27 January 1945 - Liberation of Auschwitz

ecc · Post by **ecc** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:16 pm

On this day 75 years ago, the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz. Although we know the Allies were aware of its existence and one imagines most of the other concentration camps it would seem fairly certain that the Allied soldiers (Soviet, American, British) who actually entered the camps did not know what awaited them (just how far down the command chain this awareness had been allowed to percolate e.g. Generals, I don't know).

Whilst the vast majority of the victims were Jewish there were also gypsies, homosexuals, conscientious objectors, communists, Slavs indeed people from various “communities” who were deemed unfit to live because they were not “Aryan” and/or opposed to the Nazis.

“Hell on Earth” is the term most often used to describe what the soldiers discovered. Whilst, of course, any right-minded person should not forget the evil deeds perpetrated by the Nazis. Indeed we need to ensure what happened is never, ever forgotten.

It is also essential, in my humble opinion, to think about the poor souls who walked into these camps and witnessed the unthinkable. Their lives could never have been the same again.

Primo Levi, the Italian scientist and writer who survived Auschwitz, wrote a book bearing the title “If This Is a Man”. Five “simple” words but, for me, they say it all.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:21 pm

I’ve watched quite a bit about it again this week. I can’t ever find the words to describe how horrific it must have been.

It should never be forgotten. No, it must never be forgotten.

staustellclaret · Post by **staustellclaret** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:21 pm

Been to both aushwitz and berkenkaui when we went to kracow . Was unsure wether to go but so glad i did .What these people went through was horrific lest we no forget .

TsarBomba · Post by **TsarBomba** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:36 pm

The wife and I had a guided tour around Sachsenhausen around ten years ago.

Our guide told us that throughout the day, the guards in the towers would take pot shots at the prisoners to stay proficient. A shot would ring out, and somewhere in the camp, some poor soul would fall, never to get back up again.

I’ll never forget that.

Truly unimaginable.

Pimlico_Claret · Post by **Pimlico_Claret** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:40 pm

staustellclaret wrote: ↑
Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Been to both aushwitz and berkenkaui when we went to kracow . Was unsure wether to go but so glad i did .What these people went through was horrific lest we no forget .

Same here, last October. Never seen a place so busy with 'tourists' in complete silence.

Foreverly Claret · Post by **Foreverly Claret** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:56 pm

My late uncle was in the force which liberated Belsen and he always told me that they were warned to expect sights more horrific than they had experienced anywhere on their fight up through northern France and Belgium but they knew something bad was coming up because they could actually smell the rotting corpses from miles away .It was the Russians that liberated Auschwitz...perhaps their top brass decided not to warn the troops .Must have been an unforgettably horrible experience.

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:57 pm

My Mum was at Belsen shortly after it was liberated by the British, whilst it wasn't a death camp over 50,000 people died of starvation and disease.

There was approximately 13,000 bodies laying unburied when the British entered the camp. I've been and it's horrible to visualise what happened as you look at mass grave headstones with '5,000 Jews buried here'.

I couldn't visit the Polish death camps, I wouldn't cope with the emotions.

Lest we Forget

Blackrod · Post by **Blackrod** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:00 pm

Read a biography book about the first Americans into Dachau. Harrowing what they found and they were not prepared. Also been to talks by survivors. The guards would let dogs rip live people to shreds. They were pure evil and some very twisted sick individuals. Should be compulsory to study what happened. Some of the perpetrators faced justice and some revenge but far too many were allowed to slip under the net. Germany now does a lot to face up to what happened and educate people about it whilst making it a serious offence to deny it or ridicule it. ( Shame Japan doesn’t do something similar). Having said that I see in today’s news Germany have allowed a known neo nazi to be a licensee and a focus of breeding hate.

CrispyClaret · Post by **CrispyClaret** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:11 pm

I was trying to think of a suitable photo to post from my visit in 2018.
I think these will have to do, the lack of hope and the deaths reduced to just a few words.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:14 pm

Haven’t been to Auschwitz but have been to kgb prisons. And they are no doubt equally horrific. How anyone can do that to another human is beyond me.

Harrowing is the only way I can describe the feeling when you visit such places.

I was a bit wary of visiting but part of me think if in those countries it’s essential in order to be humbled and give a sense of perspective about how fortunate and pampered we are.

Jakubclaret · Post by **Jakubclaret** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:21 pm

ecc wrote: ↑
Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:16 pm
On this day 75 years ago, the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz. Although we know the Allies were aware of its existence and one imagines most of the other concentration camps it would seem fairly certain that the Allied soldiers (Soviet, American, British) who actually entered the camps did not know what awaited them (just how far down the command chain this awareness had been allowed to percolate e.g. Generals, I don't know).

