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Shoes from the Auschwitz camp.
in photos

Exactly 70 years ago today, the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz was liberated

The camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 27 January 1945
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Jan 27th 2015, 7:45 AM

JUST OVER 300 Holocaust survivors are expected to travel to Auschwitz today to remember the liberation of the Nazi death camp exactly 70 years ago.

Ten years ago, over 1,500 survivors travelled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary.

The decreasing number of people who survived the notorious concentration camps has meant there is more of a focus on bringing them together while they are still alive.

“In 10 years, for the 80th anniversary, we’ll not have this opportunity,” Pawel Sawicki, a press officer for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum told CBC News in Canada.  

More than one million people were killed at Auschwitz in Poland during the Second World War, the vast majority of whom were Jews. An estimated 200,000 people were freed when the camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 27 January 1945.

Here are some striking photos showing what the camp looked like then and now:

Exactly 70 years ago today, the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz was liberated
1 / 9

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    This undated file photo shows the main gate of the Auschwitz death camp.Source: AP/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    children wearing concentration camp uniforms behind barbed wire fencing as they were liberated from the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.Source: AP/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Three Auschwitz prisoners, right, talk with Soviet soldiers after the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.Source: AP/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Prisoners look out from behind a barbed wire enclosure. Source: AP/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Part of the Auschwitz war crimes court inspects the former Nazi extermination center in Poland in Dec. 1964.Source: AP/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    The sun sets behind the cloudy sky and the crematory.Source: Jens Meyer

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Auschwitz camp entrance.Source: Czech News Agency/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Inside the camp.Source: Czech News Agency/Press Association Images

  • Remembering Auschwitz

    Shoes at Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland.Source: Czech News Agency/Press Association Images

Read: Three suspected Auschwitz guards — aged 88, 92 and 94 — arrested in Germany>

Read: 93-year-old former Auschwitz guard charged with 300,000 crimes>

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Author
Christina Finn
christinafinn@thejournal.ie
@christinafinn8
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