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.
He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1932 but resigned his commission in 1934 to return to dispensing practice in Ballymena and to be medical officer of health. He served in the army during the second world war and was wounded at Dunkirk. He served in Persia and Iraq and was second hygiene officer Second Army from Normandy to Lunenberg Heath. He was responsible for the sanitary clearing of Belsen and other concentration camps, for which he was awarded a military OBE. He was also present at the surrender of the German medical services at Lunenberg Heath in 1945. He returned to general practice and took an active interest in public health matters. For 32 years he was medical officer of the Royal Ulster Rifles, later the Royal Irish Rangers, at the Ballymena regimental depot.
Name: KENNY, ALFRED JAMES
Rank: Gunner
Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: 113 (2/5th Bn. The Durham Light Inf.) Lt. A.A. Regt.
Age: 36
Date of Death: 28/06/1944
Service No: 1617489
Additional information: Son of James and Christina Kenny, of Stirling.
Grave/Memorial Reference: V. D. 20.
Cemetery: ST. MANVIEU WAR CEMETERY, CHEUX
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive
Kent Philip David Alexander
Kenyon, Eric
My dad's next door neighbour Eric Kenyon was one of the first through the gates of Belsen. They occupied the site for six months, clearing up and their 'reward' was to be sent to Japan to clean up after the atomic bomb devastation there.
My dad was with the british tanks there, he cried about it even just before his death in 1986. he was not jewish , just a human being in a peoples army trying to do the right thing. His name PAUL Knoth i am Howard knoth one of his sons.
My father, George W. Knowlton, served with The American Field Service in WW2. He was in North Africa and participated in the liberation of Bergen Belsen.
(More details to follow...)
Submitted by: Joy Knowlton
Kohn Elisabeth
Korn Gerald Woolf
Krantz, Hermina
Former inmate.
Birth date: 3 May 1918; Birth place: Hamburg
Kinderbaracke (children’s barrack)
Kunkel, Norman C. (AFS)
1918 - 2009
Once WW2 broke out Kunkel tried to enlist but was rejected because of an old elbow injury. He joined the AFS as an ambulance driver in the summer of 1943 and was sent to India and Burma. From November 44 - April 45 Kunzel served in Italy before entering Belsen.
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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.
