The liberation of Bergen-Belsen was widely reported with shock and horror. This account is taken from the papers of Captain C. C Warmer. Whilst there, he gathered a number of documents and photographs which serve as evidence of the atrocities of the camps.
By early , the Allies had crossed over the Rhine river and were pushing the German Army into a quick retreat. On 12 April , the Nazis agreed to surrender the Bergen-Belsen camp. On 15 April , the British troops officially occupied and liberated the camp.
The huge influxes of prisoners following the death marches of early meant that conditions within the camp were extremely inhumane. Over 60, starving and extremely ill people had been left in the camp by the Nazis.
These people were surrounded by the bodies of 13, more people who had recently died. The British troops were completely unprepared for such conditions, and were extremely shocked by what they found. In the immediate aftermath of the liberation, over people died each day as a result of the extremely poor sanitation and widespread disease. Despite British efforts, in May — a month after the relief operation had started — approximately prisoners still died every day. Image shows a copy of the Editorship Law.
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Advanced content hidden Showing advanced content. What did the British find when they entered Belsen concentration camp? Tasks History Hook — Starter Activity. Read Source 1. What are the different causes of death described in this document? Read Source 2. This is a report about SS Guards shooting prisoners after the liberation of the camp. Give your own account of what had happened at the cookhouse. How did the incident end? What does it tell you about the attitude of the British towards Kramer and the SS?
What does the writer say which tells you this? Read Source 3. This section of the document describes how the problems of feeding the prisoners at Belsen was handled initially. How did the British army set about meeting the basic needs of the prisoners? What effect did this have? Why do you think he used this word? Read Source 4. This is a witness statement from one of the prisoners at Belsen. What had Hilde Lisiewitz done?
What had Karl Egersdorf done? Look at the photographs in Source 5. Do the people you are looking at seem capable of the actions you have read about? Kramer and some of the SS Guards were put on trial for war crimes by the British. Some guards said the same. Do you think this is an acceptable defence? Kramer and several guards were executed. Do you agree with these punishments? Many guards escaped and lived quietly for many years.
Do you think it is right to arrest and try former concentration camp guards 40 or 50 years after the events described here? Look at Sources 5 a and b. These are photographs of some of the SS guards who worked at Belsen.
Around 2, exchange camp prisoners are released by April The patients in the hospital for Italian military internees at Fallingbostel-Oerbke, most of whom are suffering from tuberculosis, are transferred to the Bergen-Belsen POW camp. A new section is set up for female prisoners at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Thousands of women arrive, primarily from Auschwitz. Most of them are transported on to other concentration camps or to three satellite camps of Bergen-Belsen to perform forced labour. The concentration camps near the front lines are evacuated and at least 85, prisoners are transported to Bergen-Belsen by mid-April British troops liberate around 53, prisoners at Bergen-Belsen.
From to , at least 52, women, men and children died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp or of the immediate effects of their imprisonment. More than 20, victims of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp are buried in mass graves. Nearly 29, survivors are transferred from the camp to an emergency hospital set up by the British in the nearby Wehrmacht barracks.
The survivors are given the status of displaced persons DPs. To prevent the spread of disease, the British burn down most the wooden huts in the grounds of the former concentration camp. The emergency hospital is turned into a displaced persons camp, which is soon divided into separate sections for Polish and Jewish DPs.
To begin with, a wooden monument to the Jewish victims is erected in the grounds of the camp. The commander of the British military government demands that plans be drawn up for an appropriate memorial at the site of the former camp. Most the displaced persons from northern, western and southern Europe are repatriated. Soviet survivors are forced to return to the Soviet Union. Polish survivors dedicate a large wooden cross in the grounds of the former concentration camp to commemorate the victims.
Jewish survivors unveil a stone monument on the site of the provisional wooden monument. Part of the grounds of the former camp are turned into a memorial, and an international monument is erected.
Once the State of Israel is founded and the USA and other countries have eased their immigration restrictions, most of the Jewish DPs are able to emigrate from Germany.
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