Chernousov Illarion Porfirievich Bergen Belsen. Bergen-Belsen

One of the nightmares generated by the Second World War was the German Bergen-Belsen, located in what is now the territory between the village of Belsen and the small town of Bergen, which gave it its name. that the camp was not equipped with gas chambers, it became the site of the death of tens of thousands of prisoners.

The first death camp prisoners

The story of what Bergen-Belsen was like - the concentration camp that became so notorious - should begin with statistics. From the documents of those years it is clear that in the period from 1943 to 1945 alone, more than fifty thousand people died from hunger and disease. In total, during the entire period of the war the number of his victims exceeded seventy thousand.

The date of its creation is 1940. The Bergen-Belsen camp, photos of which are presented in this article, was built to house French and Belgian prisoners of war, who, numbering six hundred, became its first prisoners. However, with the outbreak of hostilities on the territory of the USSR, their ranks were replenished with twenty thousand Soviet soldiers and officers who found themselves in enemy captivity. Within a year, eighteen thousand of them died of hunger and disease.

Nazi Exchange Fund

In 1943, the official status of the camp changed. It no longer received prisoners of war, and their place was taken by prisoners who had foreign nationalities, who could, on occasion, be exchanged for German citizens held in similar camps in countries. The first echelon with prisoners falling under this category arrived from Buchenwald in April 1943 of the year. Soon the number of arrivals was replenished by prisoners from the Natzweiler-Struthof camp, and after some time - from the territory of France.

Internal organization of the camp

The Bergen-Belsen camp, starting in 1943, had a rather complex structure. It included several units that differed in both the number of prisoners and their contents. The most favorable conditions were in the so-called neutral camp (Neutralenlager).

Prisoners from countries that adhered to neutrality were brought here. These were mainly citizens of Portugal, Argentina, Spain and Turkey. The regime of detention here was much softer than in other departments. The prisoners were not forced to work and were fed relatively well.

Another section, called the “Special Camp” (Sonderlager), housed Jews from Warsaw, Lvov and Krakow. The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp became the place where they were imprisoned because these people had temporary passports from South American countries such as Paraguay and Honduras and were also eligible for exchange. They were not forced to work, but were kept in strict isolation, since before their arrival at the camp, many of them had witnessed the atrocities committed by SS units in Poland.

Confinement of Dutch and Hungarian Jews in the camp

In 1944, Jews from Holland, who had previously been in other camps, were brought to Bergen-Belsen, a special type of concentration camp. The sector in which they were kept was called “Star” (Sternlager). It received this name due to the fact that the prisoners in it were given the right to wear not camp striped clothes, but their usual ones, but having previously sewn a six-pointed Star of David onto it. The fate of Jews deported from Holland during World War II was no less tragic than their counterparts from other countries. Of the eleven thousand people, only six thousand survived to the end of the war.

In July 1944, the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen was replenished with more than one and a half thousand Jews from Hungary. A separate area was allocated for their maintenance, called the “Hungarian camp” (Ungarnlager). Probably, in the event of a proposed exchange, special hopes were placed on them, because the conditions of their detention were much better than in other departments. The Bergen-Belsen camp was originally designed to house only men, but in 1944 a women's section was also created.

Transfer of the camp to British troops

The Bergen-Belsen death camp was one of the few camps voluntarily handed over by the Germans to the Allied forces. This happened in April 1945. The reason was that when its territory found itself between two groups of troops - German and British - a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp, resulting in a real threat of infection among soldiers of both armies. In addition, Himmler, who gave the order to surrender the camp, was extremely unwilling to be liberated by Soviet troops.

By April 1945, when the front line approached it closely, there were about sixty thousand prisoners in the camp. According to the law, it is prohibited to keep civilian prisoners in a war zone, however, in this case, a typhus epidemic made their evacuation impossible.

But even in such emergency conditions, at the beginning of April, seven thousand of the most promising prisoners from the point of view of exchange were sent by order of Himmler to neutral camps. These were mainly Jews from Holland and Hungary who had citizenship of other states.

