The Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Commemorated at Catterick Garrison

Photo credit: The Light Dragoons

Last month, to mark the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, I was honoured to be invited, as a Generation 2 Generation (G2G) speaker, to deliver my father's Belsen liberation presentation at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. The special commemorative event, held on 15th April 2026, was hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) and The Light Dragoons.

Catterick Garrison Photo credit: The Light Dragoons

A short service was given by Padre Dominic Holroyd near the memorial oak tree, planted last year at the 80th anniversary of the liberation by Belsen survivor Mala Tribich MBE and by Alfred Garwood MBE who was born in a Nazi ghetto. Soldiers of the Light Dragoons were addressed by HMDT’s Chief Operating Officer, Paul Lopez-Salzedo, and Lt-Col Dan Lenherr, Commanding Officer of The Light Dragoons. There was also a minute silence in memory of all those lives lost in the second world war.

HMDT’s Chief Operating Officer, Paul Lopez-Salzedo
Photo credit: The Light Dragoons

81 years ago to the day, on 15 April 1945, the British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen when they found around 60,000 prisoners, most of who were ill and malnourished and dying at a rate of around 500 a day, as well as 10,000 unburied corpses. The Light Dragoons antecedent Regiment, 15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars, were one of the first British forces to liberate Bergen-Belsen – among them, my father, Lt-Col Leonard Berney who was stationed there for 14 weeks, helping to organise the relief effort and save as many lives as possible. He later became the Commander of the Belsen Displaced Persons Camp.

John Wood Photo credit: The Light Dragoons

I gave my presentation to around 60 officers in officer's mess of the Light Dragoons. My father hoped that his story, if broadly known, would help prevent future atrocities.

John Wood presenting a copy of his father's book, 

Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp to Lt-Col Dan Lenherr, 

Commanding Officer, The Light Dragoons
Photo credit: The Light Dragoons

The most important message I wanted to get across was the importance of improving Human Rights education as it is the key to building a better and more compassionate society.

Paul Lopez-Salzedo, HMDT’s COO, said: “We are very grateful to The Light Dragoons for their special partnership and for their support in hosting this event. Together, we honour not only those who were murdered at Bergen-Belsen, and the British soldiers who liberated the survivors, but also the 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were killed during the Holocaust.

Lt-Col Dan Lenherr, Commanding Officer, The Light Dragoons, added: “This event served as a powerful reminder that we must not forget the horrors of the past and that we all have a duty to ensure that they are never repeated.”

About Generation 2 Generation

G2G, a Holocaust Education Charity, empowers second and third generation Holocaust survivor descendants to share their family histories with a wide range of audiences. G2G is part of HMDT’s Partnership Group, which brings together sister organisations within the sector to extend the reach and impact of Holocaust Memorial Day and Holocaust education. 

See also:

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/british-army-marks-bergen-belsen-liberation-anniversary-with-renewed-holocaust-education-call/

https://www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk/catterick-garrison-event-marks-81st-anniversary-of-bergen-belsen-liberation/

https://hmd.org.uk/news/liberation-of-bergen-belsen-concentration-camp/

Stolpersteine* laid in Amsterdam in memory of the family of Holocaust survivor and classmate of Anne Frank, Nanette Blitz König

In Amsterdam on 21 April 2026 at an Anne Frank House-hosted event, Stolpersteine were laid in memory of the family of Holocaust survivor and classmate of Anne Frank, Nanette Blitz König (aged 97). The stones were installed in front of Van Baerlestraat 58, the last place the family freely lived before they fell victim to Nazi terror. On 29 September 1943, they were arrested by the Nazis and later deported to concentration camps via the transit camp, Westerbork. Nanette was then taken to Bergen-Belsen from where she was liberated by the British Army on 15th April 1945.

Four stones were laid:

• Martijn Willem Blitz (father)
  
  
• Helene Victoria Blitz-David (mother)

• Bernard Martijn Blitz (brother)
  
  
• Nanette Blitz König

Judith holds up a picture of Nanette and her brother Bernard, and Martin holds up a picture of Nanette.

A large crowd had gathered to witness the laying of the stones and to hear speeches from family members who had travelled from across the world to be present. Others attending included: Melissa Müller, biographer of Anne Frank; Holocaust educator and Generation2Generation speaker John Wood whose father Lt-Col Leonard Berney was among those who liberated Nanette from Bergen-Belsen; Ronald Leopold, executive director of Anne Frank House, Amsterdam; representatives of Anne Frank House UK and Anne Frank House Brazil; representatives of the Stolpersteine organisation in Amsterdam; Anne Geerse from the ABN AMRO Art and Heritage Foundation; and Liesbeth Heenk, publisher of Nanette's memoir, 'Holocaust Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen survivor. Classmate of Anne Frank (2018)' as well as other members of Nanette's family.

Judith Arato, John Wood, Martin Konig

The event was also being live broadcast, and watching online were several other members of Nanette's family including Nanette's eldest daughter Elizabeth Helene Kahn who collaborated on a book with Melissa Müller entitled, “Mit dir steht die Welt nicht still' ('With You, the World Keeps Turning - A Story of Love After the Holocaust') that tells her parents' love story from which one learns so much more about the Blitz family. Elizabeth is also the creator of www.foreverafterproject.org, the educational non-profit organization that amplifies voices and stories of survivors and descendants of Holocaust survivors around the world. 

Van Baerlestraat 58, Amsterdam

Sadly, Nanette who lives in São Paulo, Brazil was not able to attend.

