Exemption
The most famous of the crimes committed by the Germans in Rome, which became the symbol of Nazi terror, remains the massacre of Roman citizens by 335 in the Ardeate caves of 24 in March of 1944. On the eve of the celebration of the 70 anniversary of the end of World War II, the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, visited a memorial built on this site. This is the second visit of the current head of state to the Ardeatinsky caves - he made the first one spontaneously on the day of his election, reminding that respect for civil rights in a world torn apart by many contradictions and military conflicts should remain an absolute priority.The tragic events in the underground galleries near the Ardeatinskaya road occurred immediately after the explosion, organized in Rome by partisans, as a result of which 33 German soldiers died. In response, 335 Italians were shot, while they were in prison awaiting a trial or were caught in the street at the last moment, and among them were not only political prisoners, but also civilians.
Initially, Hitler demanded that for every German soldier 50 Italians be shot, but then the figure dropped to 10 people, although the German command eventually “overdid” and killed five more.
The execution of the sentence lasted several hours, since the convicts were injected into the underground galleries, near the burial place of the first Christians, five people each and were killed with a pistol shot to the back of the head. One of the performers was Captain Erich Pribke, who fled at the end of the war in Argentina. Only in 1995, he was arrested and extradited to Italy, where he appeared in court and was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, due to his age and state of health, he served him not in prison, but under house arrest, in a comfortable apartment in the center of Rome, where he died in October of 2013.
The large-scale exhibition Liberation of Nazi Camps, organized in the monumental Vittoriano complex in the center of Rome, is devoted today to the topic of mass destruction or relegation of a person to the level of an animal through hunger, overwork and inhuman treatment, which remain the grim legacy of the Third Reich. Her goal is not only to recall one of the most difficult periods in stories humanity, but once again trace the tragic consequences of intolerance on a national basis.
"The remoteness of events, the gradual disappearance of natural causes of Holocaust witnesses, many attempts to defend themselves from the problems of modernity by addressing national identity, insulting the identity of others, led to renewed ethnic and religious conflicts, as well as various forms of intolerance that seemed overcome by the dramatic events of the Second World War, ”recalls the organizers of the exhibition.
Numerous photographs, documents and video materials on the exposition recreate the tragic everyday life of concentration camps and their release by the troops of the Soviet Army and allies.
Striped pajamas, spoons and bowls, homemade playing cards, distinctive prisoners' badges, and even a fragment of Auschwitz barbed wire allow visitors to move into the reality where evil reigned supreme.
A separate section is devoted to the liberation of Auschwitz, Majdanek and other camps. The Soviet command then made the decision to film the conditions of detention and the condition of the prisoners on film, the Allies did the same to provide documentary material for the future process of Nazism. In most cases, they were met by mountains of corpses, since the Germans preferred to destroy those who could no longer move. And rare and unique photographs taken by residents from the windows of their houses captured the so-called "death marches" when the exhausted prisoners were quickly evacuated to other parts of Germany as Soviet troops approached, forcing them to make long pedestrian crossings or carried them in open wagons in the winter.
The vast majority of prisoners who waited for the liberators, were on the verge of exhaustion. Many materials tell about the selfless work of Soviet, American and British doctors who tried to save them from inevitable death. A special impression is made by double shots, which show how the person was before the camp and what state it was after.
The theme of the executioners and their victims was touched on the poster of the exhibition: it was a photo of a Soviet prisoner at Auschwitz, who points to a guard known for his cruelty (pictured). In the first days after the liberation of Buchenwald near the city of Weimar, American soldiers made mandatory excursions for the German population to acquaint them with the tragic truth of the Nazi camps, and also forced former guards to bury the bodies and eat the same food that the prisoners ate.
There were three concentration camps in the German-occupied territory of northern Italy in the 1943-45 years. They are devoted to a large section.
In the first, near the city of Bolzano in South Tyrol, there were Jews and Gypsies who were waiting to be sent to the death camps, political prisoners and captured partisans. Among his guards, the Ukrainian nationalist Michael Seifert, nicknamed "Misha", who had been hiding in Canada for many years and died in an Italian prison in 2010 for many years, was remembered by his particular cruelty.