Negotiations to transfer the camp to the British

Despite the fact that the order to transfer the Bergen-Belsen camp to the Allied forces came from the highest leadership, negotiations with the British dragged on. The British really did not want to take responsibility for the lives of nine thousand sick people in a camp affected by the epidemic. In addition, this posed a serious risk of infection for themselves. To make the British more accommodating, the Germans offered to give them two strategically important bridges without a fight as a “dowry” to the camp.

Agreement conditions

According to the agreement finally reached, the area surrounding Bergen-Belsen was declared a neutral zone. Until the arrival of the British military, the prisoners continued to be guarded by Wehrmacht soldiers, who were subsequently guaranteed free passage to the location of their units.

According to the agreement reached, before handing over the camp to the British, the Nazis were obliged to restore order in it, and most importantly, to bury the corpses of the dead. This presented an extremely difficult task, since thousands of unburied bodies lay in abundance on the territory. They were to be buried in deep trenches dug not far from the camp fence.

Scenes of the Apocalypse

From the memoirs of the German soldier Rudolf Küstermeyer, a participant in these events, it is known that for four days the prisoners - two thousand prisoners, of those who could still stand on their feet - dragged corpses that were in various stages of decomposition. The air was filled with a terrible stench.

The work continued from early morning until late at night. In the absence of the required number of stretchers, they used strips of tarpaulin, belts or simply ropes tied to the arms and legs of the corpses. It’s hard to believe, but this hellish spectacle was accompanied by the sounds of two continuously playing orchestras, also composed of prisoners. And yet, when the deadline for the transfer of the camp arrived, and the British military had already entered it, there were more than ten thousand unburied corpses lying in the open air on the territory.

Information made public

British officer Derrick Sington, who received the camp on April 15, 1945, subsequently wrote a book about it. In it, he says that immediately after the British entered the camp, sick prisoners were immediately transferred to a specially prepared one, but, despite all the efforts of doctors, thirteen thousand people died.

This was the first of the death camps, information about which became known to the American and British public. The reason is that it came under the control of the British, and journalists immediately appeared on its territory and widely publicized everything they saw when visiting the Bergen-Belsen camp. Photos taken by them could be seen on the pages of many newspapers and magazines.

Retribution

At the end of the war, the camp staff consisted of eighty people and was headed by the commandant. All of them were immediately arrested and subsequently, with the exception of twenty who died as a result of typhoid infection, were tried by a British military tribunal sitting in the German city of Luneburg. This was a trial of war criminals.

Despite the fact that the defendants held various positions in the camp staff, they were all charged with murder and deliberately inhumane treatment of prisoners, which constituted a crime under the articles of the relevant international conventions.

George Roger was the first photographer to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after its liberation in 1945.
The photographs he took told the world the truth about the death camps.

And for Roger, this shooting was a critical point in his worldview. After spending several hours in a concentration camp, he was horrified that all this time he was looking for favorable angles and building beautiful compositions.
These pictures will haunt him all his life, until his death he will see this concentration camp in his dreams. Roger became depressed. He decided for himself that he would never be able to work as a war correspondent again.
.

Bergen-Belsen is less known than, say, Auschwitz or Buchenwald. If they write about it, it is most often because of Anne Frank, who was there for some time and then died after her liberation...
Bergen-Belsen is also infamous for the fact that it became the first concentration camp on German territory where Russian prisoners of war were taken.

Of course, “institutions” of this kind were under the jurisdiction of the SS and the order in them was truly monstrous: “When we passed through the gates of Bergen-Belsen, we found ourselves outside of life and time. We had nothing to focus on, nothing and no one to hold on to.”... “Whoever ended up here ended up in chaos, in nothingness.”- this is how the surviving prisoners of the camp remember.

And here is about the first day of liberation: " Before that, we were not allowed out of the barracks for several days. They were not allowed to eat or drink. People died one after another. The horror, confusion, and unbearable stench could, without exaggeration, drive you crazy. Finally, the doors of our barracks opened. Some people in military uniforms hurriedly pushed us into the yard. What I saw there was even more terrible: stacks of corpses between the barracks, corpses filling the sewer pits to the top... Hills grew near the crematorium - places of hasty burials.”

Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945. The soldiers discovered in the camp: 60,000 prisoners, many of whom were on the verge of death, and thousands of unburied bodies.

