Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

On January 27, 2015, the free world celebrated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz by the Soviet army.

Auschwitz was not only one camp but a large complex called "Auschwitz-Birkenau" camp, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia. The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps, all of which deployed incarcerated prisoners at forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period as a killing center.

Trains arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau frequently with transports of Jews from virtually every country in Europe occupied by or allied to Germany. These transports arrived from 1942 to the end of the summer of 1944.

The breakdown of deportations from individual countries, given in approximate figures, is: Hungary: 426,000; Poland: 300,000; France: 69,000; Netherlands: 60,000; Greece: 55,000; Bohemia and Moravia: 46,000; Slovakia: 27,000; Belgium: 25,000; Yugoslavia: 10,000; Italy: 7,500; Norway: 690; other: 34,000.

In total, approximately 1.1 million Jews were deported to Auschwitz, among them at least 960,000 Jews were killed in Auschwitz. Other victims included approximately 74,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma (Gypsies), and 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and 10,000–15,000 members of other nationalities (Soviet civilians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, Germans, and Austrians).

It is important for us to remember these people who were victims of Anti-Semitism in Christian countries during the 20th century.

Related Articles

More From Shoah

Overcrowded and under-resourced, daily privations took a ghastly toll.

Everyday Life in the Ghettos

What was it like for the Jewish people who were forced into ghettos by the Nazis?
Everyday Life in the Ghettos

Remembering Lucy Baum

A song about Rosalie Schiff, who lost her family in Belzec Concentration camp and stayed up at…
Remembering Lucy Baum

George Dilsizian

Georges Dilsizian fled to France in the end of the 19th Century because of the Turkish…
George Dilsizian

NIcholas Winton Honored

Sir Nicholas Winton saved the lives of hundreds of young Jewish people.
NIcholas Winton Honored

Shtetl

The remarkable three-hour documentary tells the homecoming story of two elderly Polish-American…
Shtetl

Gisella Perl

Gisella Perl was born into a Jewish family in Hungary in 1907, and aspired to medical school…
Gisella Perl

Publish the Menu module to "offcanvas" position. Here you can publish other modules as well.
Learn More.


donation