In the death camp of Rizera de San Sabba in Trieste, where the crematorium was, about three thousand Jews were killed. Now there is a museum there. And through the transit camp in Fossoli, many prisoners passed, who were then sent to Germany and Poland. The most famous of these was the writer Primo Levi, the author of the documentary story “Is this Man?”, In which he spoke about his experience of surviving in Auschwitz.
In the Nazi concentration camps there was another category of prisoners - Italian soldiers, who after the fall of Mussolini and the truce, signed by the government of Pietro Badoglio with the Anglo-American command, were immediately arrested by the German units and transferred from the category of “friends” and “allies” after the fall of Mussolini and the truce. in the category of "traitors".
Germany refused to recognize them as prisoners of war, but only as interned persons, as a result of which their conditions of imprisonment were even more severe.
However, despite this, only 10% of them agreed to take the oath of allegiance to Mussolini and the Republic of Salo organized by him.
In the recently released documentary series Ben and Clara, based on a previously unknown correspondence between Benito Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci in the last years of the war, there is evidence that the dictator understood: the Italians no longer consider him their leader. In one of the letters, he complains that of the few soldiers who were recruited from the German camps, many immediately deserted or went over to the partisans upon arrival in Italy. He could not understand that, having experienced the senseless evil of the Nazi camps, many soldiers refused to fight for fake ideals, now their duty was to fight Nazism.
PS In total, approximately 1650 concentration camps operated in Germany and the countries occupied by it. As acknowledged by the SS men themselves, the prisoner, whose life expectancy at the camp was less than a year, brought the Nazis almost a thousand and a half Reichsmark net profit. During the years of World War II, 18 million people passed through the death camps, of whom 5 million were citizens of the Soviet Union.
April 11 celebrates the International Day for the liberation of prisoners of fascist concentration camps. On this day of 1945, the prisoners of Buchenwald raised an internationalist rebellion against the Nazis and were released.
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The most famous Nazi concentration camps
Auschwitz
(Auschwitz; Polish. - Auschwitz), one of the largest Hitlerite "death camps", established in Poland in May 1940.
The camp was located in a swampy area at the confluence of the Vistula and its tributary Soly, in 60 km west of Krakow. 1 May 1940 was appointed the commandant of the camp, Hauptsturmführer SS Rudolf Franz Hoess, who was transferred here from Sachsenhausen. In June 1941, Himmler made an inspection trip to Auschwitz. By his order, the camp was significantly expanded and equipped with gas chambers. The camp administration was staffed by trained personnel from the SS, who had undergone special training in the implementation of the "final decision" program. Over time, the camp turned into a huge factory for the destruction of people. Trains suicide bombers were coming here from all over Europe: from Hungary - 400 000, Poland - 250 000, Germany 100 000, from Holland - 90 000, from Slovakia - 90 000, Greece - 65 000, from France - 11 000 person. According to various data, during the existence of the camp it was destroyed from 1 to 4 million people. While retreating, the Germans destroyed most of the camp warehouses, but in the surviving premises the Soviet soldiers found the personal belongings of the victims. They found, among other things, hundreds of thousands of men's suits, more than 800 000 sets of women's outerwear and over 6 000 kilograms of human hair. After the war ended, senior SS Auschwitz officers from the camp administration were brought to justice.
In the following months, the Soviet Union liberated several more camps in the Baltic states and Poland. Shortly before the capitulation of Germany, Soviet troops liberated the Stutthof, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck concentration camps.
The Russian Defense Ministry to the 70 anniversary of the release by Soviet troops of prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz) for the first time published unique documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) about the release of the Auschwitz by the Red Army.
"27 January 1945, the troops of the 1-th Ukrainian Front, moving along the territory captured by the Nazi troops of Poland, freed the prisoners of the concentration camp" Auschwitz-Birkenau "(Oswiecim).
Around those historical events recently in the West in favor of various political interests appear statements questioning the decisive contribution of the Red Army soldiers to the release of concentration camp prisoners, attempts are being made to erase the monstrous atrocities committed by the Nazis in Auschwitz, and at the same time defile the fond memory of millions of human lives and destinies from dozens of countries milled by the fascist death line, ”the message says on the official website of the military department.