After the liberation, Bergen-Belsen became a camp for displaced persons, where people continued to die from disease, mainly typhus, and exhaustion. The camp existed until 1951.

This photograph became known to the whole world; thanks to the magazine, the boy was identified by his relatives.

Surviving prisoners are trying to find suitable clothes

Ukrainian prisoners are trying to find something worthwhile

People continued to die after liberation

Dying from typhus

Antityphoid treatment with dust

These are women, former prisoners

Queue for soup.
Very liquid food is the only thing the prisoners can digest for now.

Two French prisoners wearing boots taken from German guards

This girl's name is Anneliese Kohlmann. She joined the Nazi Party at age 19 and worked as a tram driver.
In November 1944, she was drafted into the SS troops and first worked in prisons, then as a camp guard.
After the camp was liberated by British soldiers, she changed into camp clothes, but was identified and arrested.
She was sentenced to two years on charges of ill-treatment of prisoners and sexual harassment of a lesbian nature.
Died of natural causes in West Germany on September 17, 1977.

Elisabeth Volkenrath, formerly worked as a hairdresser. She was drafted into the SS in 1942.
She underwent special training and worked as a chief guard in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck.
Despite the fact that Elisabeth Volkenrath tried to justify herself by saying that she was only following instructions from above, she was nevertheless accused of actively participating in the selection of prisoners before being sent to the crematorium, and was sentenced to death by hanging, the sentence was carried out in December 1945 of the year.

Frieda Walter, 23 years old, worked in a textile factory. She tried to justify that she was called up only in February 1944 and was guarding the kitchen. She was accused of ill-treatment of prisoners and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Camp guards were involved in burying the corpses.

The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the Third Reich had a special “privileged” status: rich Jews were held here for whom the Nazis planned to ransom. When it became clear that there would be no ransom, the Nazis turned Bergen-Belsen into a real “death factory.” Rare photographs of Bergen-Belsen prisoners and their executioners, taken after the liberation of the camp.

The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was far from the largest in the Third Reich camp system - it did not even have its own crematorium. It was built in 1940 in the German province of Hanover as Stalag - that is, as a prisoner of war camp. First of all, from “civilized” countries - from Belgium and France. Therefore, the conditions here were quite bearable, the food was good, and there was no work.

Then in 1941, about 20 thousand prisoners of war from the USSR arrived here. By the spring of 1942, almost all Red Army soldiers died from hunger, cold and disease. The prisoner of war camp was then closed and converted into a concentration camp for the temporary detention of those prisoners who held foreign passports and who could be exchanged for captured German citizens held in Allied camps. 8 sections were also created to hold prisoners of different categories.

Irma Grese and Josef Kramer. Irma Grese, nicknamed the “Angel of Death,” is the senior warden of the camp. She personally supervised mass executions, often personally killing prisoners. setting dogs on them or whipping them to death. Sentenced to hang.

First of all, this is a section for sick prisoners - for those who could no longer work in labor camps. In 1945, sick prisoners from all concentration camps in Germany were transferred to this section, where, without adequate medical care, they died en masse. On the eve of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, about 200 camp prisoners were killed by injection of phenol - this process was supervised by a prisoner named Karl Roth, who had the status of "head nurse". He was killed by the prisoners themselves.

Irma Grese and Josef Kramer. SS Hauptsturmführer Joseph Kramer, nicknamed the “Belsen Maniac,” went through all levels of the career ladder - from a guard in Daphau to the commandant of the Bergen-Belsen camp. Sentenced to hang.

Arrest of camp commandant Josef Kramer.

Secondly, the most widespread was the “neutral” section - for Jews from neutral countries (Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Turkey). Since the Nazis expected to receive a ransom from their relatives, these Jews were not forced to work and were fed very well.

There was also a “special” section - for Polish Jews who had temporary passports from South American countries - Paraguay or Honduras. These prisoners also did not have to work - they were also expected to pay ransom from Jewish communities financing the deportation of Jews to South America.

There was also a special “star” section where Jews from Holland were kept. The living conditions here were even better than in other camps of the Third Reich: the prisoners here wore their own clothes with a yellow Star of David sewn on them, and had to work. More than a third of those Dutch Jews who survived Nazi concentration camps were prisoners at the Bergen-Belsen Star Camp.

