Host of Diamond Groove Breakfast Mon-Fri | Gaydio Breakfast Sunday Morning | Shoulder to Shoulder podcast on Mental Health | I love animals and cuddles 🐾
On this day 80 years ago the British troops liberated Bergen Belsen.
What they found there was unimaginable horror.
People had been left dying of typhus and with no food for weeks.
There were bodies everywhere.
Richard Dimbleby’s report for the BBC (below) remains one of the rawest and most devastating pieces of journalism ever transmitted. At first the BBC refused to let him go on air with it. He threatened to walk out unless they let him describe what happened. 3/3
Another important anniversary to mark today:
On 15th April 1945, the 11th Armoured Division of the British Army entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and found 55,000 surviving prisoners, about half Jewish, others political prisoners, Romanis, homosexuals and anybody else the Nazis deemed 'undesirable'.
Many were barely alive. Around 35,000 had died before liberation in the most appalling inhumane circumstances. After liberation, a further 13,000/15,000 died due to malnutrition and disease. No wonder survivors and liberators alike described Bergen-Belsen as an actual hell on earth. The survivors were, of course, marred for life. But to a lesser degree so were the liberators after what they saw.
#TheyKnew …… Action for Accountability launches today. Please share, support and help us. There should be consequences for the powerful who KNOWINGLY ignored the sexual abuse of children. I believe this is the only way to change the system for future generations of children ….
https://t.co/JKLdApSBUk