Remembering Bergen-Belsen
MEHZEBIN ADAM, CURATOR AT THE BRITISH RED CROSS MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES, DESCRIBES THE CHARITY’ S MEANINGFUL WORK FOLLOWING THE LIBERATION OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP 75 YEARS AGO
More than 50,000 people died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany during the Second World War. Those imprisoned included Jewish people and other victims of Nazi persecution. The well-known diarist Anne Frank and her sister Margot were among those held captive here.
British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945. When the troops entered the camp, they found thousands of unburied bodies and approximately 60,000 people who were sick and starving.
The overcrowded and unsanitary conditions had enabled diseases such as typhus to spread, leaving many of the camp’s inmates in urgent need of medical care.
Just six days after the liberation of the camp, teams from the British Red Cross arrived to help give aid to the civilians. Personnel included doctors, nurses, children’s welfare officers and cooks, as well as drivers to transport patients to the hospital. As part of the relief effort, volunteer medical students were also sent to the camp by the charity.
Having joined the British Red Cross in April 1945, Enid Fordham was one of the volunteer relief workers at Bergen-Belsen, helping there for 16 months. Reflecting on her experience in the camp, Enid said that although she could never forget the horrors she saw there, she would also never forget the courage of those who had been through so much suffering. During occupational therapy, some of the survivors made dolls for Enid as tokens of their gratitude.
One of these dolls (seen left) is dressed in the striped uniform that the prisoners were forced to wear. The striped fabric makes people immediately aware that the object represents a horrific moment in history. However, the doll is a symbol of hope and survival because it is a reminder of the incredible strength and resilience of the human spirit. As a token of appreciation, it also represents friendship and the power of kindness.