Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

1. The Liberators • Fall, ’42: Montgomery stopped Rommel at El Alamein • Nov: Americans landed in N. Africa • May, ’43: Rommel surrendered in Tunisia • Spring, ’43: U-boat menace in the Atlantic ended • 1943: intense Allied bombing of German cities • Battle of Stalingrad: Russians lost more men in this battle than USA did total in WWII • Germany surrendered with less than 1/3 of the forces that entered USSR • Kiev, Leningrad soon freed (Winter, ’43-44) Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

2. British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery German General Erwin Rommel, “The Desert Fox” Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

3. June 6, ’44: D-Day • Aug. 25: Paris reclaimed • Sept. 3: Brussels freed • Dec. ’44: Battle of the Bulge • Last great German offensive • Initially successful D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in history Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

4. Russians pushed hard from the East • Apr. 21, ’45: in the Berlin suburbs • Apr. 29: Hitler committed suicide • May 8, ’45: Germany surrendered • The 1000-Year Reich had lasted 12 years Residents clean out ruins in Berlin, July 1 1945 Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

5. Jew-killing went on as the Germans were being defeated • 1944: Hungarian Jews deported • Germany sensed Hungary was approaching Soviets for peace • March 19, ’44: Germany invaded Hungary • Eichmann and his “Jewish experts” set up HQ in Budapest The deportation of the Hungarian Jews Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

6. Ghettos continued to be liquidated • Kovno (July ’44) evacuated before approaching Russians • Lodz (Sept. ’44): Jews sent to Auschwitz The remains of the Kovno Ghetto, which the Germans destroyed in search of hiding Jews Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

7. July 23, ’44: Russians overran Majdanek • Nazis hadn’t been able to destroy all their evidence • Russians brought in Allied journalists • Himmler ordered that no camps or inmates were to fall into enemy hands • July, ’44: Stutthoff camp continued to be built for slave labor near Danzig • Fall ’44: evacuations from Auschwitz • All camps in the area Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

8. Death marches began as Germany tried to bring all prisoners inside German borders • ¼ million perished on the marches • Oct. ’44: Sonderkommandos revolt in Auschwitz • Jan. 18, ’45: last large evacuation from Auschwitz • Elie Wiesel was in this group, working at the I.G. Farben factory • One march from Birkenau lasted 6 weeks Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

9. Death marches of prisoners back into the Reich Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

10. Western camp liberation – • Communication between Germany, their camps and satellite camps had broken down due to Allied advancement • Junior officers in the satellites were often forced to make own decisions Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

11. April 4, ’45: Americans arrived at sub-camp of Buchenwald • Shock, horror, devastation • Patton at one time removed himself and got violently ill • Messages were sent to Allied forces of what to expect in the camps • Request to London and Washington to send gov’t officials to view them Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

12. April 9, ’45: US troops liberated slave labor camps at Dora • No gas chambers or instruments of torture • Site of the area where Nazis were building the V-1 and V-2 rockets • Rockets built in great underground tunnels • Before US arrived, Nazi scientists and troops were evacuated to Bavaria • One death march ended with the death of hundreds of Jews in a burning barn Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

13. April 11, ’45: US reached Buchenwald • Still 20,000 inmates alive • 1 of our meals = 4 day’s rations in that camp American officers and troops survey the Buchenwald concentration camp. General Eisenhower is at center. Unit9: Liberation and the Aftermath

14. April 15, ’45: British liberated Bergen-Belsen • Anne Frank had died in Belsen only weeks before • British found 1000’s of unburied bodies • 17,000 died in March • 55,000 inmates alive • 10,000 corpses • 13,000 died in first few weeks after liberation • Belsen had begun as a holding camp for German prisoners in ’43 Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

15. The Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Top left – sign posted by the British liberators Top right – recently liberated men Left – Female SS guards now in captivity Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

16. April 15, ’45: death marches from Sachsenhausenand Ravensbruck(women’s prison) • April 27, ’45: massacre at Mariubad • 2,775 Jewish laborers • 1,000 were killed by machine guns and grenades • 1200 were killed at Thereseinstadt • 500 were killed upon arrival, south of Prague • Only 75 survived the march… Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

17. April 29, ’45: US troops reached Dachau • 1st of the camps (the “model camp”) • Medical experiments had been performed • Railway cars piled high with dead bodies • US troops shot some SS guards outright • Some prisoners were allowed to work their will on the SS Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

18. Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

19. Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

20. May 5, ’45: Mauthausenlast camp US liberated • “Category 3” camp • Harshest designation • The rock quarry camp Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

21. May 29, ’45: Kaufbeuren • Mental hospital/sanitarium near Bavaria • Upon capture of the town, Allied troops didn’t enter the hospital for 33 days! • At 1:10 pm on May 29, the doctor recorded the death of a 4-year old boy due to “typhus” • Euthanasia continued for 30 days after German surrender Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

22. US troops returning home found that people wouldn’t listen to their stories, people couldn’t understand… • It wasn’t until the late ’70’s-early ’80’s that liberators began to be heard Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

23. The Survivors • Liberated but certainly not completely free • Freedom to mourn, to become conscious of the loss, to feel guilty at surviving • Psychological and spiritual trauma • Few wanted to hear the stories right away • “Even after his defeat, the enemy continued doing his evil…” • Homelessness – where to go? • Silence • Memories of death • Wounded souls Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

24. Aftermath for survivors, 1945-50 • 60,000 Jews alive in Germany • 1st post-war home was a Displaced Persons camp • Included children who had been rescued or placed in Christian homes • In Western Europe, Jews returned and were sometimes welcomed • In the east life had to be reconstituted Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

25. Displaced Persons camp photos: Top left – children arrive to a DP camp Top right – a group photo at a DP camp Left – readying to leave a DP camp Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

26. In Poland, 1000 Jews were murdered between 1945-47 • Polish antisemitism still aflame • July 4, ’46: pogrom at Kielce • 46 Jews murdered • B’richa: flight or escape to Palestine • Often went to Germany first • Traveled on trains in cattle cars from Poland to Germany! Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

27. Images from the aftermath of the Kielce pogrom Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

28. Immigration to Palestine was still blocked by the British • Illegal immigration was plentiful • 55,000 Jews were interned on island of Cyprus • British island; behind barbed wire Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

29. Nov. 29, ’47: UN vote to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab parts • Many survivors fought and died in 1948 battle for independence • By 1950, approximately 200,000 survivors called Israel “home” Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath

30. 1948-1967 1947 Unit 9: Liberation and the Aftermath