11 Liberation of Bergen-Belsen 75 years ago The British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 75 years ago Seraphina, from Richmond Park Academy, reports Bergen- Belsen was a World War II concentration camp. It was established in 1940 as a prisoner of war camp and converted to a labour camp for Jews, political prisoners, Roma gypsies and other persecuted groups from 1943. Whilst Bergen-Belsen didn’t have gas chambers, the death rates were still staggeringly high due to starvation, overcrowding and diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis and dysentery. As the population expanded from 7,300 in July 1944 to 60,000 in April 1945 rations became smaller until food and water ran out,
and as a result, 50,000 people died at Bergen- Belsen. The camp was liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on April 15th 1945. The allied forces found over 3,000 unburied corpses on arrival. In the following days there was a death rate of 500 per day and despite the work of relief teams there were still 4,000 deaths in the month following liberation. The Allied Forces made Schutzstaffel members who had run the camp bury bodies in mass graves as punishment for their crimes. A displaced persons (DP) camp was then opened for survivors that ran from 1945-1951, when all survivors had emigrated. Most went to Palestine, Canada or America. The DP camp was a thriving community
in the time it was open. There was an average of 20 weddings per day in the weeks after liberation and over 2,000 children born in the following months. 2020 will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, so this is a focus of the January 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day. A 2016 study showed that only 15.2% of students associate Bergen- Belsen with the Holocaust, revealing significant gaps in Holocaust related education. In response, £1.7 million is being out towards educating the next generation about the holocaust. This involves school trips to Bergen- Belsen and projects in schools to increase awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust. .
'In spite of Hitler, I'm here to talk at my grandson's school' The roads and structures are full of mines and booby-traps left behind by ISIS and there are still mass graves being uncovered, adding to the tens that have already been recorded. Ariel Caine was part of the Forensic Architecture team who worked on the project. He collaborated with young men and women from Sinjar itself, most of whom were in the region during the unfolding of the ISIS genocide. Because many of the places associated with the genocide, such as mass graves surrounded by mines, were not accessible because they are still too dangerous to visit. So, Forensic Architecture and Yazda used an innovative mix of technology to Bea Green, who lives in our Borough, is a Holocaust born ingather 1924 and lived with her parents and an older solve thesurvivor. problemShe andwas ‘visit’ and brother. Bea’s father was a successful lawyerevidence and the about family the enjoyed holidays in their country house outside of Munich. She had crimes committed fromand the started air. “In Sinjar used some a nanny who took her for walks in the local park schoolwe when she was of six. the kite aerial photography as a means However, by the time that Hitler had come totopower. moment, somehow knew that she was regarded by other enableFrom aerialthat survey underBea conditions Germans not just as a Bavarian. Instead, Hitler’s where regime drones ensured attractthat too she much was attention seen as being Jewish first and then Bavarian… andyears are directly associated with profes-decided to send her to Britain on the and being different from other Bavarians. After of persecution Bea’s parents sional survey.” Usinglives kiteswere alongside ‘Kindertransport’ - an initiative by which thousands of childrens’ saved. She is pictured with her grandson just after drones also made sense because they she spoke to schoolchildren from around the Borough in 2018. are cheaper to make and repair. Photo: Forensic Architecture
