German commanders discover the efficiency of gassing prisoners, and Auschwitz transforms from a small backwater camp for those resisting the Nazi occupation of Poland to a large scale extermination camp for Jews.
Hoss deals with complications arising from the makeshift gas chamber and increasing demand as the Nazis begin to scour all of Europe for more people to bring to Auschwitz and kill.
The year 1942 is to be the most significant of 'the Final Solution' as the Nazis now begin to comb western Europe, even taking Jews from as far afield as the British Channel Islands.
By 1943, corruption is running rampant at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The camp also gains another source of income - clothes and valuables taken from Jews arriving to be gassed.
More people are killed in 1944 than ever before at Auschwitz. The Nazis try to sow seeds of confusion amongst the Allies in the East and Western Allies make decisions about negotiating with the Nazis about the Jews and bombing the camp.
In 1945, Red Army soldiers liberate Auschwitz-Birkenau. As other liberations occur in the following months, the world is appalled. Surviving Jews face horrors as they try to return to their lives, and few SS-men are found and put on trial.