Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm first showing May 7, 2022 in cinema METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.
This introduction is now screening via YouTube , and embedded above.
Westerborkfilm with introduction – DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial
CREDITS & REFERENCES
Special thanks to Valentine Kuypers , curator at Sound and Vision, image researcher Gerard Nijssen, and the Westerbork Memorial Center researchers Bas Kortholt , Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing. Aad Wagenaar, research journalist and author of book Settela.
Work on the 2021 Westerbork film edition has been a joint effort of four dutch organizations : the Dutch media archive Sound & Vision, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre , the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam.
The Westerbork film, May 7, 2022 at the symposium DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG of the Jüdischen Filmfestival Wien , the Mauthausen Memorial , and Filmarchiv Austria.
Settela, het meisje heeft haar naam terug (1995-2007) by Aad Wagenaar ISBN 9789089751898 / English translation by Janna Eliot ‘Settela’ (2005-2016) ISBN 978-0-9933898-2-5 .
Documentary film Settela, gezicht van het verleden by Cherry Duyns (VPRO, 1994).
De Westerborkfilm 📽️🎞️ | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid | YouTube Apr 8, 2021 URL https://youtu.be/8Y-A4BkWY18
Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944) (May 18, 2021) Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Youtube (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI
Kamp Westerbork gefilmd (May 2021) Koert Broersma, Gerard Rossing (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van) ISBN 9789023257622.
‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen) ISBN 9023232658
Dawn Skorczewski & Bettine Siertsema (2018): ‘The kind of spirit that people still kept’: VHA testimonies of Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews, Holocaust Studies URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2018.1516361
Diamantkinderen: Amsterdamse Diamantjoden en de Holocaust . Translated title of the contribution: Diamond Children: Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews and the Holocaust. Siertsema, Bettine (2020) Uitgeverij Verbum ISBN 9789493028340
Fabian Schmidt (2020): The Westerbork Film Revisited: Provenance, the Re-Use of Archive Material and Holocaust Remembrances, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, URL : https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2020.1730033
Westerbork Film Scripts | 20220508 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film Correspondence | 20220509 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
ANONYM | Girl with the headscarf … | 20210416 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Display edition annotated online in CC.
Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm screening in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | The complete remastered edition of the Westerbork Film , here annotated online in CC – by Michel van der Burg as an ongoing integrating resource.
The original display edition of the restored Westerbork film was edited only for black bar removal conform 4:3 format and insertion of a title card intro and outro. Annotations are added as CC – closed captions.
Source : digital display edition of the restored Westerbork film compilation made available in Public Domain by Sound and Vision from May 18, 2021. Courtesy of Collection NIOD held at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Source File : Westerbork (gerestaureerd) | Display edition. Retrieved (20210518) PID: URN:NBN:NL:IN:20-ZCRLTUSICOSDILNR .
Credit line :
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .
Description & Introduction film
The Westerbork Film – a silent film – is unique…the only authentic documentary footage filmed in a Nazi camp – a waiting room for death in the Netherlands for more than 100,000 Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance workers. A documentary filmed spring 1944, in the Westerbork camp, by the German-Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer – the camp photographer, and commissioned by camp commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer, Albert Konrad Gemmeker.
The Westerbork camp was set up in 1939 before the war in Holland, by the Dutch government, as a central refugees camp for Jewish refugees from Nazi-Germany.
July 1942 , when the Nazi’s decided to start ‘Entjüdung’ of the Netherlands, they took over the camp for use as transit camp for deportation of mainly Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance people to eastern Europe.
March 2, 1944 , SS leader Rauter in the Netherlands reports to Germany’s SS Reichsführer Himmler : the Netherlands are ‘Judenfrei’. March 5, 1944 the camp is ‘Arbeitslager’ – a work camp – when
Rudolf Breslauer starts filming the daily life of the Westerbork prisoners. After Breslauer films the deportation of Jews, Roma and Sinti to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz on May 19, 1944 the filming stops. The film is also not edited. In 1986 the dutch RVD Information Center makes a first montage in 4 acts of the footage into what is known now as the Westerborkfilm. In 2017 the film dossier – film and production documents – enter the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Spring 2019 the Westerbork Film – full version (RVD) was published online and annotated – https://settela.com/2019/06/05/westerbork-film-full-version-rvd/ .
Spring 2019 the dutch Sound & Vision , EYE Filmmuseum and NIOD (former RIOD) started a major restauration project and search for all footage of the Westerbork film in all archives.
Two reels with original negative film were discovered by image researcher Gerard Nijssen.
All restored unique shots using both the camera original film and film copies (prints – when no original is known) were used for the new restored Westerbork film compilation made available as ‘display edition’ – with no title actually – by Sound and Vision | NIOD on May 18, 2021.
