Concentration camps were liberated primarily in the final months of World War II, from mid-1944 through the spring of 1945, by the advancing Soviet, American, and British forces.
- The first major Nazi camp to be liberated was Majdanek in Poland by Soviet forces on the night of July 22–23, 1944. The camp was captured virtually intact, revealing the scale of Nazi crimes early to the world.
- Auschwitz, the largest and most notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex, was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on January 27, 1945. About 7,000 prisoners were found alive, with many others having been forced on death marches by the Nazis as the Soviets advanced.
- Other camps, such as Buchenwald, were liberated by American troops in April 1945; Buchenwald’s liberation occurred on April 11, 1945, after a forced evacuation began on April 7.
- The Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps were liberated by US troops in early May 1945, with the US Army arriving at Gusen and Mauthausen on May 5 and liberating prisoners on May 6.
- British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945.
- The liberation of camps continued across Nazi-occupied Europe until the German surrender in May 1945, with scenes of horrific conditions exposing the full extent of Nazi atrocities.
Thus, concentration camps were liberated primarily during the latter half of 1944 through the spring of 1945 by Soviet, American, and British forces as they advanced into Nazi-occupied territories.