Gertrude Bothe, warden. In 1942, she received an invitation to work as a guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was then transferred to the Stutthof camp, where she received the nickname "Stutthof Sadist" due to the cruel treatment of female prisoners. In 1945 she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. Sentenced to 10 years in prison. Released in 1951 for exemplary behavior.

The “Hungarian” section also occupied a privileged position - to support Jews from Hungary. They were also allowed to wear ordinary civilian clothing with the image of the Star of David, they did not have to work, they did not have to go to roll call, and they were provided with good food and care. These prisoners were also called "Jews with benefits" and the Hungarian camp had Jewish self-government.

Elizabeth Volkenrath. By profession - hairdresser. In 1942, she underwent special training and became a guard in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. Found guilty of selecting prisoners for execution and sentenced to hang.

The situation was much worse for the prisoners in the “tent” section. This camp was built in early August 1944 as a transit camp for exhausted prisoners arriving from Auschwitz (Auschwitz) - when the Red Army launched an offensive to liberate Poland, the Nazis, wanting to hide traces of massacres, began to move all surviving prisoners to camps located in Germany. And especially for women from Auschwitz, the “small women’s camp” and the “large women’s camp” were intended.

By the way, one of the prisoners of Bergen-Belsen was the famous Anne Frank - she and her sister Margot were brought here from Auschwitz at the end of October 1944. It soon became clear that there were places worse than Auschwitz... When the Nazis realized that no one would pay them to ransom the Jews, they simply stopped feeding them. At all. And in two months, about 50 thousand prisoners died of hunger here. On top of that, a typhus epidemic was raging in the camp, killing over 35 thousand prisoners. The bodies of both girls, Anne and Margot Frank, were probably buried in one of the Bergen-Belsen mass graves.

Warden Johanna Bormann, sentenced to death by the court, was executed in the prison of the German city of Hameln on December 13, 1945.

By the time the camp was voluntarily surrendered to the British, only people doomed to death remained here - within two weeks after liberation, 9 thousand prisoners died, and by the end of the month - another 4 thousand.

Warden Ilse Förster, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released for good behavior in December 1951.

Warden Frieda Walter, cook by profession. Sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Warden Anneliese Kohlmann. Tram driver, member of the NSDAP since the age of 19. She worked in the camps since 1944. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Herta Elert, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released in 1951.

Warden Gertrud Sauer, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released in 1951.

Warden Anna Hempel. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Gertrud Fist. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Ilse Steinbusch. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Martha Linke. There is no information about the sentence.

Warden Helena Copper. There is no information about the sentence.

Warden Hilda Lobauer. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Hilde Lisivitz. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Hildegard Kambach. Sentenced to two years in prison.

The crematorium did not have time to burn the dead, and the prisoners, who could barely move, were forced to dig holes and place corpses in them. Corpses were scattered throughout the camp. The prisoners tied ropes and belts to the arms and legs of the corpses (who had what) and the four of them, with difficulty moving their legs, dragged the corpses into the pits.

In all the concentration camps where I visited, no matter how bad it was, prisoners were purposefully distributed among barracks and rooms, and each was given, even the most meager, portion of bread, rutabaga, and spinach. This did not happen at the Bergen-Belsen death camp. No one knew in which barracks he was supposed to receive stew or a piece of bread, so as not to die of hunger.

None of the prisoners in the camp worked, they wandered in crowds and alone, knowing only one thing - everyone would starve to death. This is the camp they brought us to. We still didn’t really know what was going on here and hoped that they would give us something to eat and show us a place where we could rest a little after a hard journey.

Former guards at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

We were lined up on the square and in groups of 70-100 people began to be sent to the barracks. They brought us to one of the barracks and told us to accommodate ourselves as best we could. In three and a half years, I visited eight prisoners of war and concentration camps, saw and experienced a lot, but I have never seen such horror as I saw in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In all concentration camps, perfect cleanliness was always maintained, there were no traces of lice, but here there was dirt, lice, no latrines, for natural needs they went anywhere, there was no drinking water.