This newly restored 2021 version of the Westerbork film , 145 min long – was prepared for presentation here in 4:3 format (black bars removed) with a 6 seconds title card superimposed both at the start and the end of the film (superimposed on the originally 30 sec intro text and 17 sec outro text sections by Sound & Vision), in order not to change the length of the film – to allow exact reference to the original file’s timeline.
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 was first uploaded March 2, 2022, and is now after annotation of the online film made public May 7, 2022 together with a short introductory film : Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | An introduction film by Michel van der Burg on the Westerbork film with a first showing May 7, 2022 in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.
Annotations
On YouTube called Chapters – there limited number due to limit number of characters in description
NOTE : for this shot right after the Degen toddlers, Breslauer had to move all the way back to last cars of the transport to Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – E198 Roll 2/4
00:17:03 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4
00:17:49 Gemmeker group passing camera in the middle
00:17:55 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4
Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4
00:18:13 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4
00:18:51 On the right : SS-Obersturmführer Albert Gemmeker , Commander of Westerbork transit camp
00:18:56 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4
Special thanks to Valentine Kuypers , curator at Sound and Vision, image researcher Gerard Nijssen, and the Westerbork Memorial Center researchers Bas Kortholt , Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing. Aad Wagenaar, research journalist and author of book Settela.
Work on the 2021 Westerbork film edition has been a joint effort of four dutch organizations : the Dutch media archive Sound & Vision, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre , the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam.
The Westerbork film, May 7, 2022 at the symposium DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG of the Jüdischen Filmfestival Wien , the Mauthausen Memorial , and Filmarchiv Austria.
Settela, het meisje heeft haar naam terug (1995-2007) by Aad Wagenaar ISBN 9789089751898 / English translation by Janna Eliot ‘Settela’ (2005-2016) ISBN 978-0-9933898-2-5 .
Documentary film Settela, gezicht van het verleden by Cherry Duyns (VPRO, 1994).
De Westerborkfilm 📽️🎞️ | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid | YouTube Apr 8, 2021 URL https://youtu.be/8Y-A4BkWY18
Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944) (May 18, 2021) Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Youtube (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI
Kamp Westerbork gefilmd (May 2021) Koert Broersma, Gerard Rossing (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van) ISBN 9789023257622.
‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen) ISBN 9023232658
Dawn Skorczewski & Bettine Siertsema (2018): ‘The kind of spirit that people still kept’: VHA testimonies of Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews, Holocaust Studies URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2018.1516361
Diamantkinderen: Amsterdamse Diamantjoden en de Holocaust . Translated title of the contribution: Diamond Children: Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews and the Holocaust. Siertsema, Bettine (2020) Uitgeverij Verbum ISBN 9789493028340
Fabian Schmidt (2020): The Westerbork Film Revisited: Provenance, the Re-Use of Archive Material and Holocaust Remembrances, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, URL : https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2020.1730033
Westerbork Film Scripts | 20220508 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film Correspondence | 20220509 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
ANONYM | Girl with the headscarf … | 20210416 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 (20190520) Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Display edition film annotated online in CC
Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm screening in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.
20220511 Info on order of shots added in post Westerbork Film Shots Order | 20220511 . Based on that info , here the Annotations list now has sub-headings like ‘Original Reel E325′ etc.
20220604 – Format changes credit line , references
20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN
Deportation 19 May 1944 from the dutch Westerbork transit camp, filmed by the German Jewish refugee and camp prisoner Rudolf Breslauer. Shortly thereafter 20 km north in the dutch town Assen, train cars are added from the Belgian Transport XXV (25) from transit camp Kazerne Dossin (Dossin barracks) in Mechelen, and the combined transport with Jews, Sinti and Roma, including Settela Steinbach, continues to the east…to the Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps.
Footage (original camera negative) filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Film edited by Michel van der Burg (film grain noise reduction | reordering footage fragments | black bar removal) using as source : the digital display edition of the 2021 restored Westerbork film compilation – courtesy of the NIOD | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Sound and Vision) – based on the newly discovered original camera negative film (canister E198). File ref: BUM20210719_01_19440519
Deportation Westerbork Film | 20210719 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
Background
First Westerbork Film (RVD)
The full version of the Westerbork Film (RVD edition) was first published spring 2019 ( settela.com//2019/06/05 ) – 75 years after the German-Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer filmed his last scene in the Westerbork transit camp – the deportation train to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, May 19, 1944 (REF 1).
That Westerbork Film – the so-called RVD edition – is a montage of raw film footage made in 1986 by the Dutch National Centre for Information (the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, RVD) in 4 parts (Acte 1-4). Though authentic documentary footage – all the reels of film used in the 1986 edition Westerbork Film, actually, are film copies. The fate of the camera-original film was not known.
