auschwitz –the great escape: revealed(4/8)
20.00–21.00

Continuing on Five this week is the historical documentary strand that delves into past mysteries and controversies from ancient times through to the 20th century. Tonight’s programme uncovers the true story of an audacious escape from Auschwitz by two young Slovak Jews in 1944 – an event which alerted the world to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps.

Auschwitz Birkenau was the largest of six secret death camps built by the Nazis to exterminate the Jews, with up to 12,000 prisoners dying there every day during the latter part of the Second World War. Throughout the five years of the camp’s existence there were many escape attempts, but only five men succeeded and survived the war to tell their stories. Rudolf Vrba and his friend Alfred Wetzler were the first escapees to get information about the real purpose of the camp to the free world.

Life in Auschwitz was little short of a living hell. After travelling in appalling conditions in packed trains, the new arrivals were split into two groups: the stronger prisoners were put to slave labour; the weaker ones were sent directly to the gas chamber. In a world of brutality, squalor and disease, survival was almost impossible – yet 19year-old Rudolf Vrba was determined to escape and alert the world to the horror of Auschwitz.

The plan to exterminate the Jews relied upon the camp’s diabolical purpose being kept secret from the outside world. Vrba hoped that the truth about the camp would provoke uprisings and stop Jews from allowing themselves to be taken away by the Nazis. However, escape was an incredibly risky prospect – failed escapees were tortured and executed, with their bodies hung up for all to see.

The moment of Vrba’s escape arrived in April 1944, when he and his friend Alfred Wetzler decided to take advantage of the construction of new huts in the camp to make their getaway. With the help of the Polish builders, they walked out of the camp and hid in a wood pile just outside the perimeter fence. The pair knew that the guards normally spent three days searching for escapees before the alert was called off – so when their disappearance was discovered, they simply waited out the search in their tiny hiding place.

Once the search was abandoned, Vrba and Wetzler slipped into the countryside and spent a perilous 11 days on the run through occupied Poland. When they finally crossed the border into Slovakia, they at first struggled to convince Jewish leaders of the true nature of Auschwitz.

The race was on to warn the Jews in neighbouring Hungary that their imminent deportation to so-called labour camps was in reality an extermination programme. But – controversially – the leaders of the Hungarian Jews did not disseminate Vrba’s report, believing it would jeopardise efforts to negotiate a deal with the local Nazi leadership.

In a tragic twist of fate, copies of the VrbaWetzler report only reached the western allies in time for D-Day in June 1944, at which point British and American forces were too stretched to make Auschwitz a priority. However, historians believe that Vrba’s report ultimately forced the Hungarian government to end the deportation of Jews from Hungary, saving thousands of lives.

Using dramatic reconstructions, contemporary archive documents, expert analysis, and interviews with Holocaust survivors, this film uncovers the true story of Vrba and Wetzler’s daring escape, and examines how their written account of their experiences – the Auschwitz Protocols – affected the world.