Bergen-Belsen concentration camp facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bergen-Belsen
Nazi concentration camp
View of the camp after liberation
Location in Germany
Coordinates	52°45′28″N 9°54′28″E / 52.75778°N 9.90778°E / 52.75778; 9.90778
Location	Lower Saxony, Northern Germany
Operated by	SS-Totenkopfverbände
Commandant	List Adolf Haas [de] (April 1943 – December 2, 1944) Josef Kramer (December 2, 1944 – April 15, 1945)
Original use	Prisoner-of-war camp
Operational	1940–1945
Inmates	Jews, Poles, Soviets, Dutch, Czechs, Germans, Austrians
Number of inmates	120,000
Killed	70,000 or more
Liberated by	United Kingdom and Canada, April 15, 1945
Notable inmates	Anne and Margot Frank

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany. It was located southwest of the town of Bergen.

The camp started as a place for prisoners of war in 1940. Later, in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. At first, it was an "exchange camp" where Jewish hostages were held. The Nazis hoped to trade them for German prisoners held in other countries.

Over time, Bergen-Belsen grew to hold many more prisoners. From 1941 to 1945, about 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war died there. Another 50,000 or more prisoners also died. This was due to extreme overcrowding, very little food, and terrible living conditions. Diseases like typhus and dysentery spread quickly. More than 35,000 people died in the first few months of 1945 alone.

British forces liberated the camp on April 15, 1945. They found about 60,000 prisoners, most of whom were starving and very sick. They also found 13,000 dead bodies. Today, there is a memorial and an exhibition hall at the site.

Bergen-Belsen: A Look at Its History

From Military Base to POW Camp

Memorial to Soviet prisoners of war

In 1935, the German army, called the Wehrmacht, began building a large military area near Belsen. This became a huge training ground for tanks. Barracks, which are military living quarters, were finished in 1937. This area is still used by NATO armed forces today.

Workers who built the military base lived in camps nearby. One of these was the Bergen-Belsen Army Construction Camp. After the military base was done, this workers' camp was not used for a while.

However, in 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, the Wehrmacht started using these huts as a prisoner of war (POW) camp. This camp became known as Stalag XI-C (311). It was meant to hold up to 20,000 Soviet POWs. By early 1945, over 19,500 Soviet prisoners had died there. They died from starvation, exhaustion, and disease.

In 1943, the POW camp changed. It became a hospital for Soviet POWs. Later, Italian soldiers and Polish fighters were also held there.

The Concentration Camp Begins

In April 1943, a part of Bergen-Belsen was taken over by the SS. The SS was a powerful Nazi organization. This part of the camp became a concentration camp. It was a special kind of camp, first called a "civilian internment camp." Later, it was called a "holding camp."

This "holding camp" was for Jewish people who the Nazis hoped to exchange. They wanted to trade these prisoners for German civilians held in other countries. Or, they wanted to trade them for money. The SS divided this camp into different sections for groups like Hungarian Jews or Dutch Jews.

Between 1943 and 1944, at least 14,600 Jewish people were brought to this camp. Prisoners were forced to work, often sorting leather from old shoes. Generally, these "exchange" prisoners were treated a bit better than others at first. This was because the Nazis saw them as valuable for exchange. However, only about 2,560 Jewish prisoners were ever actually released.

In 1944, another part of the camp became a "recovery camp." Sick prisoners from other concentration camps were sent here. They were supposed to get better, but many died from disease, starvation, and lack of medical care.

The Women's Camp and More Prisoners

In August 1944, a new section was created just for women. By November 1944, about 9,000 women and girls were held there. Many who could work were soon sent to other camps for forced labor.

Famous sisters Margot and Anne Frank were among the prisoners in the women's camp. They both died there in early 1945 from typhus.

In December 1944, Josef Kramer became the new camp leader. He had previously worked at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In January 1945, the SS took over the POW hospital, making Bergen-Belsen even larger.

