Origin and history of the DP camp
After the liberation, the British Army housed the survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the nearby former Wehrmacht barracks and provided them with medical care.
These former concentration camp prisoners, forced labourers, and POWs who had been deported from all over Europe were given the status of ‘Displaced Persons’ (DP) by the Allies. This meant they had the right to special welfare services.
After most survivors had returned to their countries of origin, the majority of those who remained in Bergen-Belsen were Jews and non-Jewish Polish nationals. At times, there were more than 10,000 people living in the Polish DP camp in Bergen-Belsen, which was disbanded in September 1946. Up to 12,000 people lived in the Jewish DP camp in Bergen-Belsen, which existed until mid-1950.
The DP camp was home not only to survivors of Bergen-Belsen but also to former prisoners from other camps, former forced labourers, and Holocaust survivors from elsewhere in Europe.
About the DP camp
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One of the emergency hospitals in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp © Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem When British troops arrived at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, they were not prepared for either the diseases that were running rampant there, such as typhus and typhoid, or for the prisoners’ extreme malnutrition. Even as thousands of bodies were still being buried in mass graves in the former concentration camp and the contaminated wooden huts were burned down, the British Army set up an emergency hospital in buildings in the nearby former Wehrmacht barracks. More than 11,000 patients were still being treated there in June 1945. The emergency hospital did not have the capacity to care for everyone, so many survivors were sent to hospitals and auxiliary infirmaries in neighbouring towns such as Celle.
Just one week after the liberation, several British Red Cross units and additional civilian aid personnel arrived in Bergen-Belsen to support the military. The British Red Cross took responsibility for managing the civilian medical care. The staff comprised doctors and relief workers from many different countries, including a large number of liberated prisoners. German doctors and nurses were also conscripted by the British.
As the number of patients decreased, the barracks were converted into dormitories, and the emergency hospital became the Bergen-Belsen DP camp.
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At the start of September 1945, there were still more than 10,000 non-Jewish Poles living in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. Before the liberation, they had been civilian forced labourers, POWs, and concentration camp prisoners. These DPs refused to return to Poland because they rejected the communist regime in Warsaw which had been installed by the Soviet Union. The government in Warsaw wanted to encourage the DPs to return promptly, but the Polish government-in-exile in London warned against this.
Everyday life in the Polish DP camp was largely self-organized by a camp committee. A lively social, cultural, and religious life developed in the camp. Kindergartens, schools, and vocational training courses were established. A daily Polish information bulletin was soon joined by a weekly newspaper. The cultural and sporting activities included choirs and bands, art exhibitions, a cabaret, football (soccer) teams, and athletics competitions.
Nonetheless, the survivors’ experiences of persecution remained ever present. The Polish DP camp committee set up a department for documenting the crimes of the National Socialists. In November 1945, it arranged for a large wooden cross to be erected in the grounds of the former concentration camp. The cross was dedicated with a Catholic Mass held before thousands of residents of the DP camp.
In September 1946, the British military authorities disbanded the Polish DP camp in Bergen-Belsen and transferred its residents to other DP camps in the British zone. Around two thirds of the Polish DP from the British zone returned to Poland. The rest tried to emigrate, primarily to the USA and Canada.
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Emigration to Israel, 22 March 1949: The emigration began at the same railway ramp where the prisoners transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp had arrived. © Yad Vashem Archive, Jerusalem The Jewish DP camp was home to former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as well as thousands of Holocaust survivors from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of these Jewish DPs could not imagine continuing to live in Europe. Very few of them had any remaining relatives, and their homes and possessions had been stolen or destroyed.
A Jewish camp committee had been founded immediately after the liberation. In September 1945, after democratic elections, this committee became the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone, with headquarters in the DP camp. The committee organized political congresses which called for free emigration to Palestine and the foundation of the State of Israel. The goal of a self-determined life in Palestine was supported not only by those who had previously been staunch Zionists, but also by many survivors who had not been inclined towards Zionism before their experience of persecution under the National Socialists.
The British occupying forces viewed the Jews only as a religious community, but most of the Jewish survivors considered themselves to be a nation in their own right. The Central Committee served as the government of the Jewish DP camp and established a police force, a court, schools, and cultural and social institutions. Most of the DP camp residents were young and single, and many of them married and started families, which gave them new prospects for the future. In the first two years after the liberation alone, more than one thousand Jewish couples got married in Bergen-Belsen, and well over a thousand Jewish children were born before the camp was disbanded.
When emigration opportunities improved from 1947, many residents of the DP camp departed. The State of Israel was founded in May 1948, and the British government lifted the last remaining emigration restrictions at the start of 1949. Other states, including the USA and Canada, also loosened their emigration requirements. The Jewish DP camp in Bergen-Belsen was finally disbanded in the summer of 1950.