniforms
27:54they're being
27:55served
27:55cognac
27:56and canapes.
27:58It looks like
27:59a very civilized
28:00gathering
28:00but of course
28:01what's being
28:02discussed
28:03at the Wannsee
28:03conference
28:04is anything
28:04but civilized.
28:06The Wannsee
28:07conference
28:07is a coordination
28:09meeting.
28:10It is not
28:11a meeting
28:13to decide
28:13whether or not
28:14to kill
28:15the Jews
28:15of Europe.
28:16It's a meeting
28:17to determine
28:17how that's
28:19going to take
28:19place
28:19and what
28:20the responsibilities
28:21are of all
28:23of the bureaucratic
28:24elements of the
28:24Nazi state
28:25in achieving
28:26this goal.
28:28At the conference
28:30Heydrich lists
28:31the number of Jews
28:32to be exterminated
28:33by the final
28:34solution.
28:37The list includes
28:39the Jews
28:39of the Soviet Union
28:40and Eastern Europe,
28:43the Jews
28:44in France,
28:46the Netherlands,
28:47Belgium
28:48and Scandinavian
28:49countries.
28:51It also includes
28:52Jews in countries
28:53fighting alongside
28:54Germany
28:55such as Italy,
28:56Romania and Hungary.
28:59Even Jews
29:00in undefeated
29:01Great Britain
29:01and neutral Ireland
29:02are included.
29:05Grand total
29:06over 11 million.
29:10the Nazis
29:11now have a plan
29:12to implement
29:13the Holocaust.
29:19The Germans
29:20had succeeded
29:21in taking France
29:22as well as
29:22Holland,
29:23Denmark,
29:24Norway and so on
29:25which meant
29:26that they suddenly
29:26had control
29:27over other
29:28massive populations
29:29of Jews.
29:31The fact
29:32that basically
29:33the whole of Europe
29:34outside Britain
29:35was now part
29:36of Hitler's
29:37Nazi empire
29:38gave a feeling
29:40that things
29:42could be done
29:43which had never
29:43been done before.
29:50Across all
29:51of Europe,
29:52a whole people
29:54are targeted
29:55for annihilation.
30:07following the
30:08Wannsee conference,
30:09the Nazis
30:10are working
30:11on the construction
30:12of killing centers
30:13where people,
30:14most of them
30:15Jewish,
30:16will be sent
30:17to die.
30:18The majority
30:19are from
30:20Eastern Europe
30:21and Soviet territory.
30:23The Nazis
30:24also begin
30:25to target
30:26the Jews
30:26of Western Europe.
30:29The Holocaust
30:30begins as
30:31an Eastern phenomenon
30:32but soon
30:33it extends
30:34to every single
30:35corner
30:36of German-controlled
30:37Europe.
30:39Amsterdam
30:39in the Netherlands
30:40and France
30:41and Italy
30:43and as far north
30:44as Scandinavia,
30:45Jews are being
30:46shipped to these
30:47various new
30:48establishments
30:48in the East
30:49and murdered.
30:52In the spring
30:53of 1942,
30:55Himmler visits
30:55Amsterdam
30:56to address
30:57a police battalion
30:58specially trained
30:59to round up
31:00and deport
31:00the city's
31:01Jewish population.
31:03A few weeks
31:04after his visit,
31:06one Jewish father,
31:08Otto Frank,
31:09decides his family
31:10must go into hiding.
31:14His daughter,
31:15Anne,
31:15writes in her diary,
31:17our many
31:19Jewish friends
31:19and acquaintances
31:20are being
31:21taken away
31:21in droves.
31:23Escape
31:24is almost impossible.
31:34In France,
31:35many Jews
31:36who fled
31:36Germany earlier
31:37now find
31:38themselves threatened
31:39along with the
31:40country's large
31:41French-Jewish
31:42population.
31:45Helene Baer,
31:47a young
31:47French-Jewish
31:48woman,
31:49writes,
31:49a wave of terror
31:51has been gripping
31:52everybody else
31:52as well
31:53these past few
31:54days.
