The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp
Welcome this new archive relating and dedicated to the men and women service personnel and the part they played at the Liberation and subsequent Humanitarian Effort of the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945: The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who submitted a name/details to coincide with the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen Belsen – we’ll go through all your submissions, moderate and add them on. If you have a photo or any more details please email us. Thank you.
We are now inviting any relatives of service personnel who may have been at the camp to get in touch. Any regiment, service, nationality, volunteer or any snippet of information – we would like to hear from you. We do not believe there are any records of the diverse group of men and women, many completely untrained, who were involved with the camp, after it’s liberation.
There are currently 32 names in this directory beginning with the letter A.
Abbott, Charles William John
My grandfather, helped to bury the bodies after the camp was liberated year later recognised himself driving a bulldozer during a show showing footage. Sadly gone now and greatly missed
Submitted by: Ron Newman
Abbott, Lawrence (RASC)
RASC from Newbiggin, Penrith
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Abrahams, Lady
British Red Cross
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Acreman, Stanley
My uncle served in the war. He left at 17 and at 18 helped liberate the Belsen camp.
His name is Stanley Acreman. He lived in Somerset and moved to Dursley, Gloucestershire.
He was a lovely man. He never spoke about what he saw to anyone. Then in the last years of his life I felt privileged that he shared history with me.
It was horrendous what he saw and how he described it. Truly awful. It’s awful to see a grown man cry. I will never forget what he saw and he was such a brave young man.
I do not know his regiment nor number. All I know is that he was called up to fight as he had turned 17.
British nurse with Red Cross attached to 29th British General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1945
Audio Recording
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Allan, Allexander (Second Lieutenant) (113 LAA)
Alexander was born in 1910 in Scotland. In 1943, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and joined the 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, The Royal Artillery. Part of the 113 advance recce party landing on Sword Beach, Normandy on June 7, 1944.
Interviewed for the Imperial War Museum in 1991.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Allen, John (Jack)
Sapper 1930824 Royal Engineers
17th October 1906 - 25th August 1990 Preston Lancashire
American Field Service
(ME 32, FCC, CM 97), in a letter to his parents, wrote that the things he witnessed—the overwhelming number of survivors crying out for medical attention, the unsanitary conditions, and the remains of those around the camp who were denied a proper burial—“couldn’t be exaggerated, as they couldn’t possibly be made any more horrible.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Alsen Lawrence Lt.
Ambrose, Stan
My uncle Stan Ambrose was one the first to step into Belsen, he was in the British army and after the war he hardly said about that sad time.
Submitted by: Alex Abercrombie
Amiss, James
my father told us about after the liberation of Belsen he was there for a while he said they took local people living near by to help bury some of the victims said he helped them off the lorry one woman in a fur coat I saw this photo the museum in Washington and it was just as he described and I am positive it was my dad he was in the pioneer corps name James Amiss have looked for photo can’t find it .
Submitted by: Evelyn Dean
Ancliff, Stanley George (RA poss 113)
1923–2013
Birth 7 JUL 1923 • 95, Southport Road, Plumstead, Kent
Death 12 DEC 2013 • Grimsby Hospital, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England
He served with the Royal Artillery Regiment and was based in Hameln after WWII ended
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Anderson, Alfred Thomas
My grandfather who served with the Green Howards and was one of the troops who liberated Bergen-Belsen.
Submitted by: Natalie Freeman
Anderson, James Christie Lt. Col.
O.C. Surgical Unit, 29 British General Hospital R.A.M.C
More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Anderson, Ronald
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
Submitted by: Archive
Anson, Joyce
VAD (Red Cross?)
JOyce was from Nottingham
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Apicella, Gennaro (Catering Corps)
I’m trying to find out further information about my father’s part in the liberation of Belsen-Bergen.
He was a Company Cook in the Catering Corps and I’m currently trying to get his military records.
