One of the regular readers of this blog sent me two photos of death records obtained from the Red Cross International Tracing Service at Arolsen, Germany. The records show that, as of 31.12.1983, there were only 373,468 known deaths in the main concentration camps during World War II. I was aware of these statistics, but I had never really looked closely at the numbers. The most surprising thing is that, by 1979, there had been only 6,507 death certificates issued for the deaths at Bergen-Belsen, and only 6,851 death certificates for Bergen-Belsen issued by 1983. (more…)