Holocaust/Auschwitz documentaries

WolfeMacleod · 11-25-2010, 06:17 PM

Need the most horrible, stomach turning documentary(s) about the evils of these events. Got any suggetions?

Something that'll change someone's mind about thinking it was not a big deal and Hitler was "cool"...

Jesset100 · Jesset100's Garage

Nazi Concentration Camps : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

WolfeMacleod · 11-25-2010, 06:37 PM

Downloading, thanks.

cmccuist · 11-26-2010, 06:43 AM

I think the best documentary ever made on this subject is Shoah. It's 9.5 hours long though. 4 DVD's. My wife and I watched it and it was gut wrenching. The director interviewed prison gaurds, truck drivers, residents of the surrounding areas of the concentration camps, even the guy who sold the cyclon B to the Nazis.

Some disturbing stuff and some massive rationalization going on with these people.

Rikao4 · 06:50 AM

vid's will do little for stupid..
that's like drag racing on TV..
some folks say when you walk in Dachau..
you can still smell it..
not much left of the original camp..
some oven's, barracks & other equipment..
thanks for trying..

like Graig said
while visiting my Dad in Munich..
I met the daughter of one of the train Op..
his answer to her..
Op the thing or ride in the cars..

Rika

Gretch · 11-26-2010, 07:37 AM

There is no cure for willful stupidity..............

masraum · 11-26-2010, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Need the most horrible, stomach turning documentary(s) about the evils of these events. Got any suggetions?

Something that'll change someone's mind about thinking it was not a big deal and Hitler was "cool"...

Weird, is it a kid or an adult? Kids are often willfully stupid. They usually grow out of it. If its an adult, well that's just scary.

WolfeMacleod · 11-26-2010, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gretch

There is no cure for willful stupidity..............

Yes, I know

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

Weird, is it a kid or an adult? Kids are often willfully stupid. They usually grow out of it. If its an adult, well that's just scary.

Kid...and I hope he grows out of it.

LWJ · 11-26-2010, 08:03 PM

I have been to Dachau. It was a dark, rainy day in late June or early July. As I walked towards the entrance, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I had the strangest sensation I have ever experienced - sort of a terror sensation. Probably self-induced. The German spin on Dachau is absolutely sugar coating the inhumanity that occurred. The camp is mostly just gravel now. A few relics remain. There are a number of books that do portray the horrors. We had one about a priest who became sainted for his sacrifice. It has been lent out and I can't get you the title. It made it clear that the Nazi's treated their prisoners with sadism on a daily basis.

Good luck with the kid.

Larry

varmint · 11-26-2010, 08:49 PM

The Pink Swastika

And if that doesn't work, the old pink swastika ought to turn him around.

widgeon13 · 11-27-2010, 02:59 AM

A visit to Auschwitz might be too expensive but it is a sobering experience.

ZOO · 11-27-2010, 03:57 AM

Better yet, find a survivor and arrange a visit.

Depending on the age of the child, Maus may be a good investment -- it's a graphic novel on the Holocaust.

Joeaksa · 11-27-2010, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by widgeon13

A visit to Auschwitz might be too expensive but it is a sobering experience.

I have been to three of the camps. Used to parachute right down the road from Bergen Belsen.

Went to Poland to do some demo parachuting in the town of Krakow the same year that the Berlin Wall fell down. Was there with some German friends and one day we had low ceilings and we could not jump so looked at other things to do and took the bus to Auschwitz together.

Going to Auschwitz, was an eye opener, especially with a group of Germans who were good friends of mine. We had a guide who was there during the war and still had the tatoo on his arm... we made it until the part where the photos were shown of the twins that Mengele had experimented on and from there on it was somewhat of a blur.

Everyone should go to at least one of the concentration camps. The world should never forget something like this.

jcommin · jcommin's Garage

Something a little closer than Germany - Holocaust Museum Washington DC

notfarnow · 08:18 PM

pwd72s · 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

Need the most horrible, stomach turning documentary(s) about the evils of these events. Got any suggetions?

Something that'll change someone's mind about thinking it was not a big deal and Hitler was "cool"...

Who the hell do you know that is so misguided??? Whomever, this is sad..

