Visitors to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum years ago The Russians – citizens of the russian Union sometimes stated to me and most likely to another employees of this Memorial with a note of pride: “We You Poliakow liberated” (We liberated you Poles).
I always accepted this message with mixed feelings, aware that the liberation of Poland from the German business by Soviets, at the same time imposing a Moscow government on Poland, was not expected by most Polish people as an optimal political option, and my late Father, a associate of the AK, suffered a lot from the Polish-people safety service. However, from the beginning of confronting documentary messages concerning the past of the camp complex called Auschwitz, I knew that its prisoners survived to scope them soldiers of the Red Army as an authentic liberation. At the end of the last century, I described this fact in 1 of my publications as a historical paradox that soldiers who were representatives of Stalinist totalitarianism liberated prisoners of Nazi totalitarianism.
In January 1945, about 700 prisoners were murdered in connection with the liquidation of the camp, any of them burned in barracks – in subcamps in Gliwice and Wesoła close Mysłowice. Much more Auschwitz prisoners, at least 9,000 men and women, murdered SS men on routes into the 3rd Reich. The evidence of these alleged death marches and death trains are, among others, many graves and monuments on erstwhile evacuation routes. However, about 7,000 prisoners were left in Auschwitz, Brzezinka and Monowice camps, which were liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945. It can be asked why the Germans left them alive when, as part of the fresh war by the Nazi authorities, the evacuation and liquidation of prisons and concentration camps due to the withdrawal from occupied areas, the regulation was that “no prisoner should fall into enemy hands” (Kein Häftling darf in die Hände des Feindes fallen).
This Directive has been binding throughout the territory of the 3rd Reich and occupied lands, including the General Government, Due to the approaching front of the east advanced Commander of the SS and Police in the General Governorate – Wilhelm Koppe issued an order on 20 July 1944 to evacuate or slaughter prisoners in the cities to which the Red Army was approaching. The instructions indicate that prisoners cannot be liberated. On 21 July 1944, a safety police commander to the Radom district, passing this order to his subordinate facility in Tomaszów wrote: "In the event of an unexpected improvement of the situation that would make the prisoners impossible to evacuate, they should be eliminated."(‘Bei überraschender Entwicklung der Lage, die einen Abtransport der Häftlinge unmöglicht macht, sind die Gefängnisinsssen zu liquidieren' (*Franciszek Piper, ‘Diplomatic Action of the Government of the Republic of Poland for refugees in order to rescue Auschwitz prisoners in the liquidation phase of the camp in light of the act of the British Ministry of abroad Affairs’, In: ‘Current Acts’, 3/2019, the Institute of past of the Polish Academy, Warsaw 2019, p. 216. In fact, all or almost all prisoners were murdered in any of the prisons and camps that were abandoned in the face of the invading russian troops, e.g. in Krasnodar, Klooga, Estonia, Łódź-Radogoszczy, in the Lublin Castle.
According to the investigator of Auschwitz past Francis Piper SS did not dare to execution these 7,000 prisoners as a consequence of the announcement by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom by radio on October 10, 1944, of a informing to the authorities of the Auschwitz camp that if they murdered prisoners in the camp, the perpetrators of this crime would be brought to justice after the war. This warning, registered by the German listening system, was issued as a consequence of the actions of the Polish opposition in the camp and intensive diplomatic procedures of the Polish government in London.(* * F. Piper, Ibid., pp. 226-227)
The condition in which the Red Army camp of Auschwitz was found, with sick prisoners left in barracks incapable to carry out a pedestrian evacuation with prisoners, preserved almost entirely in buildings, warehouses full of various kinds of property (in large part of property robbed of victims of mass destruction), heating installations in garden greenhouses with drained water due to the cold aura, many equipment in camp farms, is proof that the camp authorities have not full implemented the Burned Land Directive (Verbrante Erde) issued by the central authorities, and to prevent prisoners from being released and leaving traces of crimes. This was due to their hope of stopping the advancement of the Red Army by the Wehrmacht and remaining on the safe front of the "fight with the interior enemy" alternatively of being in the front trenches as well as the aforementioned fear of criminal work in the event of a German disaster. Therefore, it was not until the last days of the camp that the SS blew up crematoriums and gas chambers, burned most of the warehouses in Brzezinka with property plundered to the victims of destruction, which was besides evidence of crimes committed. .
