Collection

The memorial's collection of texts is divided into three sections: "Eyewitness accounts", "Files" and "Press".

The Collection of Eyewitness Accounts consists of around 2000 personal accounts, written mainly by former prisoners of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but also by former prisoners of war and Displaced Persons (DPs) as well as members of the British Army, aid organisations and local residents. The texts vary greatly in their length: some reports are only short protocols, limited to one or a few pages. In most cases, they were written shortly after the Liberation. Others comprise several hundred pages and were only finalised as complete autobiographies a few years ago. These texts were written in a variety of languages. Although the majority are in German and English, there are also many texts in French, Polish, Hebrew, Hungarian and other languages.

The file collection consists primarily of copies of files. A central collection is, for example, copies of the files on the Bergen-Belsen-Prozess from the British TNA (The National Archives, Kew). The originals include the compensation files of the Sh'erit ha-Pletah, the organisation of former Bergen-Belsen prisoners in Israel, as well as a collection of files from the Lohheide municipal district, which also mainly relate to the post-war period.

The press archive consists of a chronological collection of articles on Bergen-Belsen from April 1945 to the present day. These articles are available partly as originals and partly as photocopies. The Collection focuses on reporting on the Liberation and the immediate phase afterwards (April to June 1945) and the Lüneburg Bergen-Belsen Trial (September to December 1945).

The photo archive of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial comprises over 15,000 photographs.

In addition to photographs from the time of the Liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the main focus is on extensive collections relating to the DP camp and individuals, which often come from the possession of survivors or their family members.

In most cases, however, the memorial has no or only limited rights of use. For example, the rights to most of the photographs of the Liberation are held by the Imperial War Museum in London.

The collection of artefacts covers very different areas.

Of particular importance is the collection of more than 900 personal items and documents from former prisoners, including items of clothing, ID cards, letters and diaries. The majority of these are (permanent) loans or donations. This collection is supplemented by other historical objects that are not related to personal or family history, such as original publications from the DP camp, some of which have also been purchased.

The collection of artefacts from the memorial site comprises over 3,000 individual objects that have been found by participants in regular youth work camps during excavation works since the early 1990s. Typical finds include everyday objects such as cups, bottles, plates, buttons and screws or remnants of camp architecture such as barbed wire. Some of these objects are displayed in the floor showcases of the permanent exhibition.