Accompanied by rare and unpublished photos with in-depth captions the book presents a unique visual account of one of the Nazi’s most infamous concentration camps. The imagery shows the SS’s murderous activities inside Belsen, and also reveal another disturbing side to them relaxing in their barracks or visiting their families and loved ones.
The book is an absorbing insight into how the SS played a key part in murdering, torturing and starving to death tens of thousands of inmates. During the latter part of the war as many as 500 a day were perishing from the long-term effects of starvation as well as the resultant diseases. There is a wealth of information on how the camp was run and all aspects of life inside the camp for the inmates are covered.
The final episode of Belsen is witnessed by British soldiers of the Second Army, who were completely unprepared for what they encountered when they arrived at the gates of the camp. Inside the camp they found some 10,000 unburied dead in addition to the mass graves already containing 40,000 more corpses.
This latest Images of War book captures the shocking story of those that ran Belsen, those that perished, and the troops that liberated the living from their hell.
MY REVIEW
I knew when I downloaded this book that some of the images would be heartbreaking but I wanted to read more about what happened and it for me is a big part of history that should not be ignored.
On 15th April 1945 the 11th Division of the British Army liberated the camp and to their absolute horror when entering the camp, they found over 60,000 prisoners, mainly Jewish, that were close to death and starving, there were also 13,000 dead and unburied. Naturally they were shocked by what they saw and they recorded what they saw and some of those images from this book.
The book is well written and it tells the story of the camp liberation well but it does as a book of this nature should and it lets the photographs tell the story. The chapters are done well too and I liked how the book was laid out with the different focus being on four main sections. The book has a listing of the guards at the camp and their roles, as well as what happened and any sentences given to those that were prosecuted.
It was not only the photos of the dead and dying that affected me, the contrast between the photos of the laughing SS guards, both male and female compared to how the British troops found the camp is horrendous.
This was a book that made me cry and it will stay with me for a long time but I am glad that I read it, for me it is necessary reading and something we should never forget happened and it is a book that I would recommend too – it is 5 stars from me
donnasbookblog 
We went to Auschwitz last autumn and it was the most incredibly moving experience Donna. I don’t think my emotions are up to this book at the moment but it sounds very moving.
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