Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | Complete Remastered Edition

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 .

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

0:00:08 Introduction

Original Reel E325

00:00:29 Batteries recycling – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:01:28 Clothing factory – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:02:15 Shoemaking – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:02:43 Batteries recycling – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:04:43 Laundry…ironing – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:04:56 Furniture workshop – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:08:04 Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:09:50 Outside workshops Tischlerei | Wood work – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:10:04 Outside workshops Schlosserei | Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:10:33 Schlosserei | Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:12:29 Medical laboratory – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:13:37 Zahnstation | Dental Clinic – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:14:22 Entrance camp – March/May 1944 – New clip found by researcher Gerard Nijssen on original reel E325

Original Reel E198 Roll 1/4

00:14:26 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 1/4

Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:21 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:44 Boarding in 3rd class cars for Bergen-Belsen , including the ‘Diamond Jews’ group – E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:49 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen – May 19, 1944 – Toddlers Marc and Stella Degen – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:52 Settela Steinbach | Roma & Sinti |

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

00:19:00 Albert Gemmeker – 3rd from left

00:19:03 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:19:35 Dienstleiter Heinz Todtmann | Personal Aide Gemmeker | frontal view | Author Westerbork Film Plan

00:19:40 Pushing an extra cattle car – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:19:48 Dienstleiter Heinz Todtmann | Author Westerbork Film Plan | standing on the right with papers

00:19:59 Gemmeker , Commander of Westerbork transit camp

00:20:15 Gemmeker | looking up

Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:20:18 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:20:35 Jews (incl. from penal barrack 67) boarding cattle cars for Auschwitz – FK, the flying squad, assisting with luggage

00:21:19 Name & date on this suitcase were key to finding the transport date ; Suitcase F. Kroon 26-9-82

00:21:33 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:21:51 Boarding 3rd class cars for Bergen-Belsen, including the ‘Diamond Jews’ group

00:22:04 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

Restored RVD Westerbork Film duplicates

00:22:30 Inbound transport from Amsterdam – March 15, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:24:55 Inbound transport prisoners Camp Vught – March 21, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:26:40 Registration prisoners Camp Vught – March 21, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:28:02 Inbound transport from Vught – March 21, 1944

00:28:09 Aircraft recycling – April/May 1944

00:45:14 Agfa film

00:45:25 Batteries recycling

00:47:14 Silver paper recycling, April / May 1944

00:49:20 Clothing factory

00:53:35 Toy factory

00:55:00 Toy factory

00:58:48 Manufacture of brushes

00:59:55 Shoemaking

01:02:25 Manufacture of handbags

01:04:09 Manufacture of soles and gloves

01:05:02 Weaving, repairing stockings

01:07:08 Agfa

01:07:14 Cufflinks factory

01:09:09 Laundry … ironing

01:11:06 Construction materials for barracks, April / May 1944

01:13:26 Construction greenhouse

01:16:05 Train to Oranje canal ship … loading bricks

01:24:46 Camp farm

01:35:30 Work the land

01:41:57 Arrival camp mine carts with bricks

01:44:01 Construction purification plant

01:45:20 Logging trees near Assen town

01:52:37 Religious Service Protestant Group in Great Hall , March 5 , 1944

01:52:46 Soccer match at Appellplatz, Sunday afternoon

01:55:52 Women workout

01:57:22 Revue night Bunter Abend – April 1944

Restored reel F1014

02:03:31 Animation Intertitles Transport Data

02:03:36 Camp farm / Work the land

02:04:41 Intertitle (planned for Revue Bunter Abend footage)

02:04:43 Construction barracks

02:05:03 Soccer match at Appellplatz

02:05:17 Ball shots – Special effects

02:06:23 Revue night Bunter Abend – April 1944

02:11:29 Miscellaneous short takes

Restored reel F1015

02:11:53 Gevaert logo

02:11:55 Young woman in overalls attaches sign to camp sign (Verwaltung, Hauptmagazin, Industrie, Kleiderkammer)

02:12:08 Religious Service of Protestant Group in Great Hall, March 5, 1944

02:16:14 Shoemaking

02:17:13 Aircraft recycling

02:17:56 Manufacture of brushes

02:18:05 Cufflinks factory

02:18:21 Aircraft recycling

Credits

02:25:19 Credits

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.

