Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News

As discussed with the presentation of the full unedited Westerbork Film recently (Ref. 1), the collection of the film footage was started in 1946 by the ‘RIOD’ Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (National Institute for War Documentation).

Over the years fragments have been extracted from the ‘Westerbork film’ on several occasions for screening in news or documentary (Ref. 2).

In 1948 ‘Polygoon’ Dutch cinema news (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) got footage for use in the reportage of the trial in The Hague of Hanns A. Rauter, an Austrian who was the highest SS official in Nazi-occupied Holland and who was tasked with setting up the camps in Westerbork and other dutch cities, and the arrests , internment and deportation of Dutch Jews and other groups of Dutch people , Roma, Sinti, resistance workers.

I posted that entire Polygoon 1948 week 15 cinema news report earlier (May 20, 2019) on Settela•Com in the post entitled “Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948” (Ref. 3) – here the link https://settela.com/2019/05/20/westerbork-film-in-proces-rauter-1948/

The actual Westerbork film footage fragments (4 fragments) used in that ‘Proces Rauter’ cinema news item – Polygoon Hollands Nieuws week 48-15 (cat.nr. 002338-001) are posted unedited in this collage : “Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News” (20190806) .

References

2. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658

3. Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 6). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p1IheQ-JY

Credit / Edit / Source info :

Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News. Slightly cropped, otherwise unedited footage.
Source ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 Polygoon Hollands Nieuws week 48-15 (cat.nr. 002338-001 ) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Public Domain) via OpenImages. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

Updates

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Mare Manuschenge ~ Music Roma Memorial Berlin

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism – located between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany – filmed in 2013.

The monument is dedicated to the memory of the estimated 500,000 European Roma and Sinti that were murdered during the Holocaust – called Porajmos or Pharrajimos in the Romani language (“the Devouring” or “Destruction”) – the genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples by the German Nazis and their fascist allies ( http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home ).

The memorial by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan consists of a circular pool of water with a triangular stone in the center upon which a fresh flower is placed daily.

At the site you hear the sound, a note of a lonely violin from a composition/sound installation titled “Mare Manuschenge” / “Our People” by Romeo Franz, a Sinto musician, composer and politician in Germany.
Karavan : „dem Klang einer einsamen Geige allein geblieben von der gemordeten Melodie, schwebend im Schmerz“

Romeo Franz:
Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of the Sinti and Roma, called me in 2012 and said he was looking for a violinist who could play just one single note at the ceremony. I tried, but at some point I couldn’t stand this note any longer. Instead I imitated a whistle that Sinti often use to call their children. It’s a sound that each of us recognise, it’s a bit like a mark of identification, a signal. Then I transposed it onto the gypsy minor scale. Shortly before the memorial was completed, I met with Dani Caravan, the Israeli architect who designed the memorial, at the construction site, and he said, “That’s it!” For me, it was possibly the most significant thing I’ve ever achieved in my life.
From : The Handreader’s Tale via https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/magazine/magazine_26-1/the_handreaders_tale.html

Note
Yesterday – August 4, 2019 – a more subjective short film impression of the memorial was posted see ‘Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe’ ~ https://settela.com/2019/08/04/porajmos-memorial-sinti-roma-europe/ More information on this memorial also in that 20190804 post.

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line

20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN

Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism, filmed in 2013 in the Tiergarten (close to other Holocaust memorials) in Berlin – between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, in Germany.

August 2 is European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemorating this genocide of Roma people during World War II. Declared by the European Parliament in 2015 (Resolution 2015/2615), the day marks the anniversary of the extermination of around 3,000 Roma at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the night of 2 August 1944. The so-called Gypsy Camp in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was dissolved – or “liquidated,” as the SS called it.

Settela Steinbach (9) was one of those murdered early August 1944, now 75 years ago.

The memorial (by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan) consists of a circular pool of water with a triangular stone in the center (not shown in this film) upon which a fresh flower is placed daily.

Poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli

In a ring around the pond in English and German – and in two Romani dialects on a stone – are the words of the poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli (artist name Alexian), a Rom from the Abruzzi region of Italy – a musician, poet, teacher, composer and essayist.

