65 years ago today

[Dowly]

7000 human beings got another chance.

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/auschwitz/

[Sailor Steve]

:rock::salute:

Thanks, Dowly.

And thanks to the liberators.

[bookworm_020]

Good to see both the survivors and liberators there.:up:

[kiwi_2005]

:up:

One book i will never forget ''The Holocaust: The Jewish tragedy'' by Martin Gilbert.

[darius359au]

I've got a book called "Commandant of Auschwitz" , It's an Autobiography written by Rudolf Hoess while he was in Krakow before his trial and afterwards before his execution,(it had been suggested to him by a Polish Criminologist who had 13 conversation with Hoess.) , what's truly unbelievable about it,(I can't even think of a better word to describe it),Is how matter of fact he is about what he did - he truly didn't think he did anything wrong ,in fact it comes across how proud he was with the system he developed to process the prisoners through the chambers and then the crematoria , and everything else that was set up to operate the camp.

[antikristuseke]

There is no way in hell i couldever refer tothe soviet army as liberators without a strong irony. But good for those who were saved from a worse fate.

[breadcatcher101]

You know, I always thought that railroad went through the arch from day one. Found out it was made late in the war for the Jews from Hungary.

[OneToughHerring]

You know, I always thought that railroad went through the arch from day one. Found out it was made late in the war for the Jews from Hungary.

Yea, the Jews of Hungary. Always thought that the case of the Hungarian Jews was one of the darkest chapters of WW2. The Nazis tried to kind of barter with the western allied using the Hungarian Jews fate as a pawn, the Nazis wanted help against the Soviets. The western allied said no and the Hungarian Jews, almost half a million of them, went to the chambers.

I've also read that Rudolf Höss biography, it's a pretty scary read. Funny how he himself couldn't handle being a prisoner and was ultimately hanged in Auschwitz.

[kranz]

same happened to the italian jews.as soon as they raised their hands in september 1943 mass murdering started. however the scale was smaller.

[OneToughHerring]

Yea I've read that quite a few Italian Jews survived the war. Quite surprising really considering how close Germany and Italy were. I guess the Italians always did things their own way.

[breadcatcher101]

If you have "Google Earth" you can get a good look at the camp the way it looks today. You can easily see where the spur track ran into the camp from the mainline. The track has been removed it appears but there is a tree line there that curves right into the mainline.

Just enter the location: 50 02 09 N 19 10 42 E

[kranz]

There is a great BBC series called The Nazis and the Final Solution(or sth like that)It has sth like 6 parts, it is mostly based on Ian Kershaw's book. It's a must see imo. From that series I learned that even the British Jews from Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney Islands were taken to the camps.

[OneToughHerring]

There is a great BBC series called The Nazis and the Final Solution(or sth like that)It has sth like 6 parts, it is mostly based on Ian Kershaw's book. It's a must see imo. From that series I learned that even the British Jews from Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney Islands were taken to the camps.

I've seen that series, it's good.

There was also a boat, don't remember the name of it, that sailed from somewhere in occupied Europe and was full of Jewish people trying to escape persecution. The boat was denied entry into the US, Canada or South America possibly due to antisemitism of the times.

Eventually it made it's way back towards Europe and had a stop in Ireland. Everyone who could got out there but all were not allowed to depart to Ireland and ended up in Nazi hands with the majority dying.

[Jimbuna]

Auschwitz was used by Stalin as a POW camp run by the NKVD after the camp and Poland were liberated.

[kranz]

Auschwitz was used by Stalin as a POW camp run by the NKVD after the camp and Poland were liberated.

yeah, and this is the untold part of the camp history....

[OneToughHerring]

Auschwitz was used by Stalin as a POW camp run by the NKVD after the camp and Poland were liberated.

Well it was up to the Soviets to liberate Auschwitz since the Brits wouldn't even bomb the rail roads although they knew perfectly well what was going on there.

[antikristuseke]

Because there were no militarily important targets to bomb in Germany...

[Jimbuna]

yeah, and this is the untold part of the camp history....

Precisely.

Heaven only knows how many more died during its use by the Russians.

[Jimbuna]

Well it was up to the Soviets to liberate Auschwitz since the Brits wouldn't even bomb the rail roads although they knew perfectly well what was going on there.

By this time Stalin had already given the US and Britain the impression he wouldn't welcome advances from them as far as Berlin and was intent on keeping everything Russia occupied to Russia.

I've no evidence but I should imagine the Allies didn't feel as great a need to help the Russin advances any easier...far better to use the airpower to make their own troops task as easy as possible.