New restored Westerbork film – 2021 edition
The renewed interest for the Westerbork Film with the Unesco Memory of the World Registration sparkled also interest at the dutch NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the restoration of the Westerbork Film and a new survey of all available film footage archives spring 2019 let to the discovery – by the dutch image researcher, historian, Gerard Nijssen and co-workers of the Sound and Vision institute (Beeld en Geluid) of 2 canisters with ‘camera-original’ footage.
One of these canisters contains the original camera negative footage of all known fragments of the May 19, 1944 deportation – canister E198 (labeled : Negatief origineel – Westerbork – Transport – 64 meter). This news and a glimpse of the new high quality ‘camera-original’ footage was aired January 20, 2020 by the national dutch broadcaster NOS (REF 2).
Conservator Valentine Kuypers (Sound and Vision) on the restoration
Part of the new restored film premiered online 18 April 2021 during the Mediacafé conference ‘Westerbork, caught on film’ hosted by Valentine Kuypers (conservator, Beeld en Geluid) and Bas Kortholt (Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre). The new 2021 Westerbork film is a compilation of the best quality footage of all unique scenes found on all archive film reels, with digital scanning and conservative restoration aiming at stabilization of the images and removal only of dust, scratches, and splices without damaging film grain. No efforts were done to correct bouncing images (a camera defect) , or sharpen the images. In addition – after the restoration – a display copy of the archive film was made and that copy has been further adjusted by color grading and retiming to mimic the original playback speed of 16 frames per second. (REF 3).
The full film of the restored Westerbork compilation was presented May 18, 2021 in Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre and made available online that day via Sound and Vision. Work on the 2021 Westerbork film edition has been a joint effort of four dutch organizations : the Dutch media archive, Sound and Vision, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre , the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam.
May 18, 2021 Sound and Vision also published via their YouTube channel (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) the video ‘Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944)’ – a 21 minute compilation of fragments of the new restored film footage of Westerbork, including half of the May 19, 1944 footage (REF 4).
New film findings in book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd”
Dutch Westerbork film researchers Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing also presented May 18, 2021 a new edition of their first in 1997 published book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd”. For this new edition, the newly restored, cleaned and digitized version of the Westerbork Film allowed them to identify more passengers on the deportation train, including children who survived (REF 5, 6). In their book they noted that canister E198 – with the ‘camera-original’ footage of the May 19, 1944 deportation- unfortunately shows 3 splices – and showed an image of one of these splices.
Deportation Westerbork Film | Edition 2021
This film shows all the known footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 of the deportation from Camp Westerbork from the newly discovered original camera negative film (canister E198) made available in the digital display edition of the 2021 restored Westerbork film compilation – courtesy of the NIOD | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Sound and Vision). The film reel of canister E198 – though camera-original negative has 3 splices between film fragments not assembled in the order shot – i.e. starting with the deportation train leaving Westerbork. The digital display edition of Sound and Vision shows no splices, but has 2 very short white transitions — and clearly no reordering was done for that archive film based copy. In order to mimic the sequence of clips shot by Rudolf Breslauer, I reordered for the present film, those 4 fragments guided by both the route of one of the passengers, and the two white transitions in the digital display edition, as well as an image illustrating a splice shown by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing in their book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd” . The black bars of the widescreen source were trimmed, resulting in the standard format again. Specialized software (Neat Video) was used for conservative reduction of film grain noise. No grading, sharpening etc was done.
In the film poster image, the train leaving Camp Westerbork – showing at the rear the freight car with vertical planks deporting 75 people including Settela Steinbach and her family to Auschwitz. That car actually is the fourth-last car of the train.
References
1. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
2. Nieuwe beelden van iconische Westerborkfilm gevonden (Jan 20, 2020) | NOS (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://bit.ly/3isIqTp
4. Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944) (May 18, 2021) Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Youtube (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI
5. Kamp Westerbork gefilmd (May 2021) Koert Broersma, Gerard Rossing (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van) ISBN 9789023257622.
6. Children of the Holocaust Who Are Anonymous No More by Nina Siegal | The New York Times (May 18, 2021) (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://nyti.ms/2UQvAq5
July 19, 2021 – The current video is shown via Vimeo. A higher quality file has been uploaded to youtube , but is currently blocked etc by two copyright claims – this will take me probably 1(-4) weeks to deal with.
Jul 25, 2021 – Started today two content ID disputes (YouTube edition) , currently under review | Both submitted on Jul 25, 2021.
Jul 26, 2021 – One claimant (restricting monitization) released their copyright claim on the youtube video.
Jul 27, 2021 – Claimant #2 released restrictions (blocking views) for the remaining time of the dispute review proces. I now replaced the embedded Vimeo video with the YouTube edition.
