Ian Forsyth, MBE, In His Own Words - A first hand account of liberating Bergen-Belsen

Content warning: depicts scenes and descriptions of extreme human suffering in concentration camps.

On 15 April 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, Ian Forsyth, radio operator in the 15th/19th King's Royal Hussars, part of the 11th Armoured Division, was one of the first to arrive at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They were met with unimaginable human suffering and degradation. In this short film, Ian describes his experience.

Ian Forsyth became a teacher after the war, and dedicated his life to educating people about the Holocaust. In 2011 he received an MBE for Voluntary Services to the Royal British Legion Scotland.

Ian Forsyth was adamant that this episode in history should not be forgotten and regularly attended memorial events over the years. At one such event, in 2017 when Ian Forsyth was in his 94th year, he was given a bottle of vodka.

He said:

“The bottle of vodka was given to me by a Ukrainian inmate, on the 65th anniversary of our arrival with the words ‘I have waited 65 years to meet a liberator and say my thanks, you are the first I’ve met, so this is for you?’

“I cannot open it. I do not want it to be opened, but kept as a reminder of the reason we were there in the first place. I have listened to their stories, I still keep in touch with those who are still alive or the families of those who died in the camp.

“I still have nightmares and I still cannot understand why this had to be.”

This bottle of vodka is on display, unopened, in Charge! The Story of England’s Northern Cavalry at Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, in North East England.

Ian Forsyth 23 December 1923 – 15 December 2021