The Grey Zones

In October 1944, a small group of Sonderkommando prisoners begins planning an insurrection aimed at destroying at least one crematorium and its gas chambers. They arrange for firearms from Polish villagers and gunpowder provided by the UNIO munitions factory. The women in UNIO also help by smuggling powder toward the men's camp amid the bodies of their dead coworkers.

UNIO’s female workers smuggle gunpowder toward the men's camp amid the corpses as part of the broader plot. The activity is eventually discovered by the Germans, and the women are subjected to torture. Despite the torture, they do not reveal details of the plot.

The German guards torture the female workers to extract information about the uprising. The women hold firm, refusing to divulge details of the plot. The torture underscores the danger facing the conspirators inside the camp.

Dr. Miklós Nyiszli, who works under Mengele in a medical lab, obtains permission to visit his wife and daughter in the women's camp. He worries that Mengele's orders will spare them from gas chambers but remains anxious for their safety. The visit highlights the personal stakes behind the camp's horrors.

A new trainload of Hungarian Jewish prisoners arrives and is sent to the gas chambers. While they are lined up for delousing, a fearful man shouts questions at Hoffman, triggering a brutal act as Hoffman beats him to death to stop the disruption. The incident reveals the brutal routine surrounding the gas chambers.

After the gassing of that group, Hoffman finds a young girl alive beneath a pile of bodies. He removes her and, with Nyiszli's help, revives her in a storage room. The conspirators decide to hide her in the children's camp to protect her.

Muhsfeldt enters the dressing room and shoots Abramowics, who is found there illegally, prompting the girl to scream and reveal the hiding place. Nyiszli tells Muhsfeldt about the uprising but cannot reveal when or where it will begin. Muhsfeldt agrees to protect the girl after the uprising is suppressed.

The insurrection begins and the group destroys Crematorium IV with the smuggled explosives. Surviving members are forced to confront the SS in gunfights and are eventually captured. The assault marks a dramatic, though doomed, attempt to strike at the camp's infrastructure.

All the Sonderkommando prisoners who survive the explosions and gunfights are captured and held until the crematorium fire is extinguished. They are executed shortly after; the group faces the grim end of their attempt. Hoffmann and Rosenthal reflect that the girl will not be freed after watching the executions.

After the executions, the girl is allowed to flee toward the camp gate but is shot by Muhsfeldt just before she can escape. The brutal act underscores the fragile fate of witnesses and survivors of the uprising. The scene seals the personal tragedy at the heart of the film.

After the war, Eric Muhsfeldt is hanged for war crimes following the Auschwitz trial. The punishment represents post-war accountability for individuals involved in the camp's atrocities. The film uses this outcome to close the loop on the character's arc.

Nyiszli survives the war but never practices medicine again. The narrative emphasizes the personal cost of the war and his involvement in the camp's experiments. His legacy is framed by the damage inflicted on his life and career.

The film closes with a voice-over recitation by the dead girl, reflecting on the events and their human cost. On-screen text informs the audience of Muhsfeldt's execution and Nyiszli's fate. The ending ties together the fates of those involved and the memory of the events.