But there were archival documents, witnesses of that time, who recorded the historical truth.
Defining the same international composition of the soldiers-liberators, around which there are so many frauds, will help report on the list of soldiers on the socio-demographic characteristics of the 60 Army of the 1 of the Ukrainian Front, which contains information about the Red Army fighters in total 39 nationalities - Russian, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Ossetians, Georgians and many others who participated shoulder to shoulder in the liberation of death camp prisoners.
Balzek
"Death Camp", was near Lublin. It was created by order of SS Brigadenführer Odilo Globocnik, who became 1941 head of all the "death camps" in the territory of the general government. The prisoners of the camp were exclusively Jews. In August 1942 in the camp was used for the first time gas "cyclone - B".
Birkenau
Birkenau, "death camp", located in the Birkenau forests near Auschwitz. Created by order of Himmler as a special center for the destruction of 100 000 Russian prisoners. The arriving prisoners were divided into workables and those who were subject to immediate destruction.
Buchenwald
(Buchenwald), one of the largest Nazi concentration camps. Officially established at 1937 in the vicinity of Weimar, however, the first prisoners appeared here as early as 1933 when the camp was called Ettersberg. Over the 8 years around 239, 000 were prisoners of Buchenwald. Initially, these were German anti-fascists, and then, during the 2 World War II, representatives of many other nationalities. Many prisoners died already during the construction of the camp, which was carried out without using mechanisms. The prisoners were also exploited by the owners of large industrial firms whose enterprises were located in the Buchenwald area. Especially many prisoners died in the branch of Buchenwald - "Dora", where in the underground workshops produced aircraft - shells "Fau". The camp was released 10 April 1945.
Dachau
(Dachau), one of the first concentration camps in Germany. Founded in March 1933 near Munich. It became the first "experimental training ground", where the system of punishments and other forms of physical and psychological abuse of prisoners was worked out. Before the beginning of World War II, political opponents of the Nazi regime were contained in Dachau. During World War II, Dachau gained an ominous reputation as one of the most terrible concentration camps in which experiments were conducted on prisoners. Only in 1941 - 42 were there about 500 experiments on living people. Himmler and other high-ranking Nazis regularly visited Dachau with inspection visits, where they observed these experiences. Many of the prisoners of Dachau worked as free labor in the surrounding industrial enterprises.
After the war, the camp commandant and members of the guard appeared before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. The medical experiments carried out in the camp were also brought to trial. With the support of the Bavarian Government and the International Committee of Former Prisoners of Dachau, a memorial complex was opened in the camp.
Majdanek
(Majdanek), a suburb of Lublin, where the "death camp" was created in the autumn of 1941. He was a central camp, had "branches" in various parts of south-eastern Poland: Budzyn (near Krasnik), Plaszów (near Krakow), Travniki (near Veplshem). The commandant of the camp was SS Brigadenführer Odilo Globocnik. According to the data published at the Nuremberg process, about 1, 5 million people of various nationalities from many occupied European countries were exterminated in the gas furnaces of Majdanek. In July, 1944, the Soviet troops first came to this largest Nazi camp. Taken aback by such a fast onset of the enemy, the Nazis tried to hide the evidence of massacres by destroying the camp. The camp staff set fire to the huge crematorium used to burn the bodies of the prisoners, but the gas chambers remained intact due to the hasty evacuation. In the summer of 1944, the Soviet Union also occupied the territory where the death camps of Belzhets, Sobibor and Treblinka were located. The Germans dismantled these camps in the 1943 year, after the majority of Polish Jews had already been destroyed.
Mauthausen
(Mauthausen), a concentration camp near Linz, in 4 km from Mauthausen. Established in July, 1938 as a subsidiary of Dachau. Since March, 1939 is an independent camp. After the Anschluss, by order of Himmler and Heydrich, who were in Austria, the Jewish emigration center in Vienna and the Mauthausen concentration camp were established. Himmler said that it is too troublesome to constantly transport prisoners to the north of Germany and, moreover, Austria needs its own concentration camp. At 1938 - 45 in Mauthausen, there were in conclusion about 335 000 people from many countries. In the camp "book of death" 36 318 executed were registered; according to other sources, more than 122000 people died in the camp. 25 April 1945 camp has been released.