We went into the barracks - there was not a single bed, only in the corner there was a fenced-off area for the senior barracks and the senior room; a barrack is a solid hall without rooms or partitions. There are rows of mattresses on the floor on which the prisoners lie - not a single free space. Among the prisoners who lay on the mattresses - both living and dead - all together. Where should you lie down? We were told if you want to lie down, pull out the dead man and lie down in his place. There was nothing to be done, they began to pull out the corpses, but - my God! The whole floor is infested with lice, it’s just gray with lice - how can you lie down there? Some who were unable to move lay down right there; they had no way out, but I, along with some prisoners, did not dare to lie down, and we wandered around the camp.

Camp Bergen-Belsen.

Suddenly we see another camp surrounded by barbed wire, and wooden barracks are visible. The wire was not under high voltage current, but the guards still did not allow us to approach it. We discovered a hole in the fence in one place and, when it became completely dark, we took a risk and made our way to the neighboring camp. It had a large number of barracks. We went into one of them - it was empty.

There were bunk wooden beds, nothing was visible in the darkness, and we went to bed. When we woke up in the morning, we saw that other prisoners had spent the night in the barracks besides us.

We wandered through the barracks, finding torn pillows and mattresses; There were books, portraits, and children's toys lying on the floor. From this it could be assumed that this camp housed a Jewish ghetto. We were able to spend the night here several times.

Two former prisoners of Bergen-Belsen with dishes in the forest against the backdrop of barracks.

No one in the camp could tell how many prisoners were in which barracks; everyone could settle down in any barracks where he found a place for himself. The barracks were built at a rate of approximately a thousand prisoners per barrack. They brought 2-3 containers of liquid rutabaga to the barracks, but this food was not enough for everyone. Before food was distributed, prisoners lined up in a column of five.

Everyone tried to stand in the front rows, because the last rows, and sometimes even those who stood in the middle, did not have enough stew. When, finally, with the help of sticks it was possible to line everyone up, they were ordered to kneel, and only after that the barracks leader began distributing food.

Prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp queue for soup after liberation.

Each person in turn came up and received a quarter-liter scoop of rutabaga - about 250 g. For about half of the line, these two or three containers were enough, while the rest were left without lunch. And so every day. The prisoners became weaker and weaker every day, wandered around the camp hungry, entered the barracks - they lay down, fell, fell asleep and never got up - they died of hunger. Some prisoners were still alive, but they could no longer get up, they had no strength. The next day, those who were unable to rise also died. They were taken out, others were put in their place, and so on every day. Thousands of prisoners died every day in the Bergen-Belsen camp.

There was no water. In one of the barracks there were water pipes with taps, but water only dripped from them. The whole barrack was dirty. We sneaked up to these taps and sucked a couple of drops of water from them. Several more days passed, and I finally got a portion of rutabaga.

Former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp dismantle their belongings before disinfection.

Once, running across the territory from barrack to barrack during the distribution of food in order to grab something to eat, I saw one Polish prisoner standing to the side and eating rutabaga from a bowl. Without thinking twice, I ran up to him, put my hand in the bowl, grabbed a handful of rutabaga and ate it.

My strength was fading every day, but I tried to walk and move more, since lying down means inevitable death. The end of the war is just around the corner, we need to hold out for a few more days, perhaps, and liberation will come.

Former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp have lunch near block No. 36.

There was a canteen on the camp grounds - it was fenced off from prisoners with barbed wire and guarded by SS sentries. Near the dining room lay red beetroot and raw rutabaga. A group of prisoners, including me, cut the wire at night, sneaked up to the vegetables and, under pain of death, filled their pockets with beetroot and rutabaga. The sentries did not notice us, and we returned safely, climbed into a secluded corner and ate raw beetroot in the dark. This outing was risky, but it gave us the opportunity to refresh ourselves and regain our strength for a while.

After a few days I became noticeably weaker and my strength completely left me. No matter how hard I tried to be in motion, weakness still overcame me, and I fell ill. I lay and waited for death, and my comrades lay next to me.

Five former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp have lunch near the bodies of the dead.

Suddenly we hear that there is artillery preparation nearby, which means that tanks will soon move. We are told the news - the SS men are leaving the camp. There are only sentries left on the towers, but they no longer shoot at prisoners - they have hung white flags. I want to get up and run like the other prisoners, but I don’t have the strength. Thoughts are spinning in my head: I need to hold on for at least another hour, another hour - and liberation will come. And suddenly I hear: “Tanks, comrades, tanks!” - and indeed the tanks entered the camp. It was night.

