"Neglected Casualties" - Russian expedition at Bergen-Belsen
Hey there!
Get a glimpse into the dark past as Bergen-Belsen's memorial site is all set to offer a concerned tour of the prisoner-of-war cemetery, marking a groundbreaking moment. With growing interest in the destiny of forced Soviet soldiers, this tour, named "Forgotten Victims," will make its debut this Sunday (2:30 PM).
Steeped in history, the infamous Bergen-Belsen camp in the Lüneburg Heath witnessed the tragic end of 15-year-old Anne Frank, a Jewish girl whose diary continues to captivate minds worldwide. This tour will traverse from the memorial site to the cemetery around 600 meters away, providing joint narratives in both German and Russian.
The cemetery serves as the eternal home to 19,580 souls. Historian Katja Seybold is hard at work on a book cataloging these "departed warriors." Over 12,000 names have already been identified. And for those who were fortunate enough to have survived and shared their heart-wrenching stories, interviews can be heard at the Bergen-Belsen Documentation Center.
Seybold reveals a surge in curiosity regarding the POWs' fate, with many Ukrainian refugees also visiting the memorial site. In total, over 70,000 souls perished in Bergen-Belsen. Between 1943 and 1945, around 120,000 innocents, including men, women, and children, were interred in the concentration camp, with more than 52,000 meeting a premature demise. The camp was eventually liberated by the British Army in April 1945, following the closure of the POW camp three months earlier. Seybold speculates that this fading memory may be why these victims of Nazism have remained in the shadows for so long.
Stay connected for further updates on this significant endeavor, as we delve deeper into the stories of the "Forgotten Victims" at Bergen-Belsen.
The upcoming tour, "Forgotten Victims," at Bergen-Belsen's memorial site will not only focus on the prisoner-of-war cemetery but also delve into war-and-conflicts, politics, and general-news, including the fate of the forced Soviet soldiers. With the book by historian Katja Seybold, titled "Departed Warriors," shedding light on the 19,580 souls laid to rest in the cemetery, this tour promises to offer insights into a significant chapter ofhistory marked by Bergen-Belsen's tragic past.
