Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day
On January 27, 1945, with World War II winding down, the Red Army arrived at the inferno of Auschwitz and freed the approximately 7,500 prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland who were abandoned there, most of them sick and dying.
It had preceded exactly one year ago, the end of the Siege of Leningrad, when after 872 days and approximately 1,100,000 dead, the Russian army recaptured the city from the Nazis.
More than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including one million Jews. Those who were not sent directly to gas chambers were sentenced to hard labor.
In mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and sub-camps.
SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west of the camp complex.
SS guards shot anyone who could not keep pace or continue. On these marches, the prisoners also suffered from cold, malnutrition and exposure to the weather.
Thousands had been murdered in the camps in the days leading up to these death marches.
With information from the Holocaust Encyclopedia
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
