‘Were you jubilant when you were liberated?’

We were liberated while the war was still raging. British troops on their way to Berlin liberated us from Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945. You may think that I would have been jubilant, but I was so weakened and apathetic that I could barely feel joy. My only thought was that the next day I would go to the men’s camp and start looking for my father. It was a long time before I could cheer for freedom.

I was glad, of course, but cheering requires strength, and that took time.

The first time I felt jubilant was after we had reached Sweden, when my sister and I were walking across Västerbron, a bridge in Stockholm built on two large arches with a panoramic view of the city. When I looked behind me, there were no SS soldiers. I heard no dogs barking, and all I saw were peaceful Swedish families on tandem bikes enjoying their Sunday in the sunshine. Livi and I were thinking the same thing. We looked at each other and started dancing in the middle of the bridge.