Liberation of Auschwitz
Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, revealing the full horror of Nazi death camps to the world.
On January 27, 1945, soldiers of the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp. They found about 7,000 surviving prisoners, most of them sick and near death. The camp complex, located in occupied Poland, had been the site of the murder of at least 1.1 million people, the vast majority of them Jews. The Soviets also found warehouses containing hundreds of thousands of items taken from victims: shoes, eyeglasses, suitcases, and human hair. The liberation of Auschwitz and other camps exposed the full scale of Nazi atrocities to the world. January 27 is now observed internationally as Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Key Takeaways
At least 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, mostly Jews
Soviet soldiers found warehouses of victims' belongings, revealing the industrial scale of murder
January 27 is now International Holocaust Remembrance Day