Aug 18, 2021 – After reviewing my dispute, Claimant #2 has decided to release their copyright claim on the YouTube video “Deportation Westerbork Film | 20210719” . The video is finally screening on YouTube without restrictions.
Updates
20220604 – Format changes credit line , references
20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN
This frightened, dark-eyed girl with a white headscarf – anonymous icon of the holocaust … a few seconds in the unique Westerbork Film. Raw footage shot by Camp Westerbork inmate Rudolf Breslauer during World War II in Holland.
Early 1990s – 50 years later – little is known about this Westerbork film. Dutch journalist Aad Wagenaar starts searching for the girl’s name. Project ‘Esther’ – his working title.
Key finding together with the Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre researchers Gerard Rossing en Koert Broersma analyzing the film footage, is the inscription on the suitcase of that woman brought on a stretcher to that transport. Close inspection of that suitcase – flipping the image – viewing the film frame by frame – to and fro – revealed her name and birthdate : F.KROON
26.9.82
In this video I also inverted the black–white.
Further , a clearer image is possible now in the still presented here – likewise edited – taken from the higher quality , recently recovered ‘camera-original’ film found on other archived reels by Gerard Nijssen for the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision | NIOD – and published Jan 20, 2020.
That special train car with Settela, car #16, with the 74 pers. mark on the vertical shelves, was also part of that train filmed by camp inmate Rudolf Breslauer leaving Westerbork – with the ‘4’ crossed out and a 5 added – so one person had been added before departure.
On that stretcher was Frouwke Kroon – born 26 September 1882 – deported May 19, 1944 – and murdered on arrival in Auschwitz.
That train left Camp Westerbork on May 19, 1944 with ca 700 people – both Jews and 245 Sinti and Roma – the so-called ‘Gypsy transport’ – dutch: ‘Zigeunertransport’.
The girl with the headscarf got her name back Monday 7th February 1994, when Aad Wagenaar met survivor ‘Gypsy mama’ Theresia Crasa Wagner . She told him, she sat on the floor behind the girl , standing near the door. When they heard the doors being closed , her mother yelled :
‘Settela !
Get away from the door, or your head will get stuck !!’
The Dutch Sinti girl Settela (Anna Maria) Steinbach was born – the traditional way , under the family wagon – on 23 December 1934 in Buchten in the Dutch province of Limburg.
Settela’s family had been arrested 3 days before they were deported. Settela’s hair was shaved off in Camp Westerbork – hence the ‘headscarf’ made by her mother.
Mother Toetela (Emilia) Steinbach with ten children and a grandchild were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The 9-year old Settela was gassed and burned early August 1944.
Settela’s father Moeselman (Heinrich) Steinbach died of grief in 1946 in Holland.
Credits
Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Video from Westerbork film montage reel 1 (RVD cat.nr. 02-1167-01) courtesy of NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (KNAW), and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
Still (edit by Michel van der Burg) from camera-original film published Jan 20, 2020 courtesy of Gerard Nijssen | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision | NIOD | NOS.
Story based on :
* Settela, het meisje heeft haar naam terug (1995-2007) by Aad Wagenaar ISBN 9789089751898 / English translation by Janna Eliot ‘Settela’ (2005-2016) ISBN 978-0-9933898-2-5 .
* Documentary film Settela, gezicht van het verleden by Cherry Duyns (VPRO, 1994).
* Kamp Westerbork gefilmd by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658 .
* Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 Apr 16) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
* Nieuwe beelden van iconische Westerborkfilm gevonden (by Ronja Hijmans | NIEUWSUUR | NOS (accessed 2020 Jan 20) URL https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2319497-nieuwe-beelden-van-iconische-westerborkfilm-gevonden.html
* Settela en Willy en Het geheim van de Heksenberg (2e druk) by Rob Hendrikx and Marouska Steinbach (Heerlen : Historisch Goud – Rijckheyt, centrum voor regionale geschiedenis en Stichting Historische Kring “Het Land van Herle”, April 2017) ISBN 9789082241686. URL https://www.landvanherle.nl/product/settela-en-willy-en-het-geheim-van-de-heksenberg-2e-druk/
* ‘Sinti en Roma in Den Haag, voor, tijdens en na de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1900-1970)’ by Peter Jorna (Haags Gemeentearchief, 2021) PDF online (accessed 2021 Apr 15) URL https://www.owrs.nl/nieuws/nieuw-boek-sinti-en-roma-in-den-haag
* The Forgotten Genocide – The fate of the Sinti and Roma. Online exhibition by Tweedewereldoorlog.nl . Including a clip of the interview by journalist Aad Wagenaar with Crasa Wagner ; from documentary Settela, gezicht van het verleden, directed by Cherry Duyns (VPRO 1994) (accessed 2021 Apr 15) URL https://romasinti.eu
Deportation Train Deportation train departure 19 May 1944 at the dutch Westerbork transit camp filmed by Rudolf Breslauer. Shortly thereafter 20 km north in the dutch town Assen, train cars are added from the belgian Transport XXV (25) from transit camp Kazerne Dossin (Dossin barracks) in Mechelen, and the combined transport with Jews, Sinti and Roma, including Settela Steinbach, continues to the east …
Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands. From Westerbork film montage reel 1 (RVD cat.nr. 02-1167-01) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | OpenImages. BUM20200415_31_19440519 . Deportation Train | 20200414 v20200415 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
The Westerbork Film – a silent film – is unique…the only authentic documentary footage filmed in a Nazi camp – a waiting room for death in the Netherlands for more than 100,000 Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance workers. A documentary filmed 75 years ago, spring 1944, in the Westerbork transit camp, by the German-Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer, who had been working already some 2 years as a photographer in the camp. A ‘Kulturfilm’ commissioned by camp commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer, Albert Konrad Gemmeker, to convince the Gestapo headquarters of Westerbork’s vital production value.
