The King

"It deeply affected him and his confidence in Human Nature ", Anne Stephenson, her father John Reynolds , one of the 95 London medical students who came in the notorious Belsen in may 1945, the care of the survivors, plagued by disease and Hunger.

The Camp had been captured, the on 15. April of British troops, who had no idea of The Horrors she would find inside, if The First tank pushed open The Gates .

For The Bbc , Richard Dimbleby , The First station to The Camp ,

About 10 000 Dead Bodies unburied were not, Hygiene was available.

There were than 43,000 prisoners Still Alive , about two-thirds of them are women, many so weak from Hunger and disease They were unable to move from the huts where They were held, and They died at a rate of about 500 per day.

The medical students, average age 21, were recruited volunteers, The First to care for the starving Dutch children, but, the, travel, just before They were due, too, had been changed, your goal is to Belsen.

by The Time They arrived at the beginning of may, most of the corpses had been removed, but thousands of sick and dying People languished still in the huts.

"People in all stages of the disease. Many of them were dead. Virtually all of them were emaciated," John Reynolds , then a 23-year-old student at St Thomas's Medical School , he wrote later.

"Almost all of the internees had severe colic or diarrhea. "

do you suffer from a number of diseases, including cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, wounds, ulcers, and gangrene.

"were The People themselves, on the whole, hopelessly filthy without sense of decency or pride in themselves, the treatment of The Dead , such as furniture and beds as latrines. "

He carried these experiences with him for the rest of his Life , says Anne, who is a doctor and a member of The Academic staff at King's College London Medical School , St Thomas' s now a part of.

"I remember once, we were all sitting at dinner and he Suddenly said:" I remember a blonde woman, and They shot her in the leg. They shot her in the leg. '

"He had post-traumatic stress disorder, to be honest. He had terrible PTSD, was not treated. "

led by senior military medical personnel, The Students , the halving of the death rate in a month.

It is tested both their medical skills and their personal endurance to an unimaginable degree, to the Westminster student Michael Hargrave, in his diary.

A great puzzle was what to feed the detainees.

British Army rations were indigestible to the starving People , and you could kill a brew called the Bengal Famine Mix, was unpalatably sweet, and intravenous threw a few, the feared, lethal injections, in a panic.

in the end, diluted works soup and glucose drinks are best.

In pairs, The Students of the medical huts were assigned to, where every morning she would. the separation of The Living by those who died overnight

"The bodies are pulled from those who can run, And Then The Wehrmacht upload them on a massive truck trailer, guarded all The Time , and buried in huge graves," wrote Guy's student John Kilby in a letter to His Mother .

This need of medical assistance, were transferred to a makeshift hospital for 7,000, housed in a barracks, Camp .

John Reynolds tells of how the huts burned to the ground one after the other, until only one was left.

On 21 may 1945, "an official ceremony of The Burning of this last hut was visited by all those who worked in the warehouse. a volley was fired, the Union Jack , unfolded, And Then the hut was burnt to the ground by the flame-thrower. "

was burned on 21 may, A week later, The Students of the month came in Belsen and you were sent Back To their medical schools.

"in These Days , of course, you would have a debriefing and she had post-traumatic stress disorder counseling," says Prof Stephen Challacombe, professor of Oral Medicine at King's and a medical historian.

"It was so strong, just, Give you your uniforms, you are back in civilian Life '. "

the 95, even though you are vaccinated, the two returned with tuberculosis and seven of typhoid fever.

DDT was used liberally to kill lice, and Anne Stephenson said her father always wondered whether the cancer he had suffered, associated in later Life with the pesticide.

In their later careers as doctors and scientists, "all of the reports, a person talk about how great They were," says Prof Challacombe has delivered a series of lectures about their history.

This year, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of their efforts, King's College Medical School , the, as well as St Thomas' is also part of Guy's, and accounts for 34 out of the 95 students, is the creation of plaques to their memory.

"If you are asked to go to, you could never imagine, what would you say to walk in and make," Prof Challacombe,

Sometimes, the audience is invited to bring their parents letters and diaries from The Time , among them Gilly Kenny and Jenny Meade, whose father, John and Bernard, were of The King 's College contingent, and remained Life -long friends

Gilly says, it was after the death of her father, when "we had to delete all kinds of papers, and we found some, in connection with his Time In Belsen. it was a bit clearer".

she found the lecture to be "very emotional. I learned a lot".

Prof Challacombe believes That The Most difficult Time for students, when patients were transferred from the huts to The Hospital .

"There is a point to the numbers and body transform into Real People . Suddenly , People in beds, rather than a mass of individuals lie on a Floor .

"you have the feeling That if these patients That you have been in search of, try so hard, then died, I believe, you can have an influence on you. "

He hopes That modern medical students a message from The Story .

"I think, understanding for their sacrifice, understanding, for their willingness to engage and carry is a real trademark for the medicine.

"I think it is a lesson for me, to understand, to help People , you can reach these tips, and you can contribute, everyone can contribute, but uncertain you feel at The Time . "

Source of news: bbc.com