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies | 250i Westerbork, Judendurchgangslager | 854 Stukken over de Westerbork-film, 7 maart – 20 april 1944 en z.d. | File retrieved May 23, 2019 from Nationaal Archief (last accessed 2021 Apr 17)
URL https://www.archieven.nl/nl/search-modonly?mivast=298&mizig=210&miadt=298&micode=250i&milang=nl&mizk_alle=westerbork%20film&miview=inv2#inv3t2

Unesco.org – Memory of the World – Westerbork films (accessed 20190605)
URL http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-9/westerbork-films/

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

Restauratie Westerborkfilm (May 12, 2021) Valentine Kuypers | Beeld en Geluid (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://bit.ly/3kGteVs

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

Children of the Holocaust Who Are Anonymous No More | May 18, 2021 by Nina Siegal | The New York Times |
URL https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/arts/children-of-the-holocaust-who-are-anonymous-no-more.html

Refugee Camp. Camp Westerbork Memorial Center. URL https://kampwesterbork.nl/en/history/second-world-war/refugee-camp

Location map of the Netherlands | Karte: NordNordWest | Wikimedia | Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de | URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerbork_transit_camp

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

Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 (20190520) Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313

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.

TAGS #Westerborkfilm #introduction #MichelvanderBurg #remastered #Breslauer #documentary #DOKUMENTEDERVERNICHTUNG #METRO #Kinokulturhaus #FlorianWidegger #Westerborkfilm #FilmarchivAustria #ViennaJewishFilmFestival #MauthausenMemorial #Westerbork #film #arbeitslager #Lagerfilm #industry #RudolfBreslauer #Degen #restauration #review #michelvanderburg #holocaust #barracks #children #concentration #camps #deportation #dog #guard #Jew #Diamond #labor #machinery #Netherlands #railcar #Roma #Sinti #starsofdavid #tool #train #station #transitcamp #uniform #Westerbork #UNESCO #film #Settela #Gemmeker #Auschwitz #BergenBelsen #documentary #resistance #1Memo #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #arbeitslager #Todtman #SoundandVision #NIOD #RIOD #RVD #Rauter #Lagerfilm

Updates

20220509 Annotations (Chapters) expanded

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

Westerbork Film Football Edit | Edition 2021

Westerbork Film Football Edit | Edition 2021 | 20210517

SILENT FILM

The UNESCO – Memory of the World – ‘ Westerbork films’ dossier (REF 1) consists of both the actual film footage, as well as a dossier with the 1944 film plan, film script, title cards (intertitles), and a file with correspondence between the camp and the outside world on obtaining camera’s , film and film processing. That film footage was researched and presented before on Settela•Com.

In a recent post (Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515; REF 2) the drawings for the title cards were shown in a short film I made, that also showed a few seconds of Breslauer’s archive film footage demonstrating that not all of his Westerbork Film is a compilation of rushes only -he also had done some experiments filming and animating title cards. Aside from that, the film was not edited, and title cards were not yet inserted.

Today, working on presenting that 1944 film plan and script, I noticed in that editing script (all written in the German language) the instruction “Untertitel: ( in einen rollenden Fussball einkopiert ) Appelplatz am Sonntag Nachmittag.” , in English : ‘Subtitle: copied into a rolling football – roll call area on Sunday afternoon’. That is the text on one of these title cards I worked with, and I had seen Breslauer’s filming and slow-motion experiments with a rolling football, on that same F1014 reel that was used for his animation tests (REF 3). This has been described also in the 1997 dutch Westerbork film dossier analysis by Broersma & Rossing (REF 4) – a book I studied 2 years ago – and details I re-discovered later today. Tomorrow these authors will present a new edition (dutch), available later this month.
Breslauer never got the chance to try copying that title card on the rolling ball – I did today : a little digital experiment of copying that title card Appellplatz am Sonntag Nachmittag on the rolling ball. Just 4 seconds, repeated 4 times in this little film : Westerbork Film Football Edit.

TAGS #Westerborkfilm #animation #script #Appellplatz #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Holland #Netherlands #CampWesterbork #Settela #RudolfBreslauer #UNESCO #NIOD #holocaust #intertitle #titlecard #titelkaart #documentary #file #drawing #Jew #Roma #Westerbork #remake #postproduction #postwar #edit

Below on website only – because of space and linking constraints on social media – the links, references, sources, credits :

References

1 – UNESCO Memory of the World Register – Unesco.org – Mémoire du monde – Le film de Westerbork (accessed 20190605) URL http://www.unesco.org/new/fr/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-9/westerbork-films/

2- Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 May 17) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-3e

3 – Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 May 15) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

4 – ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658). Note, a new edition will be available May 2021 (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van; ISBN 9789023257622 ) – not yet published.