APV001483605: Gennaro Apicella (Service Number: 14379057)
He died in 1973 and 24.2.2024 would have been his 100th birthday.
Shortly after Frederick and his regiment were evauated out of North Africa, he was commissioned in his Guards unit, rising quickly through field promotions, to the rank of captain. He was one of he first British officers entering both Bergen Belsen and Dakow concentration camps. These latter experiences may have disturbed Frederick more than he would admit.
After the war, he became an alcholic and was able to hide the fact long enough to re-enlist as a comissioned officer with the King's Own Rifles. This regiment was sent to Africa (Kenya) where Frederick's alchoholism became apparant, and he was eventiually asked to resign his commission.
This may have prven too much for Frederick, for on returning to England,he took a room in a local boarding house and the, one night, while heavily intoxicated, returned to his room, closed the windows, sealed the door, and turned on a small gas stove and went to sleep - forever.
1912-1952
Captain Aylin was commissioned at Llandudno in 1940 and after coastal defence was posted as the first ALO at RAF Tangmere and flew ops in Bostons and Mitchel aircraft across Germany. As a fluent German linguist, he supported the Rhine Crossing with the 21st Army. He was tasked with setting up a Displaced Persons Camp moving into an abandoned WW1 wooden camp with the help of a Polish Doctor, a Priest and a Jewish interpreter who had survived both Auschwitz and Belsen. Here he set up a medical centre, a chapel, dormitories, a ‘swap’ shop and classrooms for children.
When the War ended Captain Aylin who had not seen his family for over three years decided to stay in Germany to carry out his duties, he had been tasked to do by Lt Gen Sir BG Horrocks, KCB, KBE DSO, MC. He continued in the post until he handed over the Camp to refugee agencies and was then demobbed.
In 1946, Captain Aylin was appointed Head of Repatriation and Resettlement in the post war Control Commission in Kiel. As a talented artist and outstanding draughtsman, his son Clyde presented his memoirs to the Royal Artillery Museum.
EMAIL/CONTACT PLEASE NOTE: Recently we found an important email hidden away as spam. It could have been lost. If you contact us and either do not get a personal reply or a mention/update on this website, please send your email again. Thank you.
This site will progress and I’d encourage anyone with any info to get in touch. My granddad, Reg Price served with the 113th Durham Light Infantry*, as part of 369 Battery. As a signwriter, he produced this sign…
The Sign at the Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp
And this was kept in the family for years – so for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Belsen in 2020, subsequent VE Day and VJ Day, I thought it’s about time I’d try to find out more about Reg – his comrades (many of which are names, simply written on the back of photos), what they did together and for a way to remember them all, properly.
To coinicide with the anniversary, I was able to be filmed both on national and local BBC TV to tell Reg’s Story. Whilst this was totally out of my comfort zone and I dreaded every moment – I decided I needed to do something to start this all off. BBC Midlands Today aired 7th May and a VE Day Antiques Roadshow Special aired Sunday 10th May.
The main photo, shown here was coloured for the 75th Anniversary and we’ll tell you all about it shortly – and what happened next!
*Just 113th Durham Light Infantry? No we are interested in all Service and Medical personnel who took part during the humanitarian effort at Belsen Concentration Camp. Their roles and names are largely forgotten, as many were too horrified to ever speak of what they had to do, so this archive seeks to form a tribute to ALL those that were there, to find out more and to remember them. If you have a relative, or any info, on the relief effort at Belsen, we’d love you to please get in touch. Email us: liberator@belsen.co.uk – Thank you
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The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp
Any 113th Durham Light Infantry friends or family are encouraged to get in touch via 113th@belsen.co.uk
** In 1938 the old 5th Battalion DLI changed its role to Searchlights and then in 1940 to Anti-Aircraft. This 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment went to Normandy in June 1944 and joined the advance into Germany in early 1945. Official designation – Brigade: 100 AA • Division: 30 Corps. • Unit: 113 LAA Regt. RA (DLI) TA.
