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| Jun 19 2008, 7:46 PM EDT (current) | cmwaxman | 146 words added, 33 words deleted |
| Jun 19 2008, 6:39 PM EDT | cmwaxman | 19 words added, 1 word deleted |
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Bergen-Belsen, built as a prisoner of war camp, was situated in northwest Germany between the towns of Bergen and Belsen. In 1941 it was renamed Stalag 311 as a camp for Russian POWs.
In early 1943 Heinrich Himmler chose Bergen-Belsen to become a Transit Camp (Aufenthaltslager) to be run by Josef Kramer. Its main purpose was to temporarily house "privileged" Jews who were to be ransomed in exchange for GermainGerman citizens being held by Allies in other countries.
TheBut the camp was in disrepair. As a result, prisoners from Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Natzweiler were sent to prepare Bergen-Belsen for itsthe new prisoners. The camp was divided into sections separated by barbed wire. One section, (Neutralenlager), contained Jewish citizens of neutral countries such as Spain, Turkey and Portugal. A second section, (Ungarnlager), was the Hungarian camp housingwhich held Jews of the Kasztner transport. A third section was the Star Camp, (Sternlager), which contained those Jews for whom German citizens were to be exchanged.
On two previous occasions Great Britain had successfully negotiated for the exchange of Allied-held Germans for Palestinian Jews, once in 1941 and again in 1942. In 1944 222 Jews from Bergen-Belsen were exchanged with German citizens from Palestine. However, as the war progressed, the British Foreign Office became reluctant to negotiate additional exchanges as they now considered them blackmail. TheAt Britishthis thentime the British took the position that a quick defeat of Nazi Germany was the best routeway to savingsave Jews from extermination.
In March of 1944 Bergen-Belsen entered a new stage,stage. asIt became an Erholungslager, a recovery camp that housed Jewish prisoners too sick to work at other camps. Then, in 1945, as Russian troops continued to advance from the East, thousands of Jews from Buchenwald and Auschwitz were forced on a death"death marchmarch." toTheir Bergen-Belsen.destination: Bergen-Belsen. With thisthe huge influx of sick and dying prisoners came a drastic decline in the living conditions at Bergen-Belsen. Epidemics of typhus, dysentery and typhoid were rampant, resulting in the deaths of many thousands. At this point Bergen-Belsen had finally been transformed into a concentration camp.
By April 15, 1945,1945 withand the arrival of British troops, it is estimated that 37,000 people had died at Bergen-Brelsen,Bergen-Belsen, including Anne Frank and her sistersister, Matgot.Margot. The British arrived to find the nearly 60,000 emaciated survivors suffering from severe malnutrition, dysentery, typhus and tuberculosis, as well as other diseases. In addition, they discovered within the camp more than 10,000 corpses piled one atop another.another . In the two months following the arrival of the British, even with 28 doctors and 620 volunteers tending the sick, 13,944 additional inmates of Bergen-Belsen died. For the horrors found there, Bergen-Belsen came to represent the essence ofepitomize Nazi evil.
At the endFollowing of the war Bergen-Belsen became the largest displaced persons camp in Europe, having a population of around 10,00012,000 through 1947. The camp was finally closed in September 1950. The site currently houses the Bergen-Belsen Documentation and Information Centre.
Sources:
Bardgett, Suzanne. "Bergen-Belsen's Information Centre. History Today 58.1 (jan(Jan 2008):pp.4-5.
Michman,Jozeph, Yehuda Bauer, and Menachem Rosensaft. "Bergen-Belsen." Encyclopedia Judaica. Eds. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnick. Vol.3. 2008):pp.4-52nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. pp.420-422.
Schulze, Rainer. "Keeping Very Clear of any 'Kuh-Handel': The British Foreign Office and the Rescue of Jews from Bergen-Belsen." Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V19 N2, Fall 2005, pp. 226-251.
In early 1943 Heinrich Himmler chose Bergen-Belsen to become a Transit Camp (Aufenthaltslager) to be run by Josef Kramer. Its main purpose was to temporarily house "privileged" Jews who were to be ransomed in exchange for GermainGerman citizens being held by Allies in other countries.
TheBut the camp was in disrepair. As a result, prisoners from Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Natzweiler were sent to prepare Bergen-Belsen for itsthe new prisoners. The camp was divided into sections separated by barbed wire. One section, (Neutralenlager), contained Jewish citizens of neutral countries such as Spain, Turkey and Portugal. A second section, (Ungarnlager), was the Hungarian camp housingwhich held Jews of the Kasztner transport. A third section was the Star Camp, (Sternlager), which contained those Jews for whom German citizens were to be exchanged.
On two previous occasions Great Britain had successfully negotiated for the exchange of Allied-held Germans for Palestinian Jews, once in 1941 and again in 1942. In 1944 222 Jews from Bergen-Belsen were exchanged with German citizens from Palestine. However, as the war progressed, the British Foreign Office became reluctant to negotiate additional exchanges as they now considered them blackmail. TheAt Britishthis thentime the British took the position that a quick defeat of Nazi Germany was the best routeway to savingsave Jews from extermination.
In March of 1944 Bergen-Belsen entered a new stage,stage. asIt became an Erholungslager, a recovery camp that housed Jewish prisoners too sick to work at other camps. Then, in 1945, as Russian troops continued to advance from the East, thousands of Jews from Buchenwald and Auschwitz were forced on a death"death marchmarch." toTheir Bergen-Belsen.destination: Bergen-Belsen. With thisthe huge influx of sick and dying prisoners came a drastic decline in the living conditions at Bergen-Belsen. Epidemics of typhus, dysentery and typhoid were rampant, resulting in the deaths of many thousands. At this point Bergen-Belsen had finally been transformed into a concentration camp.
By April 15, 1945,1945 withand the arrival of British troops, it is estimated that 37,000 people had died at Bergen-Brelsen,Bergen-Belsen, including Anne Frank and her sistersister, Matgot.Margot. The British arrived to find the nearly 60,000 emaciated survivors suffering from severe malnutrition, dysentery, typhus and tuberculosis, as well as other diseases. In addition, they discovered within the camp more than 10,000 corpses piled one atop another.another . In the two months following the arrival of the British, even with 28 doctors and 620 volunteers tending the sick, 13,944 additional inmates of Bergen-Belsen died. For the horrors found there, Bergen-Belsen came to represent the essence ofepitomize Nazi evil.
At the endFollowing of the war Bergen-Belsen became the largest displaced persons camp in Europe, having a population of around 10,00012,000 through 1947. The camp was finally closed in September 1950. The site currently houses the Bergen-Belsen Documentation and Information Centre.
Sources:
Bardgett, Suzanne. "Bergen-Belsen's Information Centre. History Today 58.1 (jan(Jan 2008):pp.4-5.
Michman,Jozeph, Yehuda Bauer, and Menachem Rosensaft. "Bergen-Belsen." Encyclopedia Judaica. Eds. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnick. Vol.3. 2008):pp.4-52nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. pp.420-422.
Schulze, Rainer. "Keeping Very Clear of any 'Kuh-Handel': The British Foreign Office and the Rescue of Jews from Bergen-Belsen." Holocaust and Genocide Studies, V19 N2, Fall 2005, pp. 226-251.
