Surviving Auschwitz

Paula Lebovics was 11 years old, starving, cold, and reduced to a near skeleton when soldiers from the Soviet Union entered the Auschwitz concentration camp and were stunned by the horrors they saw—the piles of naked corpses, the emaciated, bedraggled survivors barely able to walk, the rubble of what looked like a death factory. One soldier picked Lebovics up and held her in his arms.

“He was sitting down and rocking me in his arms and tears were flowing down his face, and I can never forget that as long as I live,” Lebovics said in an interview many decades later. “It was the first time I had this kind of feeling . . . somebody caring about me.”

Lebovics was one of the 7,000 frail or dying inmates the Soviet army discovered on January 27, 1945, when they liberated Auschwitz in Poland, the largest and most notorious of the concentration camps and killing centers set up by the Germans during World War II to extract slave labor for the military effort and to exterminate the Jews of Europe. More than 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. Of those, 1.1 million were murdered—1 million of them Jews, including 200,000 Jewish children.

This January will mark the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation. American and British soldiers, allies of the Soviets in their battle against the Germans, also liberated concentration camps, infamous places like Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. But Auschwitz’s liberation holds a singular place in history because as the largest and most lethal of the death camps, it has become a near synonym for the wider Holocaust, in which 6 million Jewish people were murdered.

“Auschwitz has become an international symbol of evil,” says Holocaust historian Michael Berenbaum.

When soldiers from the Soviet Union entered the Auschwitz concentration camp, they found Paula Lebovics. She was 11 years old, starving, cold, and reduced to a near skeleton. The soldiers were stunned by the horrors they saw. There were piles of naked corpses and bony, unkempt survivors who were barely able to walk. There was also the rubble of what looked like a death factory. One soldier picked Lebovics up and held her in his arms.

“He was sitting down and rocking me in his arms and tears were flowing down his face, and I can never forget that as long as I live,” Lebovics said in an interview many decades later. “It was the first time I had this kind of feeling . . . somebody caring about me.”

Lebovics was one of the 7,000 frail or dying inmates the Soviet army discovered on January 27, 1945. That day, the soldiers liberated Auschwitz in Poland. It was the largest and most notorious of the concentration camps and killing centers. The Germans set up these facilities during World War II. They used them to provide slave labor for their military effort and to wipe out the Jews of Europe. More than 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. Of those, 1.1 million were murdered. One million of them were Jews, including 200,000 Jewish children.

This January marks the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation. American and British soldiers were allies of the Soviets in their battle against the Germans. They also liberated concentration camps, including infamous places like Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. But Auschwitz’s liberation holds a special place in history. That’s because it was the largest and most lethal of the death camps. And it’s become a near synonym for the wider Holocaust, in which 6 million Jewish people were murdered.

“Auschwitz has become an international symbol of evil,” says Holocaust historian Michael Berenbaum.

The creation of Auschwitz and its largest killing center Birkenau was the consummation of a plan hatched by Adolf Hitler and his followers to destroy the Jews of Europe. Hitler headed Germany’s Nazi Party (Nazi was an acronym in German for National Socialist). In 1933, during a period of economic hardship and political turmoil, he was named chancellor.

Falsely scapegoating Jews for Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I (1914-18), he branded them an alien race that must be excluded from German society and progressively imposed a series of oppressive laws. Jews were forbidden from marrying non-Jews, working for the government, teaching, practicing law, owning most businesses, attending public schools, and voting.

The creation of Auschwitz and its largest killing center, Birkenau, was part of Adolf Hitler’s plan. He and his followers were set on destroying the Jews of Europe. Hitler headed Germany’s Nazi Party (Nazi was an acronym in German for National Socialist).

In 1933, he was named chancellor. His appointment came during a period of economic hardship and political turmoil.

Hitler falsely blamed Jews for Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I (1914-18). He branded them an alien race that must be excluded from German society. He also progressively imposed a series of oppressive laws. Jews were forbidden from doing many things. They were banned from marrying non-Jews. Jews also were barred from working for the government, teaching, practicing law, owning most businesses, attending public schools, and voting.

The anti-Jewish campaign reached a horrific climax on two days in November 1938 known as Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” Nazi mobs, with the cooperation of the police, torched synagogues, smashed Jewish shops, and murdered about 100 Jews. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt condemned the violence but declined to ease immigration quotas, which would have permitted more German Jews to find refuge in the U.S.

In September 1939, the German army invaded Poland, starting World War II (1939-45). Within five weeks, the Poles surrendered. Conquests followed in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, and in June 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, then made up of states such as Russia and Ukraine that today are independent.

