Genealogy Chat

http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/text/x03/xm0333.html is a brief outline of Belsen. It was an ordinary concentration camp (not a death camp) but the conditions were such that thousands died. In fact, the site covers all the Nazi camps. You say the POW was born in 1882 - that makes him in his fifties and sixties during WW2! Not a soldier, surely?

My father was lucky, by comparison. These places were not nice. He was sent to work in a German labour camp and arrived over here in aged 25 in 1944, having been liberated. He was severely starved when he arrived here. He was enlisted in the army for a time and I remember him telling us that for the first few weeks, he and his liberated Polish friends used to go around the mess collecting the bacon rinds that had been discarded by more fortunate soldiers because they were so hungry. Peter

Hi Helen, No I don't know where it was. I could find out though possibly. My gt grandfather was Thomas Copeland b 1882. He died in 1967 aged 85 - shortly after celebrating his diamond wedding anniversary. Apparently, he was literally just skin and bones when he returned home and for ages he couldn't bear to wear clothes so he just sat there naked, with a towel over his lap. Poor soul.

Nell's right (as usual) - perhaps she Googled the same page as I did. http://auschwitz.dk/Bergenbelsen.htm

Belsen [with an e] was a ww2 concentration camp. I don't think it was used for prisoners of war. Do you know which country Belson is meant to be in? Do you have any further info - name, date of death etc. As this man would be in his 60s at the time of WW2, it is possible he would be interned. nell

My father has been told that his grandfather was a Prisoner of War at Belson. My husband thinks this was a camp in WW2. My grandfather was born in 1882. Do you think this could be true? Any ideas would be welcomed!