Belsen

Tom270

Well-Known Member
My step father was one of the first into Belsen behind the army with Civilian Relief run by the Red Cross. There were 10000 unburied dead. His hair went grey overnight. We visited in 1967 when I was 12. What a powerful experience that was even all those years later and I guess still is today. He said when he was there was not bird to be seen or heard and on our visit it was still eerily quite. While I firmly believe in moving on and we live in different times, its an appropriate time to remember them. Tom
 
Lady was on telly this am, recounting her experiences in Belsen at age 21 when relief came from British army units, she married the soldier who met her in hospital during the relief efforts, this would make her 91 years of age now.
 
On BBC1 Breakfast this morning there was an elderly lady who is one of the last living survivors of Belsen, and had endured some 4 years in the death camps.

She had nursed Anne Frank whilst in the camp and when the camp was liberated by the British forces she was swept off her feet by a Sargent in the British forces who she eventually married. They both revisited Belsen some years back, although her husband has now passed away they had been married for over 50 years.

Truly a remarkable and courageous women.
 
On BBC1 Breakfast this morning there was an elderly lady who is one of the last living survivors of Belsen, and had endured some 4 years in the death camps.

She had nursed Anne Frank whilst in the camp and when the camp was liberated by the British forces she was swept off her feet by a Sargent in the British forces who she eventually married. They both revisited Belsen some years back, although her husband has now passed away they had been married for over 50 years.

Truly a remarkable and courageous women.

Some things will always stay etched in our memories to remind us of what sort atrocities man is capable of - And to try to minimise the chance of these sort of appauling acts against humanity do not happen again!
 
I have walked around Belsen 3 times each time it changed my views of the people of the country I was living in and each time I had strange dreams after the visits,

I an recall the last time I went the new museum at the entrance was just completed and to see even more pictures of the atrocities was just bad news, I can still recall one picture that has stayed with me ever since, there is a officer with his pistol just behind a Jewish persons head over a pre dug trench.".......that's not what got me it was the smile on his face,

Bob.


Ps: if you ever get the chance to see it go, as you walk down the road to the front entrance you will suddenly notice the lack of animal activity and songs from birds, I have never seen any wild life of any kind on the grounds on my visits,
 
same here bob,been to Belsen and Dachau unbelievable what the "civilised "Germans were capable of.and thats why places like this should be a constant reminder to stop extremism whatever form it rears its ugly head in.the lie we didnt know what happened there must,ve been the most anger inducing B......t the squaddies had ever heard.
 
same here bob,been to Belsen and Dachau unbelievable what the "civilised "Germans were capable of.and thats why places like this should be a constant reminder to stop extremism whatever form it rears its ugly head in.the lie we didnt know what happened there must,ve been the most anger inducing B......t the squaddies had ever heard.

+1 on that bud,

Im not a gory person but I was and still am very interested in the whole thing, but as you say the fact will never be known and if you have a look on google earth you will see there are more burial plots around then you get to visit,

And for me that means there more then 75.000 laid there... But we will never know,

Bob,
 
I was apprenticed to a man who was a former tank commander who was one of the very first into Belsen -Bergen , he would only rarely speak of it , sometimes he would go into his office , lock the door and weep . He had dark days and never improved . One of his mates who was with him at the time told of camp guards going missing as they buried the thousands of bodies , at first I took it that they had escaped - he soon put me right . Harold couldn't bear to see the SS guards , fit and well , " helping " to bury the folks they had killed , murdered . Harold and others of a like mind took affirmative action . The look on his face when the black dog was on him is engrained in my memory 50 years on . How he functioned I will never know but he ran a successful business until his retirement.
 
Last edited:
same here bob,been to Belsen and Dachau unbelievable what the "civilised "Germans were capable of.and thats why places like this should be a constant reminder to stop extremism whatever form it rears its ugly head in.the lie we didnt know what happened there must,ve been the most anger inducing B......t the squaddies had ever heard.

