Over 70,000 people were killed in the camp complex of Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany, with thousands of them dying of disease, starvation, and exhaustion even after the camp was liberated by British soldiers on April 15, 1945.

Anne Frank, famous for the diary she wrote as a teenager in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, ended up in Bergen-Belsen after her capture in 1944, where she died in early 1945.

 

Germany has held a minute of silence this week to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp on April 15, 1945.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, German authorities have postponed a large commemoration event to mark the anniversary with thousands of attendees, including around 120 of the camp’s survivors. Due to the coronavirus lockdown, however, the event has now been rescheduled for next year and a smaller ceremony is set to be held on Sunday.

Remembering the Holocaust is “part of Germany’s identity,” said the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster.The pandemic “unfortunately makes it impossible to honor the few survivors who are still among us, the way they deserve,” he said.

“It is also important for the stability of our democracy to remember, again and again, where inhumane ideologies and disregard of basic democratic rights can lead,” he added.

Over 70,000 people were killed in the camp complex of Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany, with thousands of them dying of disease, starvation, and exhaustion even after the camp was liberated by British soldiers on April 15, 1945.

Anne Frank, famous for the diary she wrote as a teenager in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, ended up in Bergen-Belsen after her capture in 1944, where she died in early 1945.

The head of the camp at the time of the liberation, Josef Kramer, and the warden of the female section, Irma Grese, were captured, tried, and hanged in 1945.