More than 10 years ago, the paper “Rzeczpospolita” appeared article by Piotr Zychowicz "Auschwitz 27 January 1945: The indifference of the liberators" suggesting that the liberators did not show empathy towards the liberated, did not decision them very much to see the horrors of the camp, for they themselves, as russian citizens, were not highly mediocre and demeaning of human dignity. As 1 of the crowning testimonies of this indifference, the author quoted the account of 1 of the liberated girls about a meat meal that soldiers prepared and consumed close 1 of the barracks. She lamented that the soldiers had not shared this meal with her and her companions. The author seems to forget that for soldiers the sight of prisoners accommodated in deficiencies, while they themselves had to sleep in the open air in trenches, cold, uncertain if they would live another hour, may not seem so tragic. Hence, in the sense of prisoners, the behaviour of russian soldiers could be perceived as lacking empathy.
Thus, as the liberation of the camp actually looked like, 1 can learn about, among another things, many publications quoting memories of prisoners, or another messages, including films, headed by the celebrated russian almost half-hour “Cronics of Liberation”. It is noteworthy that the russian liberators provided medical assistance to liberated prisoners without delay, as far as possible, by cooperating with the volunteer squad of the Polish Red Cross. A immense amount of selfless commitment, even the dedication of this team, as part of the alleged “PCK Camp Hospital” created by her, was late presented by a Krakow manager Gabriela Mruszczak in the movie "Save the Survivors". any of the liberated prisoners were the consequence of the diseases acquired in the camp and the starvation camp in specified a critical state of wellness that it was impossible to save them. A shocking evidence of russian and Polish doctors' efforts – PCK volunteers and nursing staff in the field of the restoration of liberated prisoners and prisoners to comparative wellness constitutes, among others, the preserved medical documentation stored in the archive of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. any of it is written together in Polish and Russian, besides in German. The authors of the last were prisoners-doctors from different countries.
Alexander Vorontov, 1 of the operators of the russian military movie crew that filmed the liberated camp stated to the creators of the 1986 German-American documentary movie about Auschwitz (a movie by the company “Chronos-Film GmbH”): “I kept memories from there for the remainder of my life. It was all the most moving and scary I saw and filmed during the war.” 1 of the another eloquent testimonies of the liberators of Auschwitz is the many reporting drawings of the reality of the liberated camp, made by a soldier-artist of judaic origin Tolkachev’s herb, presently kept among Yad Vashem collections in Jerusalem. After planet War II they were presented in respective albums released in Poland and the USSR.
Perfectly utilized the russian fact that they liberated Auschwitz in 3 spheres: propaganda, economical and logistics. 1 crucial activity in the propaganda sphere was undoubtedly the publication on 8 May 1945 in the paper “Krasnaja Zwiezda” of the extended russian Communication of the Extraordinary State Commission to the Investigation of the Crimes of the German-Fascist Aggresors “On the Terrible Crimes of the German Government in Oświęcim” presenting the results of investigations conducted at the site of the Auschwitz camp. The erstwhile camp was gladly made available to delegations from Western Europe. Almost six months earlier, russian information about crimes committed in Majdanek camp was received with disbelief. From the site of the erstwhile Auschwitz camp, large numbers of various kinds of material goods were exported to Russia as a war prey, with all kinds of method equipment being given precedence (All machines were exported from the erstwhile IG Farben mill in Oświęcim-Dworze). By the time of early 1946, thousands of German prisoners of war were held in the erstwhile camp, including residents of advanced Silesia and the Bielsko-Biała area – volksdeutsch and people who were expected to be German.
Over the last 2 decades, researchers have contributed importantly to the advancement of investigation on the past of the Auschwitz camp in its final phase and in connection with its liberation.: Helena Kubica, Dr Jacek Lachendro and Dr Piotr Setkiewicz. Under the editorial board of Setkiewicz and Lachendra, a fresh version of the "Calendar of Events in Auschwitz" was late published. Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz late stated as the manager of the investigation Centre (historical department) Auschwitz Museum: “I feel that, thanks to our regular work, we are able to give the popular opinion that present Auschwitz’s past is not able to compose anything fresh and valuable. We have surely not said the last word here."
In terms of the problems connected with the liquidation of the camp, it is doubtless essential to analyse further destiny of Auschwitz prisoners evacuated in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. German researchers, among others, dealt with this problem, but the overall synthesis of these findings is lacking.
In addition to technological and popular literature, films and online media, the vast amount of crimes committed in Auschwitz match many monuments, memorial sites and institutions, both in Poland and in another countries. Within 80 years of the end of planet War II, more than 60 memorial sites were created on the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum outside the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The most celebrated memorial sites of these victims located outside Poland are, as we know, Yad Vashem in Israel and the Holocaust Museum in Washington. all year in various places around the world, the anniversary of the past of Auschwitz and another extermination sites and tragic events of planet War II are celebrated, They are accompanied by the slogan: No more war, no more genocide. Unfortunately, wars proceed to erupt, and genocide repeats itself.
Dr Andrzej Strzelecki
The author is simply a retired investigator of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Think Poland, No. 3-4 (19-26.01.2025)
Photo: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
