European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Liberation brought new beginning for rescuer concentration the liberation by Dave Diehl Bureau England Norman Turgel still remembers vividly the horror he saw 40 years ago at the Bergen Belsen concentration now was with the first intelligence unit to liberate the German Camp on april Turgel now lives in the Wel Todo London suburb of hell soon be marking forty years of marriage to his herself an eve present reminder of the hell that was wrought upon the lives of millions of War political prisoners and others in nazi she was one of the prisoners freed by the British at Bergen in the son of a jewish fur was drafted into the British army his fluency in German volunteered him for counterintelligence his the 53 Field Security had arrived in Celle in Early we heard that there was a concentration Camp a German officer asked us to take it Over because there was a lot of disease he Turges unit had been Busy rounding up nazi orders came Down from Headquarters to enter the in the initial Days of moving into the he there was tremendous Turges colleagues didst have any orders on what to do with the Camp the is guards showed the British around the Camp before the unit finally arrested we were waiting for somebody to Tell us what to Turgel he said his unit was instructed Only to take Over the detailed orders came Days the Camp etched a grim memory in Turges about people had been in the Belsen Camp at one time or of those still Turgel Many were within hours or Days of we  believe what we he we were in a state of i saw bodies lying not even being a Soldier in the War for almost five years had prepared Turgel for what he Belsen had no Gas Chambers most of the inmates died from mostly and some of the living had ripped chunks of flesh from the cadavers to stay id seen Battle id seen soldiers its something even 40 years to imagine How human beings could be so to take innocent women and lock them up in a starve Gas torture just because they didst his body reacted to what he was three or four Days after entering the he woke up unable to after Turgel was Given the Chance to leave the Camp but decided to stay Turgel had the Job of interviewing Josef the Camp Kramer was known As the beast of Belsen for his he looked like a typical he didst have any he was a robot wind him up and hell do what Hes told to Turgel he said Kramer tried to play on the Young British soldiers sense of duty As a military Kramer said he didst know what was going on he was following he want sorry for what Turgel he was More worried about what was going to happen to we knew about the cruelty in concentration but not having seen one we  i Felt like taking out my revolver and shooting but i remained quite some of the prisoners accused the British troops of treating the is with White but Turgel said they wanted to get information with the thought that it would possibly save More our Job was really to get we were very interested in finding out about German resistance to the he it want easy for Turgel to subdue his he said he kept his mind on doing the Job he was sent to in the Days some of the guards committed suicide rather than face the penalties for their some tried to hide among the some managed to escape through the bordering it was when Turgel began questioning the inmates to find out where the guards were hiding that he met a polish victim of the she came Forward to Tell him where some of them it was this Chance meeting of the Young polish girl that would provide Turgel with the Only pleasant memory of the Belsen although Turgel says their meeting was solely a product of he said his feelings for her were a product of his i suppose you could Call it love at first he and the forty years that Mark the liberation of Bergen Belsen also Mark his horror of Camp photo by Dave Diehl Gena and Norman Turgel met after he helped liberate by Dave Diehl Bureau by the time 16yearold Gena Goldfinger was forced from her Home in in she had lost a brother and sister to Gestapo bullets during the nazi during the next six years the nazis killed half her of her nine Brothers and five were shot to one sister would die a year after the liberation from the effects of being injected with gasoline at a concentration after the Gena Goldfinger married Norman a British Soldier who helped liberate her and other prisoners of the Bergen Belsen concentration Camp in Gena Turgel still has trouble holding Back tears when she talks about those six she says a Day Doest go by without a reminder of like her she says Fate has played an important role in her her first encounter with Fate came after a Long March from her Krakow Home to the extermination Camp at we were taken into a room that had Shower we thought we were going to get a Turgel and about 50 other women stood locked in the the huge Iron doors opened and a guard came into the the guard recognized she of you Are and she rushed out and went through another a few minutes later water came through the other prisoners later untied Young army doctor by Judy Sarasohn staff writer it was in Early april 40 years ago that John a Young doctor with the 4th army was looking for injured soldiers in the German the people of Ohr drug told him there were Many men in a nearby what he found shocked As a Man and As a doctor devoted to there were about 40 All shot in the Scotti said from his Home in Garden the Young combat come a doctor had found a concentration Camp for political prisoners of War and there were belgians and in the face of the 4th army div the nazis had killed As Many prisoners As possible before left for dead were two american fliers shot but still alive and Able to Tell him what had Scotti searched the Camp and found a pit filled with burned the bodies had been placed on a Grill of Railroad ties and set on How Many were in there my wild guess was to he another 50 bodies covered with Lime were discovered in a tool they had apparently died from then 75 to 100 prisoners in striped uniforms came out of they could barely Scotti scottish reaction was quoted by a division report i Tell you that All German medical science is this is How they have progressed in the last four they have now found the Mureall for typhus and its a Bullet through the forty years Scotti recalled we had heard something about prisoners being killed and mass but we had no in a doctor Ive seen i but i was not prepared for my whole life has been dedicated to taking care oif sick suddenly to be confronted with something the exact opposite Scotti left the army after the War and practice he works part time doing he will be 74 years old this and he still Doest understand even now As i talk about Scotti i say to Are you sure you were there he said Hes making some tentative plans to come to perhaps this if life keeps he would like to see what Ohr drug nine Miles South of Gotham at the Northern foot of the Thuringia Forest in what is now East Germany looks like 40 years to told the women that they had come out of the death it was a Turgel the woman who recognized her had saved them All from she but she has no idea who she was or Why she spared her Mother and a sister were shipped in cattle trucks to the Bergen Belsen Camp near it would be their Home until Days at the Belsen Camp began at 5 men such As Camp commander Josef Kramer would supervise the morning Roll Turgel said Kramer and his men never thought twice about torturing or killing the prisoners for the slightest of if they didst like the Way you they would shoot Turgel one Day her sister was breaking tombstones Belsen was built on a jewish cemetery when a woman she was working with was stopped by a guard who said she want doing her Job the guard demonstrated what he said was the right then he shot it is humanly impossible for anyone to understand the circumstances and environment in which we she there was no Way to we lived on Hope for every Day was something you didst think about bodies were stacked to the ceilings in prisoners used dead bodies for pillows to sleep on during the tuberculosis and typhus were Turgel still lives with some of the she suffers from kidney and Back ailments and has stomach problems from the ground Glass that was regularly put in the prison it want a concentration it was a finishing they just left people there to she Turgel said those who managed to survive were usually the ones who had Strong wills to she said she was fortunate to have her Mother with my will was to keep my Mother she my love was so Strong for in the Early months of Turgel the prisoners could hear the bombs dropping and they knew that Germany was under but it want until april 15 that the prisoners heard the sound of British tanks heading for the we stood by the window and she and about 30 minutes Over the Camps came the message of Turgel still weeps openly when she talks about the British telling the prisoners that they were forty years have and yet even today she says she finds it hard to believe she lived through the i still touch myself sometimes just to see if in really graphic arts by Peter Jaeger tattered clothes from prisoners who were murdered lie in piles at the Dachau concentration Page u the stars and stripes april the stars and stripes Page i