Talk to those who fought during D day. I'm sure they didn't consider Hitler "cool"...

cairns · 11-30-2010, 04:48 AM

Take him to the Holocaust Museum in DC while you're at it.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Dachau is a bad example for anything Holocaust-related, as it was not an extermination camp and was mostly for German political prisoners. Their gas chamber was also never used. I don't know if it was built for show after the war, but they didn't gas people there. The real bad stuff happened far away from Germany in Poland. Auschwitz is worth a visit. But the Warsaw Ghetto Museum in old town Warsaw is actually a lot more moving and gives you a better sense of what was going on in the occupied territories.

I've been to Buchenwald too, which is near Weimar. But it too was not an extermination camp, but rather one for political prisoners and Russian POW's. They surely did a lot of very bad things there.

I don't think there's anything left of Sobibor or Treblinka. Those were the real extermination centers, the ones that not even the most fervent SS officer wanted to be tied to. I think there's one guy still alive who made it out of Treblinka. It was totally razed before the Russians got to it. In fact, the gas chambers at Auschwitz were blown up before the Russians got to it too. The SS knew they were looking at war crimes charges and tried to cover their tracks.

Also be sure to look at what the Einsatzgruppen did in the Ukraine and Belarus. Looks up Babi Yar.

Seriously, Dachau is the kind of place you send an American exchange student on his first trip to Germany. It's not going to convince a doubter and it doesn't have much to do with the Holocaust at all.

notfarnow · 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Dachau is a bad example for anything Holocaust-related, as it was not an extermination camp and was mostly for German political prisoners. Their gas chamber was also never used. I don't know if it was built for show after the war, but they didn't gas people there. The real bad stuff happened far away from Germany in Poland. Auschwitz is worth a visit. But the Warsaw Ghetto Museum in old town Warsaw is actually a lot more moving and gives you a better sense of what was going on in the occupied territories.

I've been to Buchenwald too, which is near Weimar. But it too was not an extermination camp, but rather one for political prisoners and Russian POW's. They surely did a lot of very bad things there.

I don't think there's anything left of Sobibor or Treblinka. Those were the real extermination centers, the ones that not even the most fervent SS officer wanted to be tied to. I think there's one guy still alive who made it out of Treblinka. It was totally razed before the Russians got to it. In fact, the gas chambers at Auschwitz were blown up before the Russians got to it too. The SS knew they were looking at war crimes charges and tried to cover their tracks.

Also be sure to look at what the Einsatzgruppen did in the Ukraine and Belarus. Looks up Babi Yar.

Seriously, Dachau is the kind of place you send an American exchange student on his first trip to Germany. It's not going to convince a doubter and it doesn't have much to do with the Holocaust at all.

I understand where you're coming from, and agree that there is often a misguided belief that ALL camps were extermination or gas chamber (a misnomer) camps. But even the work camps were designed and run to literally work prisoners to death. That may not fit squarely withing the framework of the "final solution", but it's certainly part of the Holocaust.

Agreed though, there is often a misrepresentation/misunderstanding about the camps, as though there were all the same. Unfortunately, some of these misrepresentations play into the hands of deniers and nutjobs

Dachau is different, I guess, in that Jews were a minority proportion there. I think there were more frenchmen than Jews

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I doubt there were any Jews at Dachau after the extermination camps were built and running in the occupied territories. The Nazis didn't want their most hideous crimes visible to the German populace. Whatever Jews were in Dachau were almost certainly shipped off to Poland once things got operational there (which was a good six or seven years after the Nazis started rounding up their political opponents). The Nazi regime ran a huge domestic network of prisons and camps for their own political prisoners and undesirables. Plenty of these remained prison camps even once East Germany was founded. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Auschwitz was actually several camps on the outskirts of Krakow. It was such a huge operation. I can't remember exactly because they were filming Schindler's List when I was there. But I think only the main camp is still there and there's not even that much left to see of that. But you get a sense of the scale of the whole operation. When you read about what happened at Babi Yar and figure the Germans then realized bullets were too expensive to accomplish their goals, you get the picture.

Also, don't forget to visit (the site of in Berlin) or at least read up on the Wansee Conference. That is a very well-documented event, not disputed at all and it's where the top dogs all went on record as to how they planned out the Final Solution. If that doesn't convince someone, nothing will. It also help if you speak and read German, as original documents have a much greater effect than the translations do.