In scores of cities and towns that came under their sway, the Germans herded Jews into ghettos, crowding families together in apartments, limiting access to food, and deploying men and women in forced work gangs. German paramilitary forces, known as the S.S., as well as local collaborators, marched Jewish residents to remote areas, forced them to dig giant trenches, then shot or machine-gunned them, piling corpses into mass graves. Two million Jews were massacred in this way.

The anti-Jewish campaign reached a horrific climax on two days in November 1938. What happened became known as Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” Nazi mobs torched synagogues, smashed Jewish shops, and murdered about 100 Jews. The attacks were carried out with the cooperation of the police. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt condemned the violence, but he still refused to ease immigration quotas. That move would have enabled more German Jews to find refuge in the U.S.

In September 1939, the German army invaded Poland, starting World War II (1939-45). Within five weeks, the Poles surrendered. Conquests followed in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia. In June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. At the time, the Soviet Union was made up of states such as Russia and Ukraine that today are independent.

Scores of cities and towns came under Germany’s control. In those places, they herded Jews into ghettos. Families were crowded together in apartments. Those living in these districts had limited access to food. The Germans put men and women in forced work gangs. German paramilitary forces, known as the S.S., as well as local collaborators, marched Jewish residents to remote areas. There, the S.S. squads forced them to dig giant trenches. Then the soldiers shot or machine-gunned them, piling corpses into mass graves. Two million Jews were massacred in this way.

But German leaders found that such methods used up bullets and demoralized troops. They needed a more systematic killing plan. In early 1942, they drew up what they called “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Jews would be deported from their hometowns by cattle cars and freight wagons to concentration camps like Auschwitz.

Ellis Lewin was a 12-year-old from Poland when he arrived at Auschwitz in 1944 with his parents and older sister Mariym and encountered what he described as a nightmare.

“The minute they opened the wagons it was just total, complete misery. Beatings and screamings and beatings and barking of dogs,” he later recalled. “We were holding on to each other and within minutes my mother and sister were dragged to one side and my dad and I were told to go to another side. I never had a chance to say goodbye to my mother. Never had a chance to say goodbye to my sister.”

Men, women, and teenagers strong enough to work would be selected for assignment to labor camps and factories near Auschwitz or to more distant ones. Young children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and anybody found too weak to work would be dispatched to gas chambers disguised as shower rooms where pellets of deadly cyanide gas would asphyxiate them. Bodies would be collected and turned to ashes in Auschwitz’s four crematoria, where ovens could burn 4,400 corpses a day.

The Germans also imprisoned and murdered Poles, homosexuals, Roma, and others they deemed “undesirable,” but Jews were the primary victims.

For those kept alive to work, life was cruel. They wore uniforms that looked like blue-striped pajamas and were pinned with identifying triangles—yellow for Jewish, brown for Roma, pink for homosexual. Meals consisted of an unappetizing vegetable soup and one slice of black bread with a spoon of margarine. Malnutrition led to emaciation and sickness.

Inmates were crowded into brick or wooden barracks and slept on thin, filthy straw mattresses in three-tiered bunk beds, sometimes several to a tier. Working 11 or more hours every day but Sunday, the prisoners were forced to build a synthetic-rubber plant, dig coal in nearby mines, and produce chemicals needed by the German military.

Yet many found the inner strength to go on. Primo Levi, a novelist who wrote a classic memoir about his survival at Auschwitz, recalled an inmate who admonished him for not washing, even if there was no soap and the water was dirty.

“Even in this place one can survive,” the prisoner told him, “and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness.”

But German leaders found that such methods used up bullets and upset troops. They needed a more systematic killing plan. In early 1942, they drew up what they called “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Jews would be deported from their hometowns by cattle cars and freight wagons. They would then be sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz.

Ellis Lewin was a 12-year-old from Poland when he arrived at Auschwitz in 1944. He came to the camp with his parents and older sister Mariym. He described what they encountered as a nightmare.

“The minute they opened the wagons it was just total, complete misery. Beatings and screamings and beatings and barking of dogs,” he later recalled. “We were holding on to each other and within minutes my mother and sister were dragged to one side and my dad and I were told to go to another side. I never had a chance to say goodbye to my mother. Never had a chance to say goodbye to my sister.”

Men, women, and teenagers strong enough to work would be selected for assignment to labor camps and factories near Auschwitz or to more distant ones. The outcomes for young children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and anybody found too weak to work were bleak. They would be sent to gas chambers disguised as shower rooms. In these chambers, pellets of deadly cyanide gas would suffocate them. Bodies would be collected and turned to ashes in Auschwitz’s four crematoria. These ovens could burn 4,400 corpses a day.

