Ceremony in Stockholm to commemorate the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association

As part of the ceremony, members from the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association are spreading earth brought from Israel in the J section of the “Six Stone - 6 million" Holocaust Monument".

Chairman of Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA), Dr. Roman Wasserman Wroblewski, is placing soil brought from Israel in the K-sector where the first Holocaust victims were buried. He just spread the soil from Israel at the grave of Rosa (Rosi) Weinberger, who turned 21 while at the Epidemiology Hospital in Roslagstull, but died three days later. Rosi Weinberger came with the very first transport (June 30th, 1945) of 200 women that left Lübeck port on the White boat, S/S Kastelholm, which brought her to Stockholm.

Despite the coronavirus epidemics, a symbolic ceremony was held today at the "Six Stone Holocaust Monument” at the Stockholm North Cemetery to commemorate the lives of some 100 survivors who were brought by UNRRA´s White boat action to Stockholm from Bergen Belsen 75 years ago but died shortly after arrival and were buried in Stockholm.

April 15 is a very special day that should be remembered in all of Sweden as a Memorial Day for the Holocaust survivors who were buried on Swedish soil. This day, exactly 75 years ago, marks the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen camp and the transport of the Holocaust survivors into Sweden, sadly resulting in many deaths and burials in the Swedish towns in 1945 and some years thereafter. 

 
The ceremony consisted of placing the soil brought from Israel on the graves of the victims to symbolize their link with Israel. The archival documents (see below)  indicate clearly that, despite the uncertainties, it was Eretz Israel (then still a Palestine Mandate) that the majority of the survivors saw as their future home, as both their towns of origin were destroyed and their families annihilated.

On entering the Bergen-Belsen camp 75 years ago, the British troops encountered thousands of unburied corpses and prisoners who were totally emaciated and ill. Initially a concentration camp that provided the surrounding German factories with slave labor, Bergen Belsen had become a de facto death camp in the last weeks of the war. There were various epidemics that killed thousands of people daily.

The special bond connecting the Bergen-Belsen camp and Sweden is that over 9,000 of its former prisoners were transported directly from Germany into Swedish ports to receive medical care. Most of the survivors were women who were transported by UNRRA’s on the five so-called White Boats. The first of the White Boats left the port of Lübeck at the end of June 1945. Most of the boats were adapted to serve as hospitals.

The “Six Stone Monument” memorial was unveiled in October 2019 in Stockholm to commemorate the lost lives of the Holocaust victims brought to Sweden from Bergen-Belsen in 1945. The Monument consists of six simple memorial stone stubs representing six death camps, as well as six million Jews who perished. The stones have been placed among the graves of about 80 Holocaust victims who died shortly after their return to Stockholm and were buried at the Cemetery.

The Monument was established 2019, jointly with the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm and the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) and supported by Heckscher Foundation as well as other private funds. 

We remembered also the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that started in April 1943.

 The ceremony consisted of placing the soil brought from Israel on the graves of the victims to symbolize their link with Israel. The archival documents indicate clearly that despite the uncertaintainties, it was Eretz Israel (then still a Palestine Mandate) whom the majority of the survivors saw as their future home, as both their towns of origin were destroyed and their families annihilated.  On this page 40% of the Holocaust survivors declared that they want to leavee Sweden for Israel.

The first of the White Boats left the port of Lübeck at the end of June 1945 arrived to Stockholm early in the morning on July 1st. S/S Kastelholm like most of the boats in the UNRRAs action were adapted to serve as hospitals. Here the group of the "sitting patients" waiting to be examined. Very sick survivors were taken directly to the Epidemic hospital in Stockholm.

The documents of Rosi Weinberger from the Bergen-Belsen Camp, Field Medical Card and D.P-card issued by British Army. On the right an envelope from the Epidemic hospital with the dates when she arrived and when she died.

The fever chart of Rosi Weinberger from the Bergen-Belsen Hospital with 13 000 beds, that was established next to the concentration camp, directly after the liberation.

The entry to Sweden card with Rosi - Roza own, shaky signature

The ceremony included the lighting of the candles at the Holocaust Monument and all the graves. The Monument has been established 2019, jointly with the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm and the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) and supported by Heckscher Foundation as well as other private funds.