Kingdom of Night

Mark Celinscak is the Louis and Frances Blumkin Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Executive Director of the Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust and Genocide Academy at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

"Celinscak compiles stark and moving personal accounts by Canadians engaged in the liberation of one of the most notorious sites in Hitler’s camp system... This book fills a gap in the history of the atrocities and its effect on those who saw it first-hand." (Canadian Jewish Literary Awards) "In Kingdom of Night, Celinscak powerfully illustrates through their own words the experiences of these Canadian military and relief personnel. The result is a collection of witness testimonies which will both appeal to a general reader and influence future research into Belsen’s liberation and relief... [it is] an essential book." - Robert Thompson, University College London (Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History) "One of the many strengths of Celinscak’s work is his ability to chart change over time in the camp…. This volume is clearly the product of deep and sustained research, and the result gives scholars and students access to another range of English language sources dealing with the war’s end." - Lisa M. Todd, University of New Brunswick (The Canadian Historical Review) "This book offers a lively description of the efforts, failures and support of the many Canadians involved [at Belsen], while also bearing witness to a great humanitarian tragedy. Both the experiences of the survivors and the actions of Canadian soldiers are described here in a humane and thoughtful way. This book sheds light on an important period of Canadian history that is largely forgotten, while adding valuable perspective to Holocaust studies." (Vine Awards Jury)

• List of IllustrationsForeword by Joseph Podemski PrefaceAcknowledgments Bergen-Belsen: A Timeline Part One: Historical BackgroundIntroduction: Canada, the Holocaust, and the Liberation of Bergen-BelsenReading TestimonyPart Two: Testimony1. Canadians Arrive at Bergen-BelsenRonald Ford AndersonMervin MirskyAlan RoseMaurice VictorLeo Heaps2. Documenting the Horror CampRon LaidlawFred HopkinsonAl CalderAlex ColvilleDonald K. AndersonAba BayefskyHenry S. Abramson3. Relief MeasuresJohn ProskieMatthew NesbittSaul SteinLyle M. CreelmanJohn W. ThompsonElsie May DeeksJohn F. McCrearyJames Ernest Thompson4. Eyewitness TestimonyLarry D. MannLeo Velleman Allan IronsideKing WhyteCarl ReinkeFrank SnowsellGordon Panchuk5. Displaced Persons CampStanley H. WinfieldTed AplinBernard YaleEdgar Jamieson6. Religious ObservationRoss Ketchen CameronShalome Michael GelberSamuel CassAbraham BrennerNotesBibliographyIndex