Stop 4: Liberation

Welcome to the forth stop! Here you will learn about how the Camps were finally set free and liberated from the Nazi's. Your learning goals for this page are to explain how the Concentration Camps were liberated and by who.

The liberation of Concentration Camps took many years and much government involvement. As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived forced marches into the interior of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease. Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, reaching Poland, in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance, the Germans attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by demolishing the camp. Camp staff set fire to the large crematorium used to burn bodies of murdered prisoners, but in the hasty evacuation the gas chambers were left standing.

The Soviets liberated Auschwitz in January 1945. The Nazis had forced the majority of Auschwitz prisoners to march westward (in what would become known as "death marches"), and Soviet soldiers found only several thousand emaciated prisoners alive when they entered the camp. There was abundant evidence of mass murder in Auschwitz. The retreating Germans had destroyed most of the warehouses in the camp, but in the remaining ones the Soviets found personal belongings of the victims. They discovered, for example, hundreds of thousands of men's suits, more than 800,000 women's outfits, and more than 14,000 pounds of human hair.

Below is a picture of a funeral of inmates after the liberation of Auschwitz:

Now that we understand how the liberation of Concentration Camps took place, let's continue on to the psychological effects of Concentration Camps. Please continue to Stop 4 by clicking on link on the right margin!