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As Allied forces approached Nazi camps in the last months of WWII, the SS organized brutal “death marches” (forced evacuations) of concentration camp inmates.
Near the end of WWII, the Germans began marching prisoners out of camps and away from the front. Read more about the brutal conditions of these death marches.
In January 1945, the Third Reich stood on the verge of military defeat. As Allied forces appro...
SS guards brutally mistreated the prisoners during the death marches. They shot prisoners who...
Clandestine photograph, taken by a German civilian, of Dachau concentration camp prisoners on a death march south through a village on the way to Wolfratshausen. Germany, between April 26 and 30, 1945.
An American soldier looks at the corpses of Polish, Russian, and Hungarian Jews found in the woods near Neunburg vorm Wald. The victims were prisoners from Flossenbürg who were shot near Neunburg while on a death march. Germany, April 29, 1945.
January 17, 1945. On this date, SS units evacuated prisoners from the Auschwitz camp complex as Soviet forces approached.
Two emaciated female Jewish survivors of a death march lie in an American military field hospital in Volary, Czechoslovakia. Pictured on the left is seventeen-year-old Nadzi Rypsztajn.The original caption reads "This girl, only seventeen years old, was forced to march 18 miles a day for 30 days on one bowl of soup a day. The 5th Infantry Division of the U.S. Third Army found 150 in the same condition when they entered Volary, Czechoslovakia."
Descriptions of the death marches from survivors who experienced them and members of the...
Polish and Russian forced laborers shot by the SS after they had collapsed from exhaustion during a death march. Wisenfeld, Germany, April 26, 1945.
Burned bodies of former prisoners of Rottleberode, a subcamp of Dora-Mittelbau, lie near the entrance to a barn that had been set on fire by SS troops while the prisoners were on a death march. Gardelegen, Germany, April 18, 1945.
US troops and German civilians from Neunburg vorm Wald attend a funeral service for Polish, Hungarian, and Russian Jews found in the forest near their town. The victims were shot by the SS while on a death march from Flossenbürg. Neunburg, Germany, April 29, 1945. Following the discovery of death march victims, US Army officers forced local Germans to view the scene of the crime and ordered the townspeople to give the victims a proper burial.
A Hungarian Jewish youth identifies the body of his father, who was shot by the SS during a death march from Flossenbürg. Members of the US military prepare the victims' burial. Neunburg, Germany, April 25, 1945.
Set of tefillin in an embroidered bag. Tefillin are ritual objects worn by religious Jews during weekday morning prayers. This set was found on the body of a death march victim, who was buried near Regensburg, Germany.
An American medic and soldier stand by the corpse of a prisoner shot on the road near Gardelegen. The prisoner was shot by the SS when he was too exhausted to continue on a death march. Germany, April 14-18, 1945.
In January 1945, the Third Reich stood on the verge of military defeat. As Allied forces approached Nazi camps, the SS organized death marches of concentration camp inmates, in part to keep large numbers of concentration camp prisoners from falling into Allied hands. The term "death march" was probably coined by concentration camp prisoners. It referred to forced marches of concentration camp prisoners over long distances under heavy guard and extremely harsh conditions. During death marches, SS guards…
Fritzie's father immigrated to the United States, but by the time he could bring his family over, war had begun and Fritzie's mother feared attacks on transatlantic shipping. Fritzie, her mother, and two brothers were eventually sent to Auschwitz. Her mother and brothers died. Fritzie survived by pretending to be older than her age and thus a stronger worker. On a death march from Auschwitz, Fritzie ran into a forest, where she was later liberated.
Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…
The Germans occupied Vilna in June 1941. In October, Rochelle and her family were confined to the Vilna ghetto, where her mother died. Her father, a Jewish council member, was killed in a camp in Estonia. When the ghetto was liquidated in 1943, Rochelle and her sister were deported--first to the Kaiserwald camp in Latvia and later to Stutthof, near Danzig. In 1945, on the sixth week of a death march that forced the sisters to protect their bare feet with rags, the Soviet army liberated them.
As Nazi anti-Jewish policy intensified, Kurt's family decided to leave Germany. Kurt left for the United States in 1937, but his parents were unable to leave before the outbreak of World War II. Kurt's parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland. In 1942, Kurt joined the United States Army and was trained in military intelligence. In Europe, he interrogated prisoners of war. In May 1945, he took part in the surrender of a village in Czechoslovakia and returned the next day to…
Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…
Germany invaded Belgium in May 1940. After the Germans seized her mother, sister, and brother, Lilly went into hiding. With the help of friends and family, Lilly hid her Jewish identity for two years. But, in 1944, Lilly was denounced by some Belgians and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via the Mechelen camp. After a death march from Auschwitz, Lilly was liberated at Bergen-Belsen by British forces.
African American soldiers of the US Army escort German civilians through a site where camp prisoners were massacred during a death march from Buchenwald. Such tours forced Germans to recognize the crimes committed by the SS. Near Nammering, Germany, 1945.
