CURT SCHLEIER
Special to the Jewish News

s part of the research for his new documen-
tary, Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State, film-
maker Laurence Rees visited "a very brave
Ukrainian national, someone who fought both the
Red army and the Nazis and was subsequently sent to
a gulag.
"We were doing the interview over a cup of tea
when he says, 'By the way, I've been meaning to ask,
`What do you think of the international Jewish con-
spiracy?'''
Rees is on the phone from his office in London,
promoting his six-hour film and the accompanying
book. But even across the Atlantic, .the tone of his
voice clearly indicates his incredulity at the comments.
It was not the only time he was stunned by things
people said, remarks that invariably pro-yoked in him
disbelief coupled with a sense of despair.
There is an interview with a guard who smiles fond-
ly and unapologetically as he recalls shooting women
and children. Another says Jews cheated his family.
The interviewer responds: "But those weren't the same

.

Jews arriving in Auschwitz in 1944

sights

Documentary miniseries, book cast new light on the site of
the largest mass murder in human history.

Jews you killed." The guard's reply: "They're all Jews."
Auschwitz airs on PBS stations nationwide 9-11
p.m. on three consecutive Wednesdays, starting Jan.
19. The book, Auschwitz: A New History, was just
released by Public Affairs ($30).
Rees, who turns 48 on the day of the show's pre-
miere, is not Jewish. His interest in World War II is
based on familial ties. During World War II, his father
attended the RAF navigators' school in South Africa.
He finished first in his class and was assigned to the
school to train other navigators.
"Every other member of his class was sent to Europe
or the Pacific to fight and was killed," Rees said.
His father never saw action, although he was
injured in a plane crash. An uncle in the merchant
marine was killed when submarines attacked his con-
voy in the Atlantic.
"The second world war was alive in my family," he
said. "It was the subject I was most interested in in
school. The second world war, at least when I was
growing up, was the only way to understand the
world situation. A whole range of things make sense if
you understand the second world war."

NEW INSIGHTS on page 34

