Two survivors, after the liberation – Bergen Belsen, Germany, April 1945

Bergen Belsen, next to Hamburg in northern Germany, first served as a holding camp, and gradually became a concentration camp where tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews perished. After the war’s end, Bergen Belsen became the largest DP camp in Europe, with 10,000 inhabitants in 1946. Under the leadership of Yosef Rosensaft, and with the assistance of organizations and individuals who came to help, the liberated prisoners succeeded in organizing a wide range of social, cultural and political activities.