Chapter 16 - Concentration camp, 1943-1945

In April 1943, a part of the Bergen- Belsen camp was taken over by the SS Economic Administration Main Office. This made it part of the concentration camp system, run by the SS but it was a special case. Having been designated a zivilinterniertenlager ("civilian internment camp"), in June 1943 it was redesignated an aufenthaltslager (accommodation camp), as the Geneva Convention stipulated that the former type of facility must be open to committee inspections. international. This "internment camp" or "exchange camp" was for Jews destined to be exchanged for German civilians interned in other countries, or for money. The SS divided this camp into subsections for individual groups (the "Hungarian Camp", the "Special Camp" for Polish Jews, the "Neutrals Camp" for citizens of neutral countries, and the "Star Camp" for German Jews). Between the summer of 1943 and December 1944 at least 14,600 Jews, including 2,750 children and minors, were transported to the Bergen- Belsen camp .