Several hundred survivors of the infamous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp will make a pilgrimage this summer to the site of the death camp on the 25th anniversary of its liberation by the British Army. What was one of Hitler’s major concentration camps is today a cemetery for over 100,000 Jews buried there in numerous mass graves. Josef Rosensaft, President of the World Federation of Bergen Belsen Associations, said “that for most participants it will be their first return to Bergen-Belsen.” Jews traditionally, “return to the graves of their loved ones every year as a token of respect and love,” he added. Mr. Rosensaft noted that because of their abhorrence of the locale, the great majority of survivors have never been to Bergen-Belsen since they were liberated. This will make the pilgrimage both a sad occasion for reciting kaddish (Jewish prayer for the dead) as well as a recollection of liberation, he said.
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