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Click on an image to see a larger, more detailed picture.
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| 1945: Liberation and Rebuilding |
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pg. 607 |
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Benito Mussolini was arrested by Communist partisans in April 1945 as he tried to flee to Austria disguised as a German soldier. The partisans shot him on April 28. Subsequently, his body, along with that of his mistress--Clara Petacci--and five other close confidants, was hanged in Milan, Italy's Piazzale Loreto and mutilated by an angry mob. Ironically, Mussolini ignored the advice of his son and others when he refused to fly out of the country to temporary safety. Petacci, too, was foolishly stubborn, and refused to abandon Il Duce.
Photo: Yad Vashem
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These emaciated children survived the Ravensbrück, Germany, concentration camp. Though Ravensbrück imprisoned mostly women, it also included a children's camp at Uckermark and a separate section for men. In December 1944 and January 1945, Uckermark was recognized as a selection and extermination camp for Ravensbrück. At the end of January, a large selection took place; old, sick, or weak women were taken to Uckermark and murdered, many by gassing. These selections continued into spring, leading to the deaths of at least 5000 women.
Photo: MusÀe de la Resistance Nationale/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive
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A sparse complement of guards leads numerous prisoners in a death march from the Dachau, Germany, concentration camp on April 29, 1945. This photograph, surreptitiously taken by a German civilian, shows the emaciated prisoners as they march through the Bavarian countryside down the Nördlichen Münchner Strasse in Grünwald. Few civilians tried to help the suffering marchers.
Photo: Marion Koch/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive
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| 1945: Liberation and Rebuilding |
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pg. 607 |
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The Holocaust Chronicle
© 2009 Publications International, Ltd.
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