Block 10 - Jewish International Film Festival 2026

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https://www.jiff.com.au/films/block-10

Date Reviewed: 22/10/2026

Reviewed by Barry Hill OAM

There have been many films about the Holocaust, some centre on the Germans who helped the Jewish prisoners, come centre on Auschwitz, some centre on the men or families imprisoned, but Block 10 is the first film I have seen that focusses on the women interred in a prison camp and the Nazi mass sterilisation experiments undertaken at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Block 10, Marcus O Rosenmüller’s gut wrenching drama that shows us the glimmers of humanity that eventually filter through a heart-breaking account of misery and suffering.

For a long while, only documentaries and no feature films have been allowed to be filmed in Auschwitz. For the exterior shots of the Block 10 original 360-degree VR material of the entire facility was used for the first time. The film is shot in a semi ‘film noir’ style to strip away colour (and individuality) and add to the bleakness of the prison.

Set it 1943, over four hundred Jewish women are imprisoned in Auschwitz’s Block 10, an isolated section where Nazi doctor Carl Clauberg tests painful methods of forced sterilization. When Jewish gynecologist Dr. Maximilian Samuel arrives at the camp, he is blackmailed with the gassing of his 20-year-old daughter if he refuses to participate in the brutal experiments. Trapped in a moral dilemma, he seeks his own path.

The Jewish and Romani women in Block 10 are little more than lab rats, and experiments range from oophorectomies to abortions and massive doses of radiation. Those who survive the procedures often die of sepsis or internal hemorrhaging. Everyone is disposable. The hope for Dr Maximilian Samuel of saving his daughter becomes a guiding principle as he participates in the horrors that unfold.

The women are stripped, hosed down, hair roughly shorn off and dressed in grey reducing them to faceless nameless creatures that are used from creatures of torment, ridicule, or sexual enjoyment.

Glimpses of humanity provide rare moments of hope as the prisoners express their solidarity in quiet singing together, and one doctor refuses to play any further part in the experiments. The arrival of Polish medic proves a turning point, bringing a sense of decency to the nightmares around her.

Block 10 is an important film to watch to ensure that this sort of atrocity never happens again. It is a dark chapter of history and the mind-set that helped to write that chapter.

It is compelling viewing, not for the faint-hearted, but film should educate as well as entertain and occasionally take us out of our comfort zone to appreciate how lucky we are!