The Americans tackled that by insisting that, in order to get rations etc, the people who lived around the camp went through it.
A film made of it showed them chatting away with each other as they went in.
There was a marked difference in their demeanor when they came out.
The men were also made to help with the bodies.
 
I was taken to visit Belsen fourty years ago when I was seventeen or so. The morning immediately after my first arrival there courtesy of the British Army.

Either with the 5th Inniskiling Dragon Guards, or 21st Royal Signals Regiment. I forget which. They were garrisoned nearby..wish. Just so, in the words of the Sergeant that took us "So that you can see what these b******s are really like".

And yes, dull, overcast, leaden sky. And no birds or birdsong. As others said.

Many large slabs. Here 1,000, here 500, or another number, written on each.
 
I was taken to visit Belsen fourty years ago when I was seventeen or so. The morning immediately after my first arrival there courtesy of the British Army.

Either with the 5th Inniskiling Dragon Guards, or 21st Royal Signals Regiment. I forget which. They were garrisoned nearby..wish. Just so, in the words of the Sergeant that took us "So that you can see what these b******s are really like".

And yes, dull, overcast, leaden sky. And no birds or birdsong. As others said.

Many large slabs. Here 1,000, here 500, or another number, written on each.


Theres a regiment that has some memories for me the 5 inniskilin dragoon guards, what a great bunch of lads, had many a pint in the mess after a football match with them, I was based at hohne with the royal hussars on my mbt gunnery instructors course and we had plenty of time to look around, one thing I will remember was on a night I was guard commander on the firing point, gefechts bahn 9 (battle run 9 ) we went for a drive around, I was amazed at the thing the called hitler bunker, it was an observation point in the centre of the ranges where we were told he would stand and watch his ground forces advance towards him in tactical format, boy was it high and the walls so thick, we used to pump live HESH at it but it did nothing to it,

Apart from tat we found loads of old gear laying around behind mounds of earth part buried etc, so god only knows what else remains undiscovered there, including more atrocities


Bob
 
I was born and brought up in Germany as my father was army. We visited Belsen and the experience still remains with me. Especially the prisoners belongings in the museum. A very, very thought-provoking place. The earth almost seems to exude the very memory of the evil that was done there.
 
My great-uncle was also amongst the first allied troops in to Belsen; an experience he only spoke of as an old man...initially, the SS guards and their lackeys tried disguising themselves as prisoners, but looking too well fed to fool anyone...they were made to deal with the dead and dying...lot of cholera and typhus about; very dangerous if you don't have masks etc
 
My grandmothers cousin was one of the first British army medical officers into Belsen. She told me he died a broken man in the early 1950's. He found the experience so horrific he never fully recovered.

She he told me was called Captain Peter Fox, my research suggests he was a Major, or a least he finished a Major, he may have been the CO of the RAMC contingent at Belsen.
 
I was there when i was about seven it has a strange feel about it still remember forty three years later
 
Not Belsen, but I went to Dachau about twenty years ago, a deathly silence from a place surrounded by countryside and greenery.
 
My Grandfather went into Belsen about a week after it was liberated . He took supplies into the camp on numerous occasions . I did ask him about it a few times before he passed away but he wouldn't talk about it . He'd just shake his head and change the subject . He fought from 39 to 45 , but it was only after he died that I found out from my Grandmother how badly it affected him . In his mind , the war was horrific enough , but what he saw in the camps pretty much destroyed him . Unfortunately , he died a broken man . I still get choked up when I see anything about the death camps , part of it is because of the suffering that the inmates endured , but mostly because I had no idea what my granddad went through and kept to himself for all those years . To this day I regret not being able to thank him for the sacrifices he made .

Lest we forget
 
Michael Bentine...he of "The Goons" and later "Potty Time"...and a pistol shooter....also was there: "Millions of words have been written about these horror camps, many of them by inmates of those unbelievable places. I’ve tried, without success, to describe it from my own point of view, but the words won’t come. To me Belsen was the ultimate blasphemy".
 
Back
Top