Death march
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the use of this term in the software development industry, see death march (software development).
- For the death marches of Jews from Nazi concentration camps, see Death marches (Holocaust).
A death march is a long-distance march in extremely harsh conditions with disregard for the life and health of the victims, usually prisoners or refugees.
The term was used in the context of the World War II history by victims and then by historians to refer to the forcible movement in the winter of 1944-5 by Nazi Germany of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, from Nazi concentration camps near the advancing war front to camps inside Germany.
The term has been applied to similar events in other places. The idea behind the marches was to force prisoners to walk, at gunpoint, without food, water, shelter, or amenities; those who couldn't keep up were often shot. In Asia, the Japanese forces also conducted death marches, including the infamous Bataan Death March and Sandakan Death Marches.
The term also applies to the death marches that took place during the 1915 Armenian Genocide where thousands of men, women and children were forced into death marches through the desert of Deir ez-Zor where most of them perished, leaving few survivors. Today there is a memorial in Deir ez-Zor for the marchers.
Earlier in American history (1838), the Cherokee nation had to march westward towards Oklahoma, which became known as the Trail of Tears where an estimated 4,000 men, women, and children died during relocation.
