Thursday 9 October 2008

Filmed Lecture of First-hand Account of the Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp Released Online

Leonard Berney

1 hour lecture delivered by Leonard Berney, Lt-Col R.A. T.D.(Rtd), in August 2008, aboard 'MV The World' cruise ship.

Belsen Concentration Camp in Lower Saxony, southwest of the town of Bergen, was liberated by the British Army on 15th April 1945. Between 1943 and 1945, an estimated 50,000 people died there.

Leonard Berney, then aged 25, was at that time an army major and was one of the officers who first entered the camp. He was responsible for the evacuation of the inmates out of the "horror camp" and subsequently was the Commandant of the Displaced Persons Camp, caring for some 30,000 of the ex-prisoners. Belsen DP Camp was the largest DP camp in Germany.

Mr Berney gives his first-hand account of his experiences in August 2008 aboard 'MV The World' cruise ship. Includes a question and answer session from the audience at the end.

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