The death marches, January-May 1945: who was responsible for what?

In the spring of 1944, the SS leadership began preparations for the evacuation of some concentration camps. However, when in July 1944 the Soviets liberated Majdanek, the Nazis failed to evacuate its 2,500 prisoners and destroy the camp documents and extermination facilities. Hence, an order was issued in July 1944 stipulating that if it proved impossible to evacuate the prisoners, they should be liquidated. Thousands of prisoners, including Jews, were murdered in the course of such evacuations and the ensuing death marches. Describes the evacuations of Auschwitz, Stutthof, Gross-Rosen, and Buchenwald in January-April 1945. These and other cases show that numerous prisoners were killed not only out of "absolute necessity" but also as a result of the wanton brutality of the camp guards, as well as of their fear of thousands of prisoners, now no longer behind barbed wire. Hard winter conditions and the general disorder in Germany in 1945 augmented the number of the victims.