The Germans also imprisoned and murdered Poles, homosexuals, Roma, and others they deemed “undesirable.” But Jews were the primary victims.

For those kept alive to work, life was cruel. They wore uniforms that looked like blue-striped pajamas. The uniforms had colored triangles used for identification—yellow for Jewish, brown for Roma, pink for homosexual. Meals consisted of an unappetizing vegetable soup and one slice of black bread with a spoon of margarine. Malnutrition led to emaciation and sickness.

Inmates were crowded into brick or wooden barracks. They slept on thin, filthy straw mattresses in three-tiered bunk beds. Sometimes there were several of them piled up to a tier. The prisoners worked 11 or more hours every day but Sunday. They were forced to build a synthetic-rubber plant, dig coal in nearby mines, and produce chemicals needed by the German military.

Yet many found the inner strength to go on. Primo Levi, a novelist, wrote a classic memoir about his survival at Auschwitz. He recalled an inmate who scolded him for not washing, even if there was no soap and the water was dirty.

“Even in this place one can survive,” the prisoner told him, “and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness.”

With so many countries under brutal occupation, the Germans were overextended and defeats and casualties mounted as American, British, and Soviet soldiers made gains. By January 1945, Soviet soldiers had pushed the German army into Poland and liberated the capital of Warsaw.

It was in those weeks that they came upon Auschwitz. The fleeing Germans had destroyed the gas chambers and crematoria to hide evidence of their crimes. They forced 60,000 survivors to trudge about 30 miles across snow-covered terrain to trains that would take them to labor camps in Germany. Thousands did not survive this “death march.”

The soldiers who reached the barbed wire of Auschwitz saw shriveled living skeletons waiting for them.

“Of course they were all exhausted,” said Ivan Martynushkin, who was a Soviet soldier at liberation. “But in their eyes, only in their eyes, we saw joy, the joy of being free. For them their hell had finally ended.”

With so many countries under brutal occupation, the Germans were overextended. Defeats and casualties mounted as American, British, and Soviet soldiers made gains. By January 1945, Soviet soldiers had pushed the German army into Poland and liberated the capital of Warsaw.

It was in those weeks that they came upon Auschwitz. The fleeing Germans had destroyed the gas chambers and crematoria. They were trying to hide evidence of their crimes. They forced 60,000 survivors to trudge about 30 miles across snow-covered terrain to trains that would take them to labor camps in Germany. Thousands did not survive this “death march.”

The soldiers who reached the barbed wire of Auschwitz saw shriveled living skeletons waiting for them.

“Of course they were all exhausted,” said Ivan Martynushkin, who was a Soviet soldier at liberation. “But in their eyes, only in their eyes, we saw joy, the joy of being free. For them their hell had finally ended.”

Later that year, Germany would surrender, and the other concentration camps would be liberated. Allied army photographers recorded what they saw at the camps so history couldn’t deny that these unspeakable atrocities had occurred. After the war, the remaining barracks and fences of Auschwitz-Birkenau were turned into a Polish state museum, which draws about 2 million visitors yearly.

Even so, the internet is pocked with anti-Semitic websites denying the Holocaust happened. Genocides persist; since 1945, they’ve occurred in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. White nationalist and neo-Nazi activity is on the rise, as is anti-Semitism. And there have recently been violent attacks against Jews worldwide, including in the U.S.—such as the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, in which 11 worshippers were killed. All of this makes it even more important to remember Auschwitz.

“I wish we could say Auschwitz was a relic of a world of industrial murder and genocide which could not take place today,” says Berenbaum, the Holocaust historian. But, he adds, “the sad reality is that the past is not quite past and Auschwitz serves as a warning.”

Later that year, Germany would surrender. The other concentration camps would also be liberated. Allied army photographers recorded what they saw at the camps. They captured the horrors so history couldn’t deny that these unspeakable atrocities had occurred. After the war, the remaining barracks and fences of Auschwitz-Birkenau were turned into a Polish state museum. It draws about 2 million visitors yearly.

Even so, the internet is speckled with anti-Semitic websites denying the Holocaust happened. And genocides persist. Since 1945, they’ve occurred in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. White nationalist and neo-Nazi activity is on the rise, as is anti-Semitism. And there have recently been violent attacks against Jews worldwide. These attacks have even happened in the U.S., such as the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, in which 11 worshippers were killed. All of this makes it even more important to remember Auschwitz.

“I wish we could say Auschwitz was a relic of a world of industrial murder and genocide which could not take place today,” says Berenbaum, the Holocaust historian. But, he adds, “the sad reality is that the past is not quite past and Auschwitz serves as a warning.”