Auschwitz takes to YouTube to mark 70 years since liberation by Soviet troops

70 years ago today, Soviet troops arrived in Auschwitz, Poland, to liberate all remaining prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp. It’s estimated that more than one million people were killed at Auschwitz between 1941 and 1945, thus the date of liberation — marking the end of one of the biggest human atrocities in history — has subsequently been known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

From 15:30 Central European Time (CET) today — 06:30 (PST) — YouTube will be live-streaming the ceremony direct from the Auschwitz Museum, which will be held in front of the now infamous Death Gate.

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Google has been working with a number of art and cultural institutions over the past few years to help digitize offline exhibits and bring them to the online masses.

Launched back in 2011, the Google Cultural Institute has helped document and archive key historical events, including world wonders, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and Auschwitz. Indeed, the Auschwitz Museum has worked with Google from the beginning, with scores of images, documents, videos, and more added to the online exhibit.

The Steven Spielberg-founded USC Shoah Foundation, an organization formed to help remember the Holocaust, launched a separate exhibition called “70 Stories of Auschwitz”, featuring the testimonials of survivors. Now, Spielberg himself has assembled these into an online film, which you can watch below.