Introduction
With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW I, Sephardic families who lived in a same place for
four centuries and more, moved to western Europe, mostly France or Belgium, others to Eretz Israel that just became a British
Mandate, while some made their way to Latin America. It is possible that some people from Eretz Israel went to France or Belgium
to visit their relatives or to study in French or Belgian universities or for trade purposes. Blocked there with the outbreak of
the war, later on they were caught as Jews by the police or the Gestapo. Probably as British nationals or Turkish citizens, they
were sent to Bergen Belsen camp and not to death camps such a Auschwitz.
Located in Lower Saxony, the Bergen Belsen camp was established in April 1943 as a detention camp for
prisoners who were to be exchanged with Germans imprisoned in Allied countries. During the year of 1943, Germans interned there
Jews holding nationality of neutral countries such as Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Turkey etc. as well as British nationals.
Unfortunately in early 1944 the camp became a regular concentration camp.
The present list which includes the three names of the British deportees, is based on the book:
Bergen
Belsen; 1940-1945 Niedersachsische Landerzentrale fuer Politische Bildung. Gedenkbuch ; haeflinge des Konzentrazionlager Bergen
Belsen. Bergen Belsen, Gedenstatte, 1995. It lists Jews from all the nations who were interned in Bergen Belsen death camp.
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