Malnutrition in Bergen-Belsen

[Text: Imprisoned with her family in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, Martha recalls the impact of food shortages and malnutrition.] 

Martha Salcudean: My parents did take care of many people around. [But] the degree of malnutrition was so significant that basically in the evenings, you know, people always started to talk about food, and then other people yelling, and then that stopped this. But it was, it comes to a point in which you can hardly think of anything else, okay? It’s all fair to say that you don’t care about food as long as you have ... you can eat. But it is, it became a very serious, very, very serious problem, very quickly. So, my parents tried to take care of us by whatever means they had. I remember an older lady gave a piece of bread to Peter, who was three, and told Peter, “Peter, here it is, and then, you know, if you are a good boy, you can come back sometimes, okay? So, if you can come back another time.” And half an hour after, Peter shows up and said, “I was a good boy, and now it’s another time.” So, it was certainly fairly difficult.