Allied Troops liberated Auschwitz on 27th January 1945, and Bergen-Belsen on 15th April 1945.
A picture of inconceivable horror was revealed to the world. In these secret camps, amidst the
stench of decomposing bodies, the soldiers discovered countless piles of corpses, and mass graves.
The few remaining survivors were more dead than alive.
The army rabbi Leslie Hardmann, who entered Bergen-Belsen on 16th April 1945, gave the following
description:
As we continued further, we encountered what appeared to me to be the survivors of the holocaust
- a staggering mass of black flesh and bone, held together only by feltlike rags. "My God, the
dead walk", I cried out.
The allied military authorities had the difficult task of providing the survivors with essential food, clothing and medicine. Despite all efforts, for many former prisoners this help came too late. 9,000 individuals died from malnutrician and illnesses, in Bergen-Belsen, in the first two weeks of liberation.
The complete surrender of the German Armed Forces took effect on 9th May 1945. The war in Europe had come to an end, even though it was not until 15 days later, on 23rd May 1945, that the incumbent Nazi government under the leadership of Karl Dönitz was removed from power, and arrested.
What remained was a war destroyed Europe with barren, bombed-out cities, and everywhere unutterable human suffering and hunger. On the day of the allied liberation of Germany there were an estimated 10Ŕ8 million non-Germans living in the devastated, former Third Reich. These were the forced labourers, concentration camp and death camp prisoners, and prisoners of war that the Nazis had brought here from practically every European country. The allies named these individuals Displaced Persons (DPs).
These surviving victims of the Nazi regime, who had lived for years under the threat of death, were both physically and mentally exhausted. Initially, the survivors remained in the camp environs as it took a long time until the allies were able to provide new accommodation for the unexpectedly large number of DPs. Assembly Camps, so-called DP Camps, were soon built in the American and British Zones, which offered quick and comprehensive aid for these people. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), and, from 1947, its successor organization, the International Relief Organization (IRO), provided extensive support in this aid operation.
The allied powers sought to quickly return the DPs to their respective native countries. By autumn 1945, 80% of all DPs had been successfully returned.
At the end of 1956 around 1 million DPs were still living in the Western Zone. They were mostly DPs from eastern Europe who declined to leave being justifiably afraid that they would be accused of collaboration in their native countries. In addition to these, individuals who were physically and mentally exhausted, and numerous Jewish DPs remained behind in the camps.