Triumph over Belsen. (Kindly contributed by Steve Price)
Having, because of illness, been confined to bed during the past two months; there has been the time, solitude, and inclination to think of, revive, and analyse old war time memories. Two main reasons now prompt me to write this particular war time story. The first is that all the experiences during six years of service as a medical officer during the last war and they included; the final hours of the evacuation from Dunkirk, the severe blitz on Liverpool, the Blitz on Belfast, a two weeks enforced stay in London – confined to barracks in the West Ham Football Stadium while waiting for the advent of D.Day – during the initial ‘Buzz Bomb’ bombardment, and a noisy, busy, uncomfortable time on the beaches and later in the fields of Normandy; no single one was more exhausting, sickening, stirred up so much bitterness, and resulted in such disturbing and lasting memories than that associated with the conditions at Belsen Concentration Camp. The second is that it may serve as an apt reminder after almost fifteen years, of what happened under Nazism and may in some measure help to alleviate the rash of anti-semitism which has suddenly irradiated in Germany and has been spreading here and elsewhere.
On 14th April, 1945, as the result of a visit to Headquarters 8 British Corps of two German Emissaries of the Wehrmacht under cover of a white flag; information was received of the location of a Concentration Camp at Belsen where there was said to be some 60000 prisoners, mainly political, and amongst whom there were a large number suffering from Typhoid and Typhus fevers. Because of the obvious danger of the spread of infection, negotiations took place to prevent both fighting over the area and any possible escape of infected personnel. In the terms which were laid down, all Hungarian and German troops then on guard duties were to remain at their posts; any S.S. guards not removed would be treated as prisoners of war, and all S.S. administrative personnel would remain and carry on with their duties. On the following day one Battery of 63 Anti Tank Regiment, commanded by Lt Col R Taylor D.S.O., took control of the camp and all the Wehrmacht soldiers were returned to their lines. A few days later, at the request of the D.D.M.S. of British Second Army, Brigadier H.L Glyn Hughes C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., who had already made an initial survey of conditions; I set out on a tour of inspection, accompanied by Lt Cols R. Gwynne Evans, (A.D.M.S.) and A.M. Michie, (A.D.H.).
The camp lay in the village of Belsen, some 15 miles north of Celle on the road to Uelzen. It was hidden from view by a thick plantation of trees so that one was not aware of its presence from the road. As we got nearer an odour with which medical men are familiar became stronger, and once within the camp itself the stench of dead and dying and the effects of Typhoid and Dysentery was unbearable; putrefaction at its worst which made it difficult even to breathe with freedom.
The main concentration area adjoined a large German Wehrmacht Barracks and consisted of a hutted camp, roughly triangular in shape with its base to the road, some 2 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 : miles. It was divided by bare wire fences into five large compounds; three for men and two for women. In the men’s compound the number of inmates was calculated as 14000 of whom the number of acutely ill and dying was estimated as 4000. The women’s compounds were said to hold some 28000, including about 500 children; the number of acutely ill and dying was estimated at 3000 for whom there were only some 500 bunks available. In consequence, each bunk had two or three women in it: the remainder lay on bare boards.
The inmates, like skeletons, shuffled, staggered, and stumbled towards us in tattered, dirty, striped pyjama – like clothing. How well I remember two emaciated women emerging from a hut carrying between them the equally emaciated body of another, staggering a few steps towards a heap of naked corpses, and laying their burden gently with the rest. One of them then made her way very slowly back to the doorway of the hut: the other, as she straightened up, suddenly collapsed forwards over the body she had just helped to put down. I went to her aid only to find that this last effort had been too great for her and she also was dead.
The interior of many of the huts was beyond comprehension: just chaos, dirt, stench and overcrowding such that only with great difficulty was it possible for us to make our way around. Dead lay amongst the dying. Many of those who were ill were beyond caring and certainly too weak to carry out the dead. Is it any wonder that the task of our medical officers of the Light Field Ambulance which first arrived was to organise removal from the huts only those who had a chance of survival? Only by this apparent drastic measure could the greatest number of lives be saved.
It must be emphasised here that already the S.S. personnel, male and female, were put on adequate food rations and made to work cleaning out the huts, loading corpses into lorries, and unloading them into mass graves – a seemingly endless task. Of all the gruesome scenes, that one seems to remain most vivid.
The cookhouses, five in number, were very small and quite inadequate. The two meals per day apparently consisted of carrots, dried cabbage, turnips or potatoes, in soup form. Distribution was in containers by the prisoners themselves and, with such numbers to cope with and the vast amount of illness, it had obviously been some time a question of ‘survival of the fittest’.
Water was supplied from three concrete ponds and because such supply was dependent on electricity, the power of which had been cut, there had been none for several days. This situation was promptly dealt with, on arrival of our troops, by a supply of water carts from 8 Corps. Latrine accommodation, what there was of it, consisted of primitive, bare, horizontal, poles over a pit; but the ravages of dysentery forced those poor unfortunate sufferers to squat anywhere.
