Alfréd Wetzler escaped Auschwitz in April 1944.


With the help of the camp underground, Alfréd Wetzler escaped Auschwitz in April 1944. 

Alfred, a Slovak Jew, had spent two years in Auschwitz, where he witnessed Nazi atrocities and mass murder. Along with other Jews from Slovakia, Alfréd was deported to Auschwitz in April 1942.

Alfréd escaped alongside fellow Slovak Jew Rudolf Vrba, and they arrived in Slovakia together about two weeks after their escape. They began to share and document what they experienced with the aim of informing the world about the killing center.

 Their account went into great detail, including listing transports and prisoner numbers and describing daily life in the camp. Most devastatingly, the report described the gassing process and included a sketch of a crematorium. 

Media channels in Switzerland began distributing their firsthand report worldwide in June 1944. On July 3, 1944, the New York Times wrote about Auschwitz, sharing details from the gruesome report with millions of Americans for the first time.

While the world began to learn about the mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz in the summer of 1944, prisoners would continue to suffer and die there until liberation in January 1945. 

Photo: Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oświęcimiu

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