大象传媒

I have difficulty in believing it was sixty years ago that I entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp very soon after it was freed by the advancing Allied troops on April 15, 1945.

At the time I was adjutant to No 3 (F) Squadron. On April 24 1945 in support of front line troops we had been posted to Fassberg. A couple of days later the squadron Medical Officer invited me to accompany him to Belsen. Little did I know what I was about to see as we drove through beautiful woods. There was an eerie silence about the area and no birds were singing.

At the guardroom we were dusted with DDT powder and allowed to proceed. On my way in I kicked an object in the dust. On inspection it turned out to be a tiny camera. With it, I took a picture of the entrance. This is a picture I still possess today and a grim reminder of that day 60 years ago. The horrors of Belsen have been well documented and my memory was not what it was. I still have flashbacks of certain scenes. These include the mounds where thousands of bodies had been buried and the huts, which were awaiting demolition. Other memories include loaves of bread green with mould and the ovens with metal stretchers used for loading bodies with piles of bones still there (Belsen did not have gas chambers). Everywhere was the smell of death, the foetid conditions under which the prisoners were housed and which led to the death from disease, starvation, overwork and brutal treatment of some 37 000 people.

The survivors were taken into the German barracks next door and housed in huts very similar to our Nissen huts. As we toured the camp we could see the number of dead to be collected on blackboards outside. Many were still dying from their ill treatment. Rather than be enclosed in huts, groups would gather round fires outside. Some just had blankets round them, others were in their striped concentration camp uniforms. All of them were in an emaciated condition. One of my lasting memories of the visit to this camp was the sight of a man, who looked old, but could have been young whom I can only describe as a walking skeleton. He was wearing only a blanket and had thighs, which I likened to the thickness of my wrists. As we left camp, I remember him tottering behind us.

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was constructed in 1943 as a Prisoner of War camp and a transit camp for Jews. It was intended to hold 10 000, by the time it was freed it held approximately 41 000. It is estimated 37 000 people died there. It was the first of such camps to be freed and gained instant notoriety.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.