"Ozarichi"
The complex of German concentration camps, located in March 1944, on the territory of the Domanovichsky district of the Polesye region (now Kalinkovichi district of the Gomel region) of the Belarusian SSR. It consisted of three camps: the first was near the town of Dert, the second - near the village of Ozarichi, the third - near the village Podosinnik. The Ozarichi concentration camp contained over 50 000 Soviet citizens and killed at least 20 000 people, mostly citizens of the BSSR and the RSFSR.
There were no buildings on the territory of the concentration camp, the prisoners were in the open air in any weather. There were not even latrines in the campsite.
Some researchers claim that the German command intended to use typhus as a biological weapon against the advancing Soviet troops and the Ozarichi concentration camp, in which patients with typhus were collected, was created specifically for this purpose ..
Ravensbrück
(Ravensbruck), a concentration camp for women prisoners. Created in 1938. It was originally designed for 6 000 prisoners, but since 1944 it has never been smaller than 12 000 prisoners, and in January 1945 their number reached 36 000. Over the years, the camp has killed about 50 000 people in it. In Ravensbrück, medical experiments were conducted on people. The camp was vacated 25 April 1945.
Salaspils (Kurtenhof concentration camp)
Concentration camp established during World War II on the territory of Latvia occupied by Nazi Germany. The official name is Salaspils expanded police prison and labor education camp. There was 18 kilometers from Riga near the city of Salaspils from October 1941 to the end of the summer 1944.
This camp was most notorious because of the detention of juvenile prisoners, which they then began to use for blood sampling for wounded German soldiers, as a result of which children died quickly.
With the mothers of prisoners in the camp, the children were not for long. The Germans drove all of the barracks and took away the children. Some mothers went mad with grief. Children under the age of 6 were gathered in a separate barracks, where they did not care about the treatment of measles, but exacerbated the disease by bathing, after which the children died after 2 — 3 of the day.
Surviving children could be subjected to arsenic poisoning.
Children, starting from infancy, were kept in separate barracks, they were injected with some kind of liquid, and after that the children died from diarrhea. They gave children poisoned porridge and coffee. From these experiments, dying before 150 people children per day.
The 5-8 summer girls looked after the babies. Dirt, lice, outbreaks of measles, dysentery, diphtheria led to the mass death of children. The German guards daily in large baskets carried out the stiff corpses of children who had died by the painful death of children from a children's hut. They were dumped in cesspools, burned behind the fence of the camp and partially buried in the forest.
Near the 3 of thousands of children to 5 in the period from 18 of May 1942 of the year to 19 of May of 1943, the bodies were partly burned and partly buried at Salaspils old garrison cemetery.
Собибор
Founded in April 1942 on the territory of the Lublin province, "death camp", one of the four largest extermination camps in occupied Poland. According to some data, about 250 000 Jews from many European countries were killed in the gas chambers of Sobibor. October 14 1943 an uprising broke out in the camp that was crushed in the most brutal way. The camp is vented at the end of 1943.
Theresienstadt
(Theresienstadt), a concentration camp located in Northern Bohemia, in 60 km from Prague. In November, 1941 Heydrich ordered the evacuation of 7 000 locals and the construction of a special concentration camp for Jews. At the beginning, the camp had a reputation of being especially humane. Prague Jews, who were brought to the camp, were confident that they would be able to survive in the “exemplary ghetto”. Some went on to bribe Gestapo agents just to be sent to Theresienstadt.
The legend of the humane camp died as soon as Heydrich identified Theresienstadt as a transit station on the way to the extermination camps. The camp was liberated in April 1945 and then destroyed.
Treblinka
(Treblinka), one of the four main "death camps" in Poland. Founded in July 1942. Over the years in the camp, 700 000 people were destroyed. In the camp, there were 30 gas chambers that "ensured" the killing of about 25 000 people per day using cyclone-B gas.
Flossenbürg
(Flossenburg), a small concentration camp located in the Neustadt district, Upper Bavaria. At the end of 1940, Flossenbürg was elected by the SS Medical Commission to select prisoners to conduct special medical experiments.
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