World of the Nazis
In most factual television programmes, dramatic reconstructions serve as backcloth - or 'wallpaper' in filmmakers' jargon - to illustrate interviews or narration. And some of the drama scenes in the BBC's six-part docu-drama series, 'Auschwitz - The Nazis and the Final Solution', are used in just this way.
Many dramatic scenes in the series, however, take on more than just a supportive role for other content, and tell their own story through dialogue. This is because the programme makers aimed to take the viewer into the real world of the Nazis, to provide insights into their motives and decision-making - insights that no interviewee could provide.
'The drama reconstructions of the BBC, however, had to be as close as possible to the historical reality.'
There are, of course, countless feature films based on actual events and characters of World War Two, which also take the viewer into the Nazi world. Films such as Schindler's List, Hitler: The Last Ten Days (with Alec Guinness in the role of the Führer), or Conspiracy: The Meeting at Wannsee (with Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich), to name but a few.
Although many of these films are very well researched, they are essentially fictional works. Since they are, above all, intended to tell a story, they inevitably use a good deal of artistic license, at the expense of factual accuracy.
The drama reconstructions of the BBC, however, had to be as close as possible to the historical reality. Any fictional elements or factual errors in the drama scenes would have compromised the integrity of the entire series. The historical accuracy of set design, cast and dialogue was therefore of greatest importance.
Published: 2005-01-06
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