Masters Of The Air Shows A Different, Important Part Of Band Of Brothers’ Most Harrowing Episode

This article contains spoilers for Masters of the Air.

This article contains mentions of disturbing content including concentration camps and the Holocaust.

Summary

• Rosenthal’s discovery of a destroyed concentration camp in Masters of the Air offers a cold and regretful tone, unlike Band of Brothers’ liberation scene.
• Masters of the Air’s portrayal of the concentration camp highlights the tragedy of those who perished before Germany surrendered.
• The scene in Masters of the Air sheds light on the American soldiers’ lack of awareness of Nazi atrocities.

In the finale of Masters of the Air, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosenthal stumbles upon a concentration camp, similar to how Easy Company does in Band of Brothers, however, there is a big difference between those two scenes that highlights the varying sides of World War II. After Masters of the Air’s finale, there are now two war miniseries created by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman that include the discovery of concentration camps. However, the scenes are vastly different in their portrayal, and these distinctions are both incredibly important and emotional in their separate ways.

In Masters of the Air, Rosenthal comes upon a camp called Zabikowo. Inside, he finds the bodies of countless Jewish people and the cramped rooms in which they were kept. He then goes on to talk to an old Jewish man who further explains the atrocities faced by the Jewish people during the Holocaust. This scene is a strong parallel to Band of Brothers’ hardest episode to watch, “Why We Fight,” which sees Easy Company find and liberate a men’s concentration camp. However, despite containing similar subject matter, the scenes have one major difference between them.

Masters Of The Air Shows Another Part Of Concentration Camps To Band Of Brothers

The notable difference between Masters of the Air’s concentration camp scene and Band of Brothers’ is that, while Band of Brothers shows a camp’s liberation, Masters of the Air shows its defeat. Where Easy Company finds a concentration camp that has been abandoned with countless survivors still stuck inside, Masters of the Air’s concentration camp has been destroyed, with no one left alive inside of it.

Of course, this gives an entirely different light to
Masters of the Air’s
scene, which is less focused on rescue and justice, but on discovery and regret.

Ultimately, Masters of the Air’s choice to show a concentration camp with no survivors gives the scene a totally different tone than Band of Brothers. While Band of Brothers’ scene offered a mixture of feelings from joy and relief to horror and anger, Masters of the Air’s scene has much less chaos attached to it. What Rosenthal sees is unchanging and undeniable. His questions can only be answered by what he sees around him. In this way, it is a much colder and blunter scene, and it offers a more dreadful feeling: that he was too late.

The camp Rosenthal finds in Masters of the Air, Zabikowo, was a real Polish village that was transformed into a concentration camp.

Masters Of The Air’s Concentration Camp Scene Was Incredibly Important

Although Masters of the Air’s concentration camp scene is difficult to watch, it is one of the most important moments in the entire show. Like in Band of Brothers, it is a reminder that, though the Americans were fighting the Germans for so many years, they truly had no idea of the atrocities the Nazis were committing at that time. Furthermore, Masters of the Air’s scene in particular brings to light how many people died before Germany finally surrendered. Though many were saved by the Allied forces, many weren’t, and they are just as important to remember as the survivors.