On Jan. 27, 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
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In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1832, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen-name Lewis Carroll, was born in Cheshire, England.
In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
In 1943, the first all-American air raid against Germany during World War II took place as some 50 bombers struck Wilhelmshaven.
In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.