"The journey of life has not finished yet." 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
On January 27th, over 80 former Auschwitz prisoners gathered on the premises of the former Birkenau camp in order to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp. “Returns” constituted the main topic of commemoration events.
Among the guests there were Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of Croatia, Anna Maria Anders, the chairwoman of the Council of the Protection of Struggle and Martydom Sites who respresented the Prime Minister of Poland Beata Szydło, representatives of Polish state authorities, ambassadors and diplomats, representatives of the clergy, regional authorities, local self-governments as well as the employees of museums and memorial sites.
On January 27, 1945, on Saturday, at around 9 a.m. the first Soviet soldier from a reconnaissance unit of the 100th Infantry Division appeared on the grounds of the prisoners' infirmary in Monowitz. The entire division arrived half an hour later. The same day a military doctor arrived and began to organize assistance.
In the afternoon soldiers of the Red Army entered the vicinity of the Auschwitz main camp and Birkenau. Near the main camp they met resistance from retreating German units. 231 Red Army soldiers died in close combat for the liberation of Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz. Two of them died in front of the gates of Auschwitz main camp. One of them was Lieutenant Gilmudin Badryjewicz Baszirow.
The first Red Army troops arrived in Birkenau and Auschwitz at around 3 p.m. and were joyfully greeted by the liberated prisoners. After the removal of mines from the surrounding area, soldiers of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front marched into the camp and brought freedom to the prisoners who were still alive. On the grounds of the main camp were 48 corpses and in Birkenau over 600 corpses of male and female prisoners who were shot or died in the last few days.
At the time of the Red Army's arrival there were 7,000 sick and exhausted prisoners in the Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz camps.
Auschwitz survivors with the director of the
Auschwitz Memorial
paying homage to all the victims of the camp at the Death
Wall on the yard of Block 11 in Auschwitz I.
On January 27, 1945, Russian soldiers liberate Auschwitz. Otto Frank is one of around 8,000 prisoners remaining in the camp, most of them desperately ill. Otto Frank is the only one of the eight people who hid in the Secret Annexe to survive the horrors of the war. He has lost his wife Edith and his daughters Margot and Anne.
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