79: Bergen-Belsen Arrival

79 years ago today (November 3, 1944) the Cattle Train from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland arrived near Bergen in Germany.

(Margot and Anne Frank before going into Hiding – 1941 – German-Occupied the Netherlands.)

A 4 mile march through woods and heathland waited the Prisoners before they arrived to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp at Luneburger Heide.

On arrival in the Camp the Prisoners were given a piece of cloth with a new Camp number to be worn on their clothes. The numbers on their arms from Auschwitz no longer counted, because every Camp had its own Registration System.

Anne Frank (who was 14 years old) and Margot Frank (who was 18 years old) were sent to the Tent Camp, an area on flat ground with around fifteen tents. There was no lighting in this section of the Camp and the water supply was primitive.

”We saw two thin, bald figures that looked like freezing baby birds. We fell into each other’s arms and cried. It was Margot and Anne Frank /.../ the four of us went past the Barracks to the parade ground. We saw several big tents there. They looked like circus tents. We were assigned to one of them and lay down on the straw. We cuddle up with each other under our blankets.” Lien Brilleslijper.

Anne and Margot Frank had been in the Auschwitz Death Camp from September 3, 1944 (on the last Cattle Train from Westerbork in German-Occupied the Netherlands) until they left for Bergen-Belsen on October 30, 1944.

Anne Frank was briefly reunited with two Friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz, who were also confined in the Camp. Blitz had been moved from the Sternlager to the same section of the Camp as Anne on December 5, 1944, while Goslar had been held in the Sternlager since February 1944.

Both Goslar and Blitz survived the War.

Hannah Pick-Goslar moved to Israel in 1947 and died on October 22, 2022 at 93 years old.

Nanette Blitz Konig is still alive at 94 years old and has lived in Brazil since 1953.

Margot Frank died at the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in February or Marcg 1945 from Typhus. She was buried in a Mass Grave. She was 18 or 19 years old.

Anne Frank died at the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in February or March 1945 – a few days after her Sister, Margot, from a Typhus Epidemic that spread through the camp, killing 17,000 Prisoners. She was buried in a Mass Grave. She was 15 years old.

The British liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945 -  a month after their deaths.

Anne and Margot’s Mother, Edith, was left at the Auschwitz Death Camp when her Daughters were sent to Bergen-Belsen. Edith was Selected for the Gas Chamber, but ran away from the group Selected to die and stole the Registration Number of someone who had already died. She died on January 6, 1945 (3 weeks before Auschwitz was liberated and 10 days before her 45^th Birthday.)