The Westerbork camp had been set up by the Dutch government before the war in Holland, in 1939, as a central refugees camp for Jewish refugees from Nazi-Germany.
In 1942 , when the Nazi’s decided to start ‘Entjüdung’ of the Netherlands, they took over the camp and named it Polizeiliches Judendurchgangslager Westerbork , for use as central transit camp for deportation of mainly Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance people to eastern Europe.
Rudolf Breslauer started filming March 1944 – around the same time the camp status changed to ‘Arbeitslager’. (Ref. 1)
This film on the daily life of the Westerbork prisoners was added in 2017 to the Memory of the World Register of Unesco. (Ref. 2)
Iconic is the image of Settela – the girl with the headscarf -between the wagon doors of the deportation train to Auschwitz.
These few seconds are shown in the 1 minute slow-motion film Settela at Settela•Com.
Images of the deportation train have been used in many documentaries over the years – such as our 2012 documentary ‘Transport XX to Auschwitz’.
Actually , however, the Westerbork film has as yet not been presented online or elsewhere as a full film – only in parts : as either Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , or Acte 4 for download or for streaming separately , either in low quality, small format (and generally just Acte 1) or with a rough overall edit (color-exposure grading) resulting in loss of details.
I therefore decided to first present the full film , all 4 episodes , unedited except for cropping black bars, as the : Westerbork Film ~ Full version RVD…and later focus on adaptations.
What is known as the Westerbork Film , actually is a simple montage of the available raw film footage – 9 reels of film – handed over by the (Dutch) Filmmuseum in 1986 to the Dutch National Centre for Information (the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, RVD).
The RVD conservator glued together these available fragments – and this ‘product’ in 4 parts (Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , and Acte 4) has become known as the “Westerbork film”.
Reels number 1 and 2 were glued together in ‘Acte 1’, reels 3 and 4 in Acte 2, reels 5 and 6 in Acte 3, and reels 7, 8 and 9 in Acte 4 (see below).
Conservation of footage
In the early years after the war, the Westerbork film footage travelled via different routes, roughly, in part leaving the camp with ex camp commander Gemmeker, and another part ‘directly’ from the camp … to land partly in the nearby Drents Museum and partly in eg. the Department of Justice and next finally in a collection started in 1946 in the ‘RIOD’ Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (National Institute for War Documentation) – now ‘NIOD’ – Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The RIOD glued fragments together probably, and fragments were extracted too, and lent for use eg. in the 1948 trial against Rauter, the trial against Gemmeker, and for use in the 60s dutch TV series ‘De bezetting’ (The Occupation) presented by Loe de Jong (journalist, historian, and RIOD director from 1945-1979). For conservation this ‘RIOD film’ went on loan in 1958 to the Filmmuseum (now EYE Film Museum), and in 1986 the footage went to the RVD.
The RVD did not receive all footage from the Filmmuseum – the fragments extracted by the RIOD for use in the trials and TV series were lacking and two reels just remained in the Filmmuseum vault.
Tracing extracted fragments , and the discovery of new images
Reel D1596 – The 1948 Dutch Polygoon cinema news extracts were not all assembled back in the Westerbork film reels – see the recent post 20190520 ~ Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 at Settela•Com .
Also , not all footage given on loan for that ‘Polygoon news’ ended up in that news item. That ‘Polygoon’ footage copied onto 35 mm film – both the used and non-used fragments – were kept in the Dutch Filmmusuem on a so-called reel number D1596.
