Bergen – Belsen was a concentration camp located in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, near the city of Celle. The camp was officially established in April 1943 as an Aufenthaltslager (detention camp) for holding persons who were designated for exchange with German nationals in Allied countries whom the Germans wanted to repatriate.

A prisoner-of- war camp on the site, Stalag 311, was partially cleared to make room for the new camp. From its inception Bergen- Belsen came under the SS-WVHA, which was in charge of the administration of concentration camps.

The first commandant of Bergen –Belsen was SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Adolf Haas, who was killed in action on 31 March 1945, he was succeeded by SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Josef Kramer who had served in a number of concentration camps including Dachau, Mauthausen, and was Commandant in Birkenau and Natzweiler.


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