While remembering the people stolen from us in the current political climate - let us not forget those who died in previous generations because of Man's inhumanity to Man in pursuit of power.....
Today is the anniversary of the relief of Belsen by British troops in 1945.
When the British advanced near the camp in 1945, the German army negotiated an exclusion zone around it to prevent the spread of typhus. Hungarian and regular German troops guarding the camp returned to German lines after the engagement. Some SS guards also fled the camp; however, a number remained wearing white armbands as a sign of surrender.
When British and Canadian troops liberated the camp on April 15, 1945, they found thousands of bodies unburied, and forced the remaining SS personnel to bury them. The surviving prisoners were moved to a nearby German Panzer army camp. Bergen-Belsen was then burned to the ground by flamethrowers because of a typhus epidemic and louse infestation. Subsequent accounts of Belsen after this time refer to events at the nearby army camp.
In spite of great efforts to help the survivors, about another 9,000 died in April. By the end of June of 1945 another 4,000 had died. The total number of deaths at Bergen-Belsen from 1943 to June 1945 was about 50,000.
Although the camp was burned to the ground, the site is today open to the public, featuring a visitors' center, a monument to the dead, and a "House of Silence" for reflection.
On 15 April 2005 there was a commemorative ceremony there and many ex-prisoners and ex-liberating troops went there.
When British and Canadian troops liberated the camp on April 15, 1945, they found thousands of bodies unburied, and forced the remaining SS personnel to bury them. The surviving prisoners were moved to a nearby German Panzer army camp. Bergen-Belsen was then burned to the ground by flamethrowers because of a typhus epidemic and louse infestation. Subsequent accounts of Belsen after this time refer to events at the nearby army camp.
In spite of great efforts to help the survivors, about another 9,000 died in April. By the end of June of 1945 another 4,000 had died. The total number of deaths at Bergen-Belsen from 1943 to June 1945 was about 50,000.
Although the camp was burned to the ground, the site is today open to the public, featuring a visitors' center, a monument to the dead, and a "House of Silence" for reflection.
On 15 April 2005 there was a commemorative ceremony there and many ex-prisoners and ex-liberating troops went there.
"Israel and the world shall remember thirty thousand Jews exterminated in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen at the hands of the murderous Nazis.
EARTH CONCEAL NOT THE BLOOD SHED ON THEE!
First anniversary of Liberation 15th April 1946 "
(from the monument)
cq
8 comments:
An excellent post.
To think there are those that try an deny it ever happened.
Just visited on my own, then sent back by Michele!
Great post for sure...thanks for doing it...so important...
Here via Michele's today..so glad I came. Have a great day!
Loved the history lesson today!
Michele ~waves~ "hi"! :o)
My Darlin'...Here is a link to a very noving heartrending post about this Anniversary. The top post--today I believe--is a poem written by Pearl, and the one just beneath it is an utterly heartbreaking little film.
I love that you wrote this post today, my dear.
http://wwwpearliesofwisdom.blogspot.com/
Here from Michele's. I visited Dachau about 25 years ago - you cannot visit such a place and come away unchanged . . .
We must never, ever forget.
We should remember. It is the only way we will learn.
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