Those who could crawled out of the barracks and moved to the kitchen. We stole everything that was there, then we got to the piles of potatoes, and everyone picked up as much as they could. The fires burned at night - they baked and boiled potatoes. Our comrades also brought potatoes to us, who were lying down.

There was no end to our joy, we endlessly hugged each other, kissed, cried with happiness and laughed...."

On April 15, 1945, the concentration camp was liberated.

A British medical sergeant disinfects former concentration camp prisoners.

A British soldier uses a bulldozer to collect the corpses of prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

A German boy walks along a dirt road, on the side of which lie the corpses of hundreds of prisoners who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

As retribution, British soldiers ordered camp guards to carry the prisoners' bodies by hand to mass graves. At the same time, SS employees were prohibited from using gloves, despite the serious threat of typhoid infection. Because of this, every fourth guard died of typhus - 20 out of 80 members of the camp guard.

Former SS Obersturmführer Franz Hössler at the microphone in front of the truck.

Former wardens.

SS men load the bodies of prisoners.

The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was far from the largest in the Third Reich camp system - it did not even have its own crematorium. It was built in 1940 in the German province of Hanover as Stalag - that is, as a prisoner of war camp. First of all, from “civilized” countries - from Belgium and France. Therefore, the conditions here were quite bearable, the food was good, and there was no work.

Irma Grese and Josef Kramer. Irma Grese, nicknamed the “Angel of Death,” is the senior warden of the camp. She personally supervised mass executions, often personally killing prisoners. setting dogs on them or whipping them to death. Sentenced to hang.

First of all, this is a section for sick prisoners - for those who could no longer work in labor camps. In 1945, sick prisoners from all concentration camps in Germany were transferred to this section, where, without adequate medical care, they died en masse. On the eve of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, about 200 camp prisoners were killed by injection of phenol - this process was supervised by a prisoner named Karl Roth, who had the status of "head nurse". He was killed by the prisoners themselves.

Irma Grese and Josef Kramer. SS Hauptsturmführer Joseph Kramer, nicknamed the “Belsen Maniac,” went through all levels of the career ladder - from a guard in Daphau to the commandant of the Bergen-Belsen camp. Sentenced to hang.

Arrest of camp commandant Josef Kramer.

Gertrude Bothe, warden. In 1942, she received an invitation to work as a guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was then transferred to the Stutthof camp, where she received the nickname "Stutthof Sadist" due to the cruel treatment of female prisoners. In 1945 she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. Sentenced to 10 years in prison. Released in 1951 for exemplary behavior.

Elizabeth Volkenrath. By profession - hairdresser. In 1942, she underwent special training and became a guard in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. Found guilty of selecting prisoners for execution and sentenced to hang.

Warden Johanna Bormann, sentenced to death by the court, was executed in the prison of the German city of Hameln on December 13, 1945.

Warden Ilse Förster, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released for good behavior in December 1951.

Warden Frieda Walter, cook by profession. Sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Warden Anneliese Kohlmann. Tram driver, member of the NSDAP since the age of 19. She worked in the camps since 1944. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Herta Elert, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released in 1951.

Warden Gertrud Sauer, sentenced to 10 years in prison, released in 1951.

Warden Anna Hempel. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Gertrud Fist. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Ilse Steinbusch. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Martha Linke. There is no information about the sentence.

Warden Helena Copper. There is no information about the sentence.

Warden Hilda Lobauer. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Hilde Lisivitz. Sentenced to two years in prison.

Warden Hildegard Kambach. Sentenced to two years in prison.

This is how Soviet prisoner of war Mikhail Temkin recalled the horrors of Bergen-Belsen: “The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was called a death camp. There were about 150-200 thousand people on its territory, so they said among the prisoners. No one knew the exact number, because there was no registration of prisoners was not here. As the front line approached, the Nazis evacuated prisoners from other concentration camps and sent them to Bergen-Belsen for extermination. They were not shot here - they were simply not allowed to eat or drink. The prisoners died of hunger and thirst on their own. The crematorium did not have time burn the dead, and the prisoners, who could barely move, were forced to dig holes and lay the corpses in them. The corpses were lying all over the camp. The prisoners tied ropes, belts (who had what) to the arms and legs of the corpses, and the four of them, with difficulty moving legs, dragged corpses into pits.

