Auschwitz footage colourised for the first time in Channel 4 documentary

It is thought to be the first time that monochrome footage from inside the Nazi camps has been colourised for a television documentary.

Fulwell73’s Sheldon Lazarus, development producer of Auschwitz Untold In Colour, said: “The 16 survivors who feature in this series tell their extraordinary accounts of survival and resistance against all odds in their own voices, and accompanied by remarkable colourised footage from the archives, we hope this series will help remove a barrier that separates contemporary audiences from the reality of the Holocaust so that we never ever forget the atrocities of the past.

“With the 75th anniversary to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz in 2020 we felt it was really timely and important to bring to life the untold stories of the Holocaust in a new way.”

David Shulman, the series’ producer and director, said: “My ambition in making Auschwitz Untold in Colour was to have as much contemporary resonance as possible. 

“The colourisation of black and white archive is one aspect of making this history more accessible to a younger audience and giving greater humanity to the people seen in the footage.”

Among survivors’ testimonies will be that of the “seldom heard” voice of a Romani Holocaust survivor and a resistance fighter from Lithuania, which “adds unique perspectives typically overlooked by most documentaries,” Mr Shulman said.

Other survivors featured include Arek Hersh, born in Sieradz, Poland in 1928, and Czech-born Mindu Hornick, who was recently awarded an MBE for services to Holocaust education and commemoration.

Fulwell73 has previously produced football documentaries The Class of ’92 and Sunderland ‘Til I Die.