As the Soviet army advanced from the east, the Nazis evacuated many eastern concentration camps. At least 85,000 people were forced into cattle cars or marched to Bergen-Belsen. This caused extreme overcrowding. The camp, designed for about 10,000 people, held around 60,000 by April 1945. This led to a huge increase in deaths from diseases like typhus, tuberculosis, and starvation.

Forced Labor Camps (Satellite Camps)

Bergen-Belsen also had three smaller camps, called satellite camps. These were located near factories that made weapons. About 2,000 female prisoners were forced to work in these factories. If they became too weak or sick, they were sent back to Bergen-Belsen.

These satellite camps included:

• Bomlitz-Benefeld: Here, about 600 Polish Jewish women worked in a gunpowder factory.
• Hambühren-Ovelgönne: Around 400 Polish or Hungarian Jewish women prepared an old mine to become an underground factory.
• Unterlüß-Altensothrieth: Up to 900 women from various countries had to clear forests, do construction, or make ammunition.

The SS guards watched the prisoners, who received no pay for their hard work. The companies paid the SS for the labor.

Terrible Conditions and Many Deaths

Bergen Belsen crematorium in April 1945

Around 120,000 prisoners passed through the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp between 1943 and 1945. The SS destroyed many camp records, so we only know about 55,000 of their names.

While there were no gas chambers at Bergen-Belsen, mass deaths still occurred. More than 50,000 people died from starvation, disease, and mistreatment. These included Jewish people, Czechs, Poles, anti-Nazi Christians, and Roma.

The number of deaths increased dramatically in 1945. From 1943 to the end of 1944, about 3,100 people died. But from January to mid-April 1945, around 35,000 died. Even after the camp was liberated, another 14,000 people died between April and June 1945.

The Camp's Liberation

British and German officers finalize the arrangements for the ending of their temporary truce, April 1945

Women survivors in Bergen-Belsen, April 1945

Some of the 60 tables, each staffed by two German doctors and two German nurses, at which the sick were washed and deloused, May 1–4, 1945

A crowd watches the destruction of the last camp hut

As British and Canadian forces moved towards Bergen-Belsen in 1945, the German army agreed to a truce. This was to prevent the spread of typhus, a deadly disease. On April 11, 1945, the SS leader, Heinrich Himmler, agreed to hand over the camp without a fight.

The camp was finally liberated on the afternoon of April 15, 1945. British soldiers were the first to arrive. They found over 13,000 unburied bodies and about 60,000 prisoners. Most of the prisoners were extremely sick and starving. They had been without food or water for days.

The scenes were horrific. A BBC reporter, Richard Dimbleby, described seeing "dead and dying people" everywhere. He saw "emaciated, aimless people" who could barely move. Babies had been born there, but they were too weak to live.

British troops immediately began providing emergency medical care, clothing, and food. However, many prisoners were too weak to recover. About 500 people were still dying each day, mostly from typhus.

The British forced the former SS guards to help bury the thousands of dead bodies in mass graves. The guards were given very little food and no protective gear. Many of them also died from typhus.

To stop the typhus epidemic, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was burned to the ground. This happened using flamethrowing tanks. After this, the name Belsen referred to the nearby camp for displaced persons (people who had lost their homes).

Doctors and volunteers worked hard to help the survivors. They tried different foods, but many prisoners were too weak to digest them. A special rice-and-sugar mixture, used after a famine in Bengal, helped some. But even then, many more people died after liberation. In total, nearly 14,000 people died after the camp was freed.

After the War: Justice and Remembrance

Trials for War Crimes

Many of the SS staff who survived the typhus epidemic were put on trial. These trials were held by the British military. From September to November 1945, 45 people were tried. This included the former camp leader, Josef Kramer, 16 other SS men, 16 female SS guards, and 12 former prisoner-overseers (called Kapos).

The trials received a lot of media attention. They informed the public about the terrible killings at Belsen and the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Eleven of the defendants, including Kramer, were sentenced to death and executed. Many others received prison sentences.

Later, German courts also held trials for Nazi crimes. However, only one trial was ever held by a German court specifically for crimes committed at Belsen. The defendant was found not guilty.

