The Research and Documentation department of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial focuses on the entire range of topics associated with the history of the Bergen-Belsen site. Artefacts, documents and photographs relating to other sites are included in the Memorial’s collection only in exceptional cases.

The Bergen-Belsen Memorial did not start collecting materials until 1987 when it hired its first permanent academic staff.

The collection covers five thematic areas:

1. Background: History of the military training area
2. Core area 1: POW camp
3. Core area 2: Concentration camp
4. Core area 3: DP camp
5. History of the Memorial since 1945

The collection is stored in six secure, fire-proof, climate-controlled archive rooms at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. Many of the materials relating to the POW camps are kept at the offices of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation in Celle. The collection index has been recorded in eight databases using the FAUST database and retrieval system; the archive of photographs and press clippings has not yet been fully indexed.