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Bergen-Belsen Memorial Site, Germany.

The Bergen-Belsen camp was based in the Lower Saxony part of Germany, roughly halfway between Hamburg and Hannover. Originally named Stalag 311, it's original function was as a POW camp for 600 French and Belgian soldiers, established in 1940. The camps darker history began in 1941 with the arrival of 20,000 Russian POWs. Due to extremely poor living conditions, 18,000 of the Russians died of hunger, disease and exposure. In 1943 the SS took over part of the camp to use as a detention camp for Jews. Between 1943 and 1945, approximately 50,000 prisoners died in Bergen-Belsen.

After the camp was liberated, the huts in the camp were burned due to a Typhus epidemic. The camp grounds are now given over to a memorial site

The cross that appears in several of the photos is in memory of a wooden cross that was erected by formed prisoners of the camp shortly after their liberation. The original cross has been lost, but the cross that stands today is of the same dimensions as the original.

I'm particularly pleased that the pictures of the rose placed on one of the memorials came out well. As well as being an effective photography, it's a sound reminder that luck is at least as important and composition and lighting in photography. I hope that at least some of the pictures here capture the memorial.

External Links:

Bergen-Belsen Memorial - official site.

Flickr Account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrowson/