The Unbelievable Soviet Liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 скачать в хорошем качестве

The Unbelievable Soviet Liberation of Auschwitz in 1945

Between 1940 and 1945, around 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz by Nazi Germany; 1.1 million were murdered. In August 1944, there were more than 135,000 prisoners throughout the complex. In January 1945, after the Red Army launched the Vistula-Oder Offensive and closed in on the camp, nearly 60,000 prisoners were forced to go on a death march westward. The prisoners were taken mainly to Loslau, but also to Gleiwitz, where they were forced to board Holocaust trains and transported to concentration camps in Germany. However, the liberation of the camp was not a specific objective of the Red Army and came about as a consequence of its advance westward through Poland. The Red Army had already liberated concentration camps in the Baltic area in early and mid-1944, and other concentration camps continued to be liberated until the German surrender and the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. A surreal silence fell over Auschwitz in late January, a period filled with confusion and suffering. Then Soviet scouts stumbled upon Auschwitz-Birkenau. The liberators did not intend to head towards the camp; Although Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin had heard of its existence in intelligence communications and conversations with other Allied leaders, Red Army commanders had no idea of its existence. “It had no economic value from a military point of view,” retired Soviet general Vasily Petrenko, who in 1945 was a colonel who helped liberate the camp years later, told the AP. Red Army soldiers from the 322nd Rifle Division arrived at Auschwitz on January 27, 1945 at 3 pm. 231 Red Army soldiers died in the fighting around the Monowitz concentration camp, Birkenau and Auschwitz I.