Five Group Photographs of Jews in the Bergen-Belsen DP Camp – 1947.
Among them: A photograph of a family in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, with a handwritten dedication on the back. Bergen-Belsen DP Camp, 1947.
On the back of the photograph, a Yiddish dedication by Chana Finkelstein (one of the individuals in the photo) reads: “צום אונצעיקונך שענך איך אונדזער בילד פאר די כברה הינדה […] געצענקט און דעמיאנט דאוס לעבן אין קבץ אין בערגן בעלזן פון מיר חנה פינקעלשטיין” – “To our dear relatives, I am sending our picture as a memento. Hinda […] life in the kibbutz in Bergen-Belsen. From me, Chana Finkelstein.” Another photograph features a group standing in front of a train, with a handwritten inscription on the back: “Bergen-Belsen, 1947.” Another image captures a family celebration, and more.
After the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by the British Army in April 1945, a displaced persons (DP) camp was established nearby for Holocaust survivors. The camp became an important center for reorganizing Jewish life, where survivors rebuilt families and engaged in cultural, social, and political activities. The camp hosted weddings, schools, and the revival of Zionist youth movements. It operated from the summer of 1945 until September 1950 and, for a time, was the largest Jewish DP camp in Germany and the only one in the British occupation zone. The camp was under British authority and supervised by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
Sizes: 9×14 cm and 7×10 cm. Condition: Good.
