The Liberation of Auschwitz

What happened

Soviet troops entered the Auschwitz camp complex in occupied Poland and freed roughly 7,000 prisoners left behind — many starving and gravely ill — after the SS had forced tens of thousands of others on death marches westward. Auschwitz-Birkenau had been the largest of the Nazi killing centers.

Why it matters

The liberation exposed the machinery of the Holocaust to the world. January 27 is now observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Sources

• Holocaust Encyclopedia, USHMM. Soviet Forces Liberate Auschwitz · General source