In late 1944 and 1945, as the war was coming to a close, the Soviets, Americans, and the other allied forces went around Europe liberating the inhabitants of the concentrations camps which were located all over Europe. There were 23 main camps each of which had subcamps which summed up to about 980 total camps, this number excludes the ghettos in which Jews and others were also forced to live. Those who participated in the liberation remember seeing people who looked less than human and they were so thing so that you could see every bone in their body. Below is a description of the liberation of just a few of these camps.
Liberation of Majdanek
The liberation of this concentration camp, located in Poland, occurred in July of 1944. The Soviets were the first to approach a major Nazi camp and surprised the German with their rapid approach. Upon the Soviet approach, the Germans tried to hide what they had been doing. The camp staff begins to demolish the camp to get rid of the evidence. They set the crematorium, which was used to burn the bodies of the prisoners, on fire. However, in their rush to get out they left the gas chambers, where prisoners were killed with poison gas, standing. In this process, the Soviets were able to evacuate the 1500 hundred survivors.
Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
The Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau occurred on January 27th, 1945. Auschwitz was the concentration camp Birkenau the death camp. This labor and death camp was located in Poland. This was one of the many concentration and death camps that Jews and others hated by the Nazis were sent. Tons of people lost their lives in that camp. The survivors were in a terrible state by the time they were liberated. The Nazi had anticipated the liberation of this camp and so just days before they had begun killing thousands of prisoners. They sent 60,000 prisoners on a death march west. The SS officers shot anyone who fell behind and thousands died of the cold and hunger. By the time to Soviets got the camp and liberated it there were only about 7,000 survivors left, including some of my family members. They estimate that nearly 1.1 million were murdered in this camp.
Liberation of Dachau
On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army's 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau, a concentration camp in Germany. A major Dachau subdivision was also liberated that same day by the 42nd Rainbow Division. On April 29th, upon the Allied approach of the camp, 7,000 prisoners were forced to walk a death march from Dachau to Tegernsee. Many of the guards also abandoned camp in the days before the liberation. As the Americans approached the camp they found 30 railroad cars filled with bodies.
On April 29th, the camp was liberated after a short battle with the remaining guards. Inside the camp, they found even more dead bodies and survivors. They Americans were appalled by what they found and it is believed that in their state of shock and anger they killed many of the SS guards. It is estimated that of all of it's inmates 32,000 died there and many more were shipped off to extermination camps. When it was liberated there were only 30,000 survivors left.
Liberation of Bergen-Belson
The liberation of Bergen-Belson occurred on April 15, 1945. The 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment and the 11th Armoured Division of the British army liberated 60,000 prisoners at Bergen-Belson. The 11th Armoured Division occupied the camp on the 11th of April. On the 12th, they asked the retreating Germans to surrender the camps peacefully. When they entered the camp on the 15th they were shocked by what they found. 60,000 ill and starved people and over 13,000 corpses all around. After liberating the survivors the British began to organize relief efforts. They had to supply them with food, water, and medicine. This was a great challenge that all who liberated camps faced. Nearly 14,000 prisoners died after the liberation.
Liberation of Mauthausen
The liberation of Mauthausen took place on May 5th, 1945. As the Allied forces neared Germany the SS began to evacuate prisoners from the concentration camps near the front lines to prevent large numbers of prisoners from being liberated. They evacuated prisoners were sent on death marches or sent by train or truck and eventually began arriving at Mauthausen at the beginning of 1945. As a result, the camp and its subcamps became very overcrowded. During this time the SS gassed thousands of prisoners. On May 3, the SS abandoned the camps. The U.S. Army arrived on may 5th with a few more units arriving in the following days. Together they liberated the remaining prisoners. In January of 1945, the camp contained 80,000 prisoners. The last census which the Germans took before the liberation stated that there were only 16,000 prisoners left.
liberation the armies needed to tend to the survivors and burry the dead. The survivors of these horrendous camps did not all survive even after being liberated. Many were so sick and so starved that they couldn't live much longer. The armies who liberated the camps were not fully equipt to help all the survivors. Those who did survive lived through are horrific part of history and have very interesting stories to tell.
https://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/Majdanek/Liberation.html
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps
https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/liberation-of-auschwitz
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dachau-liberated
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/liberation-of-mauthausen
https://www.scrapbookpages.com/Mauthausen/KZMauthausen/Liberation/index.html
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/liberation-of-bergen-belsen
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