Documentary stems from 1945, when infantryman Sam Fuller, member of the U.S. Army's "Big Red One," helped liberate the Nazis' Falkenau death camp. Fuller shot footage of his commanding officer's marching Czech locals, who denied knowing of the genocide, out from town to view the horrors of the death house. 40 years later, French documentary filmmaker Emil Weiss brought Fuller, who became a famous film director after World War II, back to the death camp to tell the story of the camp's liberation. Fuller's original footage is incorporated in the film.