At the end of November 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered the cessation of gassing, but also to destroy all killing facilities. The Red Army is moving very fast, and that is why the camp is evacuated un extreme urgency. On January, 17 1945, 58 000 prisoners will be involved in the « Death Marches ». On the morning of January, 27, the Nazis left the camp, just after demolishing crematorium II and III on January, 20, but also the crematorium V on January, 26, and set fire to the Kanada warehouse. There are thousands of detainees who are forced to walk for several days in the cold and snow, without food, until they reach Gleiwitz. The survivors are transferred to the Reich concentration camps, where many of them will die.
1,3 million people were deported to Auschwitz including 1,1 million Jews. Among them, nearly 1 million were murdered, including 69 000 Jews from France. Half of the 400 000 deportees (including 200 000 Jews), registered and submitted to the concentration camp regime died. All the Jews who died in Auschwitz are (alone) 90% of all the victims of the camp, then we have the Poles (74 000 dead), the Gypsies (21 000 dead), and the Soviet prisoners of war (15 000 dead).
