in december 1944 "ss-hauptsturmführer" josef kramer, previously at auschwitz-birkenau, became the new camp commandant, replacing "ss-hauptsturmführer" , who had been in post since the spring of 1943. in january 1945, the ss took over the pow hospital and increased the size of bergen-belsen. as eastern concentration camps were evacuated before the advance of the red army, at least 85,000 people were transported in cattle cars or marched to bergen-belsen. before that the number of prisoners at belsen had been much smaller. in july 1944 there were 7,300; by december 1944 the number had increased to 15,000; and by february 1945 it had risen to 22,000. numbers then soared to around 60,000 by april 15, 1945. this overcrowding led to a vast increase in deaths from disease: particularly typhus, as well as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, dysentery and malnutrition in a camp originally designed to hold about 10,000 inmates. at this point also, the special status of the exchange prisoners no longer applied. all inmates were subject to starvation and epidemics.