Auschwitz (Original)
Muj šukkó, kjá kalé vušt šurde; kwit. Jilo čindó bi dox, bi lav, nikt ruvbé.

Auschwitz (Sinti-Romanes)
Drenperdo Mui, phagede Jakha, schiel Wuschtia; Pokunipen. Phagedo Dschi, kek Ducho, kek Labensa, kek Asvia.

Auschwitz (Deutsch)
Eingefallenes Gesicht, erloschene Augen, kalte Lippen. Stille. Ein zerrissenes Herz, ohne Atem, ohne Worte, keine Tränen.

Auschwitz (English)
Pallid face, dead eyes, cold lips. Silence. A broken heart without breath, without words, no tears.

Music “Mare Manuschenge” by Romeo Franz

At the site you faintly hear the sound, a note of a lonely violin from a composition/sound installation titled “Mare Manuschenge” / “Our People” by Romeo Franz, a Sinto musician, composer and politician in Germany.
The sound in this film I posted is mixed from several video recordings there, with the emphasis on the sound from one video of one of the loudspeakers in the surrounding trees.

Bibliography

Online Teaching Resource for Genocide of Sinti and Roma , Site – Roma Sinti Genocide – http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home
Reference from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/educational-materials/online-teaching-resource-genocide-sinti-and-roma )

Genocide of the Roma – International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/genocide-of-the-roma

European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – European Parliament Resolution 2015/2615(RSP) – Text P8_TA(2015)0095 available as PDF via http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2015-0095_EN.pdf )

Deutsche Welle or DW – Germany’s public international broadcaster – https://www.dw.com/en/75-years-ago-nazis-carry-out-mass-murder-of-sinti-and-roma-people-in-auschwitz/a-49874353

European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: Statement by First Vice-President Timmermans and Commissioner Jourová
Brussels, 1 August 2019 – STATEMENT-19-4869_EN
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-19-4869_en.htm

The Roma Holocaust Memorial That Wasn’t Built in a Day
Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan has left no stone unturned in his efforts to build his gypsy Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
by Ofer Aderet / HAARETZ Sep 14, 2012
https://www.haaretz.com/the-roma-memorial-that-wasn-t-built-in-a-day-1.5162513

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under the National Socialist Regime
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial.html#c952

Dani Karavan
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/dani-karavan.html

Poem by Italian Rom Santino Spinelli
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/poem-by-santino-spinelli.html

Newess 1|13

Click to access Newess_1_2013_web_DS.pdf

Santino Spinelli – RomArchive
https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/p/santino-spinelli/

Music by Romeo Franz
The Greens/EFA – Welcome Tilly Metz and Romeo Franz
https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/press/welcome-tilly-metz-and-romeo-franz/
The Handreader’s Tale
https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/magazine/magazine_26-1/the_handreaders_tale.html

Updates

20190805 – Major update August 5, 2019 with corrections, more details including poem languages and now a bibliography

20220604 – Format changes credit line

20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN

Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014

According to the inventory of the RIOD from 1958 – when the film reels were handed over to the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Dutch Film Museum) – the Westerbork Film (https://youtu.be/8E-IWGjbGZM ) basically consisted of 9 film reels ; and that inventory also mentioned a 10th reel (‘reel 9a’) with scenes of a ‘church service’ and ‘disassembly workshop for motors’. That reel was never again mentioned after 1958, had disappeared, but was rediscovered in the Film Museum with catalog number F1015 during research in the 1990s (Ref. 2). That story and the footage F1015 ( https://youtu.be/-SmYdFLG5N8 ) was posted yesterday (Ref. 3).

That catalog of the Dutch Film Museum also mentioned a 2nd film reel (F1014) with hitherto unknown footage, described as in dutch ‘Restmateriaal, bevattende (o.a.) animatie met voetbal, voorstelling met muziek, het trekken van kiepwagens op rails met paarden. Afvalmateriaal, vermoedelijk origineel uitschot.’ – which translates to ‘Residual material, including (among other things) animation with football, performance with music, pulling tippers on rails with horses. Waste material, presumably original waste.’

Actually very interesting footage demonstrating that Rudolf Breslauer was filming the animation and intertitles (title cards) as listed in the film scenario (pore on that later in another post). Here that unedited (upscaled) footage of F1014.

