Rescue and Liberation
There were some courageous citizens who tried to hide and protect hundreds of Jewish until the defeat of Nazi Germany. If the Germans got to know about anyone hiding the Jews, they would straight away be given orders for public execution. This happened in Denmark; 7220 of the Jews living there were hidden, and shipped secretly to Sweden.
Death Marches
This refers to the forcible movement of prisoners from one concentration camp to another. This happened in the whole course of the 12 years. The significant times are recognizable from the 1940's. The last few years of the war, the Nazi German troops led the prisoners from one concentration camp to another just to get rid of more Jews. They were forced to do a death march due to the allied forces advancing onto them. The Germans wanted to destroy any evidence that showcased that the holocaust was going on. They abandoned the camp and went around. The first evacuations known started at Majdanek in 1944. 700 jews were killed during a 10 day march transporting 8000 men and women. The women were dominant.
Liberation
On July 23, 1944, The Soviets entered the Majdanek camp in Poland to liberate the prisoners in there. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz camp and found many sick and exhausted prisoners. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind as they retreated from the camp. The Nazi German's also left behind the victims' belongings; 348820 men's suits, 836255 women's coats, and tens of thousands of pairs of shoes. Some of the unburned bodies were left piled on top of each other. British, Canadian, American, and French troops also freed prisoners from the camps.
"There were about a dozen bodies in the dirty boxcar, men and women alike. They had gone without food so long that their dead wrists were broomsticks tipped with claws. These were the victims of a deliberate starvation diet."- Bill Barrett, an American army journalist.