Today, May 5th 2013, marks the 68th anniversary of the liberation of KL-Mauthausen. The main camp, located approximately 20km from Linz in Austria, was established in the late summer of 1938, and was not liberated until the final days of the war. The central locale of a large Konzentrationslager system, the main camp was liberated by a reconnaissance squad from the US 11th Armoured Division, 3rd Army. The vast majority of the SS had already fled the camp as the US forces approached, leaving behind a small unit, together with Volkssturm, armed police and fire fighters from Vienna to face the liberators. Within 24 hours, almost all of the sub-camps had also been liberated.
(Image from Wikipedia)
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