A telegram from Lisbon to the Foreign Office, 20 August 1944. Catalogue ref: FO 916/847
[The text of this telegram must first be paraphrased if communicated to persons outside British or United States Government service or if retransmitted in a cypher system other than O.T.P.
[CYPHER] (code) DEPARTMENTAL NO. 2
FROM LISBON TO FOREIGN OFFFICE
Sir R. Campbell
No. 210 SAVING D. 20th August, 1944
20th August 1944 R. 6.00pm 26th August 1944
Repeated to Algiers No. 1
Casablanca
n n n
My telegram No.202 Saving (not to Algiers or Casablanca)
The following is a list of the persons who arrived from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and who have now left for North Africa.
Head of Family Number of persons in Family
Gerli, Azra 7
Burbea, Uasi 5
Labi, Musci 5
Labi, Mezzala 6
Reginiano, Bercana 2
Reginiano, Ghibri 6
Reginiano, Vittorio 6
Reginiano, Saul 10
Reginiano, Raffaello 2
Reginiano, Ester 1
Reginiano, Hammus 1
Bengiamin, Rachele 3
Bengiamin, Smeralda 4
Bengiamin, Tita 4
Reginiano, Buba 1
Burbea, Zula 1
Labi, Loris 1
Buaron, Mezzala 2
Roe, Clara 1
TOTAL 68
A further report by the official with regard to the location of the camp as follows:-
The exact location of this camp is difficult to fix from the information available. It is evidently in the Luneburger Heide, in a sparsley populated area. The Jews from Benghasi did not know precisely where they were taken to. They arrived at the camp by lorry. The postal address is “bei-Celle, Hanover”. The distances by road are;
Hanover to Celle 38 Kilometres
Celle to Bergen 24 kilometres
Bergen to Hamburg 101 kilometres
…
6. Read Source 6. This is a telegram from Lisbon to the Foreign Office, 20 August 1944.
- What type of document is this?
- What are the key features of this type of source?
- Who is from?
- Who is it sent to?
- What does it say?
- Why do think the camp is situated in ‘a sparsley populated area’?
- The date of this source is August 1944, before the camp was liberated in April 1945. What does the source reveal?