Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses: perpetrators, as well as survivors. The "Second Era" chronicles memories of the changing horrors at the death camps in later 1942 and 1943, as precise, efficient methods replaced earlier, more piecemeal or primitive efforts. The witnesses Lanzmann interviews also recall the impact of news about the extermination camps reaching people outside of the camps, including those in Jewish ghetto of Warsaw. One of the final interviews is with a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.