Blog Archive

December 11, 2012

The White Buses and Auschwitz


''The White Buses'' was an operation led by the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte at the end of the WWII. The main idea was to save Scandinavians who were prisoners in the German concentration camps.

The buses were painted white so they would not be taken for military targets. On the side, roof, front and back of the vehicles there were painted red crosses and Swedish flags. 

Over 15.000 prisoners were saved in the March\April 1945. The first half of the prisoners were Scandinavians and the other half were non-Scandinavians, like prisoners from France or Poland.
The operation was described as a great success, many lives were saved, but it was also criticized for being only directed towards Scandinavians and that they not helped prisoners of other nationalities in the same degree as they helped Scandinavian prisoners.

Holocaust Victims

- over five million Poles (16% of the Poland's population)

- 9.500 Norwegians (0.32% of the Norway's population)
- 418.500 Americans (0.32% of U.S.A's population)

On the Fall Break 2011 my class visited Krakow. In our plans there was a trip to Wieliczka Salt Mine, a trip to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau and exploring the old town. Here are some pictures my friends took when we visited Auschvits camps.









2 comments:

  1. Interesting story. Love your pictures. You didn't write about what you think about the visit to Poland with your class. Did you learn a lot do you think?

    ReplyDelete