References

2. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658

Credit

EN – Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014. Scaled, cropped, otherwise unedited footage F1014.
Source Beeld en Geluid (2-1167 | former cat.nr. F1014) , accessed at US Holocaust Memorial Museum (copy Film ID 2242 RG-60.2105 – License Free – Public Domain) , courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944.
Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015

Recently, I posted the ‘Westerbork Film – full version (RVD)’, with the details of what has been known as the Westerbork Film (Ref. 1).

When, in 1986, the raw film footage of the Westerbork Film moved from the archives of the Filmmuseum in Holland to the archive of the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst (RVD – ie the Dutch National Centre for Information), the RVD conservator mounted the film reels together into 4 parts : Akte 1 , Akte 2 , Akte 3 , and Akte 4 (Acts 1 to 4) of the Westerbork Film.

More recently -in the 1990s – during the inventory and further research of the film (Ref 1) it was concluded by Gerard Rossing and Koert Boersma, that altogether 9 film reels had ended up in the Westerbork Film.
Reels number 1 and 2 were glued together in ‘Act 1 (Akte 1)’, reels 3 and 4 in Act 2, reels 5 and 6 in Acte 3, and reels 7, 8 and 9 in Acte 4 (Ref. 1, 2, 3).

That research also (re)discovered two new film reels – that had been forgotten in the archives of the Filmmuseum.

One reel – originally the 10th reel of the Westerbork film – and numbered in the 1950s as reel 9a was considered in poor condition and had been classified (cat. # F1015) and forgotten in the Filmmuseum archives (Ref. 4, 5).

Below that footage the: Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015

These 13 minutes film footage contain the following scenes :

– 1. Young woman in overalls attaches sign to camp sign (Verwaltung, Hauptmagazin, Industrie, Kleiderkammer), 10 sec. – 2. Religious Service in the Great Hall, March 5, 1944: 2 min 42 sec. – 3. Shoe repair, alternative shot: 37 sec.
– 4. Aircraft disassembly and short scenes in other factories.

References

2. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658

3. Gerard Rossing and Koert Boersma, Kamp Westerbork Gefilmd (1997), pp. 86-88.

4. Gerard Rossing and Koert Boersma, Kamp Westerbork Gefilmd (1997), pp. 89-90.

5. Unesco.org – Memory of the World – Westerbork films (accessed 20190605)

Credit

EN – Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015. Scaled, otherwise unedited footage F1015.
Source Beeld en Geluid (2-1167 | former cat.nr. F1015) , accessed at US Holocaust Memorial Museum (copy Film | Accession Number: 1999.323.1 | RG Number: RG-60.2106 | Film ID: 2242 – license Public Domain) , courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944.
Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 | 20190615 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

UPDATES

20200130 – added more details source file

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948

NL >> nederlands | dutch >>

First time use of Westerbork film in 1948 in Dutch cinema news (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) of the trial in The Hague of Hanns A. Rauter, an Austrian who was the highest SS official in Nazi-occupied Holland and who was tasked with setting up the camps in Westerbork and other dutch cities, and the arrests , internment and deportation of Dutch Jews and other groups of Dutch people , Roma, Sinti, resistance workers.
The chairman of the court is mr. P.G.M. van Meeuwen; attorney-at-law is mr. J. Zaayer, defender (added) is mr. K. van Rijckevorsel.
Rauter – before leaving the courtroom – speaks: ‘Ich habe mich niemals schuldig gefühlt’ (I never felt guilty).
The next year Rauter was executed by firing squad nearby the The Hague – Scheveningen prison. Polygoon weekly cinema news April 1948, Netherlands.
Source film : Polygoon Hollands Nieuws / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Open Images).
Film: Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

NL (dutch)

Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948

De eerste keer dat de Westerbork film wordt gebruikt , in 1948, in het Nederlandse bioscoopnieuws (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) van het proces in Den Haag van Hanns A. Rauter, een Oostenrijker die de hoogste SS-functionaris was in het door de nazi’s bezette Nederland en die belast was met het opzetten van de kampen in Westerbork en andere Nederlandse steden, en de arrestaties, internering en deportatie van Nederlandse Joden en andere groepen Nederlanders, Roma, Sinti, verzetsmensen.
Voorzitter van het hof is jhr. mr. P.G.M. van Meeuwen; procureur-fiscaal is mr. J. Zaayer; verdediger (toegevoegd) is mr. K. van Rijckevorsel.
Rauter – voor het verlaten van de rechtszaal – zegt: ‘Ich habe mich niemals schuldig gefühlt’ (Ik heb me nooit schuldig gevoeld).
Het jaar daarop (1949) werd Rauter geëxecuteerd door een vuurpeloton in de buurt van de gevangenis van Den Haag – Scheveningen. Polygoon Weekjournaal April 1948, Nederland.
Bron film : Polygoon Hollands Nieuws / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Open Images).
Film: Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

Settela | Settela•Com

NL >> nederlands | dutch >>

Settela peeks outside the death train to Auschwitz.
Last glance at the outside world for the 9-year-old Dutch Sinti girl Settela Steinbach just before these cattle car doors close , and this death train heads for Auschwitz on May 19 , 1944.
Anna Maria ‘Settela’ Steinbach peeks outside , at the last moment just before the sliding door is closed , standing inside a freight wagon with 74 people on May 19 , 1944 in the Westerbork concentration camp in Holland (75 people the moment the train leaves), when this deportation train leaves for Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Settela is murdered a few months later in one of the gas chambers.
Here she wears a headscarf made from a torn sheet, because the Nazis had her head shaved , and while Settela peeks outside , her mother cries behind her in the car : “Get out of there, or soon your head gets in between!”
She was filmed by the Jewish prisoner filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer as part of a documentary film being made on the Westerbork camp.
In 2017 two other short films of this moment were made (20170721 and 20170725 michelvanderburg•com).
Today 75 years later — on the occasion of making Settela•Com public, in this first publication the online premiere of a new 1 minute slow-motion film (4:3 format) , made using the original Westerbork 1944 film rushes of Rudolf Breslauer from the archive of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
Citation : Settela | Settela•Com | 20190519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

NL (dutch)

Settela | Settela•Com

Settela gluurt naar buiten in de dodentrein naar Auschwitz.
Laatste blik op de buitenwereld voor het 9-jarige Nederlandse Sinti-meisje Settela Steinbach, op 19 mei 1944, vlak voordat de schuifdeuren van die goederenwagon dicht gaan en die dodentrein naar Auschwitz vertrekt.
Anna Maria ‘Settela’ Steinbach gluurt naar buiten, op het laatste moment vlak voordat de schuifdeur wordt gesloten, staand in een goederenwagon met 74 mensen op 19 mei 1944 in concentratiekamp Westerbork in Holland (75 mensen op het moment dat de trein vertrekt), wanneer deze deportatietrein gaat vertrekken naar Auschwitz-Birkenau – waar Settela enkele maanden later in een van de gaskamers wordt vermoord.
Hier draagt ze een hoofddoek gemaakt van een gescheurd laken, omdat de nazi’s haar hoofd hebben geschoren, en terwijl Settela naar buiten gluurt, roept haar moeder achter haar in de wagon daar weg te gaan … ‘straks komt je kop er nog tussen’.
Ze werd gefilmd door de Joodse gevangene, filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer, als onderdeel van een documentaire over het kamp Westerbork.
In 2017 werden nog twee andere korte films gemaakt van dit moment (20170721 en 20170725 michelvanderburg•com).
Vandaag 75 jaar later — ter gelegenheid van het publiek maken van Settela•Com in deze eerste publicatie, de online première van een nieuwe 1 minuut slow-motion film (4:3 formaat), gemaakt met de originele Westerbork 1944 film rushes van Rudolf Breslauer uit het archief van het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid.
Citation : Settela | Settela•Com | 20190519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

Updates

20190611 – First post ‘Settela’ ( posted first 20170721 at michelvanderburg•com ) now included / antedated to this site , link 20170721

20220604 – Format changes title, heading, credit line

20221115 — Minor changes last paragraph in both EN and NL sections.

20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN

20240422 – Replaced YouTube copy by Vimeo video