Holocaust survivors return to Bergen-Belsen to mark 80th anniversary of their liberation

Peter Lantos is a surprisingly cheeky chap for a Holocaust survivor in his mid-eighties. He’s not a man who wears his trauma on his sleeve. But on a quiet moment at Bergen Belsen, Peter told me why he felt he really needed to come back to the Nazi death camp for the 80^th anniversary of its liberation.

“It’s very likely that if there is a 90th anniversary, I won’t be around for it,” he said candidly.

It was a hard pill to swallow after half an hour of talking about everything from his arrival at Belsen to his proudest moment in his life, when, as an eminent scientist, he discovered a diagnostic hallmark of the neurodegenerative disorder MSA, which is now named after him – Papp-Lantos inclusions.

It is difficult to believe that at some point in the near future, the telling of Peter’s story, both harrowing and uplifting, will depend on the work of others to be kept alive.

Throughout the memorial ceremonies, the number of living Holocaust survivors is dwindling was a sobering reality.

In an age where Holocaust denial and revisionism are on the rise on social media, it is hard not to think about how we will be able to stand by the promise of “never again” when those who witnessed the horrors are no longer around to tell their stories.

Bergen-Belsen survivors Mala Tribich and Susan Pollack (Photo: Rachel Coussins)[Missing Credit]

Under the iconic obelisk, erected on the orders of the British military government as a memorial to the tens of thousands of people who died at Belsen, survivor Mala Tribich, a participant of a delegation from Ajex, the Jewish military association recounted how the scene that met her when she arrived at Bergen-Belsen was “beyond description”, with people who “looked like skeletons, shuffling along, falling and remaining there, with other people falling over them”. She was joined by fellow survivor Susan Pollack, who was returning to the camp for the first time since she left 80 years ago. 

Tribich later told TV presenter and Holocaust education campaigner Rachel Riley during an interview that she was becoming more committed to sharing her testimony because “there is a generation, perhaps more than one, that knows nothing about the Holocaust.

“I think that most people ought to be educated about it.”

Indeed, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has predicted that there will be almost nobody left with first-hand experience of the Shoah by 2040.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who was also in attendance on the day, told the JC that there was “a collective duty we all bear as we ensure that the atrocities committed at Bergen-Belsen are always remembered – not just as a moment in history, but for their lessons on where unchecked hatred and intolerance can lead.

“As time passes, our duty to bear witness to the survivors and carry their stories forward becomes greater.”

The Shabbaton Choir singing at the ceremony by the obelisk (Photo: Rachel Coussins)[Missing Credit]

At a time where our communities are still in the aftermath of the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Shoah, the need to see Holocaust survivor testimonies as not just historical accounts but as stern warnings of where prejudice can end is stronger than ever. “As survivor after survivor has said, we must look at what happened and understand what prejudice, racism, antisemitism can do in poisoning society,” Defence Minister Lord Coaker said. “If we use Bergen-Belsen as an example of what young people can learn from the past, horrible as it was, that should offer us some optimism for the future.”

As we gathered round the Jewish memorial to say prayers and listen to the Shabbaton Choir sing Am Yisrael Chai and the Hatikvah, the moment felt bittersweet, with such incredible Jewish pride and resilience being eclipsed by the collective trauma of the hostages still being held from October 7, 2023. Much like the survivors I spoke with all day, most of those people were targeted just for being Jewish.

A ceremony at the memorial for all the Jewish victims of Bergen-Belsen (Photo: Rachel Coussins)[Missing Credit]

Riley later told me: “We know there are still 59 people in the darkest tunnels in Gaza. It’s a desperate situation. You can’t be at somewhere like Bergen-Belsen and not think about the suffering these people are going through just because they are Jewish.” Our community knows too well what happens when antisemitism rears its ugly head. Peter Lantos might not be at the 90th anniversary of Bergen-Belsen to tell his story. But I also know that we will ensure that doesn’t mean his story won’t be told.

It is our responsibility to continue to tell it.