Whilst the vast majority of the victims were Jewish there were also gypsies, homosexuals, conscientious objectors, communists, Slavs indeed people from various “communities” who were deemed unfit to live because they were not “Aryan” and/or opposed to the Nazis.

“Hell on Earth” is the term most often used to describe what the soldiers discovered. Whilst, of course, any right-minded person should not forget the evil deeds perpetrated by the Nazis. Indeed we need to ensure what happened is never, ever forgotten.

It is also essential, in my humble opinion, to think about the poor souls who walked into these camps and witnessed the unthinkable. Their lives could never have been the same again.

Primo Levi, the Italian scientist and writer who survived Auschwitz, wrote a book bearing the title “If This Is a Man”. Five “simple” words but, for me, they say it all.

“Indeed we need to ensure what happened is never, ever forgotten”. & more importantly never ever repeated.

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:28 pm

Cocking up posting pictures - sorry chaps.

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:30 pm

https://i.imgur.com/a/nxshqNi.jpg

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:36 pm

: P1020484.JPG (1.47 MiB) Viewed 3470 times

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:40 pm

And again - I give up now.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:58 pm

I’ve not been to Auschwitz but I did visit Dachau back in 2007. Nothing like the same scale but a very moving experience being there.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:14 pm

We need to be constantly reminded, generation after generation , because there are amongst us people who would replicate these events if circumstance allowed.

bfccrazy · Post by **bfccrazy** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:05 am

Few pictures I got at Aushwitz/Birkenau last year.

A truly humbling place where the silence speaks volumes and seeing the aftermath of things that happened there is just mind blowing that humans could be so cruel.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:41 am

jesus christ

AndrewJB · Post by **AndrewJB** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 2:08 am

A film on BBC iPlayer, called Son of Saul, very much gets across the reality of a nazi death camp. Hard watching, but a brilliant film.

CrosspoolClarets · Post by **CrosspoolClarets** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:09 am

Horrific. Going to these places as a tourist creates a layer of sadness which never goes away, it is tempting not to go but as well as sadness, the experience also creates wisdom and compassion. I’m pleased I visited one of the death camps. I’m a better person for it.

Just imagine in a parallel universe the thousands of inventors, doctors, musicians, sports stars, scientists and philanthropists who did great things and cured the world of serious problems. Those lives in our universe were snuffed brutally and senselessly out in childhood, without achieving those great things they were destined to, which is why we must never forget, and never let antisemitism or similar viewpoints raise their evil head again.

Raise a glass to the greats like Oskar Schindler who saved so many lives at great risk to themselves. I’m so pleased I had to study that book at A Level all those years ago.

Burypaddy · Post by **Burypaddy** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:41 am

Been to both auschwitz and birkenhau in winter and it was snowing some years ago and it was freezing which drove home how they survived in those conditions without much clothing or hot food.
The polish guide had an uncle survive auschwitz and the raw emotion of her stories showed that it was still hurting 60 years on, harrowing and we shouldnt ever forget.

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:52 am

I’m not knocking anyone who has visited or who intends to visit these places of true human horror, but they are the last places I would visit on my holidays.

Shappie · Post by **Shappie** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:17 am

What programmes would people recommend watching about Auschwitz?

Id prefer factual ones rather than dramatisations

Thanks

cally · Post by **cally** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:28 pm

have been to Auschwitz 2 years ago and watched BBC Auschwitz the nazi s and the final soulution before we went riveting viewing in 5 parts and on netflix at the moment an incredable place leaves u very thoughtful

Yanquiclaret · Post by **Yanquiclaret** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:37 pm

For those of you on Twitter i recommend following @Auschwitzmuseum. It is not an easy daily read, but it bears witness to what happened at Auschwitz to real people everyday. Retweet the pictures make it more difficult for the worlds deniers to spread their nonsense by spreading truth. It is most important to remember that the murders perpetrated there and at other camps were for the most part committed by very ordinary people warped by fear and toxic racial hatred. Never Again is a very difficult thing which needs to be continually worked on. The merchants of fear and racial hatred must never prevail.

Burypaddy · Post by **Burypaddy** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:45 pm

Recommend 'the boy in the striped pyjama's'.

Loyalclaret · Post by **Loyalclaret** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:42 pm

I visited Auschwitz a few years ago whilst travelling from Prague to Poland. The scale of what happen at places like that is horric.

I visited the Killing Fields and S21 two weeks ago. To think these things happened in recent history and according to reports similar things are still happening in countries around the world means we need to keep learning and listening to them, however uncomfortable, to hopefully stop them.

diamondpocket · Post by **diamondpocket** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:09 pm

Shappie wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:17 am
What programmes would people recommend watching about Auschwitz?

