Red Army Liberates Majdanek

In anticipation of the approaching Red Army offensive, the Germans decided to deactivate the Majdanek extermination camp. Nearly 1,000 prisoners were removed from the camp; half of them were sent to Auschwitz. Before abandoning the camp, the deactivation team destroyed documents and set the crematorium ablaze. However, in their haste to withdraw, the Germans didn’t murder all the remaining prisoners, and left the gas chambers and most of the prisoners´ barracks intact. The liberators of Majdanek found some 2,500 survivors.