At the end of World War II, the Nazi concentration camps around European began to be liberated. For the camp at Bergen-Belsen, this was a particularly daunting task. Although Belsen started out as a camp for wealthy Jews with important foreign investments – people whom the Germans could keep healthy and steal from – it became drastically overcrowded and was plagued with typhus by the end.
British military resources were simply not quick enough or vast enough to provide the medical care needed to provide the right care for the internees. This book discusses all of the efforts made to liberate the camp and heal the sick, from as many first-hand perspectives as possible.
I can appreciate this book because it is well structured. Many stories about the war, focus either on the fighting or the events of the Holocaust, but it’s good to see information about what happened as everyone tried to recover. Many of the Jewish people caught up in concentration camps never went back “home.” The concept of a Jewish nation grew out of these events as those people who lost families sought to find a new family identity.
For anyone who takes interest in history, particularly WWI, I definitely recommend this book.
Rating = 3
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