Page from my war diary made after I had entered Belsen Concentration Camp 14th April '45
Object numberM2006/045:012
TitlePage from my war diary made after I had entered Belsen Concentration Camp 14th April '45
Creator Mr. Alan Moore (author)
DescriptionSingle page from Lieutenant Alan Moore's war diary (torn out by the author) describing the appalling conditions in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on the day of liberation, 14-15 April 1945, when he entered as the official Australian War Artist attached to the 82nd Armoured division. Moore had been commissioned to depict the activities of the RAAF working in New Guinea, the Middle East and Europe. Towards the end of the war he was posted to Germany to sketch the prisoner of war camps. This document is part of a collection donated by Alan Moore relating to his coverage of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. News reels, photographs and sketches like the ones taken by Moore documented indescribable horrors and caused Bergen-Belsen to emerge in 1945 as a symbol of Nazi terror and the Holocaust.
The camp at Bergen-Belsen was established in 1940 at the outskirts of the small Northern German village of Bergen. As Allied and Soviet forces advanced into Germany from late 1944, Bergen-Belsen became a collection point for Jewish prisoners evacuated from other camps. Tens of thousands of new prisoners, many of them survivors of ‘death marches’, overwhelmed the already insufficient resources of the camp and vastly increased the outbreak of diseases. By the time British and Canadian forces entered Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945, there were 60,000 people starving, sick and dying in the camp.
British Army film and photographic units were posted to Bergen-Belsen to record these terrible scenes and Moore was attached to one of these units as it advanced across occupied Europe. Whilst at Belsen, Moore made several paintings, sketches and drawings as a record of Nazi atrocities committed against the predominantly Jewish inmates. A personal camera was also used to record events observed in the Allied occupation of the camp. “I was drawing madly. It was one of the pits where we got the SS to get bodies out and bury them quickly, otherwise plague would set in. One of the troops said, ‘You’re mad doing that, people will think that you’ve just made it up’. He said, ‘Why don’t you take a roll of snaps’. I took a roll of 35mm photographs, which I’ve still got. They show everything that was there.”
The camp at Bergen-Belsen was established in 1940 at the outskirts of the small Northern German village of Bergen. As Allied and Soviet forces advanced into Germany from late 1944, Bergen-Belsen became a collection point for Jewish prisoners evacuated from other camps. Tens of thousands of new prisoners, many of them survivors of ‘death marches’, overwhelmed the already insufficient resources of the camp and vastly increased the outbreak of diseases. By the time British and Canadian forces entered Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945, there were 60,000 people starving, sick and dying in the camp.
British Army film and photographic units were posted to Bergen-Belsen to record these terrible scenes and Moore was attached to one of these units as it advanced across occupied Europe. Whilst at Belsen, Moore made several paintings, sketches and drawings as a record of Nazi atrocities committed against the predominantly Jewish inmates. A personal camera was also used to record events observed in the Allied occupation of the camp. “I was drawing madly. It was one of the pits where we got the SS to get bodies out and bury them quickly, otherwise plague would set in. One of the troops said, ‘You’re mad doing that, people will think that you’ve just made it up’. He said, ‘Why don’t you take a roll of snaps’. I took a roll of 35mm photographs, which I’ve still got. They show everything that was there.”
Production placeBergen-Belsen concentration camp
Production date 1945-04-14
Subjectliberation, nazi cruelty, testimonies
Object namejournals
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 125.00 mm
height: 162.00 mm
Language
- English Herford April 8 then 14th April. 45
To MINDEN near by POW camp saw many Australian RAAF prisoners. Were fairly good condition some made their way back to Herford.
ALLER RIVER
Confirmed north were told of camp a few miles west, entered BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP 14.4.1945 THOUSANDS OF DEAD NAKED BODIES strewn all over the large camp mostly women and children. They had been without food or water for the past 7 or 8 days. Many had been shot by SS GERMAN GUARDS. We had to be given injections to stop disease spreading. The thousands of those living would strip the clothes of the dead and dying to keep themselves warm.
When Medical Officers arrived they declared the camp a health hazard. We had to ship off and be dusted each morning on entry to the camp.
The M.Os said that unless the dead bodies were collected and placed into the huge piles within a few days TYPHUS, TYPHOID and DISSENTRY would spread thru the whole of Europe.
Army trucks were loaded with GRUEL and brought into the camp. Many died eating too quickly. Others were crushed to death.
When each pit was filled with bodies the MAYOR of the nearest town was brought in and with the GERMAN S.S. OFFICERS and NAZI women orderlies we had captured inside the camp, they were ordered to stand at the edge of the pit while an Army Padre (British) would conduct a proper buriel [sic] after which lime was spread over the dead then covered with earth. Thousands of BOOTS and SHOES were piled outside the GAS CHAMBERS left by innocent people murdered daily by SS GUARDS.
Inside the rows of huts made to hold 30-40 were a hundred or more mostly dead, those living were too weak to move. Children were lying on dead bodies.
KRAMER the C.O. KLIEN the M.O and ERMA GRIEZE were captured. ERMA GRIEZE female 6’2 Tall wore thick wooden soled shoes, she admitted to stamping on pregnant prisoners and kicking children to death. KLIEN the doctor admitted infecting prisoners with a death serum to be dropped over ENGLAND.
Made many drawings and sketches of the most horrible sight I have ever seen. A BRITISH soldier said I was mad making drawing that people seeing them later would think that I had made them up. From then on I took a 35MM B&W photographs of each subject I drew.
-Other side of the page –
Villers. Bret. [Villers-Bretonneux]
Bronze from the Staircase was stolen by the French and sold to the Germans (2 months sentence). Germans took bronze Lions.
360 Head Stones destroyed by tanks
Germans warned people if they heard an explosion it was only the memorial going up – Germans gave an order for all graves to be kept in order.
24.5.45
Left Brussels 10.15 by Australian
Piloted mosquito arrived Paris 10.50
Folies Bergere at night
25.5.45
Visited Rue Bonaparte for materials
Academie Grande Chaumiere life class in afternoon
Sphinx, Cabaret-
Grand Chabanais, Rue Chabanais x
14 Rue Montyon
3 Rue Chabanais
PAGE FROM MY WAR DIARY MADE AFTER I HAD ENTERED BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP 14TH APRIL 45. (VX93880 LIEUT. A MOORE)
Transcribed from original by Marie Bonardelli 2017 [transcribers comments: sites mentioned in Paris and Brussels are famous brothels and cabarets]
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Alan Moore