Death marches from Auschwitz-Birkenau

The so-called death marches (or “evacuations”) of nearly 60,000 prisoners from the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp system in southeastern Poland began during an especially harsh winter in Silesia under sub-zero temperatures, blizzard-like winds and icy conditions. Many of the prisoners on the march had no shoes and wore the equivalent of pajamas. At least ten percent of the prisoners died along the Silesian roads on their way to two train stations from which they would be ferried to Nazi camps inside the Reich. The Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz on 27 January 1945.