Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberated 80 years ago

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I don't know how many people have heard this but I found it very moving to hear Richard Dimbleby's report from Bergen-Belsen and thought I would share it here.

Archive audio

Wow.
Chilling.

We had a friend who was in a tank that was one of the first to reach the camp. He was a lovely gentle man, who never spoke of what he went through. He had a letter from Montgomery thanking him for the part he played. He died in his 90s, his wife dying only a few months earlier. I found the documentary very moving, and thought of Harry as the camp was liberated.

I have just watched Belsen, What They Found.

I think this has to be the most chilling TV I have ever watched.

Just awful.

When I was at school, an elderly Jewish couple came to speak to us. They had met after being liberated from separate concentration camps, and one had been in Bergen-Belsen.
I remember that I couldn’t quite believe that they were real, it seemed so far removed from school life. It was the first time I had heard of Bergen-Belsen, having only heard Auschwitz spoken of before.

I hope that what happened, and the people whose lives were taken or affected, are never forgotten.

My DH's DGF was a Marine Commando (the early ones) involved in the liberation. A tall, well build working class lad from Wiltshire . He apparently never spoke of what he saw. One day, when my husband was an older teenager, he told him what he saw. My DH has never disclosed to me what his DGF said but that it was hell on earth and he had never knew man could inflict such cruelty to each other. His DGF died in his early 60's and was relatively poor but grateful for what he had. He was a real Anti Fascist (not like some I could mention). We must never forget those people who died and speak out against wars that go on today because of sheer prejudice and hatred.

My Grandad was involved in the liberation. He sadly died when I was a teenager but my Dad said he would never speak about what he saw and remembers often hearing him screaming with nightmares when he was a child.

My uncle was in one of the first tanks involved in the liberation. He was shot dead by a sniper.

My dad was in the first party to go in. He told of piles and piles of bodies and making the Nazi soldiers bury the dead at gunpoint.

It's hard to imagine how sickening the sights, sounds and smells must have been for those who liberated the camps.

It is very sad that very few Holocaust survivors are still alive and able to tell their stories.

That's what they showed on the original film footage.

Those images will stay with me.

I remember Gena Turgel coming to talk to us at Secondary school. She was a survivor of several camps, including Auschwitz and then marched to Bergen Belsen.

She was a nurse. And cared for Anne Frank whilst at Bergen Belsen. She wrote a book which I recommend you read ‘ I light a candle’, I still have a copy she signed.
I see she died in 2018, at 95.

She said she didn’t want to talk about it at first, then realised later in life than she should spread the word and tell the story so the next generations knew

My grandfather was part of the army who liberated Belsen. He refused to speak of the horrors but he was very anti religion for the rest of his life and had the time of day for absolutely everyone. A lovely, kind man, sadly missed.

There are a number of good recent podcasts to listen to about the camp liberations.

History Hit did one specifically on Bergen-Belsen: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dan-snows-history-hit/id1042631089?i=1000703464857

We Have Ways of Making You Talk also did a 4-part series on Auschwitz: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ww2-pod-we-have-ways-of-making-you-talk/id1457552694?i=1000685726567

Are they only available for iPhone owners?

I’ve just listened to the Dimbleby report, which is very powerful.

Interesting that so many people here have relatives and friends who were involved in the liberation of Belsen.

I don’t, but my mother, who was 18 at the time, used to talk about having watched the news reels in disbelief. I can only imagine how those who witnessed it in person felt.

I think many British people were more aware of Belsen than they were of Auschwitz, because we liberated Belsen and the Russians liberated Auschwitz.

So my Grandfather. My Dad tells me he would only ever mention it after he had been drinking but never any details.

I can’t imagine the horror and the increased deaths when the liberators gave people more food than they could handle.

Sorry no they are available on all good platforms, I just listen to them via Apple podcasts.

Spotify Links: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xvwmCXbnIXcqWUoRLiZxs?si=84ddbbf09a7b44e1

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Ryu7NpoTm9WmXC0zWiv1R?si=52eb3a806ef04f6d

My lovely gentle grandfather was one of the first on site to liberate Belsen. He was there from about day 3 or so. He said very little about it apart from the only thing they could really do was start to bury the thousands and thousands of bodies.

I can't believe what horrors he had to carry with him. In his final days when in his 90s he kept thinking he was in a prison camp. I expect it was Belsen memories breaking through.