Why were concentration camp prisoners sent on forced death marches (referring to the Holocaust)?
Towards the end of the war the Germans made efforts to conceal what they had been doing in the concentration camps. As revealed by aerial reconnaissance photos, the complex of camps at Auschwitz/Birkenau was levelled, destroying all the huts, HQ buildings and gas chambers (the ones seen today are reconstructions). The railway lines were removed. Mass graves were opened and attempts made to cremate the remains. Prisoners, where surviving, were removed and forced to go on foot in the direction of territory still for the moment held by the Germans, with the same intention. Almost certainly they were to be disposed of elsewhere, but in fact the front was moving so fast that this never happened. The march itself was organised with extreme brutality, beatings and shootings being commonplace. The whole thing was done in a bit of a panic; there was never really much chance of covering up the crimes. There were too many witnesses, and the ground plan of the camps was still visible from the air,