A US soldier stands guard as mayors and citizens of local towns view the corpses of inmates of the Rottleberode subcamp of Dora-Mittelbau, who were killed when the SS locked them in a barn and set it on fire. Gardelegen, Germany, April 18, 1945.
An American soldier kneels by the corpse of a prisoner on the roadside near Gardelegen. The prisoner was shot by the SS when he was too exhausted to continue on a death march. Germany, April 14-18, 1945.
Three German mayors view the corpse of a prisoner burned alive in a barn by the SS while on a death march from Rottleberode, a subcamp of Dora-Mittelbau. Gardelegen, Germany, April 18, 1945.
German civilians from Schwarzenfeld dig graves for the reburial of 140 Hungarian, Russian, and Polish Jews exhumed from a mass grave near the town. The victims died while on an evacuation transport from the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Schwarzenfeld, Germany, April 25, 1945. Following the discovery of death march victims, US Army officers forced local Germans to view the scene of the crime and ordered the townspeople to give the victims a proper burial.
German civilians from the town of Nammering, under orders of American military authorities, dig graves for victims of a death march from the Buchenwald concentration camp. Germany, May 1945.
The Germans occupied Riga in 1941, and confined the Jews to a ghetto. In late 1941, at least 25,000 Jews from the ghetto were massacred at the Rumbula forest. Steven and his brother were sent to a small ghetto for able-bodied men. In 1943 Steven was deported to the Kaiserwald camp and sent to a nearby work camp. In 1944 he was transferred to Stutthof and forced to work in a shipbuilding firm. In 1945, Steven and his brother survived a death march and were liberated by Soviet forces.
The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. When Makow was occupied, Sam fled to Soviet territory. He returned to Makow for provisions, but was forced to remain in the ghetto. In 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. As the Soviet army advanced in 1944, Sam and other prisoners were sent to camps in Germany. The inmates were put on a death march early in 1945. American forces liberated Sam after he escaped during a bombing raid.
Lily was forced into a ghetto after the Germans occupied Vilna in 1941. She was forced to work until the liquidation of the ghetto in 1943 when she was deported to the Kaiserwald camp near Riga, Latvia. From there she was sent to work in the Duenawerke labor camp. She was deported by ship across the Baltic Sea to the Stutthof camp and was taken to a nearby labor camp. Lily was liberated during a death march which ended in the town of Krumau, East Prussia, in 1945.
In 1939, Gerda's brother was deported for forced labor. In June 1942, Gerda's family was deported from the Bielsko ghetto. While her parents were transported to Auschwitz, Gerda was sent to the Gross-Rosen camp system, where for the remainder of the war she performed forced labor in textile factories. Gerda was liberated after a death march, wearing the ski boots her father insisted would help her to survive. She married her American liberator.
Barbara was born in the province of Arad in northern Transylvania, Romania. She went to school until the Hungarian army occupied the area in 1940 and she was no longer allowed to attend. After the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, discrimination against Jews intensified. Barbara and her family were forced into the Oradea ghetto. She worked in the ghetto hospital until she was deported to the Auschwitz camp. At Auschwitz, she worked in the kitchens to receive extra food. She was deported to another camp,…
Like many other Jews, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942, as Abraham hid in a crawl space, the Germans seized his mother and sisters in a raid. They perished. He was deployed for forced labor nearby, but escaped to return to his father in the ghetto. In 1943, the two were deported to Majdanek, where Abraham's father died. Abraham later was sent to Skarzysko, Buchenwald, Schlieben, Bisingen, and Dachau. US troops liberated Abraham as the Germans evacuated prisoners.
Learn more about the Law for the Imposition and Implementation of the Death Penalty, which the Nazis enacted after the Reichstag Fire Decree in 1933.
The Nuremberg Special Court ruled on the Katzenberger Race Defilement Case in 1942. Learn more about the outcome and impact of the case.
Yitzhak was the second of four children born to religious Jewish parents. The family lived on the Polish-German border in Praszka, a small town where Yitzhak's father worked as a tailor. His work was not steady, and the family struggled to make ends meet. Yitzhak attended Polish public school in the mornings and Hebrew school in the afternoons. 1933-39: At 4 a.m. on September 1, 1939, the Balsams were awakened by an explosion. The Polish army had blown up the bridge over the Prosna River to impede the…
One of 12 children, Moniek grew up in Dabrowa Gornicza, an industrial town in western Poland. His father, Jacob, owned a general store, which he was forced to close in 1938 as the result of a boycott by local antisemites. Moniek attended both public and Jewish schools, and his father hoped that one day he would become a rabbi. 1933–39: On September 1, 1939, Moniek was awakened by the sounds of airplanes flying overhead as German forces invaded Poland. As the war drew closer, Moniek fled eastward, but…
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