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What happened to prisoners who could not keep up during the Auschwitz death marches?
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Auschwitz
The entrance gates to the Auschwitz concentration camp, near Kraków, Poland; the sign reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Liberates”).
During the final winter of Nazi domination, as Allied armies approached, SS officials forced approximately 60,000 prisoners from Auschwitz to march westward toward the heartland of Germany in what became known as death marches.12
These prisoners were subjected to extreme conditions, including little to no food or water and almost no time to rest. Those who paused or fell behind during these marches were shot by the guards. Approximately one in four prisoners died during these evacuations due to exhaustion, cold, starvation, and despair.12