Forced marches, or commonly known as death marches, happened frequently as the war was ending and the Allies gained territory from German forces. As the Allies advanced towards concentration camps, the Nazis began to move camp inmates away from the advancing armies and further into Germany.
The goal to was to safeguard inmates so that they could continue to be exploited for labour in German industries. Often these death marches were on foot, over long distances, in bad weather, and anyone who could not keep up were shot or left for dead. Many also died from exhaustion and exposure.
Hundreds of thousands of prisoners that were still held within the Nazi camp system were forcibly evacuated in terrible conditions under heavy guard. Many of these chaotic and brutal evacuations became known as ‘death marches’. They form the last chapter of Nazi genocide.
Prisoners were sent out on foot, although some were transported for part of their journeys by rail, in lorries and even in horse-drawn wagons. The many death marches took a variety or routes and some of them dispersed joined with others other marches, taking routes, some of which lasted for many weeks and covered several hundreds of miles. Thousands of people were murdered en route in the last days before the war’s end, although it is impossible to know the exact numbers.