The days leading up to the liberation were a very stressful time. Everyone knew something was happening, but no one knew exactly what. Reports came from different prisoners on the death march that SS guards were taking off their uniforms and hiding them along the roads. Hitler himself, ordered the evacuation of the prisoners out of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp knowing that that the Soviet liberators were close.
April 22nd, 1945 - The Soviets arrived to Sashsenhausen only to find 3,000 prisoners who were too sick to march. The majority had been march out the day before.
April 26, 1945 - Commandant Eduard Weiter began the evacuation of the Dachau concentration camp. The Jewish prisoners and Soviet POW’s were the first to be sent on the march because the Germans knew they would be a larger political threat had they been liberated by the Allies.
April 27th, 1945 - The Americans were heading eastward across Germany and joined with with Soviet Union soldiers at the Elbe River. Along their march, the 12th Armored Division discovered the Kaufering IV sub-camp. They were bombarded with horrifying scenes. Meanwhile, the Red Cross representatives were entering Dachau in an attempt to negotiate the surrender of the camp to the Allies.
April 28th, 1945 - Most of the SS guards abandoned Dachau.
April 29th, 1945 - After celebrating the capture of Nuremberg the Americans headed to Munich and finally arrived at Dachau, liberating its prisoners. However, roughly 7,000 prisoners had been marched out on a 70-mile trek to the area of Tyrol in Austria to be held as hostages for negotiation with the Allies.
May 2nd, 1945 - The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberated the Dachau Death March, four days after the liberation of the camp.
April 22nd, 1945 - The Soviets arrived to Sashsenhausen only to find 3,000 prisoners who were too sick to march. The majority had been march out the day before.
April 26, 1945 - Commandant Eduard Weiter began the evacuation of the Dachau concentration camp. The Jewish prisoners and Soviet POW’s were the first to be sent on the march because the Germans knew they would be a larger political threat had they been liberated by the Allies.
April 27th, 1945 - The Americans were heading eastward across Germany and joined with with Soviet Union soldiers at the Elbe River. Along their march, the 12th Armored Division discovered the Kaufering IV sub-camp. They were bombarded with horrifying scenes. Meanwhile, the Red Cross representatives were entering Dachau in an attempt to negotiate the surrender of the camp to the Allies.
April 28th, 1945 - Most of the SS guards abandoned Dachau.
April 29th, 1945 - After celebrating the capture of Nuremberg the Americans headed to Munich and finally arrived at Dachau, liberating its prisoners. However, roughly 7,000 prisoners had been marched out on a 70-mile trek to the area of Tyrol in Austria to be held as hostages for negotiation with the Allies.
May 2nd, 1945 - The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberated the Dachau Death March, four days after the liberation of the camp.
The Japanese-American segregated unit, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, was responsible for the liberation of the prisoners on Dachau Death March.
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Upon liberation of the march the prisoners faced an array of emotions and thoughts. Each story shows how different people were impacted by the same horrific event.
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Chancellor Konrad Adenauer led Western Germany in taking responsibility for the horrific crimes of the Holocaust. Among them included communities memorializing and victims providing evidence.
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