Id prefer factual ones rather than dramatisations

Thanks

I've been using this alot in lessons recently.

Search Youtube - One Day in Auschwitz, documentary told through the eyes of Kitty Hart Moxon

evensteadiereddie · Post by **evensteadiereddie** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:29 pm

Burypaddy wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:45 pm
Recommend 'the boy in the striped pyjama's'.

A great book and, surprisingly, a film equally as good.

taio · Post by **taio** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:49 pm

Saw some disturbing things when I visited but the thing that sticks in my mind most to this day was the Stehbunkers. Evil personified.

Bullabill · Post by **Bullabill** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:03 pm

AndrewJB wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 28, 2020 2:08 am
A film on BBC iPlayer, called Son of Saul, very much gets across the reality of a nazi death camp. Hard watching, but a brilliant film.

It is hard watching, but not for the content. It's a crap film.

Belgianclaret · Post by **Belgianclaret** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:24 am

Saw a series about the son of the camp commander Hoss. He used to live at the camp as a very young boy, and now travels around speaking about his experiences and his disgust for what his father did. During a visit to Auschwitz he also spoke to Jewish visitors, very moving

Blackrod · Post by **Blackrod** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:08 pm

Do you know what the series was called Belgian Claret ? Yes he was a sicko who got caught and dealt with properly. I couldn’t live with myself if I had a Dad like that and would end the blood line.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:00 pm

Loyalclaret wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:42 pm
I visited Auschwitz a few years ago whilst travelling from Prague to Poland. The scale of what happen at places like that is horric.

I visited the Killing Fields and S21 two weeks ago. To think these things happened in recent history and according to reports similar things are still happening in countries around the world means we need to keep learning and listening to them, however uncomfortable, to hopefully stop them.

Yer same as you , i just feel drawn to these places and i am not sure why .

Auschwitz was the the big one for sure which still chills me . Everyone should see it once in their life .

Hibsclaret · Post by **Hibsclaret** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:10 pm

So many people have hit the nail on the head in this thread. As someone mentioned above the stehbunkers are a great example of the level of twisted minds needed to just think them up tbh. Truly unbelievable and horrific.

The fact that there is still so much prejudice in the world and also that there are similar recent examples of human cruelty, suggests to me that no matter what there will always be a percentage of people that are pure evil and capable of similar stuff.

The level of depths that ordinary people can go to is beyond what normal honest people can comprehend and there are still a good number of such evil in the world today producing further offspring....

Billy Balfour · Post by **Billy Balfour** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 10:03 pm

Blackrod wrote: ↑
Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:08 pm
Do you know what the series was called Belgian Claret ? Yes he was a sicko who got caught and dealt with properly. I couldn’t live with myself if I had a Dad like that and would end the blood line.

Blackrod, I think the documentary is called Hitler's Children (BBC).

HunterST_BFC · Post by **HunterST_BFC** » Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:10 am

Auschwitz Untold - in colour. - Chan' 4.

Everyone should see this.
... and for years to come.
It should be.

FulledgeClaret · Post by **FulledgeClaret** » Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:36 am

If you have netflix or Prime there are a few programes on them about the concentration camps, there is one called Nazi Concentration Camps on netflix it is a US military film filmed at the time of the liberation of the camps. also on netflix is a 6 part Docuseries Auschwitz: The Nazis and the final solution.

Shappie · Post by **Shappie** » Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:11 pm

diamondpocket wrote: ↑
Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:09 pm
I've been using this alot in lessons recently.

Search Youtube - One Day in Auschwitz, documentary told through the eyes of Kitty Hart Moxon

Thanks mate ill have a look

Corky · Post by **Corky** » Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:31 pm

In 1973 I worked for the Judge Advocate General (Court Martials) who had a significant role to play in the Nuremberg trials. As such they still had all their trial papers stored in a vault beneath the Royal Courts of Justice. I got involved because they decided to transfer them all over to the National Archives at Kew. However, before doing so, and in preparation for them being made open to the public I was tasked with going through all the official documents and checking all the photographs and those that I deemed sensitive I had to place in a brown envelope and annotate them as such to avoid distressing the public. Obviously being from a Council Estate in Burnley they no doubt felt I was made of sterner stuff. After a while I got used to seeing pictures of skeletal bodies almost all naked being bulldozed into open graves and these of course got placed in envelopes but just as disturbing I felt were the pictures of in effect how these people had been de-humanised as soon as they entered the Camps. Stripped of their hope and their dignity. Pictures of piles of suitcases and shoes and the like now bore a completely different significance. Harrowing stuff.