The Allies got some information about Auschwitz's camps between 1941 and 1944. However, they did not believe that so many people were being killed at Auschwitz. Then two people, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, escaped from Auschwitz. They wrote reports about what was happening at Auschwitz. From these reports, Allied leaders learned the truth about Auschwitz in the middle of 1944.
During 1944, Allied airplanes had taken some photographs of the area, including Auschwitz. However, no one studied these photographs. The first time anyone looked at these photos carefully was in the 1970s.
At one time, the Allies had planned to bomb the camps. However, they decided not to, because they did not want to kill any prisoners. In fact, some planes dropped bombs at nearby military targets. One bomb fell on the camp. It killed 315 prisoners and hurt 1425 more.
People still argue about what the Allies could have done to save more of the prisoners at Auschwitz.
By late 1944, the Red Army was close to Auschwitz. The SS blew up the gas chambers at Birkenau to hide what they had done. They also destroyed many other buildings and records. On 17th January 1945, the camps' SS guards started to leave Auschwitz. They forced more than 58,000 prisoners to march west to the cities Gliwice or Wodzilaw. At the arrival of these cities they were transported by trains to concentration camps in Germany. They left behind only those who could not march. About 38,000 prisoners died on the forced march.
On 27th January 1945, the soldiers in the Red Army's 322nd Infantry reached Auschwitz. They found and freed about 7,500 prisoners.
Nobody knows exactly how many people died at Auschwitz, or other Nazi camps. The SS kept records, but they destroyed most of them.
Historians have used many different ways of estimating how many people died at Auschwitz. For example, they have studied what witnesses at the Nuremberg Trials said. Some people who survived Auschwitz also helped to estimate how many people died there.
Still, many different people and governments have disagreed about this:
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says that these are "the best estimates of the number of victims" at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945:
A few years after World War II ended, the government of Poland decided to rebuild Auschwitz and put a museum there. They repaired some of the camps. Sometimes they made very small changes from the original setup.
The museum has many parts and exhibits. They include:
In 1947, the museum was opened for the public. Later, people scattered the ashes of Auschwitz's victims between the huts where the prisoners lived. They see the entire area as a gravesite.
In 1979, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Association (UNESCO) made Auschwitz a World Heritage Site.
Also in 1979, Polish Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at Auschwitz II.
In the 1980s, Pope John Paul II made two people who were killed at Auschwitz into Catholic saints:
In 2005, the United Nations made 27 January the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. They chose 27 January because it is the day that the Red Army freed Auschwitz.
On 27 January 2005, the European Parliament marked the anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation with a minute of silence. The European Parliament also passed a resolution saying that the murder of about 1.5 million people at Auschwitz's camps was terrible. The Parliament said they passed the resolution partly because of “the disturbing rise in antisemitism, and especially antisemitic incidents, in Europe, and for learning anew the wider lessons about the dangers of victimizing people on the basis of race, ethnic origin, religion, social classification, politics or sexual orientation."
After World War II, the communist governments of the Soviet Union and Poland put up a memorial sign at Auschwitz. The sign said 4 million people died at Auschwitz. After the fall of the communist government in Poland in 1989, the sign was changed to say that 1.1 million people died there. People who try to deny the Holocaust use this difference to claim that the Holocaust was propaganda. However, the Holocaust is a fact of history, and the SS killed at least 1.1 million people at Auschwitz.
Starting in 1989, the Polish government and media argued that it was not fair to use the name "Polish death camps" to describe the Auschwitz camps. They said this name made it seem like Poland ran the death camps. In fact, Nazi Germany had taken over Poland, and the Nazis ran the death camps. In 2006, the Polish government asked UNESCO to change the name of the World Heritage Site at Auschwitz. They wanted UNESCO to change the name from "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau". The Polish government thought this would avoid misleading the public and would show that Nazi Germany ran the camp, not Poland. In 2007, UNESCO agreed, and changed the site's name to "Auschwitz Birkenau: German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)."
The Polish government had allowed filming at the sites for two movies, and a TV series. However, in some cases, they did not allow filming inside the camps. In February 2006, Poland refused visas to some researchers from Iran who wanted to visit Auschwitz. They did this because the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has denied the Holocaust, and even said that it is "a myth."
In 1984, the Carmelites opened a convent near Auschwitz I. Jewish groups protested, and the Carmelites removed the convent in 1993.
In 1987, after Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, Catholic people put up a cross near the gas chamber. After some time, a Star of David appeared at the site. Many religious symbols appeared. Finally, people removed all of them.
In 1988, the Carmelites put up an 8-meter (26-foot) tall cross outside block 11 at Auschwitz. Jewish groups protested, saying that most of the people killed at Auschwitz were Jewish. By 1998, 300 smaller crosses had appeared. Finally, people removed the smaller crosses. However, the larger cross is still there.
Savukoski
Savukoski (Inari Sami: Suovâkuoškâis, Northern Sami: Suovvaguoika) is a Finnish municipality in the Province of Lapland. As of 2005, 1,326 people lived there. The area is 6,496.64 km². The municipality was founded in 1916.
Nearby municipalities are Pelkosenniemi, Salla and Sodankylä. The villages in Savukoski include Kuosku, Martti, Nousu, Seitajärvi, Savukoski, Tanhua, Lunkkaus, Viitaranta, Värriö, Rovala and Ruuvaoja.
Employers: Metsähallitus, Veljekset Karjalainen and Metsänhoitoyhdistys. In 1967, phosphorus was found in the area. It is planned to open a phosphorus mine after 2015.
One third of area is national parkland: Urho Kekkonen National Park, Värriö Strict Nature Reserve and Maltio Strict Nature Reserve.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (January 5, 1921 in Konolfingen, canton of Bern; † December 14, 1990 in Neuchâtel) was a writer and philosopher from Switzerland.
Dürrenmatt was the son of a protestant pastor. He was always interested in drawing. He went to school until 1941, afterwards he studied philosophy, sciences (deep point physics) and German literature at the University of Bern. He dropped studies in 1946, when he published his first written work.
One year later he married the Swiss actress Lotti Geissler (1919–1983). They had three children. The financial situation of the family got better, when Dürrenmatt began to write radio dramas and crime fiction.
In 1984 he married the german actress and television director Charlotte Kerr (1927–2011).
His world-wide success is based on two plays: "The Visit" and "The Physicists".
Kampala
Kampala is the capital of Uganda. More than 1,800,000 people live there. The city is on the shore of Lake Victoria.
The Ugandan National Theatre is in Kampala. There is also a university in the city.
The home team; Kampala City Council (KCC) Footbal Club is a leading Africa FIFA Club team player.
Common wombat