Research published in the 1997 Dutch book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658) traced the extracted film fragments, and further re-discovered film fragments with comparatively poorer quality on two reels – F1015 and F1014 (Ref. 1) :
Reel F1015 — F1015 (known till 1958 as reel 9a ; but actually the 10th reel of the Westerbork film) contains 9 scenes including 2 new scenes (not in the RVD Westerbork film): the religious service held March 5, 1944 in the Grote Zaal (Great Hall) and the scene of a woman on a ladder working on a signpost. This reel had remained in the Filmmuseum vault.
Reel F1014 seemed lost in the archives of the Filmmuseum and was denoted then ‘Afvalmateriaal/uitschot’ , that is ‘Trash’.
All footage is now kept at the Netherlands Institute of Image and Sound .
Below list of shots of the Westerbork Film (Ref. 3) :
Westerbork Act 1 (# 02-1167-01), 16 mm, silent, 21’05 “
– 1. Inbound transport from Amsterdam, March 1944: 1 min 37 sec.
– 2. Inbound transport from Vught, March 20, 1944: 2 min 09 sec.
– 3. Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, May 19, 1944: 4 min 41 sec.
– 4. Aircraft disassembly, April / May 1944: 11 min 23 sec.
Westerbork Act 2 (# 02-1167-02), 16 mm, silent, 21’41 “
– 5. Disassembly of old batteries and manufacture of new batteries, April / May 1944: 3 min 03 sec.
– 6. Separation of layers of silver paper, April / May 1944: 1 min 22 sec.
– 7. Clothing factory, April / May 1944: 2 min 51 sec.
– 8. Toy factory, April / May 1944: 3 min 28 sec.
– 9. Furniture workshop, April / May 1944: 2 min 14 sec.
– 10. Metalworking shop / Forge, April / May 1944, 2 min 47 sec.
– 11. Manufacture of brushes, April / May 1944: 43 sec.
– 12. Shoemaking, April / May 1944: 1 min 38 sec.
– 13. Manufacture of handbags, April / May 1944: 1 min 09 sec.
– 14. Manufacture of soles and gloves, April / May 1944: 33 sec.
– 15. Weaving and repairing stockings, April / May 1944: 1 min 25 sec.
Westerbork Act 3 (# 02-1167-03), 16 mm, silent, 18’03 “
– 16. Cufflinks factory, April / May 1944: 1 min 16 sec.
– 17. Clothing factory, April / May 1944: 32 sec.
– 18. Laundry / ironing, April / May 1944: 1 min 18 sec.
– 19. Medical laboratory, April / May 1944: 45 sec.
– 20. Dental Clinic, April / May 1944: 25 sec.
– 21. Unloading construction materials for barracks / unloading mine carts with bricks, April / May 1944: 1 min 33 sec.
– 22. Construction greenhouse , installation and watering plants, April / May 1944: 1 min 46 sec.
– 23. By narrow gauge train to Oranjekanaal / jetty pile driving / unloading cargo ship with bricks / loading mine carts / return to camp, April / May 1944: 4 min 33 sec.
– 24. Visit to the camp farm, April / May 1944: 4 min 39 sec.
Westerbork Act 4 (# 02-1167-04), 16 mm, silent, 21’30 “
– 25. Visit camp farm (continued), April / May 1944: 2 min 30 sec.
– 26. Return / visit agriculture / plowing and planting potatoes, April / May 1944: 4 min 20 sec.
– 27. Arrival camp / unloading mine carts with bricks, April / May 1944: 1 min. 20 sec
– 28. Construction purification plant, April / May 1944: 52 sec.
– 29. Felling and sawing trees near Assen, April / May 1944: 4 min 50 sec.
– 30. Religious service in the Great Hall, March 5, 1944: 6 sec.
– 31. Football match at the roll call area (Appellplatz), April / May 1944: 2 min 04 sec.
– 32. Women exercising, April / May 1944: 1 min.
– 33. Revue night – ‘Bunter Abend’ – in the Great Hall, April / May 1944: 4 min 05 sec.
Rudolf Breslauer and family
Rudolf Breslauer (1904-1944) was in Westerbork for over two and a half years with his wife Bella Weismann, daughter Ursula, and sons Mischa and Stephan.
In Sep 1944 they were transported to Auschwitz via Theresiënstadt, and murdered in the gas chamber, except Ursula who survived the war and went to Israel in 1948, where she and her husband Chaim Moses set up their own company. Her name has since been Chanita Moses – she has children and many grandchildren.
FR (French)
Le film de Westerbork (Ref. 3, 4)
Durant le printemps 1944, le déporté juif Rudolf Breslauer a immortalisé dans un film le quotidien du camp de transit de Westerbork. La fonction de Westerbork était de rassembler des Juifs romani et néerlandais pour le transport vers des camps de concentration nazis. Le film a été commandé par le commandant du camp allemand Albert Gemmeker. Gemmeker voulait produire un film professionnel visant à montrer la valeur économique du camp.
