Transcript The Death Marches and the Liberators

The Death Marches and the
Liberators
Death Marches
• Winter of 1944/45, Germans knew war was
lost
• Tried to evacuate the death camps
– Wanted to conceal the evidence
• Prisoners were forced to march towards
Germany in the dead of winter
Death Marches
• Jan. 1945, just hours before the Red army
arrives at Auschwitz, prisoners were
marched to Wodzislaw
• Anyone who lagged behind was shot
• Many shot for no reason
Death Marches
• 59 different marches from Nazi
concentration camps during final winter of
Nazi domination
• Listen to a survivor tell about the death
marches
Death Marches
Death Marches
Liberation
• Soviet soldiers were first to enter a
concentration camp
– Majdanek
• SS tried to hide the evidence
• Soldiers shocked by what they saw
• Press coverage was intense
– Was dismissed as Communist propaganda
Soviets Enter Auschwitz
• January 27, 1945, Soviet forces entered
Auschwitz
• Listen to Sam Itzkowitz story of liberation
from Auschwitz
British liberate Bergen-Belsen
• April 15, 1945- British liberate BergenBelsen
– Had typhus epidemic
– Conditions were horrific
British liberate Bergen-Belsen
• Camp had to be burned
• German citizens brought in to tour the camp
• The films the British took were broadcast
throughout the world.
British Liberate Bergen-Belsen
British Liberate Bergen-Belsen
Americans Liberate Buchenwald
• April 11, 1945- Americans liberate
Buchenwald
Eisenhower Inspecting Ohrdruf
Americans Liberate Buchenwald
Americans Liberate Dachau
• April 29, 1945, Americans liberate Dachau
Americans Liberate Dachau
Americans Liberate Dachau
Americans Liberate Dachau
Last Camps Liberated
• The last camps encountered by the
Americans were Mauthausen and Gusen on
May 5, 1945.
– 3 days later, the war was over
• Army begins the intense battle to bring the
survivors back to life