WREATH LAYING -- OPENING CEREMONY -- STILLS IN MUSEUM -- GROUNDS.




Initials GHB/VS/MGT/BB



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Background: A MEMORIAL MUSEUM TO THE 50,000 INMATES WHO DIED AT BERGEN-BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP WAS OPENED AT THE ORIGINAL SITE OF THE CAMP IN WEST GERMANY YESTERDAY (SUNDAY).

A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE MUSEUM, DOCUMENTING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CAMP LIFE -- AND DEATH -- IS DEDICATED TO ANNE FRANK, ONE OF THE FEW KNOWN VICTIMS. HER DIARY, FROM WHICH A PLAY AND A FILM HAVE BEEN CREATED, GAVE A GRIM ACCOUNT OF THE PERSECUTION OF JEWS IN THE NAZI ERA.

ORIGINALLY A TRANSIT CAMP FOR JEWS ON THEIR WAY TO THE GAS CHAMBERS IN POLAND, BERGEN-BELSEN BECAME THE SCENE OF SOME OF THE WORST HORRORS IN THE LAST MONTHS OF THE WAR. AS THE NAZI ORGANISATION COLLAPSED, TYPHUS BROKE OUT IN THE CAMP WHILE MORE TRAINS BRINGING JEWS CONTINUED TO ARRIVE.

WHEN BRITISH TROOPS REACHED BELSEN IN 1945 THEY FOUND 13,000 EMACIATED CORPSES AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE BARELY LIVING. IN THE LAST MONTHS OF ITS EXISTENCE SOME 40,000 PEOPLE ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE DIED FROM TYPHUS AND STARVATION.

THE NEW MUSEUM PRESERVES THE MEMORY OF VICTIMS THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHIC AND DOCUMENTARY RECORDS, AND SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE INHUMANITY WHICH WAR CAN BRING.