Breslauer a filmé les déportations qui avaient lieu le mardi vers d’autres camps de concentration, mais la plupart des images dépeignent des ‘instants de normalité’ tels que des hommes et des femmes en bonne santé travaillant dans des ateliers ou faisant du sport, des enfants à l’école, ou des scènes se déroulant à l’hôpital, au cabaret et même lors d’une messe à l’église. Bien que le film de Westerbork n’ait jamais été achevé, la plupart des séquences brutes ont été conservées.
Des extraits de ce film ont été largement utilisés dans des documentaires, films et autres actualités filmées depuis 1948. Les séquences montrant les déportations et tout particulièrement celle où l’on voit une jeune Sinté, Settela Steinbach, observant l’objectif à travers les portes d’un wagon, sont devenues emblématiques du programme d’extermination systématique mis en place par les nazis.
Les scènes du Westerbork film sont listées ci-dessous :
Westerbork Acte 1 (# 02-1167-01), 16 mm, muet, 21’05 “
– 1. Transport entrant d’Amsterdam, mars 1944: 1 min 37 sec.
– 2. Transport entrant de Vught, 20 mars 1944: 2 min 09 sec.
– 3. Transport sortant vers Bergen-Belsen et Auschwitz, le 19 mai 1944: 4 min 41 sec.
– 4. Démontage d’avion, avril / mai 1944: 11 min 23 sec.
Westerbork Acte 2 (# 02-1167-02), 16 mm, muet, 21’41”
– 5. Démontage de piles anciennes et fabrication de nouvelles piles, avril / mai 1944: 3 min 03 sec.
– 6. Séparation des couches de papier d’argent, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 22 sec.
– 7. Atelier de confection vêtement, avril / mai 1944: 2 min 51 sec.
– 8. Usine de jouets, avril / mai 1944: 3 min 28 sec.
– 9. Atelier de meubles, avril / mai 1944: 2 min 14 sec.
– 10. Atelier de travail des métaux / Atelier de forgeron, Avril / Mai 1944, 2 min 47 sec.
– 11. Fabrication de brosses, avril / mai 1944: 43 sec.
– 12. Atelier de fabrication de chaussures, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 38 sec.
– 13. Fabrication de sacs en cuir, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 09 sec.
– 14. Fabrication de semelles et de gants, avril / mai 1944: 33 sec.
– 15. Tissage et réparation de bas, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 25 sec.
Westerbork Acte 3 (# 02-1167-03), 16 mm, muet, 18’03”
– 16. Fabrication de boutons de manchette, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 16 sec.
– 17. Atelier confection, avril / mai 1944: 32 sec.
– 18. Blanchisserie / repassage, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 18 sec.
– 19. Laboratoire médical, avril / mai 1944: 45 sec.
– 20. Clinique dentaire, avril / mai 1944: 25 sec.
– 21. Déchargement de matériels pour la construction de baraques / déchargement de wagonnets de mine avec des briques, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 33 sec.
– 22. Construction d’une serre et l’installation et l’arrosage des plantes, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 46 sec.
– 23. Par train à voie étroite à Oranjekanaal / construction de jetée / déchargement d’un cargo avec des briques / chargement des wagonnets de mine / retour au camp, avril / mai 1944: 4 min 33 sec.
– 24. Visite à la ferme du camp, avril / mai 1944: 4 min 39 sec
Westerbork Acte 4 (# 02-1167-04), 16 mm, muet, 21’30”
– 25. Visite à la ferme du camp (suite), avril / mai 1944: 2 min 30 sec.
– 26. Retour / visite de l’agriculture / labourer et planter des pommes de terre, avril / mai 1944: 4 min 20 sec.
– 27. Retour au camp / déchargement de briques des wagonnets de mine, avril / mai 1944: 1 min 20 sec.
– 28. Construction de l’installation de purification, avril / mai 1944: 52 sec
– 29. Abattre et scier des arbres près d’Assen, avril / mai 1944: 4 min 50 sec.
– 30. Service religieux dans la Grande Salle, 5 mars 1944: 6 sec.
– 31. Match de football sur la place d’appel (Appellplatz), avril / mai 1944: 2 min 04 sec.
– 32. Femmes faisant de l’exercice, avril / mai 1944: 1 min.
– 33. Soirée Revue – Bunter Abend – dans la Grande Salle, mars/avril 1944: 4 min 05 sec.
NL (dutch)
Hieronder de scènes van de Westerbork film (Ref.3) :
Westerbork Akte 1 (# 02-1167-01), 16 mm, zonder geluid, 21’05 “
– 1. Binnenkomend transport vanuit Amsterdam, maart 1944: 1 min 37 sec.
– 2. Binnenkomend transport vanuit kamp Vught, 20 maart 1944: 2 min 09 sec.
