Letters from Belsen 1945

September 1, 2001
In a preface written by Doherty in 1949 (she died in 1988 at the age of 92), she explains that her letters were not written for publication but to keep relatives and friends "informed of my doings." In 1945 Doherty joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and was appointed chief nurse and principal matron of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. The camp had been liberated by British troops on April 15, 1945, and there were 60,000 ill survivors and 27,000 unburied corpses. Following liberation, starvation and typhus claimed about 5,000 inmates in the next 10 days. Doherty, a non-Jew, describes her efforts to clean up the camp and the difficulties of formulating a suitable diet for the survivors and of organizing a hospital. The book contains 12 pencil drawings by Bergen-Belsen survivors and 18 black-and-white photographs. Doherty's story, told through her letters, reveals a remarkable woman of selfless courage and determination.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)