Remembering Auschwitz: 80 Years Since Liberation

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January 27, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the site of history's largest industrial-scale genocide. On this day in 1945, a battalion from the 322nd Infantry Division of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front reached the infamous concentration camp located near the town of Oświęcim in southern Poland.

The camp, often referred to by its haunting entrance, known as the "gateway to hell," was a symbol of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. As the soldiers entered, they were met with a harrowing scene; they faced emaciated survivors, described by commanding officer Anatoly Shapiro as "skeletons of people" dressed in striped uniforms, devoid of shoes and unable to speak.

In conjunction with the anniversary, a new publication is shedding light on the topography of Jewish extermination, exploring the tragic history and the physical remnants of the camp. This commemorative effort aims not only to remember those who suffered but also to educate future generations about the horrors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

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