After Daybreak

Apr 20, 2025 9:48 AM

Author:Ben Shephard

After Daybreak

'The things I saw completely defy description': when British troops entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945, they uncovered scenes of horror and depravity that shocked the world. But they also confronted a terrible challenge - inside the camp were some 60,000 people, suffering from typhus, starvation and dysentery, who would die unless they received immediate medical attention.

After Daybreak is the story of the men and women who faced that challenge - the army stretcher-bearers and ambulance drivers, medical students and relief workers who worked to save the inmates of Belsen - with the war still raging and only the most primitive drugs and facilities available. It was, for all of them, an overwhelming experience. Drawing on their diaries and letters, Ben Shephard reconstructs events at Belsen in the spring of 1945 - from the first horror of its discovery, through the agonising process of trying to save the survivors, to the point where Belsen became 'more like a Butlin's Holiday camp than a concentration one'.

By the end of June 1945, some 46,000 people had survived at Belsen; but another 14,000 had been lost. Should we therefore see the relief of the camp as an epic of medical heroism - as the British believed? Or was the failure to plan for Belsen and the undoubted mistakes that were made there further evidence of Allied indifference to the fate of Europe's Jews - as some historians now argue? After Daybreak is a powerful and dramatic narrative, full of extraordinary incidents and characters. It is also an important contribution to medical history.

Reviews

'In his excellent and lucid account, Shephard fully makes his case that the aftermath of the liberation of Belsen was an episode in which the British can take pride...a powerful and dramatic narrative.'

—— Frank McLynn, Independent

'A solidly researched, scrupulously balanced and sensitive account of the liberation that will serve as a fitting tribute and a guide to future generations about how best to remember Belsen.'

—— Guardian

'A moving story.'

—— Times Literary Supplement

'Contributors to the ever-growing opus of Holocaust historiography have been accused by some of creating an industry. However, Shephard's contribution is not superfluous and he negotiates his harrowing material surefootedly.'

—— Irish Times

For the present generation, Kershaw's Hitler stands out as a clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

The definitive biography of the Führer

—— Juliet Gardiner , Sunday Times

An achievement of the very highest order

—— Michael Burleigh , Financial Times

Mesmerizing ... presents the twentieth century's most controversial life in a single sweep

—— Michael Kerrigan , Scotsman

A full and fascinating account... Edge-of-the-seat exciting

—— Saga

Holland is a narrative historian par excellence who believes that people should eb at the heart of any story and brings the characters of the age to life... [an] excellent, highly-readable volume

—— Navy News

Full of lively accounts of aerial contests and well-observed details

—— BBC History Magazine

History told with panache and an excellent grasp of the technical details

—— The Sunday Times

Holland's narrative is impressively comprehensive and is a superb introduction to one of the great turning points of the last war. More importantly it is stirring, occasionally even exhilarating, as any history of this period is obliged to be

—— Literary Review

A fitting, and beautifully illustrated, tribute to the Few, while not forgetting the unsung heroes of Bomber Command

—— Times Educational Supplement

There have been many books about the Battle of Britain but few as exhaustive - and readable - as this scholarly account

—— Choice Magazine

Facts and figures say a great deal, but the most compelling accounts come from those who featured in the battle. Like any good author, Holland allows the participants to tell the story in their own words

—— The Good Book Guide

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