Relief of BELSEN

[MeinhardcFJR2]

Mark

Are you familiar with the garrison? I was on a recruiting tour at the time and did a presentation for the artillery regiment there in what looked like a former ballroom or something. Very officer'ish if you know what i mean. I wondered at the time what the building used to be back in the day.

Hello Simon,

Thats the "Round House" it did use to be the Officers mess when the WH occupied the camp, it's the NAAFI now.

Follow this link http://bfg-locations.editboard.com/h...e-camp-t43.htm at the top of the page is a picture of the Round House in the 1930's. The door you can see has a crest over it, an eagle and Swastika with a WH Soldier flanking it and the words "Offizier Heim", this has now been removed, the Swastika that is the crest itself remains.

Rumour has it that the central room has a huge Swastika beneath the wooden floor, but I think thats probably a myth thats been created over the years.

There is a cemetery in the camp itself and was where the Kapos were buried.

I have a few pictures of this building too, if Adrian would host them?

Cheers,

Mark.

[john moody]

Hello all,

From what I have read, one of the most amazing facts of the liberation of Belsen was that it took two days for the British Army to think of arresting the SS camp commandant Josef Kramer and his staff!
They were free to roam the camp, and indeed shot several inmates whilst the British were in attendance saying that they had "tried to storm the cookhouse".
Only then did the Army react and start to arrest the guards.
Unfortunately by this time over half of them had took their chance to disappear.
Of the soldiers at the Wehrmacht camp, approximately half were Hungarian, and as members have previously stated; due to the truce they were - after assisting the British Army in cleaning up the camp and helping the victims to transfer the the Wehrmacht Camp hospital allowed their freedom and walked away to fight again.
Almost all of these soldiers offered to hand themselves over as prisoners of war; but were not allowed to due to the conditions of the truce and I would imagine that most were KIA or captured shortly afterwards.
Another amazing fact is that the German Army actually invited the British Army into their "special camp" to assist as the typhus epidemic had "got out of hand" and showed no remorse or guilt for the terrible conditions and state of the prisoners within Belsen itself.
I hope to but a digital printer and scanner after the Christmas period and will post some photographs of the camp as it stands at present then if anyone is interested.

Regards,

John.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Mark, I would be happy to host some pics for you. Did you get my PM with my email address?

Hi John, I would certainly be interested in seeing your pics too.

This weekend I will try and scan / photograph the map I have of the camp.

Cheers, Ade.

[Ludwig]

After the Battle – the excellent British magazine for historical freaks (like me) – published an issue about Belsen then and now.

[MeinhardcFJR2]

Hi Mark, I would be happy to host some pics for you. Did you get my PM with my email address?

Hi John, I would certainly be interested in seeing your pics too.

This weekend I will try and scan / photograph the map I have of the camp.

Cheers, Ade.

Hello Ade,

I have just checked the PM I received from a forum member saying he would host the pics, I thought it was you it transpires its someone called Stan I sent them to!

So to that end please send me your Address and I will send you the pics of both the Glynn Hughes hospital and the round house, thank you.

cheers,

Mark.

[Stan]

Relief of Belsen

Mark,

Herewith are two of the photos you sent showing the eagles plus part of the swastikas above buildings in the camp (or over the nearby army barracks).

Stan

[Stan]

Relief of Belsen

Another one.

Stan

[Ludwig]

Interesting!!!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I have finally taken a couple of pics of the map I mentioned earlier in the thread. Here is the title to the map which measure 3 foot 6" x 4 foot.

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Detail of the camps