Escapees' daring saved many lives

In May 1944, Nazi leaders in Hungary, led by Adolph Eichmann, head of the "Jewish section" of the SS began to round up and ship to Auschwitz the entire Jewish population of the country. 

The Nazis had already murdered over five million European Jews (just think of it, let it soak in) and Auschwitz was one of only two killing camps that remained in operation in Poland.

But at this time, there arrived in Hungary, two escapees from Auschwitz told the Hungarian government about the murders being committed by the Nazis. 

The information reached Churchill and Roosevelt in June and early July. This led Jewish organizations to implore the British government to bomb rail connections between Hungary and Auschwitz. They didn't do it, stating that the lines would quickly be rebuilt, so then they asked that they actually bomb Auschwitz itself. Again, the British government offered reasons not to do it. 

Then the requests went to the American President Roosevelt who also declined to do it, stating it was too far. However, that wasn't true either. They were referring to the 8th Air Force which was 1,540 miles away (they said 2,000), but the 15th Air Force was only 750 miles away, so they could have done it.

Consequently, thousands more Jewish lives were lost. But on July 7, from the information from the two escapees (I read a book about their escape), Admiral Miklos Horthy, the agent in Hungary, stood up to Eichmann and ordered an end to the deportations, saving the lives of some 300,000 Jews still in the country. Those survivors owe their lives to the two escapees.