JEWISH WORLD

“typhus fever.” When Hughes arrived with the British army, he was forced to make immediate decisions about triage. In addition to the corpses stacked everywhere, there were 60,000 sur- vivors who needed urgent medical attention. “His highly focused plan involved placing inmates into one of three cat- egories,” wrote Lerner. “Those like- ly to survive, those likely to die, and those for whom immediate care would mean the difference between life and death.” Assisted by army staff and 97 British medical students, Hughes coped with hundreds of daily fatali- ties well past the camp’s April 15 liberation. He told his medical offi- cers to enter each hut and make “a quick determination,” wrote Lerner. “Would the individual stand a better chance of surviving if evacuat- ed to receive rudimentary care? Rescue efforts sprang from this prin- ciple,” wrote Lerner, a senior scholar at Boston University’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility. Lerner’s mother watched friends die of typhus and was beaten to near- death by other inmates in her bar- racks. She also contracted tuberculo- sis, an illness that would affect her health for decades. “Rachel would learn the macabre routine: each morning open trucks would come through the women’s camp to collect corpses — stripped of their clothes and anything else on them — that inmates had removed from the barracks and piled up out- side,” wrote Lerner. “The stiff bodies were dumped in corners of the camp.” Although Ler- ner’s mother never met Hughes, she learned about him — and details sur- rounding her res- cue — through her daughter’s re- search. During the de- cade of working on the book, Ler- ner was able to ask her mother, now 90, about numer- ous details. The author was able to paint a detailed portrait of her mo- ther’s family life before the war, as well as track what happened to those relatives. Across the At- lantic, Lerner spoke with people who knew Hughes before his death in 1973. By all accounts, Hughes was a great humanitarian who became known as a British “Oskar Schindler” for his heroic efforts at Bergen-Belsen. When asked about the strategies applied by Hughes to end the plague at Bergen-Belsen, Lerner pointed to the enlistment of the British military. “[They are] serious and they work very fast,” she said. “They can’t get in fast enough or have enough manpower when there is a situation like Hughes faced.” I n setting up what became Europe’s largest hospital, Hughes oversaw the care of 13,000 former inmates from among the survivors. “He was racing against time,” said Lerner. Among the decisive actions taken by Hughes, the army took control of a hospital near the camp and emptied its German patients to make room for camp victims. He also authorized “tours” of Bergen- Belsen for German leaders from the region, hundreds of whom were forced to witness what had been done in their name. “Belsen was unique in its vile treatment of human beings,” said Hughes after the war. “Nothing like it had happened before in the histo- ry of mankind. The victims of this infamous behavior have been reduced to a condition of subhu- man existence, and there we were a mere handful of war-weary men trying to save those who could still be saved and to allay the sea of suf- fering and the depths of agony.” Working “methodically and fac- tory-style,” said Lerner, Hughes eliminated the hold of typhus and other diseases on the camp. DDT powder was sprayed into the cor- ners of every garment while resources were stretched to the limit. “Then he burned down the entire place,” said Lerner. “Hughes gave the order,” wrote Lerner. “Army photographers cap- tured the image of Hut 47, the effi- gy of Hitler ablaze, and [Hughes] conferring with fellow officers against a backdrop of smoke. A hoisted Union Jack now flew over the dramatic scene.” In his post-war career, Hughes continued to fight for people’s lives and dignity. After visiting hundreds of hospitals and nursing homes, he wrote the influential report, “Peace at the Last: A Survey of Terminal Care in the United Kingdom.” In his report to the government, Hughes bemoaned the lack of resources available for the care of sick and elderly populations. He urged a significant increase in funding for systems traditionally reliant on religious groups and vol- unteers, helping to create the National Health Service along the way. During the last phase of their lives, wrote Hughes, terminally ill patients need to feel “a sense of security, that they are not alone, that there is someone to care for them and something to be done for them.” According to Lerner, “Hughes really had empathy, he saw [the victims] as human beings.” The author added that not all British officers were known for their humanitarian impulses toward Holocaust survivors. “Hughes regarded each survivor of Bergen-Belsen as one he per- sonally saved,” wrote Lerner. “Unable to prevent thousands of people from dying as no person should, he embraced an opportu- nity that came fifteen years after the liberation — he would pre- scribe humane treatment for those in their final days.” Matt Lebovic is a frequent con- tributor to the Times of Israel. Belsen continued from page 4 In setting up what became Europe’s largest hospital, Hughes oversaw the care of 13,000 Belsen survivors. 28 JEWISH WORLD • APRIL 24-30, 2020 A Bergen-Belsen survivor is dusted with DDT powder to kill lice which spread typhus. Dr. Hughes ultimately eradicated the disease at the camp.