Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Step-by-step guidance using the Germany system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Axel Hindemith via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Bärbel Miemietz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo by Bärbel Miemietz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo by Bärbel Miemietz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo by Bärbel Miemietz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo by Mechanical via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by Hajotthu 16:06, 13. Okt. 2008 (CEST) via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo by Agp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Until 1943, Bergen-Belsen was exclusively a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. In April 1943 the SS Economic-Administration Main Office (SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt; WVHA) which administered the concentration camp system, took over a portion of Bergen-Belsen and converted it first into a civilian residence camp and, later, into a concentration camp. Thus, while the German government placed the Bergen-Belsen camp complex within the concentration camp system, the WVHA initially gave it a special designation.
Background
Bergen-Belsen (pronounced [ËbÉÊÉ¡nÌ©ËbÉlsnÌ©]), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially this was an "exchange camp", where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas. The camp was later expanded to hold Jews from other concentration camps. After 1945, the name was applied to the displaced persons camp established nearby, but it is most commonly associated with the concentration camp.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Facility profile
Operator
SS-Totenkopfverbände
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
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Region
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Security level
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Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Notable inmates
Marian Pankowski1919–2011 · journalistMarian Pankowski (9 November 1919 â 3 April 2011) was a Polish writer, poet, literary critic and translator. Pankowski was born in Sanok.
Zenia Larsson1922–2007 · writerZenia Szajna Larsson, née Marcinkowska (1922â2007) was a Polish-Swedish writer and sculptor of Jewish descent.
Marian Ruzamski1889–1945 · painter
Dov Landaʼu1930–2013 · literary theorist
Edith Bruck1931 · poetEdith Bruck (born 3 May 1931) is a Hungarian-born writer, director and Holocaust survivor.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch1925 · cellistAnita Lasker-Wallfisch MBE (born 17 July 1925) is a German-British cellist, and a surviving member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz.
- Zvi Koretz1894–1945 · Chief Rabbi
Zvi Hirsch Koretz (Greek: ΣÎβη ÎÏÏεÏÏ; 2 June 1884 â 3 June 1945), also written as Tzevi or Sevi Koretz, was an Ashkenazi Jew who served as the Chief Rabbi of Saloniki's Jewish community from 1933 to 1945.
- Fania Fénelon1908–1983 · singer
Fania Fénelon (née Fanja Goldstein; 2 September 1908 â 19 December 1983) was a French pianist, composer and cabaret singer whose 1976 memoir, Sursis pour l'orchestre, about survival in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz during the Holocaust was adapted as the 1980 television film, Playing for Time.
Showing 9 of 12. Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Data completeness
40%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- EHRI Authority Record
- Wikidata entity
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- EHRI Authority List of Camps and Ghettos / USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos — European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)
- Wikidata (Q7332)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.