Tragedy a 321. Pain, fear and tears

Seventy years have passed since the last shots of the Second World War subsided. Humanity remembers a lot. But he forgets a lot. And now, in some countries, fascist groups are raising their heads. They want to revive Nazism, and hence fascism - all the grief that humanity has experienced: war, death, concentration camps.

April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. This date was established by the UN decision as a memorable one. On this day, 04/11/1945, there was an international uprising of prisoners in

The history of the creation of concentration camps

In Europe, concentration camps appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century, during the Anglo-Boer War. Then the camp was a place where both prisoners of war and locals that could fight as partisans. The camps were tent structures where the prisoners were provided with some amenities. There is evidence that more than 25 thousand people died in these English camps.

In time, the concentration camp turned into a place of mass extermination of people. In Germany, the first of the concentration camps was the Dachau camp, in which at least 70 thousand prisoners died from 1933 to 1945. At the very end of the war in Germany there were 26 large concentration camps and dozens of smaller ones.

April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. The prisoners of Dachau will never forget this day.

The bloodiest symbol of fascism was located on the territory of Poland.

Almost 1.5 million people were killed here. April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. Photos of prisoners on the walls of the camp corridor serve as mute proof of the crimes of the Nazis. In Auschwitz, the chemical method of killing prisoners in the form of Zyklon-B gas was first tested. The 7,000 liberated prisoners of Auschwitz are a living symbol, reminding us that there is a Day for the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps.

Camps in Germany

More than 14 thousand camps were built during the years of the Nazi Reich. They contained about 18 million prisoners from almost thirty countries of the world. In all these camps, prisons and ghettos, more than ten million people died. Half of all the dead are citizens Soviet Union. Our people remember and honor the Day of Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps.

The largest camps were:

• Auschwitz: 4 million prisoners.
• Majdanek: 1.5 million prisoners.
• Sachsenhausen: about 100 thousand prisoners.
• Mauthausen: about 100 thousand prisoners.
• Ravensbrück: about 90,000 prisoners.
• Treblinka: about 75 thousand prisoners.

Buchenwald concentration camp

Buchenwald is the largest Nazi concentration camp, which began its criminal activities in June 1937 in the area German city Weimar. The first batch of prisoners arrived in June 1938. In eight years, it has grown to sixty-six branches of the main camp, scattering its tentacles across the occupied countries of Europe.

Here, with the labor of prisoners, the installation of rocket-aircraft shells of the FAA was carried out.

During the period from 1937 to 1945, about two hundred and forty thousand prisoners passed through the Buchenwald concentration camp. But at first they were political prisoners from Germany, as well as those objectionable to the regime: pacifist priests, drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, criminals. And only later, when the war began, gypsies, Jews, Poles, Russians, and French became prisoners of the camp. Here, the prisoners were not only physically exploited, but also subjected (especially children) to cruel medical experiments. In Buchenwald during the war years, more than 55 thousand people were tortured, burned, poisoned and shot, representatives of 18 nationalities, including 20 thousand Soviet prisoners.

Now only the foundation, laid out of stone, reminds that there were barracks for prisoners.

Liberation of Buchenwald

In April 1945, the war rumbled already in Germany. Information about the offensive of the allied troops also reached the Buchenwald camp, the prisoners of which carried out an uprising on April 11, disarming the guards, while taking the leadership of the camp into their own hands. A day later, the camp was liberated by the advanced units of the Allied troops. The prisoners were rescued.

April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. The surviving prisoners of Buchenwald remember this day.

Camp "Doro"

Branches of the Buchenwald concentration camp were also located outside Germany. For example, the island of Usedom, located in the Baltic Sea, was the site of a Nazi secret factory producing V-2 rockets. In 1944-1945, the cities of Antwerp and London were shelled with these shells.

After the German base was destroyed in 1943, a new rocket plant was launched in the Harz mountains, near the city of Nordhausen. A large number of prisoners was ensured by the quick start-up of an underground factory for the manufacture of V-2 shells. The production missile complex was located at a depth of seventy meters. Forty adits connected two two-kilometer tunnels dug by prisoners.

April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. The scenario of the SS was simple: all the prisoners who worked at the underground factory were not supposed to come to the surface alive. They became hostages of circumstances as carriers Several tens of thousands of prisoners died in the Doro camp. One V-2 rocket was equal to thirty human lives. When the Red Army units approached Nordhausen, the SS shot more than thirty thousand prisoners.

April 11 - Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. The tragedy of World War II must not be repeated.

Scenario of an extracurricular event

The purpose of such an event is to tell schoolchildren about the atrocities of the Germans during the war years, to arouse their compassion for their compatriots, and to notify them of the disastrous consequences of wars for people. The recommended date is April 11, the Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps. The script for the commemorative matinee is given below.

Event plan:

1. The host talks about the crimes of the Nazis, as well as about the largest concentration camps of the Germans.
2. Invited veterans of the war talk about the past, about the days of the war.
3. Presentation with photos, with comments of the presenter.
4. The story of the presenter about the life of prisoners in concentration camps.
5. One of the students reads Drobovsky's poem "I will not forget these stoves."
6. Demonstration of documentary footage, which depicts the life of people in concentration camps and the atrocities of German soldiers.
7. Students ask questions to the facilitator.