31:54It appears
31:56that the SS
31:56have taken
31:57command in France
31:58and that terror
32:00must follow.
32:05Over the next
32:06months,
32:07Jewish families
32:07are deported
32:08by German forces
32:09and their
32:10collaborators.
32:11They are informed
32:12they are being
32:13resettled in
32:14Eastern Europe
32:14and told to bring
32:16belongings and
32:17valuables with them.
32:19Instead,
32:20they are being
32:21sent to the new
32:22Nazi extermination
32:23centers.
32:25They are crammed
32:27into airless,
32:28lightless railway
32:29cars and
32:30transported hundreds
32:31of miles without
32:32food or water.
32:37Modern
32:37bureaucracies
32:38and trains
32:40enable the movement
32:41of people
32:42across Europe
32:43in huge numbers
32:44which had really
32:45never been seen
32:46before.
32:47war.
32:48There are four
32:49major extermination
32:50centers.
32:52Helmo,
32:52Treblinga,
32:54Sobabor,
32:54and Belzeck.
32:56There are two
32:57additional extermination
32:58centers which also
33:00serve as forced
33:01labor camps,
33:03Madonic and
33:04Auschwitz.
33:06all of these
33:07centers are located
33:08in Poland.
33:11In the centers,
33:12the Nazis
33:13designed methods
33:14to kill as many
33:15people in as
33:16short a time as
33:17possible,
33:18including using
33:19diesel engines.
33:22The Nazis pumped
33:24carbon monoxide
33:25from these engines
33:25into the chambers
33:26themselves.
33:27They killed a lot
33:27of people.
33:28That doesn't
33:29necessarily mean
33:30that they were
33:31as kind of
33:32efficient in that
33:33process as is
33:34somehow supposed.
33:35These were very
33:36crude places,
33:37they were very
33:37improvisational
33:38places,
33:39and they were
33:40spaces of
33:40extraordinary
33:41and appalling
33:43suffering.
33:50At Auschwitz,
33:52the Nazis use
33:53a pesticide
33:54called Zyklon B.
33:58Zyklon B
33:59is a cyanide
34:00derivative.
34:01Originally for
34:02exterminating
34:03vermin,
34:04for killing
34:04rodents in your
34:05house,
34:06it's a blue
34:06crystal,
34:07you open the
34:08can and it
34:08emits a
34:09poison gas.
34:11They also
34:12begin construction
34:13on an extension
34:14to Auschwitz
34:15in the neighboring
34:16village of
34:17Berkenau.
34:18The site is
34:19solely dedicated
34:20to extermination
34:21and has
34:22several gas
34:23chambers.
34:27When Jews
34:28arrive at
34:29Auschwitz,
34:30Berkenau,
34:30they are
34:31sorted into
34:32two groups,
34:33those who are
34:34determined fit
34:34for forced
34:35labor and
34:36those who
34:37are not.
34:39Mendel
34:40Yakubovich is
34:41deported from
34:42the Polish
34:42ghetto to
34:43Auschwitz.
34:45He describes
34:46his arrival.
34:49The SS
34:50people were
34:50walking up
34:51and down.
34:52I stood at
34:53attention on
34:53my toes.
34:55Finally,
34:56after a while,
34:57I was chosen
34:57to the right,
34:59some of my
35:00friends to
35:01the left.
35:03Mendel is
35:04selected to
35:04join a work
35:05battalion.
35:07His family is
35:08sent to the
35:09gas chamber.
35:13The people
35:14who were
35:14being brought
35:15into the gas
35:16chambers would
35:16be separated
35:17into men and
35:18women and
35:19children.
35:19They'd all be
35:20herded into
35:21this room.
35:22They told them
35:23that they were
35:23going there to
35:24be showered.
35:26They would be
35:27given fabric ties
35:28to tie their
35:29shoes together
35:30under the ruse
35:31that it would be
35:31easier to find
35:32their pair
35:32afterwards.
