Established in 1940 as a Prisoner of War camp, Bergen Belsen became a complex of camps in 1943, including a concentration camp in addition to the POW component, and an Aufenthaltslager or holding camp for prisoners who could potentially be exchanged with the Allies for German citizens held in internment camps. Only 358 prisoners were ever officially exchanged. With the Allied advance many thousands of prisoners from other camps were collected at Belsen, including large transports of female prisoners. With evacuations from other camps, the population of prisoners swelled by 1945 to over 60,000. Conditions here were execrable, with limited or non-existent shelter, poor sanitation, food shortages and overcrowding. Typhus, typhoid fever, and dysentery were common. When the British liberated the camp April 15, 1945, they found most of the living inhabitants to be extremely ill, many lying among the unburied bodies of those who had perished. And many-too ill and weakened to rally- died after liberation. Among the victims were Anne Frank and her sister Margot, who had perished just before the arrival of the British.
To prevent the further spread of typhus the British burned the camp to the ground. Out of the ashes Jewish survivors, unable to return to their former homelands, or legally emigrate to other countries, attempted to create a family and cultural life in Bergen-Belsen. Political, social, religious and cultural activities were organized. Many married within the camp, schools were founded to accommodate the extraordinary number of children born. Orphanages, schools yeshivas, a newspaper, vocational training were an integral part of camp life. In time many of the surviving remnant of the Holocaust Jews were able to emigrate to Israel, the United States or Canada.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp After World War II
2012.1.187
A sepia photograph of a man in a suit and glasses in thought. Yiddish text on back.
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Correspondence From Austrian Displaced Persons Camp
2012.1.166ab
Envelope: Brown envelope addressed to Mr. L. Heuoller from Euglarol Hinola Heuoller in green. Sent from an Austrian displaced persons camp after World War II.Letter: Written in green ink on brown paper.
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Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp After World War II
2012.1.186
A sepia photograph of a woman with a beaded blouse. Text on back is illegible.
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Correspondence Regarding the Full List of Donors of Packages Sent to Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp from 1946-1947
2012.1.206a-g
Envelope: Brown envelope with typewritten address to Mr. M. Ravitsch c/o Jewish Library.Letter: Typewritten letter. The first page is in Hebrew and is a numerical list in Hebrew, printed on Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone stationery. Subsequent pages are a numerical list in English of names and dates.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter and full list of donors from 1946-1947, which included 237 packages sent to Bergen-Belsen from "grass roots" groups in Montreal, Canada. The Hendler's list from November 25, 1945 until February 20, 1947 shows 907 packages sent to Bergen-Belsen alone, the largest part of the 1,324 packages sent to the British Zone.
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Thank You Note from Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp
2012.1.207ab
Envelope: Small envelope with typewritten address to Mrs. L. Hendler with four purple British stamps.Letter: Typewritten letter on Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad stationery. The letter is in English and signed by Ida Lichtenholz.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter from the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad to Mrs. L. Hendler, Montreal, thanking her for the relief parcels received in Belsen Camp. This included a note that "The parcels received from the above named ladies were very good and we made full use of the contents. Mrs. Chait's food parcel was particularly acceptable, as at the present our small food stocks are being gradually exhausted!" Note envelope "Forces Mails" with 12p stamps (via Airmail) canceled with Field Post Office 745 obliterator.
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First Day Cover: 25th Anniversary of Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
2012.1.111
Illustration of Jews "on the way to be slaughtered by the Nazis."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: 25th Anniversary of Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Israeli, 1970, with painting by Yosef Kuzkovski entitled "On the way to be slaughtered by the Nazis."
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Official French Photograph: "The Lives of the Prisoners in Belsen Concentration Camp"
2012.1.177
Black and white photograph of prisoners at Bergen-Belsen in a muddy area. Includes text, "6.-- La vie des prisonnières au camp de concentration de Belsen."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This photo records the unspeakable disorder, filth, and overcrowding of the camp where -among many others-Anne and Margot Frank spent their last miserable days after having survived Westerbork and Auschwitz. Not long after witnessing her sister die of dysentery, Anne lost the battle to typhus. She was in all probability thrown into a mass grave-just one of the ten thousand unburied dead- when the camp was liberated by the British and Canadians just three weeks later
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Official French Photograph: "Atrocities at Bergen-Belsen"
2012.1.178
A black and white photograph of bodies by a barbed wire fence. Includes text in upper right corner, "Leipzig."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A black and white photograph of bodies by a barbed wire fence.The British and Canadians liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with the cooperation of the Jewish brigade. This photograph is part of the horror that greeted them upon entering the camp and seeing the unburied dead intermingled with the starving and sick and scarcely living “survivors”
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Sign at "Site of Infamous Belsen Concentration Camp"
2012.1.179
Black and white phtograph of men standing around a large sign with title,"This is the Site of the Infamous Belsen Concentration Camp."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The British and Canadians liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with the cooperation of the Jewish brigade. The horror that greeted them upon entering the camp and seeing the unburied dead intermingled with the starving and sick and scarcely living “survivors” can scarcely be hinted at in this sign and in the incomprehension of the soldiers standing about.
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Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp After World War II
2012.1.184
A group of people seated and standing with a man holding a tea cup at the front. Pink stamp on back notes that they are from Block 11.
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Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp After World War II
2012.1.185
Children performing with ribbons. Text on back reads, "In the middle of a performance!"
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Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp After World War II
2012.1.190
A black and white photograph of men and women sitting in and standing in front of a train car.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Post war series of home-made black and white photographs taken at Bergen Belsen DP Camp , this of men and women sitting and standing in front of a train car, one of the train cars that brought prisoners to this camp when it was a concentration camp.