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Learn about the massive forced transfers of prisoners from Nazi camps to other locations, which involved walking long distances and resulted in numerous deaths. Find out the purpose, the routes, the numbers, and the survivors of the death marches in 1939-1945.
In January 1945, the Third Reich stood on the verge of military defeat. As Allied forces approached Nazi camps, the SS organized “death marches” (forced evacuations) of concentration camp inmates, in part to keep large numbers of concentration camp prisoners from falling into Allied hands.
Learn what death marches were, why they were carried out, and how they ended in the Holocaust. Read survivors' accounts of the horrific conditions and brutality they faced on the way to the Reich.
2 sie 2016 · Learn how the Nazis moved thousands of prisoners from camps in the east to Germany as the war was lost, exposing them to brutal conditions and killing many. Read a survivor's account and a poem by a victim of the death marches.
It referred to forced marches of concentration camp prisoners over long distances under heavy guard and extremely harsh conditions. During death marches, SS guards brutally mistreated the prisoners and killed many. The largest death marches were launched from Auschwitz and Stutthof.
These forced evacuations come to be called “death marches.” In mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its subcamps. SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west from the Auschwitz camp system.
From spring 1944 onwards, the Nazis ordered the forced evacuation of prisoners from camps across occupied Europe. These forced evacuations became known as death marches.
