1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Eves, and welcome to this Day in History Class, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: every day. The day was January nine. Soviet forces finally 4 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: arrived at Auschwitz, the complex of Nazi concentration camps in Poland, 5 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 1: after liberating Warsaw and Crackow earlier in January. We ran 6 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: up to them and they gave us hugs, cookies and chocolate. 7 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: Survivor Eva Corps said later she was just ten years 8 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: old when the camps were liberated. We were not only 9 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: starved for food, but we were starved for human kindness, 10 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: and the Soviet Army did provide some of that. Eva 11 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: core said. Auschwitz was actually a network of concentration, death 12 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,279 Speaker 1: and labor camps. There was Auschwitz one, the main camp, 13 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: Auschwitz to birkenw and Auschwitz three mono Bits originally designed 14 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: for prisoners of war Burken now evolved into a death 15 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: camp for Jewish rominy and gay people and anyone else 16 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: deemed subhuman. The majority of people who died at Auschwitz 17 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: took their last breaths at birkenal So when the Red 18 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: Army arrived at Auschwitz, it was a victory, but the 19 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: reality was the troops were still at a place where 20 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: over one million people died at the hands of the 21 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: Nazis and their nationalist racist policies. More than six hundred 22 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: corpses layd pals around the camp and over seven thousand 23 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: survivors were left behind. But the Nazis had already left. 24 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: You see, the end of the Second World War was 25 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: nearing an Allied troops were closing in on the not 26 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: Sea camps, so before the Soviets got to Auschwitz, the 27 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: Nazis at the camps focus their efforts on getting rid 28 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: of all the evidence of their crimes. At s s 29 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: leader Hinrich Hemmler's orders, the Nazis destroyed part of the 30 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: gas chambers at Auschwitz Berkenal in late nineteen forty four. 31 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: Well they did it. They actually forced the Saunder commando 32 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: or prisoners assigned to manage the gas chambers to take 33 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: a part the crematory a peace by peace, and in 34 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: January of nineteen forty five, the Nazis blew up and 35 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 1: set on fire the rest of the buildings and even 36 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: burned documents in the streets as part of their last 37 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: ditch attempt to cover up their tracks and carry out 38 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: the mandate of creating a so called Arian race. The 39 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: SS called for the abandonment of Auschwitz. As Soviet forces 40 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: got closer. In mid January nineteen the s S S 41 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: sixty thou prisoners west away from approaching troops and into 42 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: the heart of the crumbling German Reich. What's the S 43 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: suphemistically called evacuation was really what prisoners more appropriately called 44 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: a death march. Remember it was winter in Poland. Sick 45 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: and starving adults and children alike walked mouth through snow, mud, ice, 46 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: and blizzards, wearing their thin prison uniforms, only to end 47 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: up in another concentration camp or die on the way there. 48 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: People who couldn't keep up were beaten and murdered, and 49 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: many died from exhaustion or freezing. It's not known exactly 50 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: how many people died on the death marches from Auschwitz, 51 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: but some estimates put the toll at as many as 52 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand people. But even after all of the Nazis destruction, 53 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: evidence of the brutality and magnitude of death at Auschwitz remained. 54 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: S S commander Ernst Mauser had ordered everybody left to 55 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: be killed, but guards had deserted the camp and About 56 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: seven thousand people who hit during the evacuation or were 57 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: deemed unable to make the brutal trip to Germany were 58 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 1: at Auschwitz when the Soviets arrived, covered in waste and emaciated. 59 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: Among the ruins, the army found over a hundred thousand 60 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: women's coats, tens of thousands of pairs of shoes, more 61 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: than three hundred thousand men's suits, and nearly eight tons 62 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: of human hair. Hundreds of Soviet soldiers died liberating the camps. 63 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: Auschwitz prisoners had made many attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to 64 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 1: resist and escape Nazi tyranny, but on January, people at 65 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: the camps were finally able to envision a future beyond slavery, 66 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: cruel medical experimentation, and being poisoned to death. But oberration 67 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:05,039 Speaker 1: didn't mean immediate freedom. Some people quickly left the camps, 68 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: and most children who left went to children's homes and orphanages, 69 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: though some did find their parents, But other former prisoners 70 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: were incredibly exhausted and sick, and many died despite being 71 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: fed and given medical assistance. Many Jewish people didn't have 72 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: homes to go to or face the threat of violent 73 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: anti semitism back at home, and even after physical liberation, 74 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: the mental and emotional effects of imprisonment at Auschwitz remained. 75 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: In two thousand five, the United Nations declared January International 76 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: Holocaust Rememberance Day. I'm Eaves jeffco and hopefully you know 77 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 78 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to This Day in History Class on 79 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, or wherever you 80 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Thanks to tam Lermain's for all his 81 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: production help. We'll see you tomorrow m HM.