Join Holocaust expert and historian Dr James Bulgin as he is given unprecedented access to Auschwitz-Birkenau to uncover how this site was transformed, step by step, decision by decision, from a concentration camp for political prisoners into the epicentre of one of the worst crimes in human history.

Released to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day on Tuesday 27 January, Auschwitz: The Evolution of Terror offers a ground level view of how Auschwitz evolved from a concentration camp into the deadliest extermination centre operated by Nazi Germany.

James begins his journey in Kraków, once the seat of Nazi power in the East and the location of one of the first Jewish ghettos, before traveling on to Auschwitz I, the site where the earliest experiments in mass murder took place.

It’s here that James uncovers the harsh reality faced by the camp’s first prisoners, exploring the infamous Block 11 and the site of the first gas chamber, before moving on to Birkenau, where four purpose-built extermination facilities would later form the heart of the Holocaust.

Along the way, James brings to life the experiences of Auschwitz’s earliest inmates where they slept, what little food they were given, and how they managed to survive day-to-day under conditions of extreme brutality. At the same time, he examines those responsible for creating and running the camp, from guards to the commandant, following their roles in Auschwitz’s expansion and what ultimately became of them after the Allied victory at the end of the Second World War.

Special thanks to Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.