![]() ![]() The prisoner-of-war camp functioned as such from 1940 until January of 1945. There were three main components of the camp complex: the POW camp, the "residence camp" ( Aufenthaltslager), and the "prisoners' camp" ( Häftlingslager). The Bergen-Belsen camp complex was composed of numerous camps, established at various times during its existence. ![]() Thus, while the German government placed the Bergen-Belsen camp complex within the concentration camp system, the WVHA initially gave it a special designation. In April 1943 the SS Economic-Administration Main Office (SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt WVHA) which administered the concentration camp system, took over a portion of Bergen-Belsen and converted it first into a civilian residence camp and, later, into a concentration camp. ![]() Until 1943, Bergen-Belsen was exclusively a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. It was in a location south of the small towns of Bergen and Belsen, about 11 miles north of Celle, Germany. German military authorities established the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1940. Among them was Anne Frank, the most well known child diarist of the Holocaust era. Approximately 50,000 people died in the Bergen-Belsen camp complex. ![]()
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