From 1944 onwards, the SS began to dissolve concentration camps near the front. This marked the beginning of the death marches to the centre of the Reich, which were later marked by the victims. In April 1945, the SS drove more than 30,000 prisoners from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and another 12,000 prisoners from the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp towards Schwerin. The aim was to prevent the prisoners from being liberated. On April 20th and 21st, the prisoners were driven in columns of 500 through the ever-narrowing corridor between the Red Army and US troops right through the combat zone.
Some prisoners managed to escape on the death marches. Others, especially those weakened by exertion and hunger, were simply shot on the marches that lasted for days and weeks. The crimes in this period as a whole are referred to as the final phase crimes (1944/1945).
In 1976, the paths of the main route along which these death marches passed were provided with 200 memorial plaques.

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Location: Oranienburg, Oberhavel, Ruppiner Lakeland, Brandenburg, Germany

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