Belsen

Bergen-Belsen was the first Nazi camp liberated by the British army. The shocking, horrific scenes beheld by the British soldiers who entered the camp received wide press coverage and reinforced the conviction that Britain was waging a just war. At the same time, the "Belsen myth" - that Belsen was a death camp on a par with Birkenau and Treblinka - was born. Describes briefly the history of the Belsen camp; dwells on its liberation and the consequent period, when the British tried to save its inmates from imminent death and when a DP camp was established at the same site. Examines reactions of British society and of the Anglo-Jewish community to reports on the camp. During the war, the vast majority of the British public did not comprehend the true nature of the Nazi genocide; information on it was perceived as exaggerated. After reports on Belsen, the British public believed that genocide was perpetrated by the Nazis, but did not comprehend that its primary victims were Jews. Only the following years brought the full understanding of the Holocaust. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)