Bergen-Belsen was a concentration camp constructed in northwestern Germany, southwest of the old town of Bergen in what was then the province of Hanover. It was originally built in 1935 as a Wehrmacht military complex training area and used to train armoured vehicle crews. While training was in progress the site was expanded and the workers who constructed the large complex were housed in camps near Fallingbostel. The site was not completed until 1938/39, and the workers’ camp then fell into disuse.
It was not until September 1939, following the German invasion of Poland, that the Germans decided on using the old Fallingbostel camp huts as a Polish POW camp. These huts became known as Stalag XI-B and were expanded at a rapid rate during the Polish campaign. The expansion of the POW camp increased further when in May 1940 the Germans unleashed their forces against the Low Countries and France. The attack was once again swift and decisive, and soon French and Belgian POWs were pouring through the gates of Stalag XI-B.
By June 1940, following the defeat of France, some 80,000 prisoners were being held in the Bergen-Belsen camp. The following year in June 1941 the Germans attacked their old arch-enemy, the Soviet Union. The army at Belsen immediately set to work preparing the site for the large influx of Soviet prisoners that were soon to be expected, and turned it into an independent camp known as Stalag XI-C. One of three camps in the area, it was intended to hold some 20,000 Russian POWs. The other camps were at Oerbke Stalag XI-D and Wietzendorf Stalag X-D
Even the average Wehrmacht camp guard saw the Soviet Union as a land ripe for plunder. Many were firmly convinced that the Russians were an inferior race and had come to appreciate the Nazi views on Communism and Judaism. Within days of the German onslaught through the Russian heartlands there were rumours of ruthless actions against Russian Jews, Communist politicians and political commissars.
The first Soviet prisoners were transported to Belsen in late June 1941. Before they began their journey to the camp, those that were fit enough were led to one side, while those too weak to be moved were simply shot where they lay. The corpses were then dragged away by other prisoners into a pile for disposal. The journey to the camp was one of complete horror. When they arrived at Belsen, hundreds had already perished. Many of them had died of thirst or exhaustion on the journey. Several hundred of them were marched through the main gate and from the moment they arrived they were treated much worse than the Polish, Belgian, or French inmates. The Russians were especially hated at the camp. As soon as they entered the camp many of them were beaten and tortured, while many were left to starve to death. The POW camp itself was simply a square area of land where most of the Russians were huddled together in squalid looking huts made from wood. Food distribution was so irregular that most of the prisoners were constantly hungry and exhausted. For these hapless men, food was a matter of obsession. For weeks they had been reduced to scavenging. They were in terrible physical condition. Within days many of them were half dead, starving and full of lice. The prisoners lived like animals. They died of starvation, illness, injuries, and were subjected to more or less unrestrained killing. Their deaths brought more space for additional Russian prisoners and this in turn caused further starvation and death.
When winter arrived many of the Soviet prisoners were left exposed in freezing conditions. In late 1941 there was an outbreak of dysentery, and because they were unable to move due to the cramped conditions these frequently emaciated and broken men often soiled their own ragged clothes. Caked in mud and faeces the inmates just lay there in their own filth, too weak to maintain any shred of human dignity. As the first snow showers began to fall, the arctic temperatures dramatically increased the number of fatalities. By the end of March 1942, some 41,000 Soviet POWs had died in the three camps of starvation, exhaustion and disease.
However, 1942 had opened up with a series of major disappointments for the German Army in Russia. It had become clear that Operation Barbarossa, the codename for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, had failed miserably and that Germany was compelled to mobilize all its resources to continue the war effort. With all men called up for service there were greater demands on German industry, especially in armaments. The armaments industry had become seriously undermanned and Russian POWs were diverted from POW camps to the armaments industry and work camps; pressure on the Belsen camp was relieved.
Throughout 1942 the Nazi regime continued with a policy of more or less unrestrained terror and murder. With this policy it effectively brought about the most radical ideas imaginable. The situation in the various detention centres and concentration camps had become untenable due to the new policies of arresting and detaining enemies of the state. News had already circulated through SS channels that government officials were demanding immediate action in the expansion of the concentration camp system. The German authorities quickly pressed forward to establish various camps under the complete control of the SS. One such camp destined to be handed over to the SS Economic-Administration Main Office or SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA) was Bergen Belsen.