jan 27, 1945 - Russia liberates Auschwitz.
Description:
After the Sonderkommando rebellion, the extermination in the gas chambers was stopped. Himmler, who feared that the Red Army would conquer Auschwitz at once without the Germans being in a position to obscure and evade the evidence of their actions, ordered the cessation of the extermination, which officially ended on November 3, 1944. Another consideration for Himmler was the clandestine negotiations that began with the Allies at that time. Himmler ordered the dismantling of the equipment in the gas chambers and incinerators and transported to the Gross Rosen camp, and the explosion of the buildings. Sonderkommando units erected for this purpose dealt with blurring the traces of the fire pits, and huge quantities of property were shipped to Germany. The rest of the property, which could not be vacated, was destroyed. Some 70,000 camp inmates were sent to camps within Germany, and much of the camp documentation was burned; However, with panic and disorganization in the camp in those days, Polish prisoners managed to keep many documents.
In mid-January, the Red Army launched a large-scale offensive in southern Poland, the Visla-Oder offensive. On January 18, 1945, the camp staff began to evacuate, in an unordered and hasty manner. The 58,000 prisoners remaining in the camp were marched forcibly into Germany. This march became known as the "death march"; About 15,000 people died during the incident. The inmates marched to concentration camps in the unoccupied German territories, including Mauthausen, Flossenburg and Buchenwald. Inmates who were too weak or sick to walk were left behind in the camp.
On January 27, 1945, the Red Army arrived at the camp, releasing some 7,500 inmates. The unit commander who liberated the camp was Major (Major) in the Red Army, a Jew named Anatoly Shapiro. One of the Red Army soldiers who liberated the camp was artist Zinobi Tolkachov, and in his paintings he documented the camp's sights and prisoners upon liberation.
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