Auschwitz Death March

On this day in 1945 the Death March out of Auschwitz began. When the Soviet Red Army advanced on occupied Poland in January 1945, the Germans started to withdrew their soldiers from forced-labour camps, destroying much of the evidence of their crimes and the majority of camp buildings. The prisoners – already starving and dying – were forced to march hundreds of miles further west, while those who stayed behind or fell were shot. 60,000 prisoners were marched of the camp and approximately 15,000 died on the way.