Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of "List of people associated with Anne Frank"

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⭐ Core Definition: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen (pronounced [ˈbɛʁɡn̩ˌbɛlsn̩]), 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. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there. Overcrowding, lack of food, and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery, leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberation.

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👉 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of List of people associated with Anne Frank

Anne Frank (12 June 1929 – c. February – March 1945) was a German-born Jewish girl who, along with her family and four other people, hid in the second and third floor rooms at the back of her father's Amsterdam company during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Helped by several trusted employees of the company, the group of eight survived in the achterhuis (literally "back-house", usually translated as "secret annex") for more than two years before they were betrayed, and arrested. Anne kept a diary from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944, three days before the residents of the annex were arrested. Anne mentioned several times in her writings that her sister Margot Frank also kept a diary, but no trace of Margot's diary was ever found.

After spending time in both Westerbork and Auschwitz, Anne and her elder sister Margot were eventually transported to Bergen-Belsen, which was swept by a massive typhus epidemic that began in the camp in January 1945. Evidently, they died a few days apart sometime in February or March 1945. Both were buried in one of the mass graves at Belsen, though it is unknown to this day exactly which of the many mass graves at Belsen contains their remains. Their "tombstone" that can be viewed at Belsen today is a cenotaph for the two sisters. Their father, Otto Frank, survived the war and upon his return to Amsterdam was given the diary his daughter had kept during their period of confinement, which had been rescued from the ransacked achterhuis by Miep Gies (below) who, out of respect for Anne's privacy, had not read it. The diary was first published in 1947, and by virtue of worldwide sales since then, it has become one of the most widely read books in history. It is recognized both for its historical value as a document of the Holocaust and for the high quality of writing displayed by such a young author. In 2010, Anne was honored as one of the most iconic women of the year. She is also one of the most well known victims of the Holocaust. Her friend Eva Schloss, who survived the Holocaust, became her stepsister after Anne Frank's death.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl, commonly referred to as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Anne's diaries were retrieved by Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. Miep gave them to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only survivor, just after the Second World War was over.

The diary has since been published in more than 70 languages. It was first published under the title Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944 (Dutch: [ət ˈɑxtərˌɦœys]; The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944) by Contact Publishing [nl] in Amsterdam in 1947. The diary received widespread critical and popular attention on the appearance of its English language translation, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Doubleday & Company (United States) and Vallentine Mitchell (United Kingdom) in 1952. Its popularity inspired the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank by the screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version. The book is included in several lists of the top books of the 20th century.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of Georges Valois

Georges Valois (French: [ʒɔʁʒ valwa]; born Alfred-Georges Gressent; 7 October 1878 – February 1945) was a French journalist and national syndicalist politician. He was a member of the French Resistance and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of Bergen, Lower Saxony

Bergen (German pronunciation: [ˈbɛʁɡn̩] ; Eastphalian: Bargen) is a town in the north of Celle district on the Lüneburg Heath, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Administratively it acts as a municipal borough divided into 12 subordinate parishes based on the town and its surrounding villages: Becklingen, Belsen, Bergen, Bleckmar, Diesten, Dohnsen, Eversen, Hagen, Hassel, Offen, Sülze and Wardböhmen. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was located in the area of Belsen.

The town had 13,099 inhabitants according to the census conducted in December 2008. Members of the British military and their families, who were not included in the census, brought the actual population to about 17,000. These soldiers occupied a NATO base and exercise on the Bergen-Hohne Training Area just outside the town, but the base closed in summer 2015 as part of the British Army's withdrawal from Germany. The Sieben Steinhäuser, a cluster of dolmens dating from the Stone Age, are located within the training area.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of Margot Frank

Margot Betti Frank (16 February 1926 – c. February 1945) was the elder daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank and the elder sister of Anne Frank. Margot's deportation order from the Gestapo hastened the Frank family into hiding. According to the diary of her younger sister, Anne, Margot kept a diary of her own, but no trace of it has ever been found. She died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from a typhus outbreak.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of The Diary of Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl, commonly referred to as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Anne's diaries were retrieved by Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. Miep gave them to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only survivor, just after the Second World War was over.

The diary has since been published in more than 70 languages. It was first published under the title Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944 (Dutch: [ət ˈɑxtərˌɦœys]; The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944) by Contact Publishing (nl) in Amsterdam in 1947. The diary received widespread critical and popular attention on the appearance of its English language translation, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Doubleday & Company (United States) and Vallentine Mitchell (United Kingdom) in 1952. Its popularity inspired the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank by the screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version. The book is included in several lists of the top books of the 20th century.

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Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the context of The Holocaust in Albania

The Holocaust saw crimes committed against Jews in Albania while Albania was under Italian and German occupation during World War II. Throughout the war, nearly 2,000 Jews sought refuge in Albania-proper. Most of these Jewish refugees were treated well by the local population, despite the fact that Albania-proper was occupied first by Fascist Italy, and then by Nazi Germany. Albanians often sheltered Jewish refugees in mountain villages and transported them to Adriatic ports from where they fled to Italy. Other Jews joined resistance movements throughout the country.

For the 500 Jews who lived in Kosovo, the experience was starkly different, and about 40 percent did not survive the war. With the surrender of Italy in September 1943, Germany occupied Albania. In 1944, an Albanian Waffen-SS division, the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg was formed, which arrested and handed over to the Germans 281 Jews from Kosovo who were subsequently deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where many were killed. In late 1944, the Germans were driven out of Albania-proper and the country became a communist state under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. Around the same time, Axis forces in the Albanian-annexed regions of Kosovo and western Macedonia were defeated by the Yugoslav Partisans, who subsequently reincorporated these areas into Yugoslavia.

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