Language:
English
Year of publication:
2005
Titel der Quelle:
History Today
Angaben zur Quelle:
55,2 (2005) 26-32
Keywords:
Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
;
World War, 1939-1945 Aerial operations, Allied
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Photographs
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
Abstract:
In summer-fall 1944 British aircraft were sent several times to photograph the I.G. Farben plant at Monowitz; these aerial photos also showed the Nazi killing installations at Birkenau. However, the images of the extermination camp were ignored, as was information on the death camps received by the Allies in 1941-42 through decrypts of Enigma messages sent by the Nazis. In April-May 1944 the Jewish underground smuggled the Vrba-Wetzler report out of Slovakia, and the mass murders at Birkenau became widely known. Despite many requests submitted to the British and American governments to bomb the camp, the Allies decided to abstain from doing so. Admits that such an air raid could have killed thousands of camp prisoners, and that the bombing of railways going to Auschwitz would have been ineffective, but contends that the decision not to bomb was still a moral lapse on the part of the Allies.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink