How The New York Times Reported The Liberation Of Auschwitz In 1945
On Jan. 27, 1945, Soviet troops moved through the town of Oswiecim, Poland, and liberated the concentration camp complex of Auschwitz. In the weeks before, the majority of the prisoners being held there had been marched west towards Germany, leaving behind a few thousand people in severely poor health. These prisoners who remained in Auschwitz were a small fraction of those who were brought to the camp complex, where more than 1.1 million people are estimated to have been killed by the Nazis.
One of the first American reports of the liberation came in The New York Times, whose article consists of just three sentences:
Auschwitz is the focus of a massive amount of research, reporting and writing that has exposed the magnitude of the crimes committed by the Nazis.
In this sense, it is striking to see how briefly such an important event in history was written about when it occurred.