''The Final Journey'' is a 2010 documentary that chronicles the largest of the
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
that were scattered throughout Germany during the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Created and directed by the film maker
R. J. Adams
R. J. Adams, also known as Bob Shannon (September 20, 1942 – January 26, 2015), was a Canadian-American film and television actor, acting coach, screen writer, film producer, documentary producer and radio personality.
Beginnings
Adams w ...
and narrated by Paul Kirby, the program focuses entirely on who played key roles and howin their contribution to the tragedy of the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
Synopsis
The two-hour-long film utilizes a then and now format that blends first-generation archival film with current high definition footage of each of the former Nazi camps as they are today and the how they appeared during the Third Reich.
Historical sites
Several
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s are shown in the film:
Dachau
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
,
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
,
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
,
Flossenbürg,
Mauthausen
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern German ...
,
Ravensbrück,
Stutthof
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-a ...
and
Bergen Belsen
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrat ...
.
Filming
Production of ''The Final Journey'' began in 1998 and remains as a work in progress with part two, ''the Extermination camp'', set for release in 2012. These sites known as ''Vernichtungslager'' functioned primarily as places of genocide as the answer for the Nazi question of the
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
problem. Film crews for both part 1 and 2 of ''The Final Journey'' covered every aspect of each major camp located in Germany and the former occupied territories of the Third Reich.
See also
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Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...
*
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
*
The Final Solution
The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi Germany, Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final ...
References
External links
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*
2010 films
2010 documentary films
American documentary films
Documentary films about the Holocaust
Films about Jews and Judaism
Documentary films about World War II
Films set in the 1930s
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in the 1990s
Films set in the 2000s
Films set in Germany
Films set in Kraków
Films shot in Poland
Films shot in Kraków
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
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