Tag Archives: Auschwitz

This week in the War,22–28 January 1945: Soviet troops enter Auschwitz

This week in the war, on 27 January 1945, Soviet troops arrived at Auschwitz. Belsen would eventually be liberated by British troops and Dachau by the Americans, and both of those camps would become well known to the public in Britain … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 24 Feb–2 March 1941: Diary of a Witness

Raymond-Raoul Lambert was one of the most prominent leaders of the Jewish community in France during the 1930s and the early years of the war. From 1941 to 1943, he headed the Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), which … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 30 Sept–6 Oct 1940: The statute of 3 October

On 3 October 1940, the first of the anti-Jewish laws was enacted by the Vichy government, which held authority in the Free Zone—that part of France that was not occupied by the German or Italian military. The statute of 3 … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 19–25 February 1940: Arbeit macht frei

On Wednesday 21 February 1940, with the concurrence of SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler, work began to convert a former army barracks in the small Polish town of Oswiecim—or, to use its German name: Auschwitz—into a concentration camp. The famous ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work will … Continue reading

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