The following notable letter appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (J. A. M. A.) in the "Foreign Letters" section on page 220 for May 19, 1945. The war had just ended.
Typhus Causes a Truce
By negotiations between British and German officers, British troops took over from the S.S. and the Wehrmacht the task of guarding the vast concentration camp at Belsen, a few miles northwest of Celle, which contains 60,000 prisoners, many of them political. This has been done because typhus is rampant in the camp and it is vital that no prisoners be released until the infection is checked. The advancing British agreed to refrain from bombing or shelling the area of the camp, and the Germans agreed to leave behind an armed guard which would be allowed to return to their own lines a week after the British arrival. The story of the negotiations is curious. Two German officers presented themselves before the British outposts and explained that there were 9,000 sick in the camp and that all sanitation had failed. They proposed that the British should occupy the camp at once, as the responsibility was international in the interests of health. In return for the delay caused by the truce the Germans offered to surrender intact the bridges over the river Aller. After brief consideration the British senior officer rejected the German proposals, saying it was necessary that the British should occupy an area of 10 kilometers round the camp in order be sure of keeping their troops and lines of communication away from the disease. The British eventually took over the camp.
Delays such as this were crucial to the likes of Anne Frank, who after being transported from Auschwitz (a supposed 'death camp' where see wasn't put to death), died of typhus.
- Hannover
