| Subscribe | Press Room | Store | YV Worldwide | Contact Us

Yad Vashem To Witness and Proclaim

At the Bergen-Belsen DP Camp

Immediately upon liberation, in the spring of 1945, Hermann Helfgott hurried to the Bergen-Belsen camp in order to help the tens of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors there. With his own hands he buried thousands of victims at the camp, while trying to raise the spirits of those who remained alive. He conducted wedding ceremonies, educated children and youth, provided spiritual assistance and got hold of vital supplies and medical aid. In September 1947 Helfgott was sent to aid the “illegal” immigrant crew of the Exodus in the German detention camps.

Helfgott in the rabbinical association at the Bergen-Belsen DP camp Helfgott marrying a couple at the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. Helfgott during a Zionist rally at the Bergen-Belsen DP camp Helfgott at the visit of David Ben-Gurion, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, at the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, fall 1945. Helfgott is wearing a beret, behind the person wearing a beret in the foreground Portrait of Helfgott drawn at the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, 10 May 1947 Miryam Elizabeth Herbst and Moshe Ladislav Sarvasi were married at Bergen-Belsen in August 1945, a few months after liberation. Rabbi Helfgott wrote their ketubah (marriage contract) from memory. Years later, after he came to Israel, Helfgott went to visit the Sarvasis at their home in Kiryat Shemonah, in order to check that he had accurately recalled the ketubah’s format. He had. Miryam Elizabeth Herbst and Moshe Ladislav Sarvasi were married at Bergen-Belsen in August 1945, a few months after liberation. Rabbi Helfgott wrote their ketubah (marriage contract) from memory. Years later, after he came to Israel, Helfgott went to visit the Sarvasis at their home in Kiryat Shemonah, in order to check that he had accurately recalled the ketubah’s format. He had. Rabbi Dr. Zvi Asaria Helfgott (z”l) with relatives in Bergen-Belsen that he had never previously met