Death Marches

A massive Soviet 1944 summer offensive in eastern Belarus annihilated German Army Group Center and permitted Soviet forces to overrun the first of the major Nazi concentration camps, u!lin"#ajdane$% Shortly after that offensive, SS chief &'eichsfuehrer SS( )einrich )immler ordered that prisoners in all concentration camps and su!camps !e evacuated to*ard the interior of the 'eich% +ue to the rapid Soviet advance, the SS had not had time to complete the evacuation of #ajdane$% Soviet and *estern media *idely pu!licized SS atrocities at the camp, usin, !oth foota,e of the camp at li!eration and intervie*s *ith some of the survivin, prisoners% The evacuations of the concentration camps had three purposes: &1( SS authorities did not *ant prisoners to fall into enemy hands alive to tell their stories to Allied li!erators &-( the SS thou,ht they needed prisoners to maintain production of armaments *herever possi!le &.( some SS leaders, includin, )immler, !elieved irrationally that they could use /e*ish concentration camp prisoners as hosta,es to !ar,ain for a peace in the *est that *ould ,uarantee the survival of the Nazi re,ime% 0n the summer and early autumn months of 1944, most of the evacuations *ere carried out !y train or, in the case of German positions cut off in the Baltic States, !y ship% As *inter approached, ho*ever, and the Allies reached the German !orders and assumed full control of German s$ies, SS authorities increasin,ly evacuated concentration camp prisoners from !oth east and *est on foot% By /anuary 1941, the 2hird 'eich stood on the ver,e of military defeat% #ost of German 3ast 4russia *as already under Soviet occupation% Soviet forces !esie,ed 5arsa*, 4oland, and Budapest, )un,ary, as they prepared to push German forces !ac$ to*ard the interior of the 'eich% After the failure of the surprise German Ardennes offensive in +ecem!er 1944, An,lo6American forces in the *est *ere ready to invade Germany% 2he SS ,uards had strict orders to $ill prisoners *ho could no lon,er *al$ or travel% As evacuations depended increasin,ly on forced marches and travel !y open rail car or small craft in the Baltic Sea in the !rutal *inter of 194461941, the num!er *ho died of e7haustion and e7posure alon, the routes increased dramatically% 2his encoura,ed an understanda!le perception amon, the prisoners that the Germans intended them all to die on the march% 2he term death march *as pro!a!ly coined !y concentration camp prisoners% +urin, these death marches, the SS ,uards !rutally mistreated the prisoners% 8ollo*in, their e7plicit orders, they shot hundreds of prisoners *ho collapsed or could not $eep pace on the march, or *ho could no lon,er disem!ar$ from the trains or ships% 2housands of prisoners died of e7posure, starvation, and e7haustion% 8orced marches *ere especially common in late 1944 and 1941, as the SS evacuated prisoners to camps deeper *ithin Germany% #ajor evacuation operations moved prisoners out of Ausch*itz, Stutthof, and Gross6'osen *est*ard to Buchen*ald, 8lossen!9r,, +achau, and Sachsenhausen in *inter 194461941: from Buchen*ald and 8lossen!9r, to +achau and #authausen in sprin, 1941: and from Sachsenhausen and Neuen,amme north*ards to the Baltic Sea in the last *ee$s of the *ar% As Allied forces advanced into the heart of Germany they li!erated hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners% 2his included thousands of prisoners *hom Allied and Soviet troops li!erated *hile they marched on the forced evacuations% ;n April -1, 1941, Soviet forces met <S forces at 2or,au, on the 3l!e 'iver in central Germany% 2he German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the *est on #ay = and in the east on #ay 9, 1941% #ay >, 1941, *as proclaimed ?ictory in 3urope +ay &?63 +ay(% 2o almost the last day of the *ar, German authorities marched prisoners to various locations in the 'eich% As late as #ay 1, 1941, prisoners *ho had !een evacuated from Neuen,amme to the North Sea coastline *ere loaded onto ships: hundreds of them died *hen the British !om!ed the ships a fe* days later, thin$in, that they carried German military personnel%