Bergen - Belsen

Bergen - Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp near Hanover, 50,000 people died there. The camp had 8 different sections: a prisoners camp, two camps for women, a special camp, a neutrals camp, "the star" camp, a Hungarian camp, and a tent camp. It also served as a collection camp that had prisoners who were to weak to work and ended up dying of starvation or typhoid. The camps were only supposed to hold 10,000 prisoners but held about 60,000. Prisoners who were seriously ill were killed with lethal injections. The camp was established in 1941 and was soon empty by 1951, 10 years later.

Belsen was in the beginning bearable and we had bunks to sleep on, and a small ration of soup and bread. But as the camp got fuller, our group and many others were given a barracks to hold about seven hundred lying on the floor without blankets and without food or anything. It was a pitiful scene as the camp was attacked by lice and most of the people had typhus and cholera ... Many people talk about Auschwitz -- it was a horrible camp. But Belsen, no words can describe it ... From my experience and suffering, Belsen was the worst.

- Violette Fintz