Notes : Both Appelplatz and Appellplatz are used in German and in script and title card

Credit

Thanks to ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658). Note, a new edition will be available May 2021 (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van; ISBN 9789023257622 )

Title card source : NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies | 250i Westerbork, Judendurchgangslager | 854 Stukken over de Westerbork-film, 7 maart – 20 april 1944 en z.d. | File retrieved May 23, 2019 from Nationaal Archief (last accessed 2021 Apr 17) URL https://www.archieven.nl/nl/search-modonly?mivast=298&mizig=210&miadt=298&micode=250i&milang=nl&mizk_alle=westerbork%20film&miview=inv2#inv3t2

Film footage source : Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer, retrieved from : Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 May 17) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Westerbork Film Intertitles

Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•com

SILENT FILM

Westerbork Films Dossier

These Westerbork film documents – the film script etc – complement the Westerbork film footage presented earlier – a first full version (RVD) of the Westerbork Film posted in 2019 (20190605) and the complete UNESCO album of all known footage shot by inmate Werner Rudolf Breslauer in the Westerbork camp in 1944, posted early 2020 (REF 2).
The final part of the UNESCO registry (Le film de Westerbork – édité le 8 mai 2017 – ID code 2016-118 ) lists all the documents on the Westerbork Film at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
That NIOD archive file — called (translated) : Directing, texts and correspondence of the film “Westerbork” consists of a file containing the original screenplay or script for the film, title cards, notes, correspondence and administration . That entire file has been scanned (total of 60 black and white scans) and is available online.
More information on the history and origin of the film translated from the french UNESCO registration is posted later.

Title Cards

Here, in this short film, the title cards are presented. Title cards referenced in the UNESCO registry, and prepared in the camp in 1944 for the Westerbork film. The name of the artist drawing these cards is not known, I guess. Digital scans of 11 different letter cards were retrieved from the public online archive of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the dutch National Archive (Nationaal Archief) – full info in CREDITS.

Film Sections

In this film these title cards are used in different ways, shown in 5 sections. The arrangement of the cards was chosen by me.

1 : ‘ORIGINALS’ – TRANSLATION IN SUBTITLES – The first section shows english subtitles with the restored scan images of the orignal drawings made in Camp Westerbork. The restoration includes exposure adjustment, crop, and if necessary rotation and flip horizontal or vertical of the supplied scans.

2: NEGATIVES – The second section shows the same images, now as negatives (white on black), the way title cards are usually shown in movies, and Breslauer did too while working on the Westerbork Film – see below on section 4.

3) The 3rd sequence of the title cards shows the negatives again, now animated with cross-overs (fade in- and out) between the negatives.
Trickaufnahmen – trick shots – was mentioned in the film plan (discussed further in a later post). Trick shots like slow-motion and similar animation work by Breslauer is actually found on the Westerbork film reel F1014 with so-called ‘Residual material’. This was previously reported in the 1997 edition of the book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Broersma & Rossing (REF 3). That reel’s footage, to me feels like this was Breslauer’s working material for tests – so a test reel, rather than rest reel.

4 : BRESLAUER’S 1944 ANIMATION TEST – This 4th segment shows the above discussed footage of Breslauer’s test work with a title card’s negative on film, as well as his animation of cards with numbers of ‘input’ and outgoing deportations. That animation uses drawings , images , not found in the NIOD archive – showing statistics for deportations to Bergen-Belsen 3029 , and Lager Vught 897 . This Westerbork film footage was retrieved from : Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (REF 4).

5 : ANIMATION COLLAGE – Here I combined the animation made in section 3 of this film, with the 1944 animation footage of Breslauer – all edited here again to conform.

TAGS #Westerborkfilm #animation #titelkaart #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Holland #Netherlands #CampWesterbork #Settela #RudolfBreslauer #UNESCO #NIOD #holocaust #intertitle #titlecard #documentary #file #drawing #Jew #Roma #Westerbork

References

2 – WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM | 20200120 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com (accessed 2021 May 15) URL: https://settela.com/2020/01/20/westerbork-films-collection-unesco-album/

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

4 – Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2021 May 15) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

Credit

Source : NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies | 250i Westerbork, Judendurchgangslager | 854 Stukken over de Westerbork-film, 7 maart – 20 april 1944 en z.d. | File retrieved May 23, 2019 from Nationaal Archief (last accessed 2021 Apr 17) URL https://www.archieven.nl/nl/search-modonly?mivast=298&mizig=210&miadt=298&micode=250i&milang=nl&mizk_alle=westerbork%20film&miview=inv2#inv3t2

Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Deportation Train

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

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line

20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN

WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM

Or watch the album as YouTube playlist via this link

When the Westerbork camp was liberated in 1945 – 75 years ago – the Westerbork Film reels began a new life.

The Westerbork Films Collection – 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 in the spring of 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’.

This film on the daily life of the Westerbork prisoners was added in 2017 to the Memory of the World Register of Unesco.

