80 years ago #OnThisDay, the Lublin/Majdanek concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet army. It became the first major concentration camp to be liberated by the Allies. Few prisoners were liberated by Soviet troops—the SS had already evacuated most to other camps—but what remained served as clear evidence of Nazi crimes. Captured virtually intact, Majdanek also served as a storage facility for personal items that had been stolen from Jews murdered at Majdanek and other sites. Conditions in

At the Majdanek camp, Radasky spent nine weeks before being transferred to Auschwitz. There, his labor included the grim task of digging sand to spread over the ashes from the extermination camp's crematoria, a direct attempt by the SS to conceal their crimes. He witnessed the chaotic evacuation and 'death marches' as the Red Army approached in January 1945, leading to his eventual liberation. After the war, like many survivors, he carried the memory of his lost family, including parents, siblin