Dr Robina Marwick (Final Part) World War II – Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp

 

Dr Robina Marwick - RAMC

Remembrance Day 11 November 2025 marked 80 years since VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May and VJ Day (Victory in Japan Day) on 15 August.  It therefore feels timely to tell the story of Orkney born woman doctor, Dr Robina (Rina) Marwick, one of the first doctors to enter the Belsen Concentration Camp.

Dr Marwick joined the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) in 1943 and was stationed in Leeds, Aldershot and Hastings. She crossed to Normandy in July 1944, a month after the D-Day landings. Stationed in a hospital in Antwerp she was in charge of the Resuscitation Ward. There she tended severely wounded patients, giving them transfusions and other treatments to enable them to be fit enough for further operations.[1]

Dr Marwick - Resuscitation Ward

On 1 January 1945 she tells in her own words how they all rushed outside as “at breakfast time we heard a lot of planes flying over quite low. We all went outside to see them and give them a wave.  We all froze with horror when we saw the black swastikas on the wing and hear a burst of gunfire quite nearby.”[1]

Later that year, having travelled through Belgium and Normandy, Dr Marwick was one of the first doctors to enter Belsen Concentration Camp on 5 April 1945. She rarely chose to speak of it, although she shared some personal memories with family and gave talks to church youth groups.[1, 2, 3]

On arrival they found over 50,000 internees, many of whom were dead or dying. There had been no food or water for about seven days, after a long period of semi-starvation. The army and medical team had to work with SS Camp Staff who remained, and a British Colonel Commander was appointed over the camp.  He reported “Typhus, amongst other diseases, was raging.  Corruption and filth were everywhere. The very air was poisoned.”[4]

Dr Marwick said “It was a thousand times worse than anything we could have imagined”. Despite the best efforts of the medical team the internees were dying in their hundreds every day.[1]  She found herself working largely with the women internees. Among her notes was a list of diets.[5]:

1)      To be given in two-hourly feeds - fresh skimmed milk, sugar, salt and 3 camp vitamin tablets (800 calories)

2)      Milk, bread, vegetables, meat, potatoes, butter, soup, vitamin tablets (1600 calories) and where possible fresh eggs.

3)      For workers and fully convalescent patients - bread, meat, vegetables, potatoes, sugar, rice, butter, sausages and cheese.

She also brought back “Notes on German for use in Hospital”: how to pronounce sounds and words, use of pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, nouns and verbs, words for foods, parts of the body and medical terms.[6]

English/German phrases (Click to enlarge)

But the most poignant are the words and phrases “for bedside use”.  In addition to the usual greetings and questions about symptoms “Does it itch?”, there are phrases such as:

“Rub her back with spirit”
“Explain this is a special food to make her strong”
“You must be clean; this is a hospital”
“Scrub her skin well in a bath, then rub Sulphur ointment on the whole body”.

And perhaps the most poignant of all - “You are free and will soon go home.”

Dr Marwick continues “At first it was very difficult as suitable food was short and hardly any drugs or equipment, or bedding, and the language barrier complicated things immensely. But the people were freed from fear and fed …… and gradually improved. After a while we were glad to see the women weep when one of their neighbours died – the week before they would have taken no notice of it, and in some wards grey army blankets disappeared and a few days later some girls paraded in smart grey suits. This was frowned on by the Authorities, but it showed how much they had improved that they were taking an interest in their appearance – not only in their mere survival”[1]

Dr Marwick goes on to explain that those who survived were gradually removed from the Camp and put through a human laundry to control the deadly disease typhus. She says that the medical staff also had to be treated with DDT to prevent the spread of typhus.[2] The war artist, Doris Zinkeisen, painted a shocking picture of the “Human Laundry” which can be viewed here

In a letter home to her father, Provost James Marwick, of Stromness, she wrote: “Wonder how you are to celebrate VE day in Stromness? We are not exactly hilarious here, and I can scarcely imagine a less appropriate place for celebration than Belsen concentration camp – while living in tents on a windswept site and preparing to take in 4,000 ill patients.”[7]

The Camp Commander reports that on 19 May 1945 the Camp was cleared of the last person. Those that survived had been moved to hospitals or transit camps nearby. The burning of the last hut took place during a solemn ceremony on 21 May 1945. 

Burning of the last hut

Dr Marwick was mentioned in dispatches for her work.[4] After Belsen she was sent to Hamburg with the RAMC and was there for ViJ (Victory in Japan Day) and later said of nuclear warfare “[The public] did not understand how severe it would be".[8] 

After being “demobbed” she married Harald Leslie from Birsay on 27 December 1945. Harald had served in the Royal Scots, was given a military Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and mentioned in dispatches.[9] After the war he was Queen’s Counsel and appointed to the Department of Agriculture, and held other positions over the years.[10]

As was the custom in those days, Dr Marwick didn’t practise again after her marriage, but became a marriage guidance counsellor and was involved in many community organisations in Edinburgh, where she and Harald lived. They visited Orkney every year and stayed in Birsay, visiting Sanday too.[3]

Previous blogs on Dr Robina Marwick are available: Part 1 - her early life can be viewed here and Part 2 - Sanday 1940-1943 here

Blog post written by Sian Thomas

We are indebted to Thelma Stewart, daughter of Dr Robina Marwick, for providing source material. Thanks are also due to Pat Long and Kathleen Ireland for information early on in our project, and to the Orkney Library & Archive for facilitating access to the Radio Orkney recording

References:

[1] Notes by Dr Robina Marwick for a talk to St Bernard’s Church, Edinburgh Youth Fellowship on 14 November 1965.
[2] Notes by Dr Robina Marwick for a talk to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Govan Old Parish Church, 12 May 1985
[3] Information provided by Thelma Stewart, daughter of Dr Robina Marwick
[4] Notes by Colonel Commander, Headquarters, Belsen Camp 19 May 1945
[5] Diet Sheet written by Dr Robina Marwick
[6] Notes on German for use in Hospital in the possession of Dr Robina Marwick
[7] Island of Sanday Heritage Centre
[8] Robina Marwick/Leslie – Lady Birsay interview with BBC Radio Orkney – Orkney Library and Archive reference OSA/RO7/161.
[9] London Gazette 19/6/1945
[10] London Gazette 8/6/1963