DAN SNOW: Hi, I'm Dan Snow, and I'm here at the Imperial War Museum in London to look at the history of the Holocaust, the genocide that saw six million Jews murdered by the Nazis between 1941 and when the war ended in 1945. Most of those murders happened in what were called concentration camps. The name coming from the fact that these were places where people were crammed in, concentrated into one area. These were places deliberately designed for killing as can be seen from this clip, which shows what actions the Nazi leaders at the camp at Auschwitz took when the sheer scale of the murders meant that the camp had to be made bigger.
NARRATOR: At Auschwitz concentration camp, in October 1941, a radical initiative was being implemented. The newly appointed Auschwitz construction chief, Karl Bischoff, and SS architect Fritz Ertl were working on plans for a completely new camp to be situated a little more than a mile and a half north west of the existing one on the site of a village the Germans called Birkenau. This new camp was to be the size of a small town, capable of holding a 100,000 people. Research conducted in the 1990's, based on the original German construction plans, reveals that, from the first moment of its conception, this camp was designed to house prisoners in appalling conditions. The Nazis had built suffering into the very plans. In a concentration camp in Germany this was the total space three inmates had to live in. Here at the new camp in Auschwitz, the original plan was to cram nine prisoners into the same space. 550 in every barrack.
NARRATOR: There was no running water, no proper flooring, and jamming so many people together in each hut meant that this was the perfect breeding ground for disease. But when the final calculations were made it was clear that even cramming the new prisoners together so tightly wasn't enough for the needs of the Nazis.
NARRATOR: So Bischoff decided to force even more prisoners into each barrack. The documents reveal that he made a handwritten change - the figure 550 for each barrack was crossed out and replaced with 744. The SS were designing barracks not so much to house people as to destroy them.
DAN SNOW: As that clip shows, the Nazis' plans to wipe out the Jewish population had become, by 1941, for them, just a matter of course. And the chilling fact they placed no value on those people's lives was even being demonstrated in something as simple as a building's architectural drawings.
Video summary
Dan Snow introduces this short film about the expansion of Auschwitz to deal with the number of Jewish people being transported to concentration camps.
The number of Jews being deported to camps meant there was not enough room, so a new camp was to be built at Birkenau.
The plans of the new camp showed how barracks were made with such cramped and poor conditions that disease would quickly spread.
The new camp was to cram three times more prisoners into barracks compared to earlier camps built in Germany.
This short film is from the 鶹Լ series, World War Two with Dan Snow.
This short film contains scenes which viewers may find upsetting. The films are intended for classroom use but teacher review is recommended prior to watching with your pupils. You know best the limit of your pupils, and 鶹Լ Teach does not accept any responsibility for pupil distress.
Teacher Notes
Key Stage 3:
Students could place the events of this short film into the wider context of the Holocaust.
The expansion of Auschwitz was being planned in 1941. They could explain what had happened up to this point (anti-Semitic laws in Germany, Kristallnacht, the invasion of Poland and Eastern Europe), and what happened afterwards (the Wannsee Conference and Final Solution).
Key Stage 4:
This short film could be used as part of a lesson looking at responsibility for the Holocaust.
How responsible were the architects Karl Bischoff and Fritz Ertl?
Should they be held as responsible as leading Nazis who gave the orders for the Final Solution?
This type of debate requires students to understand different historical perspectives and the evidence in this short film can contribute to their analysis of different interpretations.
Other groups could be considered, such as German civilians, SS soldiers at Auschwitz and key individuals.
This short film will be relevant for teaching KS3 and KS4/GCSE history in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/5 history in Scotland.
What does Rudolph Höss' evidence tell us about Auschwitz? video
Dan Snow introduces a report about the role of Rudolph Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, in the Holocaust, based on the testimony he wrote before his trial.
What were conditions like at Auschwitz? video
Dan Snow introduces a clip about the brutal conditions faced by people at Auschwitz, including testimony from a survivor.
How did the use of gas chambers develop in the Holocaust? video
A look at the introduction of gas chambers at Auschwitz, how the Nazis started using gas vans and then going on to use gas chambers at camps.
What happened in the gas chambers at Auschwitz? video
A report about the gas chambers at Auschwitz, including some of the testimony from Rudolph Höss.
How did a pregnant woman survive the Holocaust? video
The story of Anka, who was pregnant when she arrived at Auschwitz, yet managed to survive and give birth to a daughter, Eva.