Speakers at the ceremony were Martin Joseph Konig (son) who led the event, Judith Marion Arato (daughter) and Judith's son, Thomas Arato (grandson) who spoke for his aunt, Elizabeth Kahn.

Martin Konig said: “Today, we return my mother and her family to the street where their lives were once lived openly and without fear. These stones ensure that their names are not lost to history, but remain part of the city’s living memory. My mother survived to tell her story; her parents and brother did not. We lay these Stolpersteine not only in remembrance of them, but as a quiet, enduring call to conscience for future generations.”

Ronald Leopold, Martin Konig, Levien Rouw, Josephine de Man, Judith Arato

Attendees then visited the Anne Frank House where Levien Rouw, General Coordinator of International Activities in the Department of Education, delivered a talk about Anne in the garden behind the building, followed by a tour of the museum.

*About Stolpersteine

A Stolperstein (which in English means "stumbling block") is a ten-centimetre (four-inch) concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate persons at the last place that they chose freely to reside, work or study before they fell victim to Nazi terror, forced euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of June 2023, 100,000 Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial. The majority of Stolpersteine commemorate Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Others have been placed for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), Poles, homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, Spanish Republicans along with International Brigades soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers.

For more information, please contact:

John Wood
johnalexwood@gmail.com
+44 7771 52000

Media Round-up

De Telegraaf, 22 April 2026

Translation:

ANNE FRANK'S CLASSMATE

Stumbling Stones Unveiled

On Tuesday, four stumbling stones were unveiled in front of a home on Van Baerle Street in Amsterdam in memory of the Jewish residents who were deported and murdered during the Second World War.

Among those who lived at this address was Nanette Blitz, who was friends with Anne Frank as a student at the Jewish Lyceum. The two met again later in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Blitz survived the camp, but her family did not survive the war.

Facebook posts:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=stolpersteine%20nanette%20blitz

X posts:

https://x.com/search?q=stolpersteine%20nanette%20blitz&src=typed_query&f=live

LinkedIn posts:

https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=stolpersteine%20nanette&origin=GLOBAL_SEARCH_HEADER

Instagram posts:

https://www.google.com/search?q=stolpersteine+%22nanette+blitz%22+site%3Ainstagram.com&num=10

annefrankhouse_official: Last week, Stolpersteine were placed in Amsterdam for the Blitz family. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrf4iuiN7n/ 

TikTok posts:

https://www.tiktok.com/@annefrankhouse/video/7633790157207964950

YouTube videos:

https://youtube.com/shorts/qZWeLoIf4F4?si=SFKuDG6YSovQLObu

The Day I Finally Met Belsen Survivor, Tomi Reichental

Talking about Belsen with Tomi Reichental in Cambridge

Ever since publishing Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp - A Personal Account by my late father, Leonard Berney in 2015, I've been very aware of everything Belsen-related happening online and especially on Twitter. So I had seen many articles, videos and TV appearances about Dublin-based Belsen Survivor, Tomi Reichental who was a child at Belsen. But we just had never bumped into each other at any of the many Holocaust-related events I've attended over the past three years.

So I decided to get in touch with him and found out he happened to be delivering a talk about his Belsen experience at the Cambridge Union, the world's oldest continuously running debating society on Thursday 14th June 2018. At last, this was a chance for me to hear him talk and to meet him!

When we met just before his talk, he seemed very pleased to meet me and I was certainly very pleased to meet him! His talk really made you understand what it was like being Jewish and a child during the Holocaust, and what it was like being at Belsen at such a young age. It was very moving.

After the talk, I was so honoured that he wanted to sit and talk with me; we chatted for over an hour! We agreed to keep in touch and I very much look forward to seeing him again soon.

Tomi Reichental delivering his Belsen talk

Tomi wearing his Star of David as he was forced to do by the Nazis

I was so honoured to meet Tomi!

At the main entrance of the Cambridge Union with Tomi

Read about my meeting with another Belsen survivor, Gena Turgel, in 2015:
Daily Mail Online: British soldier fell in love with Jewish inmate at Belsen concentration camp http://ow.ly/ou4M30kvWVw

Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp (eBook Kindle edition)
by (former) Lt-Colonel Leonard Berney R.A. T.D., edited by John Wood, Forewords by Major-General Nicholas Eeles CBE, Nanette Blitz Konig, Introduction by Joshua Oppenheimer
http://ow.ly/FpZn30kwIyY

Holocaust Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen Survivor - Classmate of Anne Frank

by Nanette Blitz Konig

On 27th January 2018, Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, Nanette's book "Holocaust Memoirs of a Bergen-Belsen Survivor - Classmate of Anne Frank" was released.

My connection with Nanette is through my late father, Belsen liberator, Leonard Berney. As described in her book, it was my father who helped Nanette recover from the terrible ordeal she had just been through of being a prisoner in the most inhospitable conditions imaginable, losing all members of her family (except her two aunts in London), disease and malnutrition. On page 85, she writes:

"I have thankful, tender recollections of that man. After all, as a member of the British Army, he saved my life. He was one of those who entered the camp to free us, who were shocked and had compassion for our predicament - innocent people who had been subjected to the worst punishments. On top of that, he wrote letters to help me communicate with my family. That was the first time someone offered me any help in months. It was a good feeling to remember that there were still good people in the world."

And Nanette appears in my father's 2015 book "Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp - A Personal Account" in that she wrote one of the Forewords of the book.

Nanette, in fact, published her book in Brazilian Portuguese some time ago (she lives in São Paulo), but was keen to get it published in English. So she and her family asked me if I could help make this a reality. By chance, I came across Amsterdam Publishers on Twitter who appeared to be, and have since proved to be, a perfect fit!