At one end of the camp was a crematorium which had not been used for some time because of the excessive number of deaths. Nearby were a number of huge mounds of fresh earth under which, we were informed were communal graves. As previously mentioned, S.S. Personnel were unloading corpses into one, large, open communal grave.
A secondary and more recent concentration area had been formed by taking over a portion of the Barrack area. Here it was a welcome change to see that the inmates, about 16000, were in much better condition. They had not long arrived from other camps and were fortunately free from major infectious disease such as Typhoid and Typhus. The remainder of the Barrack area was magnificent with every facility such as canteens, cookhouses, a cinema, excellent married quarters, and a palatial Officer’s Mess. Incidentally, later on, this Officer’s Mess was converted into a hospital ward; specially devoted to the slow and tedious task of building up the nutritional standard of the most seriously ill starvation patients. About a mile from this area, in front of a picturesque lake, was a small ‘roundhouse’ hospital and another mile distant was an extremely good military hospital.
The policy laid down by Brigadier H.L. Glyn Hughes and put into operation by the officers and men of the two Field Hygiene Sections; No. 14 Light Field Ambulance; No. 32 Casualty Clearing Station; and later, when they were made available, two British General Hospitals, was one of the major medical successes of the war. Help in this field was also obtained from U.N.R.A., B.R.C., and members of the Typhus Commission. Within three weeks of the takeover, the main concentration area had been evacuated and was then destroyed by fire. The Barrack area had been re-organised into a large hospital which, at the end of six weeks or so, contained roughly 11000 patients. It seems fitting to record that the small ‘roundhouse hospital’ is to this day known as the ‘Glyn Hughes Memorial Hospital’.
Two further tours of inspection were carried out on May 10th and May 30th. i.e. just over three weeks and six weeks respectively after its liberation. Here is an extract from a report I made to Brigadier Hughes:
“Before giving any impressions of the Concentration Camp at Belsen it would be well to record a few of the statements made from time to time by Himmler, Head of the German Gestapo:
‘Whenever war breaks out, terrorism becomes a necessary military principle.’
‘Enforced discipline and intimidation are the best methods of preserving civilian morale’.
‘We teach our S.S. men that there are many things which can be forgiven, but disloyalty to the Fuehrer can never be pardoned’.
‘There are people in Germany who become sick to their stomachs when they see the black uniforms of our own S.S. We understand this and we don’t expect to be loved by too man: those who cherish Germany should respect us; but those who have bad consciences should fear us’.
‘We must realise that in the event of war we shall have to place a very considerable number of people into concentration camps.’
“That the above principles were carried out with utter ruthlessness is very evident from what we saw at Belsen. Thousands of people; because of their birth, religion, political views, refusal to accept the Nazi regime, or even more trifling causes, were taken from their homes and placed under constant supervision and forced to unconditional blind obedience. This sudden change mode of living, eating, sleeping, etc. caused unbearable initial mental suffering. The monotonous existence with no hope for the future; the nagging sense of frustration that comes with loss of liberty; the crowding together of people with widely different intellectual, religious, and professional interests and social upbringing gradually sapped spirit and will.
Personalities became altered and, under the awful conditions we saw, sense of decency and pride was lost and existence became animal-like.”
When I paid my second visit, the main camp had just been burned down. The process of removal from the filth, the bathing, cleansing, and de-lousing had been completed and the inmates found themselves in clean, airy wards with clean clothes, proper beds and, something that they had not experienced for some time, attention to their needs. Many were indiffent to even this but the great majority now showed real appreciation. A high proportion exhibited signs of terror when approached and it was pitiful to watch one of the first batches being taken for X-Ray examination of their chests. They struggled, cried, and screamed as if being led to some form of unknown torture. Confusion, bewilderment, and mass hysteria was everywhere.
On my third and last visit, the marked general improvement was obvious but on entering a ward one was struck by its similarity in atmosphere to that of a sick ward in a mental hospital. Even so, the apparent apathy and indifference was now chiefly due to physical weakness and basic morale was improving. Habits had improved to almost perfection. As one Nursing Sister put it: “They now use the receptacles for the purpose intended.”
A further extract I made in the report to Brigadier Hughes at the time reads:
“When conditions at Belsen were first seen I thought it impossible for so many people, so badly treated, to recover; but now, after six weeks of liberation, and efficient treatment, a large proportion will again become reasonably healthy citizens. The evidence of German brutality at Belsen, which was calculated to break even the strongest, is truly enormous; - almost as enormous as the problem of social reorganisation of the country and re-education of its people.”
In conclusion, having witnessed that terror, I cannot avoid now being deeply disturbed by the present wave of Nazism and Anti-Semitism. Recent publicists demand the dismissal of all ex Nazis who hold important posts in Germany. That would be a difficult task and maybe it would be wiser to realise that Nazis in public employment can be better watched and more safely controlled. The German leaders then should make sure that only very sound people are recruited to the public service in future so that the Nazi element which exists will progressively weaken.
Dr. R. J. Phillips
‘The Hollies’
Pyle
Signed
R J Phillips
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