Memorable dates

In 1946, the Nuremberg Tribunal recognized the crimes of fascism as crimes against humanity.

1991 - the year of the creation of the Russian Union of former juvenile prisoners of the camps. For the members of this union, the Day of the liberation of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps will forever remain a bright date. The scenario according to which the Nazis killed children should never be repeated.

The first concentration camp in Germany was established near Dachau in March 1933. By the beginning of World War II, there were 300 thousand German, Austrian and Czech anti-fascists in prisons and concentration camps in Germany. In subsequent years, Nazi Germany in the territories occupied by it European countries created a gigantic network of concentration camps, turned into places for the organized systematic murder of millions of people.

The centralized system of fascist concentration camps was intended for the physical destruction of entire peoples, primarily Slavic; total extermination of Jews, gypsies; merciless exploitation of prisoners as labor force. Concentration camps were equipped with gas chambers, gas chambers and other means of mass extermination of people, crematoria.

One of the largest Nazi concentration camps was Buchenwald, which began operating near the city of Weimar (Germany) on July 19, 1937. By 1945 it had 66 branches and external work teams. The largest ones: "Dora" (near the city of Nordhausen, Germany), "Laura" (near the city of Saalfeld, Germany) and "Ohrdruf" (in Thuringia, Germany), where FAA projectiles were mounted. For 8 years, about 239 thousand people were prisoners of Buchenwald. At first they were German political prisoners, later, during the Second World War, they were representatives of many other nationalities. In the camp, the prisoners were subjected to criminal medical experiments, the prisoners were exploited by the owners of large industrial firms, whose enterprises were located in the Buchenwald area (Siemens, Junkers, etc.).

Dora camp killed tens of thousands of prisoners. Each V-2 rocket assembled there cost at least 20 human lives. On April 4, 1945, when the Allied troops approached Nordhausen, the guards left Dora, having shot about 30 thousand prisoners before that.

On April 11, 1945, the prisoners of Buchenwald, having learned about the approach of the allied troops, successfully carried out an armed uprising, disarmed and captured about 200 guards, and took over the leadership of the camp. On April 12, American troops entered the camp.

By carrying out the uprising, the prisoners of Buchenwald were saved from destruction, since the Nazi authorities on the eve ordered the physical extermination of all prisoners.

In addition to Buchenwald and Dora, there were other concentration camps: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Mauthausen, Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, Treblinka. Of the 18 million citizens of European countries who passed through camps for various purposes, including concentration camps, more than 11 million people were killed.

The system of concentration camps in Germany was liquidated along with the defeat of Hitlerism, condemned in the verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg as a crime against humanity.

The International Day for the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps is celebrated all over the world with commemorative events, meetings of former prisoners, commemoration of the dead, worship of their memory, laying flowers at the graves and burial places of victims of fascism.

(Additional

Someone believes that the 20th century was a time of a high rise in civilization, but it was he who gave mankind examples of indescribable barbarism, far surpassing the atrocities of the most terrible ancient and medieval rulers. We are talking about the concentration camps of the Third Reich, through which more than 20,000,000 people passed (every sixth is a child!), Of which 12 million did not live to be released.

Mass killings by shooting, hanging, gas poisoning, hunger and cold, brutal beatings, medical experiments on living people, including children, blood sampling from already malnourished babies - all this is only a small part of what citizens had to experience behind barbed wire 35 -ti countries of the world that fell under the monstrous skating rink of the Nazi regime. In memory of them, so that this would never happen again, a decision was made to establish the International Day for the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps.

Story

The concentration camps of Hitler's Germany functioned from March 22, 1933 until the very end of the Nazi state in the 45th year. The first and largest concentration camp, Auschwitz, whose name has become a household name these days, was liberated by Soviet soldiers on January 27, 1945. And on April 11 of the same year, the prisoners of another center of Nazi barbarism, the Buchenwald concentration camp, rebelled and completely seized control of its entire territory. The Nazis did not manage to attract the army to suppression; on the same day, American troops advancing from the west entered Buchenwald. What they saw there was a shock to them for the rest of their lives.

But these were only two camps out of more than 14 thousand such institutions that worked throughout the territory of the Third Reich. That is why such a phenomenon could not go unnoticed by the world community. And the United Nations, which represents the interests of all mankind, decided to establish this memorable date for centuries.

Traditions

Although the date under discussion is a memory of the salvation of millions of people, the memory of other millions who found their death behind barbed wire does not allow any festive events to be held on this day:

1. Mourning ceremonies are held at the museums preserved in the former concentration camps.
2. Memorial services are held in all churches around the world.
3. The surviving prisoners on this day always try to meet, although every year it becomes more and more difficult for them to do this, and commemorate their dead comrades.

Of course, the media does not stand aside either. Thematic films and programs are broadcast on many channels.