– 3. Uitgaand transport naar Bergen-Belsen en Auschwitz, 19 mei 1944: 4 min 41 sec.
– 4. Vliegtuig demontage, april / mei 1944: 11 min 23 sec.
Westerbork Akte 2 (# 02-1167-02), 16 mm, zonder geluid, 21’41 “
– 5. Demontage oude batterijen en productie nieuwe batterijen, april / mei 1944: 3 min 03 sec.
– 6. Scheiden van lagen zilverpapier, april / mei 1944: 1 min 22 sec.
– 7. Confectiebedrijf, april / mei 1944: 2 min. 51 sec.
– 8. Speelgoedfabriek, april / mei 1944: 3 min. 28 sec.
– 9. Meubelmakerij, april / mei 1944: 2 min. 14 sec.
– 10. Bankwerkerij / smederij, april / mei 1944, 2 min 47 sec.
– 11. Borstelmakerij, april / mei 1944: 43 sec.
– 12. Schoenmakerij, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 38 sec.
– 13. Tassenmakerij, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 09 sec.
– 14. Zolen en handschoenen vervaardigen, april / mei 1944: 33 sec.
– 15. Kousen weven en reparatie, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 25 sec.
Westerbork Akte 3 (# 02-1167-03), 16 mm, zonder geluid, 18’03 “
– 16. Manchetknopen fabriek, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 16 sec.
– 17. Kleermakerij, april / mei 1944: 32 sec.
– 18. Wasserij / strijkerij, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 18 sec.
– 19. Medisch laboratorium, april / mei 1944: 45 sec.
– 20. Tandheelkundige kliniek, april / mei 1944: 25 sec.
– 21. Lossen bouwmateriaal barakken / lossen lorries met bakstenen, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 33 sec.
– 22. Bouw broeikas / plantjes in kweekkas zetten en sproeien, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 46 sec.
– 23. Tocht met smalspoor treintje naar Oranjekanaal / heien van aanlegsteiger / lossen vrachtschip met stenen / lorries laden / terugkeren naar kamp, april / mei 1944: 4 min 33 sec.
– 24. Bezoek aan de kampboerderij, april / mei 1944: 4 min. 39 sec.
Westerbork Akte 4 (# 02-1167-04), 16 mm, zonder geluid, 21’30 “
– 25. Bezoek kampboerderij (vervolg), april / mei 1944: 2 min. 30 sec.
– 26. Terugkeren / bezoek akkerbouw / ploegen en aardappelen poten, april / mei 1944: 4 min. 20 sec.
– 27. Aankomst kamp / lossen van lorries met bakstenen, april / mei 1944: 1 min. 20 sec.
– 28. Bouw zuiveringsinstallatie, april / mei 1944: 52 sec.
– 29. Kappen, vellen, zagen van bomen in de buurt van Assen, april / mei 1944: 4 min. 50 sec.
– 30. Religieuze dienst in de Grote Zaal, 5 maart 1944: 6 sec.
– 31. Voetbalwedstrijd op de appèlplaats, april / mei 1944: 2 min. 04 sec.
– 32. Gymnastiek dames, april / mei 1944: 1 min.
– 33. Revue avond – Bunter Abend – in de Grote Zaal, maart/april 1944: 4 min 05 sec.
References
1 ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658
2. Unesco.org – Memory of the World – Westerbork films
(accessed 20190605)
3. Gerard Rossing and Koert Boersma, Kamp Westerbork Gefilmd (1997), pp. 86-88.
EN – ‘Westerbork Film’ , montage of the Westerbork reels 1-4 (RVD cat. 02-1167-01, 02-1167-02, 02-1167-03, 02-1167-04 courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | OpenImages). Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .
FR – ‘Westerbork Film’, montage des bobines Westerbork 1 à 4 (RVD cat. 02-1167-01, 02-1167-02, 02-1167-03, 02-1167-04) grâce à Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | OpenImages). Images filmées par Rudolf Breslauer en 1944, Camp Westerbork, Pays-Bas.
Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .
NL – ‘Westerbork Film’ , montage van de Westerbork aktes 1-4 (RVD # 02-1167-01, 02-1167-02, 02-1167-03, 02-1167-04 met dank aan het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | OpenBeelden). Gefilmd door Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Kamp Westerbork, Nederland.
Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .
Updates
20190605 – Updates including the other footage and more information will follow in both this post and new posts on the Settala.com site.
20190607 – French section added with Unesco introductory text plus ‘Les scènes du Westerbork film…’ ; references modified ; credits FR translation.
20190610 – Dutch section added with list of scenes based on Ref 3.
20190611 – Corrections language/translations all lists of scenes NL/EN/FR
20220604 – Format changes credit lines, and title change
Settela•Com 