MORE THAN ONE MILLION PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM JEWS, HAD BEEN MURDERED AT AUSCHWITZ BY THE NAZIS....

 ON THIS DAY: 27 JANUARY 1945

Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army during the Vistula-Oder Offensive 75 years ago. More than one million people, most of them Jews, had been murdered at Auschwitz by the Nazis and by January 1945 there were approximately 60,000 prisoners at the site. 

As the Red Army approached the camp, the majority of the prisoners were forced to leave on death march westwards while 7,000 were left behind. The liberation was not a specific goal for the Red Army but they had already liberated camps in the Baltic area during 1944. 

Soviet soldiers from the 322nd Rifle Division arrived at Auschwitz at 3pm on 27 January. 231 Red Army troops actually died in fighting around Monowitz (a sub-camp of Auschwitz), Birkenau and Auschwitz I as well as the local towns of Oswecim and Brzezinka. 

The SS guards at Auschwitz had left and the majority of the 7,000 prisoners were seriously ill. Most were middle-aged adults or children younger than 15. The Red Army also found 600 corpses, over one million items of clothing and seven tonnes of human hair. 

Hardened Soviet veterans were appalled with General Vasilii Petrenko remarking, "I, who saw people dying every day, was shocked by the Nazis' indescribable hatred towards the inmates who had turned into living skeletons." 

Medical care and food was immediately arranged and 4,500 survivors were cared for in Red Army hospitals. However, as late as June 1945 there were still 300 survivors who were too weak to leave the camp. 

27 January is now recognised by the United Nations and European Union as 'International Holocaust Memorial Day'. On this significant 75th commemoration, it is more important than ever to remember the horror of the Holocaust. We should always remain vigilant to do all in our power to prevent such horrendous crimes from ever happening again.

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