Evacuation and Liberation of the Auschwitz Camp

"EVACUATION AND LIQUIDATION OF THE CAMP In the second half of 1944, in connection the successes of the Red Army and the advancing Eastern Front, the SS authorities in the Nazi German Auschwitz camp evacuated some 65,000 prisoners to camps in the German Reich interior. They also began removing evidence of the crimes committed in the camp: documents were burned, the pits containing human ashes were covered up, the crematorium IV building was dismantled, and preparations were made to blow up the other crematoria buildings. Building materials as well as the property looted from Jewish victims and stored in the ‘Canada’ warehouses were now also transported to the German interior. However, the Germans did not manage to erase all the evidence of their crimes or ship out all the plundered property."

"On 12 January 1945, the Red Army launched its offensive in the central Vistula region and broke through the German defensive line. As Soviet units neared Kraków, some 70 km away from Auschwitz (Oświęcim), the SS authorities made the decision to evacuate the camp. From 17 to 21 January SS guards led some 56,000 prisoners out of the camps and sub-camps, forcing them to march dozens of kilometres in severe winter condition. The main march routes led to Wodzisław Śląski and Gliwice, from where the prisoners were transported by train to other concentration camps. However, some of the prisoners were forced to march all the way to the destination camp. Only around 2,200 prisoners of Laurahütte and Eintrachthütte sub-camps were transported on 23 and 24 January to Mauthausen by trains. During the evacuation any prisoners who were too exhausted to continue the march or tried to run away were shot dead by the SS escort. It has been estimated that around 3,000 people were killed in this way in Upper Silesia and the Opole region alone, whereas a total of between 9,000 and 15,000 Auschwitz prisoners were killed during the whole evacuation. At the same time the SS troops were leaving the camp as well, taking with them some of the plundered belongings. Before they left, they also managed to destroy some documents."

"In the final days around 9,000 prisoners remained in the Auschwitz camp complex. Most of these inmates were sick or physically exhausted. Many were convinced that the Germans intended to murder them. It is not entirely known whether such an order was actually issued, but it is a fact that in Birkenau the SS carried out a mass execution of a total around 300 Jews and several Soviet prisoners of war. Moreover, the SS massacred approximately 400 Jewish prisoners in the sub-camps of Blechhammer, Fürstengrube, Gleiwitz IV and Tschechowitz-Vacuum by shooting or burning them alive. Nevertheless, most of the prisoners who were left behind in the camps survived. This was most probably due to slackened discipline and haste among the SS, who were eager to leave Auschwitz as fast as possible. The SS guards left their permanent sentry posts in the camp on 20 or 21 January. From then on the SS only conducted patrols. Moreover, retreating Wehrmacht soldiers passed through the camp, often plundering the warehouses there. On 20 January, shortly after the evacuation, the remaining SS functionaries blew up crematoria and gas chambers II and III. The next day, no longer able to ship out all the looted belongings, they set fire to the ‘Canada’ warehouses in Birkenau. The blaze lasted a few days and destroyed virtually all the belongings. On 26 January the SS finally blew up the crematorium V building."

"LIBERATION On 27 January, before noon, soldiers of the Soviet 100th Rifle Division entered the Monowitz camp, which the Germans had by then abandoned. Then at around noon they took the centre of the town of Oświęcim, without encountering too much resistance, and subsequently Birkenau at around 3.30 p.m. That same day,between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., the Soviet 322nd Rifle Division  occupied the main camp along with its adjacent area. Moreover, still that same day, they continued their advance in a south-westerly direction. 231 Red Army soldiers were killed fighting around the Auschwitz camp complex, the town of Oświęcim and surrounding villages."

"Thanks to the soldiers of the 100th and 322nd Division, around 7,000 prisoners of the three major Auschwitz camps were liberated. The soldiers of other Soviet units also liberated around 500 prisoners from several sub-camps. Most of those liberated arrived in Auschwitz in 1944, predominantly Jews, but with a relatively large group of Poles, mainly brought over following the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, as well as Belarusians and Russians. At the time of the liberation, there were almost 500 children in the camp, of whom over 60 had actually been born there. The majority were Jews, but there were also some Poles and Belarusians. Only a small number of them were in camp under the care of their parents or relatives."

