Over 1,000 people will mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen this weekend with a special international ceremony at the site of the concentration camp in Germany.

A 200-strong delegation organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust will travel from the UK, with more than half of the group made up of young people in their teens and twenties.

Around 70,000 inmates died at the camp from starvation and disease before it was liberated in April 1945.

HET chief executive Karen Pollock said: “The liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British forces is an important part of our history. This year, as we mark 70 years since the 11th Armoured Division entered the camp, we’re remembering the thousands of people who died here at the hands of the Nazis and those who managed to survive.”

Sunday’s event will include a visit to the Bergen-Belsen museum and to the site of the displaced persons camp set up after the camp’s liberation.

A delegation from the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women will also be taking part.

Ms Pollock said that the presence of so many young people at the commemoration would “ensure that their generation and future generations always know what happened during the Holocaust and at Belsen”.