
Start of the Stony Path at the Documentation Centre, 2007. Photo by Klemens Ortmeyer. Bergen-Belsen Memorial (Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation)
Archaeological Finds
Structural remains from the former camp can be found in the eastern and northern sections of the grounds, particularly fire water reservoirs, foundations and flooring from the huts, latrines and sewage pits, and the ruins of the delousing and baths building. These remains lie outside of the original boundaries of the Memorial and were therefore not removed.
A fire water reservoir and the remains of the cellar of a long building have been uncovered near where the camp’s kitchens formerly stood. This site is located not far from the model of the Memorial and the historical grounds of the camp at the end of the Stony Path. This long building was used to store food.
Just a few metres from this large food depot, on the other side of what was the camp’s main street, there are the remains of flooring from two brick buildings. Construction began on these brick buildings in 1941 when the Wehrmacht expanded the POW camp. 900 prisoners were to be housed in each of the buildings. After the concentration camp was established, the eastern building (Hut 9) was probably used for storage as well. A fence separated it from the nearby prisoner huts. The other building (Hut 10) was also used to house prisoners. It held various prisoners from the exchange camp until the end of 1945 and was then part of the men’s camp until the liberation. Flooring and the concrete shafts of a latrine have been found about 100 metres behind the foundations of these buildings.
The foundations of a disinfection building are visible near where the camp’s main entrance stood, on the road between the towns of Winsen and Bergen. In this so-called large delousing facility, the clothing of the concentration camp prisoners and POWs was disinfected using hot air. The camp’s central baths were located next to this facility.
At the site of the former POW hospital, which was turned into part of the women’s camp near the end of the war, only the stony borders of pathways and a fire water reservoir are still visible.

Flyer Cemetery
Grounds of Former Camp
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