Newspaper article - Auschwitz

February 30, 1945


The entire world rejoiced as the infamous German concentration camp, Auschwitz, was liberated yesterday afternoon by a battalion of American troops. At approximately 2:45 pm, allied soldiers reached the gates of the camp, where a three hour firefight ensued. Fortunately, the allied soldiers won, and stormed the camp, freeing Jews and Prisoners of War from the cells which they were kept in for years. After all 300,000 people were freed, a survey was done, evaluating the conditions they were kept in. The results were horrific in all ways imaginable. Prisoners were given little to no food, kept together in small, unsanitary spaces, and regularly made to work for 16 hours a day. Also, hundreds of thousands were simply killed off in gas chambers when they were thought to be "not useful". Many small children were killed as soon as they reached the camps. Diane Bernstein, a survivor, calls it "the hell they built on earth". The Jewish community will never forget the grave injustices that was dealt to them and their ancestors in these few years.


I wrote this article because it talks about the reality of Nazi concentration camps. In reality, concentration camps were not places where Jews were "escorted to", or well-kept friendly places where Jews could play music and act in plays. They were not treated as fellow humans, or fed three meals a day. What the German officials said about the treatment of Jews at the time were largely false. Many people, including German citizens, thought of it as a temporary detainment during the war. Wouldn't it seem strange if a country decided to lock up millions of people for seemingly no reason whatsoever? Still, not too many people were in the clear of what was going on.

This article talks about allied troops freeing the Jewish people from the infamous Nazi camp, Auschwitz. Imagine their surprise when they saw that countless people were killed, and the ones who lived were often close to death from malnutrition and disease. After all the concentration camps were raided and liberated, detailed investigations were conducted. The results showed that prisoners were frequently overworked, starved, beaten, raped, and executed when deemed "unfit for labor".
Many people were shocked or in disbelief. Many others wondered how a country so large and powerful could do something so terrible.