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- For the use of this term in the software development industry, see death march (software development).
In World War II history, a death march was a march or excursion in extremely harsh conditions with disregard to life and health of marchers, who were usually prisoners, and often resulted in numerous deaths, hence the name.
Initially the term was used 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, see the "Death marches (Holocaust)" article for details.
Later 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.
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.
See also
- The March (1945)
- March of the Living
- The Long Walk - a Stephen King story (written under the pen name Richard Bachman) in which a death march as an athletic competition forms the plot.
"Death march"