Liberating Auschwitz was not on the Russians minds, but when a group of scouts stumbled into Birkenau on January 27, 1945, they knew they had found something terrible.
Here is a very short quote from a Soviet Soldier: "We knew nothing".
Other Jews who survived Auschwitz fled Poland after being liberated, living in displaced persons camps, scattering into a worldwide diaspora, or emigrating to British Palestine. The museum staff lived in former SS offices and did everything from groundskeeping to rudimentary preservation work to exhibit design.