Sign Painting the Horror of the Belsen Concentration Camp

Better Letters -

When I first saw the photo below I was completely unaware of the Belsen concentration camp. Reading about it, as with anything to do with the Holocaust, has been harrowing, and yet necessary to remind myself of this awful chapter in human history.

Cyril Nicklin (left) and Reginald Price in front of the sign they painted to commemorate those that lost their lives at the Belsen concentration camp.

The Hand-Painted Sign at Belsen

This sign was painted by Bombardier Reginald (Reg) Price and his assistant Cyril Nicklin. They were both soldiers involved in the liberation of Belsen, and the horrors they found inside are impossible to comprehend. As a trained sign painter, Reg was called upon to honour the dead via this piece, its 'twin' in German, and others used to mark mass graves.