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The Death Marches of the Second World War

October 7, 2024

In the final months of the Second World War, the Nazis evacuated concentration camps near the front. More than 700,000 prisoners were forced on death marches, often lasting weeks, as the Red Army advanced.

https://p.dw.com/p/4jmxJ
The Death Marches of the Second World War
Image: Stadtarchiv Landsberg

To this day, little is known about this incredibly bloody chapter in the history of the Third Reich. From summer 1944 to spring 1945, the Nazis forced hundreds of thousands of deportees on death marches through Germany and Austria, often lasting weeks. Many prisoners died of exhaustion or were murdered - either by guards or by civilians they had to march past.

The Death Marches of the Second World War
Image: Mauthausen memorial - Walter Dall'Asen

The unbelievable brutality of these death marches testifies to the general brutalization that had spread throughout the declining Third Reich. 

The Death Marches of the Second World War
Image: ARTE France - Morgane Production

In essence, the death marches were a continuation of the extermination strategy pursued by the Nazis in the concentration camps. In the face of the Soviet advance, the Germans dismantled the camps and attempted to remove traces of the extermination facilities. Having thus lost the means to execute their planned mass killings, the Germans resorted to other methods. They continued the murders, even as the regime collapsed and the Allies advanced. 

The Death Marches of the Second World War
Image: (c) Kreisarchiv Melnik

The death marches are one of the least known chapters in the history of the Third Reich. That’s because for a long time, information about the identity of the perpetrators - and that of hundreds of thousands of prisoners from concentration camps, prisons and labor camps - was restricted. 

Today, many previously unanswered questions can be answered thanks to historical research, as well as the testimonies of Jewish and other survivors that has been gathered over the decades. 
 

Broadcasting Hours: 

DW English

Part 1

WED 16.10.2024 – 01:15 UTC
WED 16.10.2024 – 04:15 UTC
THU 17.10.2024 – 09:15 UTC
THU 17.10.2024 – 16:15 UTC
THU 17.10.2024 – 21:15 UTC
FRI 18.10.2024 – 12:15 UTC
SAT 19.10.2024 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 20.10.2024 – 08:15 UTC

 

Part 2

WED 23.10.2024 – 01:15 UTC
WED 23.10.2024 – 04:15 UTC
THU 24.10.2024 – 09:15 UTC
THU 24.10.2024 – 16:15 UTC
THU 24.10.2024 – 21:15 UTC
FRI 25.10.2024 – 12:15 UTC
SAT 26.10.2024 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 27.10.2024 – 08:15 UTC

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