"MEDICAL ASSISTANCE A few days after the liberation, two field hospitals were set up in the camp and their personnel started to provide the survivors with constant medical care. Before that happened, soldiers of the second-line units passing through the camp had provided first aid and improvised assistance. In early February a Polish Red Cross (PRC) hospital was set up by over 30 volunteer physicians and nurses from Kraków. The city authorities had decided to set up this hospital on site in Auschwitz because Kraków hospitals did not have the capacity to cope with several thousand patients. The Polish Red Cross staff quickly established cooperation with the Soviet field hospitals and jointly treated the camp survivors.  There were also around 90 former prisoners working in these hospitals. They were former camp’s senior and middle-ranking medical staff as well as administrative staff. Their help was especially important in the initial period, soon after the hospitals were set up, since at the time there was a shortage of medical doctors and nurses. The sick were initially treated in all three parts of the Auschwitz camp complex, i.e. the former main camp, Birkenau and Monowitz. Conditions in the hospitals were not good, especially in the latter two former camps. Therefore, from the first half of February, the patients were gradually moved to former Auschwitz I, where living conditions were comparatively better. Meanwhile the orphaned children were first transferred to care centres in Kraków and later to other places further afield. A dozen or so children were taken under the loving care of local inhabitants. Later some of these children were adopted. In June 1945 the Soviet authorities took over the former Auschwitz I camp entirely and converted it into a transit camp for German prisoners of war. Therefore the hospital for former prisoners was transferred to three blocks beyond the former camp’s perimeter (the old administration building, the commandant’s office and the SS hospital building) as well as four nearby barracks. On 1 October 1945 the hospital was finally closed. Most of the patients returned to their homes, whereas a now small group that still needed treatment were transferred to Kraków."

"Initially sick former prisoners were treated in
all three former Auschwitz camps, Auschwitz I, Birkenau and Monowitz. Difficult
conditions, however, led to patients gradually being transferred to the former
main camp."

"The orphaned children were first
transferred to care centres in Kraków and later to other places further afield.
A dozen or so children were taken under the loving care of local inhabitants. Later
some of these children were adopted."

"The medical staff looked after over 4,500 patients from over 20 countries, predominantly Jews. Around 80 percent of them were suffering from severe alimentary dystrophy (dystrophia alimentaris), often taking the form of starvation sickness. The symptoms were persistent diarrhoea, disappearance of body fat, wasted muscles and severe weight loss (the average weight among adults was from 25 to 35 kg), dry, discoloured skin and oedema. The patients also suffered from respiratory diseases, especially tuberculosis. A large number of patients required surgery on account of sustained injuries as well as frostbite combined with gangrene and necrosis. In addition, there were also groups of patients suffering from typhoid fever, or psychological or nervous disorders. In many cases patients were simultaneously suffering from more than one disorder or disease, which greatly hindered the process of treatment. While the hospitals were active, at least 500 patients died, most of them in February and March."

"HELP PROVIDED BY THE INHABITANTS OF OŚWIĘCIM, BRZESZCZE AND NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES TO LIBERATED PRISONERS Considerable help to the Auschwitz survivors was provided by volunteers, predominantly members of the Polish Red Cross in Oświęcim, Brzeszcze and other localities. Shortly after the liberation, many took up work in the field hospitals and the PRC hospital. They cleaned the rooms, delivered the water, transferred and washed the patients, prepared the meals and carried out the corpses. In horse-drawn carts they also transported patients from the other former camps of Birkenau and Monowitz to the former main camp. Some local inhabitants provided medical care for former prisoners, among them children, in their own homes. Polish Red Cross hospitals were also set up in the town of Oświęcim and nearby Brzeszcze. The documentation of the hospital in the latter town has largely survived."

"THE RETURNS OF LIBERATED PRISONERS TO THEIR HOMES Soon after the liberation, some of the survivors who were in a relatively good physical condition, set out from the camp by their own means. In smaller or larger groups they most often headed for Kraków. Citizens of the Soviet Union, both men and women, were directed to a Red Army assembly-stage point. From there, after tests, those deemed able-bodied were sent to reserve regiments. The rest, after passing through NKVD vetting interrogations, were gradually transported back to the Soviet Union. Citizens of other countries were just passed through the NKVD vetting point, and then received certificates of their captivity in the camp, allowing them to travel. Such certificates were also issued by the local Polish administration and Citizens’ Militia stations. On the other hand, those who remained in the camp for longer, including those undergoing convalescence received such certificates from the directors of the PRC hospital or the field hospitals.   In Kraków former prisoners received help from workers of the Polish administration and charities. This included the financing and running of field kitchens, dressing stations and dormitories. Help was also provided by the Soviet military authorities. Some of the Auschwitz survivors who were originally from Poland, Slovakia or Hungary, where fighting with the Germans had already ended, tried to return to their homes independently. On the other hand, those who had been deported from Western or Southern Europe could not return on account of still ongoing military operations in the central regions, and were therefore directed to transit camps that the Soviet authorities had set up in Katowice-Bogucice. Children who had been left in the camp without parents or relatives were taken to various care centres. These included: Kraków, Harbutowice near Kraków, Katowice, Rabka and Okęcie near Warsaw. Only some of the children were later reunited with their parents or taken in by Polish families and adopted. The rest remained in the children’s homes until they reached adulthood. A dozen or so children were taken in by the inhabitants of Oświęcim and surrounding areas. Some of these children were later reunited with their families, while others remained with their adoptive parents."

"BURIAL OF CORPSES After the liberation, on the sites of the former camps of Auschwitz I and Birkenau there were over 600 corpses of prisoners who had been murdered by the SS or died at the start of the evacuation or shortly afterwards. On 28 February 1945 funeral of victims was organised by the local administration and military authorities. It was attended by several thousand inhabitants of Oświęcim and surrounding villages, former prisoners, representatives of the Polish and Soviet military authorities as well as the local clergy. The bodies of those who died later in the PRC and field hospitals were buried in smaller graves dug near the existing large ones."

