Henry Southwell: Henry Southwell of Cornwall , England, visited the burial pits at KZ Bergen-Belsen in 1952Burial pits at KZ BelsenIN 1952 I was in the army and stationed in Berlin.
·182 words·~1 min read
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Henry
Southwell
of Cornwall ,
England, visited the burial pits at KZ Bergen-Belsen in
1952
Burial pits at KZ Belsen
IN 1952 I was in the army and stationed in Berlin. In the month of June I competed in the Rhine Army games, the swimming section of which was held in Celle.
This is very close to Belsen and one rest day a few of us got hold of a truck and drove to the camp. At that time it was pretty rough and ready with not much to see except a series of huge pits.
From the centre of each one, and running its entire length, a large mound arose with a notice stuck in the middle reading “5,000 ( or 10,000 and so on) buried here”.
These were the only features I can recall. I don`t think many people visited the camp in those days; there was certainly no sign of anyone who might have been able to explain anything to us.