Former guards at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

We were lined up on the square and in groups of 70-100 people began to be sent to the barracks. They brought us to one of the barracks and told us to accommodate ourselves as best we could. In three and a half years, I visited eight prisoners of war and concentration camps, saw and experienced a lot, but I have never seen such horror as I saw in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In all the concentration camps, perfect cleanliness was always maintained, there were no traces of lice, but here there was dirt, lice, no latrines, for natural needs they went anywhere, there was no drinking water.

We went into the barracks - there was not a single bed, only a space was fenced off in the corner for the senior barracks and the senior room; a barrack is a solid hall without rooms or partitions. There are rows of mattresses on the floor on which the prisoners lie - not a single free space. Among the prisoners who lay on the mattresses - both living and dead - all together. Where should you lie down? We were told if you want to lie down, pull out the dead man and lie down in his place. There was nothing to do, they began to pull out the corpses, but - my God! The whole floor is infested with lice, it’s just gray with lice - how can you lie down there? Some who were unable to move lay down right there; they had no way out, but I, along with some prisoners, did not dare to lie down, and we wandered around the camp.

Camp Bergen-Belsen.

There were bunk wooden beds, nothing was visible in the darkness, and we went to bed. When we woke up in the morning, we saw that other prisoners had spent the night in the barracks besides us.

Two former prisoners of Bergen-Belsen with dishes in the forest against the backdrop of barracks.

Former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp dismantle their belongings before disinfection.

Former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp have lunch near block No. 36.

There was a canteen on the territory of the camp - it was fenced off from the prisoners with barbed wire and guarded by SS sentries. Near the dining room lay red beetroot and raw rutabaga. A group of prisoners, including me, cut the wire at night, sneaked up to the vegetables and, under pain of death, filled their pockets with beetroot and rutabaga. The sentries did not notice us, and we returned safely, climbed into a secluded corner and ate raw beetroot in the dark. This outing was risky, but it gave us the opportunity to refresh ourselves and regain our strength for a while.

Five former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp have lunch near the bodies of the dead.

Suddenly we hear that there is artillery preparation nearby, which means that tanks will move soon. We are told the news - the SS men are leaving the camp. There are only sentries left on the towers, but they no longer shoot at prisoners - they have hung white flags. I want to get up and run like the other prisoners, but I don’t have the strength. Thoughts are spinning in my head: I need to hold on for at least another hour, another hour - and liberation will come. And suddenly I hear: “Tanks, comrades, tanks!” - and indeed the tanks entered the camp. It was night.

There was no end to our joy, we endlessly hugged each other, kissed, cried with happiness and laughed...."

A British medical sergeant disinfects former concentration camp prisoners.

A British soldier uses a bulldozer to collect the corpses of prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

A German boy walks along a dirt road, on the side of which lie the corpses of hundreds of prisoners who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

As retribution, British soldiers ordered camp guards to carry the prisoners' bodies by hand to mass graves. At the same time, SS employees were prohibited from using gloves, despite the serious threat of typhoid infection. Because of this, every fourth guard died of typhus - 20 out of 80 members of the camp guard.

Former SS Obersturmführer Franz Hössler at the microphone in front of the truck.

Former wardens.

SS men load the bodies of prisoners.

Women from the SS guards of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp unload the corpses of prisoners for burial.

Women from the guards unload the corpses of prisoners for burial.

Ditch for burying prisoners.

SS Oberscharführer Friedrich Herzog, one of the former camp guards, and his colleagues are sorting through a pile of dead prisoners' bodies.

Anneliese Kohlmann and Friedrich Herzog sort through a pile of dead prisoners' bodies.

A ditch with the bodies of Nazi victims.

Mass grave of concentration camp prisoners.

On May 21, 1945, the commandant of the camp, British Colonel Bird, gave the order to burn the camp barracks due to the threat of typhus. A fireworks display was fired in memory of the fallen prisoners.

The territory of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, burned by British units during the disinfection of the area.