🕯 January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. #OTD in 1945, soldiers of the Red Army of the First Ukrainian Front liberated prisoners of one of the most horrible concentration camps – Auschwitz (Oswiecim) – in the course of the Vistula-Oder Offensive.

The infamous death factory was established in 1940 near the city of Oswiecim, Poland, which was renamed Auschwitz after the Nazi occupation. It was one of the Third Reich’s biggest concentration camps.

Initially, Polish political prisoners were kept in the camp. Later, European Jews, Roma and Soviet POWs were sent there as well. According to various estimates, 75 to 90 percent of its inmates were instantly killed or were subjected to inhuman experiments by camp doctors.

Auschwitz II with crematoriums and gas chambers was built in 1941 in the village of Brzezinka (Birkenau in German) just three kilometres from the first camp. In 1942, after the “final solution to the Jewish question” adopted at the Wannsee Conference, this camp was turned into the centre for the annihilation of the European Jews.

In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the leadership of the death camp rushed to destroy its infrastructure and send inmates westward. About 7,500 people remained in Auschwitz. The Nazis had planned to murder them in a few days.

The Red Army approached Oswiecim after three days of fighting on its outskirts, on the night of January 27, 1945. The prisoners wept with joy on seeing the Soviet liberators. Part of the camp was turned into a recovery hospital.

▪️In total, at least 1.3 million people passed through Auschwitz during its existence, about 1.1 million of them were exterminated.

In the past few years, the memory of this great deed of the Soviet soldiers that liberated the camp’s inmates has been systematically destroyed in a number of European countries.

❕ The accomplishment of the Soviet soldiers that liberated Europe from the Nazi scourge can never be erased.

❕ The tragedy of the Holocaust must never be repeated.

🏅 #OTD in 1943 one of the largest and fiercest battles in history, which radically changed the course of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad was concluded.

This bitter battle lasted 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days on the banks of the Don and Volga rivers, at the walls of Stalingrad, and finally in the city itself. The Battle for Stalingrad surpassed all previous battles in world history in its scale and intensity.

Up to 2.1 million people took part in the battle on both sides at a given time.

By late June, 1942, the enemy had concentrated at a front some 600–650 kilometres long from Kursk to Taganrog up to 35 percent of the infantry and over 50 percent of the tank and motorised divisions from the overall number of forces on the Soviet-German front.

☝️ However, their plans to win because of significant forces in this area were not destined to come true.

The Battle of Stalingrad includes two periods:

Defensive: from July 17 to November 18, 1942

Offensive: from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.

There were no long pauses or lulls in the battle - the fighting was continuous. Stalingrad for the Nazi was a kind of "mill", which grinded thousands of German soldiers and officers.

The invaders lost a quarter of its forces on the Soviet-German front during this battle with the total losses, including the dead and wounded, prisoners of war and those who went missing, totalling around 1.5 million people. This led Germany to announce its first national day of mourning during the war.

🎖 The Battle of Stalingrad ended with a historic victory by the Soviet armed forces, marking a radical turn not only in the course of the Great Patriotic War, but also in the entire World War II.

The victory in Stalingrad created conditions enabling Soviet forces to mount a large-scale counteroffensive aimed at expelling the invaders from the Motherland.

☝️ Not only did this massive feat increase the international prestige of the USSR & the Red Army, but also helped strengthen the anti-Hitler coalition.

📖 Learn more

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