27th January 1945: Soviet soldiers liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp скачать в хорошем качестве

27th January 1945: Soviet soldiers liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

By the end of 1944 the Soviet Union was making significant gains against the Nazis on the Eastern Front. As a result SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the end of gassings across the Reich, and the systematic destruction of written records that referenced them. Approximately 65,000 prisoners were evacuated deeper into the Reich between August 1944 and January 1945, but tens of thousands of prisoners still remained in Auschwitz. Therefore, on 17 January, at least another 58,000 inmates were sent on a death march under armed guard. Of those who departed only around 20,000 made it to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. More than 7,000 prisoners had been left behind in the camp because they were deemed too weak or sick to complete the march. Meanwhile, the Nazis continued to destroy evidence of the crimes committed in the camps by blowing up or burning many of the buildings including the crematoria. Remaining SS troops were ordered to kill the remaining inmates. They murdered over 600 of them before the Soviet forces arrived. The advancing Soviet troops met some resistance from remaining Nazi troops in the Polish city of Oświęcim, but by 3pm they had captured the Main Camp and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Due to the quick progress of the Red Army some buildings, as well as thousands of inmates, survived. After the liberation, hospital facilities were established within the camp to provide medical treatment for the survivors. On 2 July 1947, the Polish parliament passed an act that turned the camp in to a museum.