A Place to Remember

Memorial on the ramp where prisoners arrived

Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen site

One of several mass graves on the site of the former camp; the sign simply reads: '"Here lie 5,000 dead. April 1945"

After the camp buildings were burned, the area of Bergen-Belsen was left empty for a while. However, survivors and the British soon began to set up memorials. A wooden memorial was built by Jewish survivors in 1945. A stone memorial was dedicated in 1946.

In 1952, a permanent memorial was officially opened. Germany's president, Theodor Heuss, spoke at the ceremony. He urged Germans never to forget what happened at Belsen.

For many years, remembering Bergen-Belsen was not a big priority for politicians. But after 1957, more young people started visiting the site where Anne Frank died. In 1966, a document center opened with an exhibition about the persecution of Jews. This was the first permanent exhibit in Germany about Nazi crimes.

In 2007, a newly designed memorial site was opened. It includes a large new Documentation Centre and a permanent exhibition. This helps visitors understand the camp's history and layout. The site is open to the public and has monuments to the dead, including a special memorial for Anne and Margot Frank.

Stories from Survivors and Liberators

Many people have shared their experiences of Bergen-Belsen. These include survivors and the soldiers who liberated the camp.

• The British comedian Michael Bentine helped liberate the camp. He said, "To me Belsen was the ultimate blasphemy."
• Hannah Goslar, a friend of Anne Frank, survived the camp. She later shared her memories of Anne.
• Shaul Ladany, who was 8 years old in the camp, later became an Olympic athlete. He recalled, "I saw my father beaten by the SS, and I lost most of my family there."
• Paul Oppenheimer wrote a book called From Belsen to Buckingham Palace. He described his family's time in the camp when he was 14-15 years old.
• Major Dick Williams, one of the first British soldiers to enter, called it "an evil, filthy place; a hell on Earth."
• Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO wrote about the arrival of lipstick for the women survivors. He said, "At last someone had done something to make them individuals again... That lipstick started to give them back their humanity."

Films and Books About Bergen-Belsen

Many films and books have been made about Bergen-Belsen. They help people understand what happened there.

• The Relief of Belsen (2007 film)
• Frontline: "Memory of the Camps" (1985) is a TV documentary about Nazi concentration camps.
• Night Will Fall (2014) is a documentary that includes video footage from the camp's liberation.
• The novel The Lüneburg Variation by Paolo Maurensig mentions the suffering at Bergen-Belsen.
• I Was a Boy in Belsen by Tomi Reichental tells his story as a prisoner.
• In the Dead Years: Holocaust Memoirs by Joseph Schupack includes his experiences at Bergen-Belsen.
• And the Month Was May: A Memoir by Lilian Berliner traces her life through Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

Notable People Imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen

This list includes some well-known people who were held at Bergen-Belsen. Most of them died there, except for those marked as survivors.

• Julius Adler – a German Communist politician
• Josef Čapek – a Czech artist who helped create the word "robot"
• Anne and Margot Frank – famous sisters who died of typhus in 1945
• Hanneli Goslar (survived) – a friend of Anne Frank
• Shaul Ladany (survived) – an Israeli Olympic athlete
• Uri Orlev (survived) – a Polish-Israeli children's author
• Gisella Perl (survived) – a Hungarian doctor and author
• Zuzana Růžičková (survived) – a Czech harpsichordist

Images for kids

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  View of the camp after liberation

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  Memorial to Soviet prisoners of war

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  Bergen Belsen crematorium in April 1945

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  British and German officers finalize the arrangements for the ending of their temporary truce, April 1945

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  Women survivors in Bergen-Belsen, April 1945

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  Some of the 60 tables, each staffed by two German doctors and two German nurses, at which the sick were washed and deloused, May 1–4, 1945

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  A crowd watches the destruction of the last camp hut

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  Memorial on the ramp where prisoners arrived

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  Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank at the Bergen-Belsen site

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  One of several mass graves on the site of the former camp; the sign simply reads: '"Here lie 5,000 dead. April 1945"

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  The Jewish Memorial at the site of the former camp, decorated with wreaths on Liberation Day, April 15, 2012

See also

In Spanish: Bergen-Belsen para niños