Testimonials

“Finally, despite official orders, ‘We are full’, dad refused to close the gates of the Belsen DP Camp to starving refugees and was forced to resign.” – Norah Bloomberg  

“Dad led an international team handling the many problems at Bergen-Belsen. There were over  10,000 people, mostly the only surviving member of their family. The children didn’t have names, only numbers, and didn’t know which country they belonged to. ” – Norah Bloomberg  

“Although the camp was officially known as ‘Hohne’ the people refused to call it anything but ‘Belsen’, and all efforts to dissociate it from the horror camp failed.” – Simon Bloomberg

“Belsen DP Camp was so different from the other camps in which I had served. The  many activities, mental, physical, recreational and spiritual all bore witness to the urge of the people to fit themselves for the future.” – Simon Bloomberg

“I was sorry to go for many reasons. Although I had no illusions about my importance at Belsen, which would go on as before, I wanted to carry on as I had so many friends who came to discuss their problems, hopes, and dreams.” – Simon Bloomberg

“At Belsen DP Camp there was none of the apathy, none of the hopelessness or feeling they were living on charity, that corrupter of morale, for all they received was only a small part of what was taken from them.”  – Simon Bloomberg

“The situation improved with a change of UNRRA directors. Bloomberg had been an officer in the British Colonial Service. He knew the official mind and could talk on equal terms with military and civil authorities. There was soon a different atmosphere at Belsen.” – Angelika Konigseder and Juliane Wetzel

“My time with the Jewish Relief Unit was the last phase in the struggle to liberate thousands of Jews. The successful conclusion of this task is a tribute to the courage of those who brought it about and those in the camps who never gave up.” – Simon Bloomberg

“They were being marched to Belsen which to them was a veritable death knell. They had heard about Belsen and knew this meant journey’s end. The blow was even more heartbreaking because the Allies were getting nearer.” – Simon Bloomberg

“One could not help admiring the virility of people that had survived the Holocaust that had just destroyed six million of their kinsmen.” – Simon Bloomberg