Figure 1.--As the Red Army moved into Poland, the NAZIS evacuated the deah camps and other concentration camps. The Jews and other inmates were forced on virtual death marches with little or no food and suitable clothing--often in winter conditions. One of the destinations was Bergen-Belsen. When the Allies reached the Camp, there were dead bodies along the roads to the Camp and the situation got worst as they got closer to the camp. Here is a scene the British found on the road to the camp. We do not know who these people were. The NAZIs killed many prisoners just before the Allies reached them. The little boy was photographed April 20, several days after the camp was liberated. He was identified as a Dutch Jewish boy--Sieg Maandag. We do not have much information about him, but he may have been one of the exchange Jews that were being held in the camp. The photographer was George Rodger. He was from Manchester, England and became a press photographer by accident. At the time he was working for "Life Magazine". His photographs of Bergen-Belsen were the first to expose the true evl of the NAZIs to the American and British public. Most saw the NAZIs as evil, but were unprepared to the full extent of NAZI depravity.

The NAZIs established the Bergen-Belsen Camp as a POW camp (1940). It was located just south of two small towns from which the name of the camp was derived. The larger town of Celle was 11 miles south. Many French and Belgian POWs were detained their after the German victories in the West. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Soviet POWs were transported to Bergen-Belsen. Many died because of the lack of food and shelter a deliberate NAZI action. The NAZIs then began setting up special camps within the Camp complex. The residence camp was opened (1943). The NAZIs held thousands of Jewish prisoners here. The were Jews not sent to the death camps because they were thought to be of value fo exchanges with the Allies for detained Germans. The NAZIs eventually redesignated Bergen-Belsen a concentration camp (DEcember 1944). Bergen-Belsen at the end of the War became a collection camp because of its location for thousands of Jewish prisoners evacuated from camps in the east as the Red Army pushed into Poland. The NAZI authorities were unprepared for the influx. Adequate food was not provided and the cowding and inadequate shelter resulted in a typhus epidemic. Thousands of inmates died. Anne Frank was one of te Jews who died at Bergen-Belsen. Dhe died in March 1945 of typhus in this camp, only a month before the Brirish reached the Camp. The British liberated the Camp (April 15, 1945). After the NAZI surrender, a displaced persons (DP) camp was estanlished at a nearby Wehrmacht barracks. Jews there organized a separate unit at the Camp and it became an important center for the Jews that had survived the Holocaust. Problems developed with the British, probably over the issue of Palestine.

Location

Bergen-Beslen was located in Lower Saxony, west of the Netherlands and south of Denmark in northern Germany. It was located just south of two small towns from which the name of the camp was derived. The larger town of Celle was 11 miles south.

POW Camp (1940-43)

The Germans early in the War initially established the Bergen-Belsen Camp as a POW camp (1940). I am not sure who administered the POW Camp, but it may have been the Wehrmacht. Many French and Belgian POWs were detained their after the German victories in the West. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Soviet POWs were transported to Bergen-Belsen. Many died because of the lack of food and shelter a deliberate NAZI action. The NAZIs treated the POWs from various countries very differently. NAZI rascist and colonial polices were the determining factors here. The treatment accorded to Polish and Russian POWs was nothing short of barbaric.

Special Camps (1943-45)

The NAZIs 3 years after Bergen Belsen was established as a POW camp began setting up special sub-camps within the overll Camp complex. I assume it was the SS that set up these camps, but do not yet have details. There were eventaually eight sub camps: a "prisoners' camp," two camps for women, a special camp, a neutrals camp, the "star camp," a Hungarian camp, and a tent camp. Conditions at some of these camps were such that individuals could survive.

Residence camp

A special residence camp was opened (1943). The NAZIs held a few thousand Jewish prisoners here. The were Jews not sent to the death camps because they were thought to be of value for exchanges with the Allies for detained Germans. Most of the Jews held passports from countries with which the NAZIs hoped to deal. I am not sure just who in the NAZI heierachy came up with this idea. The NAZIs seemed to have thought that such successful exchanges would help facilitate peace talks with the Western Allies. NAZI officials seems to believe tht Britian and especially the United States was strongly influenced by Jews. Very few of these exchages actually took place. The NAZIs released about 200 prisoners destined for Palestine in exchange for German citizens held by the British (February 1944). The numbers of the the exchabge Jews ar Bergen Belsen were not large. One source estimates that there were about 4,000 such Jews (July 1944). One little boy who survived as Tsvi Nussbaum, perhaps the most famous Holocaust survivor.

Prisoners camp

The "prisoners' camp" was for Jewish prisoners from the Natzweiler-Struthof and Buchenwald concentration camps brought to Bergen-Belsen for construction work to to expand the Camp. This closed February 1944 when new construction ceased.

Neutrals camp

This was a small facility for a few hundered Jews who were citizens of neutral countries, this included Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.

Star camp

The "star camp" was for about 4,000 Jewish prisoners, mostly Dutch Jews. The NAZIs hoped to exchange them for German POWs held by the Allies. The Jews here were not forced to wear prisoners uniforms, but continued to wear their own clothes. The name of the camp came from the Star of David they had to sew in their clothes.

Hungarian camp

The Hungarian camp was open after the MAZIs seized contril of Hungary and began to deport the Hingarian Jews (July 1944). Most were sent to Auschwitz where they were murdered. About 1,600 Hungarian Jews were sent to Bergen-Belsen. I'm not sure how they were chosen. Himmler apparently conceived of the idea to sell them to the Allies. They like the inmates in the Star Camp did not wear inmate uniforms, but had Stats of David in their clothes. I believe the NAZIs allowed these Jews to enter Switzerland after a cash payment.

Hospital/tent camp

At first this was a kind of hospital facility for sick and injured prisoners from other concentration camps. They were interned in a section, which was referred to as the hospital camp. This soon became badly overcrowded. So a tent camp was opened to handel the overflow. This was where Anne Frank was eventually sent and died. Rather than treat seriously ill prisoners, the NAZIS at the camp infirmary simply injected many with lethal chemicals.

Concentration Camp

The NAZIs officially redesignated Bergen-Belsen a concentration camp (December 1944). It became an important collection camp because of its location. Thousands of surviving Jewish prisoners ere evacuated from camps in the east as the Red Army pushed into Poland. The NAZIs did not want the few Jews who survived the death camps to be found by the Soviets. Most of these Jewish prisoners were subjected to virtual dearh marches. Those that survived and reached Bergen-Belsen were in apauling conditions. There were about 22,000 prosoners (February 1945). Evacuees from the East swelld the camp rolls to 60,000 (April 1945). The NAZI authorities were unprepared for the influx. Adequate food was not provided and the cowding and inadequate shelter resulted in a typhus epidemic. Thousands of inmates died. Anne Frank was one of te Jews who died at Bergen-Belsen. Dhe died in March 1945 of typhus in this camp, only a month before the Brirish reached the Camp. Otherwise she might have been in the picture with the other children ....

Liberation (April 15, 1945)

The British as Bergen-Belsen was in northern Germany iberated the camp (April 15). The situation in the camp was horific. The British found 60,000 emaciated and dieing prisoners in apauling conditions. Bergen-Belsen had been a collection cazmp where sick inmates or the survivors of camps in the East and West were sent to keep them out of Allied hands. Unburied corpses were scattered all over the camp. Life stringer George Rodger was with the British when they entered the Camp. These were the first images of the NAZI camos to reach Americans and Brits who were shocked. The public already knew the NAZIs were evil,and reports of NAZI attrocities had been reported, but few people realized just how evil the NAZIs were. The Allies had liberated NAZI camps in France and the Low countries, but the NAZIs had managed o clean them out before the Allies arrived. Bergen-Belsen was the first NAZI Camp that they had been unavle to sanitize. Rodger was so horrified with what he saw at Bergen-Belsen that he could no longer work as awar corespondant. The sad thing is that Bergen-Belsen was hardly the worst camp. These had been the death camps in the East and Auschwitz. Here the NAZIs had clsed the death camps and attempted to destoy the evidence that they had existed. Tragically about 10,000 emaciated inmates died in the days following liberation. All told about 50,000 people died at Bergen-Belsen. The British burned the camp barracks because of the apauling sanitary conditions and the raging typhus epedemic they found there.

NAZI Surrender (May 7, 1945)

The Wehrmacht by April 1945 was shatered and no longer able to offer effective resistance to the Allies. The Western Allies raced through Germany from the west during April 1945 as the Soviet Red Army surrounded Berlin. American and Soviet forces made the long anticipated link-up at the Elbe River on April 25. The Red Army fought a massive engagement to take Berlin. Hitler insisted that the SS and Wehrmacht forces in the city, reinforced by the Volkstrum (Hitler Youth boys and older men) fight so that he might live a few more days. As Red Army soldiers approached his bunker, Hitler shot himself and named Admiral Karl Doenietz as the new Führer. The last raid of the strategic vombing campaign took place on April 25 when the Skoda armament plant at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia were bombed. The American Air Corps began shifting to mercy missions. Flights were dispatched to feed civilians in northern Italy and the Netherlands who were near starvation. Priority was also given to evacuting prisonors of war (POWs). Doenitz ordered General Alfred Jodl to General Eisenhower' Headquarters--Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) detachment in Rheims to seek terms to end the fighting. Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of German forces on allfronts At 2:41 a.m. on May 7, which was to take effect on May 8 at 11:01 p.m. Thus NAZI Germany surrendered unconditionally, as President Roosevelt had insisted. Celebrations ensued throught Europe--except Germany. Ther were big official celebrations. There were also smaller neighborhood celebrations. In communities throughout britain there were outdoors banquets called block parties that were family celebrations. For many of the children it mean that daddy would soon be headed home.

Slave Labor

The problem of displaced persons was especially severe in Europe because a major support for the NAZI war effort was the use of slave labor. The NAZIs drafted most of the phsically fit adult male population and by the end of the war teenagers and old men. Because they refused to use married women in war industries, the only available source of labor was POWs and slave labor from occupied countries. Some workers from neutral countries like Spain were actually paid, but most of the labor was slave labor conscripted from occupied countries. Thus there were million of foreign workers brought into the Reich to work in factories, mines, and farms. Children were also involved because of the Holocaust and Lebenborn programs.

Displaced Persons Camp

As a result of the NAZI slave labor program, when the NAZIs surrendered (May 7, 1945) there were millions of foreign displaced persond (DPs) ers in the Reich from every country in Europe. Many were abused and mistreated and by the end of the war large number had persished. The Allies set up displaced persons camps to provide emergency assistance to the DPs as to help them return to their home countries. Some of the DP camps were established in former NAZI concentration camps. One of the most notable was the Jewish Camp set up in the former NAZI Bergen Belsen conentration camp.

Created: 8:19 AM 2/1/2006
Last updated: 4:27 AM 5/8/2008