This Day In History

On this day in 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Auschwitz was a network of concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany, and was used as the place of the “final solution of the Jewish question in Europe”. Jews and other groups were sent to the camps from 1942 onwards, where many were sent to their death in the gas chambers. Most of those who escaped the gas chambers died of starvation, disease, and execution by the Nazi guards. It is estimated that around 1.3 million people died there.

The Nazis had begun the evacuation of the camp on January 17th as the Red Army drew near. Around 7,500 remained in the camp and were liberated by the 322nd Rifle Division of the Red Army on January 27th.

Today, the site of the Auschwitz camp serves as a museum to remember the victims, and attracts thousands every year who come to pay their respects. This day is commemorated around the world as Holocaust Remembrance Day in order to remember the millions who lost their lives to the brutality of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler.