On 12 January 1945, the Soviet army began a major attack on the German army in Poland and rapidly approached Auschwitz. On 17 January, camp officials started clearing the camps. They sent thousands of prisoners to concentration camps in Germany. The SS wanted to erase the traces of the crimes they had committed there. They blew up buildings, set fire to archives and documents, and murdered many of the remaining prisoners. And then they left, leaving the camps unguarded. On 27 January, the Soviet army arrived at Auschwitz. The soldiers were shocked by what they saw. Some 7,000 surviving, sick, and exhausted prisoners had been left behind in the camp.
