page_title: London medical students at Belsen
section_title: Belsen
hierarchical_section_title: London medical students at Belsen / Belsen
caption_attribution_description: Bergen-Belsen Häftlinge, die selbst völlig erschöpft waren, trugen die Toten in Decken aus den Baracken, um sie im Freien für die Bestattung abzulegen
context_page_description: In early April 1945, the British Red Cross and the War Office, at the request of the British Army, called for 100 volunteers from among medical students at London hospitals to assist in feeding starving Dutch children who had been liberated from German occupation by advancing Allied forces. However, in the meantime, British troops had liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the students were diverted there on the day they were due to travel to the Netherlands. The students had previously spent most of the Second World War at school and in medical training.
  The students were tasked with taking over one or two of the 200 camp huts each, with the responsibility of cleaning and feeding the survivors and supervising a fair distribution of food. Their work was instrumental in reducing the death rate from over 500 a day at liberation to less than 100 a day by mid-May 1945.
  Sources show that twelve students came from each of Guy's Hospital, St Thomas', St Mary's, The London and University College, eleven from Westminster, nine from St Bartholomew's, eight from the Middlesex and the remainder from King's.
caption: The scene at Bergen-Belsen, April 1945
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