Last of Soviet soldiers who liberated Auschwitz, David Dushman, dies at 98

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Last of Soviet soldiers who liberated Auschwitz dies at 98

June 6, 2021

BERLIN (AP) — David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died. He was 98.

The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday that Dushman had died at a Munich hospital on Saturday.

“Every witness to history who passes on is a loss, but saying farewell to David Dushman is particularly painful,” said Charlotte Knobloch, a former head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews. “Dushman was right on the front lines when the National Socialists’ machinery of murder was destroyed.”

As a young Red Army soldier, Dushman flattened the forbidding electric fence around the notorious Nazi death camp with his T-34 tank on Jan. 27, 1945.

He admitted that he and his comrades didn’t immediately realize the full magnitude of what had happened in Auschwitz.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-sports-government-and-politics-b60e95de7f8da54a8ba3f8fd47e983cb


FILE - In this Friday, May 8, 2015 file photo, Soviet war veteran David Dushman, 92, center, speaks to people holding Ukrainian flags as he attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Russian War Memorial in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Germany. Dushman, the last surviving Allied soldier involved in the liberation of Auschwitz, has died. The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday, June 6, 2021 that Dushman had died a day earlier in a Munich hospital at the age of 98. As young Red Army soldier, Dushman flattened the forbidding fence around the notorious Nazi death camp with his tank on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

[BigmanPigman]

1. And it's D-Day too.

I know that was a different year, battle, etc but it reminds me how much time has passed and how much more work we need to do as humans.

[zipplewrath]

2. And how quickly we can forget

The holocaust denial is strong especially because the first person witnesses are decreasing exponentially.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I'm glad that photographers for the Allies documented the Nazi atrocities

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304636404577291631285103326

I think Eisenhower suggested it to FDR (before Truman) so that there would be proof for history. Directors George Stevens and John Ford filmed tons of footage of the camps, etc. They knew no one would believe anyone could be so cruel to millions of humans.