Bergen-Belsen Stele

The Bergen-Belsen Stele stands as a poignant reminder of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp system. It is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit, but also to the suffering that was inflicted upon so many innocent people. The Stele is located in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, a vast necropolis in the east of Paris, amid many other monuments dedicated to the victims of war and genocide. You are standing before two curved concrete walls that come together at a central obelisk. A short inscription in French is engraved on each wall. The inscription reads: “They suffered and hoped for your fight for freedom. Their bodies were broken, never their minds.” The inscription is a powerful reminder of the strength and courage of those who were imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen. The walls are topped with steel railroad tracks, each set at an angle to the obelisk. These tracks evoke the memory of the death trains that transported millions of Jews and other prisoners to their deaths. Between the two walls, the pavement is filled with footprints of various sizes—a poignant representation of the age groups that were forced into Bergen-Belsen. The Stele is a powerful reminder of the atrocities that were committed at Bergen-Belsen. It is a place to reflect on the lost lives and the enduring legacy of this tragic chapter in human history.