"COMMISSIONS INVESTIGATING GERMAN CRIMES IN THE FORMER AUSCHWITZ CAMP: THE SOVIET COMMISSION In February and March investigations into the crimes committed in the Auschwitz camp were conducted by the Prosecution of the 1st Ukrainian Front, acting under the supervision of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union for the Investigation of the Crimes of German-Fascist Aggressors. Its representatives carried out visual inspections of the former camp, its buildings, the sites of the crematoria and the incineration pits near crematorium V, where the ashes and unburned human bone fragments still remained beneath a layer of soil. They also secured as evidence of the committed crimes, the plundered property of murdered Jews which the SS had not managed to ship to Germany (including almost 1.2 million items of clothing, 43,500 pairs of shoes, almost 70,000 cooking utensils, almost 50,000 brushes of various sorts, 5,500 talliths, over 3,000 suitcases and almost 13,000 pairs of glasses) as well as around seven tonnes of human hair found in the warehouses of the former camp’s tannery. Moreover, they interviewed over 200 former prisoners on subjects concerning. the camp, including: methods of extermination, medical experiments, the treatment of prisoners, living conditions and the work they were made to do. The investigators also secured Auschwitz documents, which were, unfortunately, later taken to Moscow, once the Soviet investigation was finished. In addition, a forensic commission medically examined 2,800 survivors, diagnosing the majority of them with medical conditions acquired in the camp ‒ above all, the severe depletion of the organism (dystrophia alimentaris), but also tuberculosis, phlegmons, and frostbite. They also carried out over 500 post-mortems, from which they concluded that most deaths resulted from the wasting away of the organism."

"The work of the commissions investigating the crimes committed by Germans in Auschwitz included conducting medical examinations of many former prisoners. The physicians found that the vast majority of these former inmates had contracted diseases during their incarceration in the camp."

"COMMISSIONS INVESTIGATING GERMAN CRIMES IN THE FORMER AUSCHWITZ CAMP: POLISH COMMISSIONS In April 1944 the Polish Commission for the Investigation of German-Hitlerite Crimes in Auschwitz began its work. Its members inspected the ruins of the crematoria and gas chambers in Birkenau and learned of the living conditions in the camp. Next they inspected the main camp, where former prisoners told them about conditions in block 11, showed the gallows, the underground cells and the place of executions between blocks 10 and 11. Finally the commission members visited former prisoners at the Polish Red Cross (PRC) hospital, who told them about their personal experiences at the camp. Next, during a plenary session in Kraków they interviewed former prisoners as witnesses. At the same time a legal sub-commission also heard former prisoners as witnesses. In May 1945 members of the legal sub-commission, later also the members of the newly formed Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland (Kraków Division) headed by Judge Jan Sehn, conducted a detailed inspection of the site of the former camp. With great determination they secured extant camp documents. They also secured physical evidence of the perpetrated crimes, including samples of victims’ hair as well as ventilator parts from the gas chambers, which they sent to be analysed at the Forensic Research Institute in Kraków. The Institute’s report revealed the presence of hydrogen cyanide and derivative compounds. The Polish Commission’s members also interviewed many former prisoners. The gathered documentation was later used in trails against the former commandant Rudolf Höss as well as 40 other members of the Auschwitz camp personnel."

"In the autumn of 1944 the SS ordered prisoners
to dismantle gas chambers and crematoria elements for the purpose of
transporting them to other concentration camps in Germany. This plan, however,
was only partly realised. Hence, various elements remained in the Auschwitz
building materials depot, called Bauhof. In May 1945 these elements were photographed and described by the Commission
for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland (Kraków Division)."

"EPILOGUE The work of the Polish Commission was hampered by the Soviet authorities, which in the spring of 1945 used the former main camp and part of the Birkenau camp to set up transit camps for German prisoners of war. The transit camp in the former Auschwitz I was in operation until the autumn of the same year, while the one in Birkenau was liquidated in early 1946. After the liquidation of the POW camps, the Soviet authorities handed the former Auschwitz I and Birkenau camp premises over to the Polish administration. On the initiative of former prisoners, the Warsaw authorities undertook actions to protect former camp sites and create a Museum. The first proposals in this matter were put forward by members of both Polish commissions, but realisation was not possible while the camps for German prisoners of war existed.  As a result of actions undertaken by the Warsaw authorities, the Protection of Former Camp Territories Board was founded and its members arrived in Oświęcim in April 1946. It was then that they started securing the premises and setting up the Museum. The employees of this new institution were chiefly former prisoners, who protected former camp property, prepared exhibitions and served as guides for visitors. Thanks to their efforts, the Museum was officially opened on 14 June 1947, on the seventh anniversary of the arrival of the first political prisoners to Auschwitz."