This Week in History
27 January 1945
Nazi Death Camp At Auschwitz Liberated
Red Army soldiers from the USSR liberate the largest Nazi concentration camp.
In 1945, Red Army soldiers from the USSR freed thousands of prisoners from the Nazi regime's largest concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland. Between 1940 and 1945, it is estimated that between 1,100,000 and 1,500,000 people died at the camp, with many being killed in gas chambers. The majority of the victims were Jews, but many other people were killed as well, including Poles, Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war and tens of thousands of men and women who were killed because they were gay.
concentration camp (noun): a place where prisoners of war are held in difficult conditions
gas chamber (noun): room where people are poisoned to death with gas
Poles (noun): people from Poland
Gypsies (noun): travelling people who live by seasonal work, fortune-telling etc
gay (adjective): sexually attracted to members of the same gender or sex
Test your understanding:
Who were not among the prisoners killed at Auschwitz?
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The Nazis targeted enthnic groups, including Jews and Gypsies, and also targeted people who were
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The gas chambers made it possible for the concentration camp administrators to
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