35:34The Nazis
35:35want to cram
35:36as many people
35:37into the gas
35:38chambers as
35:38possible because
35:39that generates
35:39this environment
35:41of high heat
35:42and humidity
35:43which creates
35:44the hydrogen
35:45cyanide gas.
35:51the scenes
35:52that followed
35:52after that
35:54defy
35:55imagination.
35:57Quite often
35:58you would find
35:59families or
36:00loved ones that
36:01were clutching
36:02each other so
36:02tightly that it
36:03was impossible
36:04to pull their
36:05arms apart from
36:06each other.
36:10The victims
36:11are cremated.
36:13a perpetual
36:14pall of death
36:15hangs over the
36:16area.
36:18It was generally
36:19the case that
36:20people since death
36:21camps were murdered
36:22within about 45
36:23minutes to two
36:23hours of arrival.
36:25The creation of
36:27the extermination
36:28camps is Hitler's
36:29final solution to
36:30the Jewish
36:31question.
36:33An industrial
36:34scale system to
36:36mass murder
36:37human beings in
36:38their thousands
36:39every day.
36:41just the
36:42pinnacle of
36:43evil.
36:48This is murder
36:49on an industrial
36:50scale.
36:51But each death
36:53is uniquely
36:53suffered.
37:03In the summer
37:04of 1942,
37:06Himmler visits
37:07the extermination
37:08center at
37:09Auschwitz-Birkenau.
37:11He watches
37:12enslaved prisoners
37:13working in a
37:14chemical plant
37:15and sees
37:16train cars of
37:17Jews arriving
37:18to be murdered.
37:20Himmler later
37:21attends a dinner
37:22party where he
37:22explains that the
37:24Nazis have
37:24murdered two
37:25million Jews
37:26and will
37:26continue to do
37:27so.
37:29His boasts
37:30make their way
37:31to a Western
37:32intelligence agent
37:33who passes the
37:35information to
37:36a German exile
37:37living in neutral
37:38Switzerland,
37:39Gerhard Rigner.
37:42Gerhard Rigner,
37:43who worked for
37:44the World
37:45Jewish Congress,
37:46learns from a
37:47German businessman
37:48that the Nazis
37:49have a plan.
37:50They are trying to
37:51round up,
37:52deport,
37:53and murder
37:54the remaining
37:55Jewish communities
37:55of Europe.
37:58Shocked by what
37:59he hears,
38:00Rigner attempts
38:01to get this
38:01information to
38:02Rabbi Stephen
38:03Weiss.
38:06Rabbi Stephen
38:07Weiss is the
38:07head of the
38:08World Jewish
38:08Congress and
38:09maybe the
38:10most influential
38:10American rabbi
38:12and maybe one
38:13of the most
38:13influential American
38:14Jews at the
38:14time.
38:15He has a
38:15relationship with
38:17President Roosevelt.
38:21Rigner's message
38:22gets to the
38:23U.S.
38:23State Department,
38:24but officials
38:25treat it like a
38:26war rumor and
38:28don't pass it on.
38:29The State
38:30Department refuses
38:32to send this
38:33information to
38:34Rabbi Weiss.
38:35They call it
38:36an unreliable
38:37war rumor
38:38and they bury
38:39it.
38:40Why are we
38:40going to get
38:41people riled up
38:42about this if
38:42it's just
38:43probably a war
38:43rumor?
38:44There's no way
38:44that the Nazis
38:45are actually
38:45doing this.
38:46And so they
38:47shelve it.
38:48But Rigner
38:49persists.
38:50He reaches a
38:51British member
38:51of Parliament
38:52who contacts
38:53Rabbi Weiss
38:54by telegram.
38:55The U.S.
38:56State Department
38:57now investigates
38:58the report,
38:59but the
39:00Roosevelt
39:00administration
39:01is not
39:02ready to
39:02take it
39:03public.
39:06They had
39:07a feeling
39:08that American
39:09soldiers would
39:10not agree
39:10to fight
39:11if they
39:12believed that
39:13they were
39:13being asked
39:14to fight
39:14for the
39:14rescue of
39:15European
39:15Jews.
