75 years ago my grandfather arrived at Belsen Concentration camp
75 years ago my grandfather entered Belsen Concentration camp. The son of Jewish refugees who had fled to England before he was born, he arrived at Belsen as Captain Joe Stone, a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was following the British 2nd Army across Europe, and was one of the first British doctors to arrive as the camp was liberated. He joined a small group of army doctors and nurses who set about saving the survivors of the Nazi concentration camp.
He wrote an essay about what he had seen. I have shared it over the years, but feel today, 75 years after he was there, it is important to read it again. We are in another major crisis for humanity, and again fundamental rights, democratic principles, and freedoms are being curtailed by brash, arrogant autocrats, empowered by cowards and fools. Seventy-five years ago, after witnessing one of mankind’s worst attrocities, my grandfather wrote that this must never happen again.
Below is a copy of the original essay, typed by him at the end of the war.
