mathematics

London medical students who assisted at Belsen

London medical students who assisted at Belsen is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand London medical students who assisted at Belsen rather than just read about it. In short: In early April 1945, at the request of the British Army, the British Red Cross and the War Office called for 100 volunteer medical students from nine London teaching hospitals to assist in feeding starving Dutch children who had been liberated from German occupation by advancing Allied forces. However, in the meantime, British troops had liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the students were diverted there…

Key takeaways

London medical students who assisted at Belsen belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reference excerpt

In early April 1945, at the request of the British Army, the British Red Cross and the War Office called for 100 volunteer medical students from nine London teaching hospitals to assist in feeding starving Dutch children who had been liberated from German occupation by advancing Allied forces. However, in the meantime, British troops had liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the students were diverted there on the day they were due to travel to the Netherlands. The students had previously spent most of the Second World War at school and in medical training. The students were tasked with taking over one or two of the 200 camp huts each, with the responsibility of cleaning and feeding the survivors and supervising a fair distribution of food. Their work was instrumental in reducing the death rate from over 500 a day at liberation to less than 100 a day by mid-May 1945. Sources show that twelve students came from each of Guy's Hospital, St Thomas', St Mary's, The London and University College, eleven from Westminster, nine from St Bartholomew's, eight from the Middlesex and the remainder from King's. The Imperial War Museum holds a number of the students' letters and diaries which were a source for Ben Shephard's 2005 book After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945. Their story has also been portrayed in the 2007 feature-length drama, The Relief of Belsen. The diary of Westminster student Michael Hargrave was published in 2014.

Recruitment

In early April 1945, a call for 100 volunteer medical students in their final 18 months of medical school was made by the British Red Cross and the War Office at the request of the British Army, to assist in feeding starving Dutch children. However, in the interim, British troops had liberated Belsen and at the request of Brigadier Hugh Glyn-Hughes, the students were diverted to Belsen on the day of departure to Holland. The total number of students who volunteered was more than 100 and they were therefore shortlisted by ballot. Somewhere between 95 and 100 took part, with the exact number uncertain. Laurence Wand, a student from St Bartholomew's, later recounted the events of 1945 and gave with certainty the number as 96 as "this number fitted neatly into six Dakota aircraft which were to be used for our transport to Germany". Up until this time, these students had spent the larger part of the Second World War at school and in medical education. Several students had previously attended Epsom College.

Journey to Belsen At the end of April 1945, the students were immunised against typhoid, typhus and diphtheria. Dressed in battledress, at 2pm on 28 April 1945, they met the British Red Cross at 5, Lowndes Street after having some official photographs taken. Student Michael Hargrave described in his diary that day that there were "some very faked photographs of me shaking hands with the Dean - supposed to be saying goodbye". Upon arrival at Lowndes Street, they were given their passports, ranking cards and military documents. They were to fly to Holland. However, Belsen, in Germany, had in the interim been liberated by British troops and a request for extra help was made upon realising the extent of the problems there. The students were subsequently informed that they would be re-directed to Belsen. Hargrave, wrote that same day "this was the first news we had been given about going to Belsen but we were all so excited abound, after a month of waiting, that we did not think much about the change in destination". Over the following few days, six Dakotas set off from Cirencester with the destination of Celle in Germany. Due to problems with the weather, the aircraft arrived at Celle on different days, with two having to return to Cirencester via Croydon. They were to be under the supervision of nutritionist Arnold Peter Meiklejohn.

Belsen

Arrival The first students arrived at Belsen at the end of April 1945, with the remaining students reaching the camp at the beginning of May 1945. Following a briefing by Meiklejohn on 2 May 1945, they began work at Camp 1 the following day.

Roles

Initially, the role of the students was to take over one or two of the 200 huts each, with the responsibility of getting them cleaned (human laundry) and supervising the feeding of and fair distribution of food to the inmates. The association of intravenous feeding and Nazi activities rendered this kind of feeding inappropriate. An unpopular mixture known as the "Bengal mixture" was used for feeding. In addition to malnutrition and starvation, tuberculosis, typhus and cancrum oris were common, and later Wernicke's encephalopathy and pellagra. Some of the challenges the students faced were reported by student Thomas Gibson, who disclosed the difficulties in caring for people when medicine and adequate nursing help was lacking, on the background of the dilemma of how “to explain to a Pole who speaks little French”, and how difficult it was “to give a course of sulphonamide to a Russian with erysipelas who only speaks Russian". The Lack of medical aid, equipment, drugs and hospital facilities meant improvising and making the best out of what was there. Michael Hargrave, in his journal, described the human laundry, assembled in two adjacent stables where 17 tables were each surrounded by four German nurses, who washed the inmates, covered them in DDT and then wrapped them in clean towels before they were transported again. As a student running his hut, he marked whoever he felt appropriate to send there. The Hungarian aid would then porter them into an ambulance to be taken to the human laundry in Camp II. On 14 May 1945, the 35 Casualty Clearing Station arrived and the remaining sick were moved to the German Military Hospital, later renamed the Glyn Hughes Hospital. It grew to accommodate 13 000 patients, and staff including the students, the British Red Cross and German medical staff. The work by the students was significant in reducing the death rate from initially more than 500 a day to fewer than 100 a day by mid-May. On 20 May 1945, Camp 1 was destroyed and the students moved to Camp 2.

Life outside the camp

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with London medical students who assisted at Belsen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what London medical students who assisted at Belsen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to London medical students who assisted at Belsen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about London medical students who assisted at Belsen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of London medical students who assisted at Belsen

In research: London medical students who assisted at Belsen appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses London medical students who assisted at Belsen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: London medical students who assisted at Belsen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 in Germany, 1945 in medicine, Aftermath of the Holocaust, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for London medical students who assisted at Belsen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study London medical students who assisted at Belsen in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is London medical students who assisted at Belsen in simple terms?

Why does London medical students who assisted at Belsen matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study London medical students who assisted at Belsen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on London medical students who assisted at Belsen.