Soviet Forces Liberate Auschwitz

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated approximately 7,000 prisoners from Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Monowitz. Many of these prisoners were starving, ill, and on the verge of death. Today, this date is commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It is estimated that the SS and police deported about 1.3 million people to the Auschwitz complex between 1940 and 1945. Of those deported, the camp authorities murdered 1.1 million, including approximately one million Jews.