39:16We're
39:16fighting for
39:17these ideas
39:18of democracy
39:19and idealism.
39:20We're not
39:21fighting for
39:21the Jews.
39:24After their
39:25investigation,
39:26the State
39:26Department
39:27allows Rabbi
39:28Weiss to
39:28share the
39:29information
39:29about the
39:30mass murder
39:31of the
39:31Jews.
39:32The news
39:33spreads around
39:34the globe
39:34and Jewish
39:35communities
39:35react.
39:38The world
39:39is beginning
39:40to learn
39:40the truth.
39:43At the beginning
39:44of December,
39:44there's a day
39:45of mourning,
39:45not just in the
39:46United States,
39:46not just in
39:47Britain,
39:48but internationally.
39:50There are vigils,
39:51there are ceremonies
39:53and services
39:54in synagogues
39:55across the
39:56Western Hemisphere.
39:57and then finally
39:58on December 17th,
40:00the Allied
40:00governments issue
40:02what is called
40:02the Allied
40:03Declaration on
40:04Atrocities.
40:04And they are
40:05condemning in
40:06very strong language
40:07what the Nazis
40:08and their
40:08collaborators are
40:09doing.
40:09They are using
40:10phrases like
40:11cold-blooded
40:11extermination
40:12and bloody
40:13atrocities.
40:15Roosevelt
40:16particularly is
40:16very concerned
40:17and Churchill
40:18is appalled
40:19as well.
40:20He says
40:20the best thing
40:21that we can do
40:22to help
40:23Europe's Jews
40:23is to win
40:24this war
40:24as quickly
40:25as possible
40:26and we need
40:26to divert
40:26all of our
40:27resources
40:28in service
40:29of doing
40:29just that.
40:31They knew
40:32that these
40:33mass killings
40:33were happening.
40:34I don't think
40:35they could imagine
40:36quite the scale
40:37of the infrastructure
40:38that the Nazis
40:39had devoted
40:39to this.
40:40I think that
40:41the leaders
40:41had not quite
40:42grasped
40:43the extent of it.
40:47In 1933,
40:48Hitler's perverse
40:49vision was
40:50to expel
40:51the Jews
40:51from Germany.
40:52By 1942,
40:54he is on the
40:55verge of
40:56exterminating
40:56the entire
40:57Jewish population
40:58of Europe.
41:06After two years
41:08in hiding,
41:09Anne Frank
41:09and her sister
41:10are discovered
41:11by Dutch
41:11police officers
41:12and sent
41:13to a Nazi
41:14extermination
41:15center.
41:16They eventually
41:17die of typhus
41:18just weeks
41:19before the end
41:20of the war.
41:22Helene Baer
41:23is deported
41:24from Paris
41:25to Auschwitz
41:26and then
41:26to Bergen-Belsen
41:27where she also
41:29dies from typhus
41:30in April 1945.
41:33Schlama Baer
41:35Wiener
41:35writes a report
41:36about the gas
41:37vans
41:38at Helmo
41:40hoping to bring
41:41the truth
41:41to the world.
41:42But he is found
41:44by the Nazis
41:44and deported
41:45to Belzec
41:46where he is
41:47murdered in
41:48the gas
41:48chambers.
41:51Mendel
41:51Yakubovich
41:52survives
41:53Auschwitz
41:54and moves
41:55to the United
41:55States
41:56after the war.
41:57He changes
41:58his name
41:59to Mike Jacobs
41:59and founds
42:01a scrapped
42:01metal business
42:02in Dallas,
42:03Texas.
42:07The Holocaust,
42:09the Shoah,
42:10will continue
42:11until Nazi Germany
42:13is defeated
42:14and the Third Reich
42:15is completely destroyed.
42:17In 1942,
42:20the Allies
42:20gather their forces
42:22for a massive assault
42:23on the Wehrmacht
42:24in North Africa.
42:26was a complete
42:26attack
42:26of the United
42:26not selling
42:27States and victims
42:29Theseおっemans
42:29The day
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