Belsen is a short name for Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi camp in northern Germany in the Second World War. The Nazis held people there — many of them Jews, and also others they wanted out of the way. People at Belsen mostly died from hunger, dirt, and sickness, especially near the end of the war, when the camp was terribly overcrowded. Thousands died. Anne Frank, whose diary many students have heard of, died there. In April 1945 British soldiers entered the camp. It was the first such camp they walked into after the war in Europe was ending, and they were extremely shocked: many dead bodies, and many people so thin they barely looked alive. Photographs of Belsen went around the world. People still say “Belsen” when they mean that camp and that shock. It is a heavy word. Use it with care.