Here a compilation (album) of the film reels listed in the Unesco Memory of the World registry of ‘Le film de Westerbork’ (Ref. 1) of all known Westerbork film footage shot by Rudolf Breslauer (Werner Rudolf Breslauer) in Camp Westerbork in 1944 – the inventory deposited in the Unesco Memory of the World Registry of documentary heritage in 2017.

This Westerbork Films Collection includes to the best of my knowledge all known footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands – footage that I presented before via several posts in 2019 on Settela•Com and other platforms .
The compilation is based on the May 8, 2017 edition of UNESCO Memory of the World document ID code [2016-118] delivered by Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Jan Müller & Hans van der Windt) and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Frank van Vree). Research and reports by Aad Wagenaar, Cherry Duyns, Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing on the Westerbork film footage formed the basis of the UNESCO documentation (Ref. 1,2,3,4).

This Unesco compilation is divided here for convenience in 3 main parts :

WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM – PART 1

Westerbork 1986 Film (Acts 1,2,3,4)

This first part is the full film of the montage produced in 1986 by the Netherlands State Archive (RVD) – generally known as the Westerbork Film ‘ACTE’ 1, 2, 3, 4.

Published first June 5, 2019 as :
Westerbork Film ~ Full version RVD. Montage of the Westerbork reels 1-4 (RVD cat.nrs. 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. Ref. 5. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x

WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM – PART 2

Westerbork 1996 Film (Acts 1,2)

The second part is the alternative Westerbork film first presented in the Netherlands (TV Broadcasts) in 1996 – in 2 acts using the early 1990s (re-) discovered ‘rest’ footage reels labeled ‘OVERS’ in dutch (english : Left-Overs) and since presented as alternative Westerbork Film (OVERS) ACTE 1,2 or Rest material 1,2 .
This 1996 ‘alternative’ film includes both new scenes and scenes also present in the 1986 ‘RVD’ original Westerbork film.

Westerbork 1996 Film – Act 1 (OVERS – Rest 1)
Published June 16, 2019 as :
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.
Ref. 6. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

Westerbork 1996 Film – Act 2 (OVERS – Rest 2)
Published June 15, 2019 as :
Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015. Scaled, otherwise unedited footage F1015.
Source Beeld en Geluid (former cat.nr. F1015) , accessed at US Holocaust Memorial Museum (copy Film ID 2242 – license Public Domain) , courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944.
Ref. 7. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 | 20190615 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2a

WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM – PART 3

Westerbork Film Fragments (Sources 1,2,3)

Part 3, the last part, is a compilation of all the clips recovered from footage cut out from original film (before the 1986 montage) and lent for use in : 1948 dutch cinema newsreels (Polygoon), and a 1962 dutch TV documentary. Containing – aside from known scenes – also original footage and copies (upscaled 35mm) of scenes never re-edited back into the Westerbork films.

Westerbork Film Fragments – Source 1 : Polygoon newsreel 1948 Proces Rauter Note: Cinema newsreel Polygoon 1948 week 15 – ‘Proces Rauter’
Ref 8. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

Westerbork Film Fragments – Source 2 : Polygoon newsreel 1948 #48298
Note: Cinema newsreel Polygoon 1948 – fragments used in cinema news and surplus fragments not used in the news.
Ref 9. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2i

Westerbork Film Fragments – Source 3 : NTS tv show 1962 Episode 9 The Occupation
Note: Dutch TV broadcast (NTS) Episode 9 of television show De Bezetting (Occupation) (1962).
Ref 10. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip | 20190812 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) https://wp.me/p91enH-2l

LIST OF SHOTS – SCENES

Details of the shots in the 1986 Westerbork film (Part 1 of this album) were posted before (Ref 5) and will be added here later.

TIMELINE

Total time documentary 1:53:35 (hr:min:sec)

Timeline

Part 1 act 1 – 0:00:06 | act 2 – 20:33 | act 3 – 42:26 | act 4 – 1:00:56

Part 2 act 1 – 1:22:27 | act 2 – 1:32:09

Part 3 source 1 – 1:45:06 | source 2 – 1:47:12 | source 3 – 1:53:11

REFERENCES

1. Unesco.org – Mémoire du monde – Le film de Westerbork
(accessed 20190605)
http://www.unesco.org/new/fr/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-9/westerbork-films/

2 Settela, gezicht van het verleden by Cherry Duyns (VPRO, 1994) documentary film

3 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

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

6. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

7. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 | 20190615 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2a

8. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

9. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2i

10. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip | 20190812 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2019 Dec 19) https://wp.me/p91enH-2l

CREDITS

WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM , courtesy of the : NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (KNAW), and the Netherlands Institute of Image and Sound | OpenImages | Polygoon | NTS | NPO-VPRO | US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Special thanks to Aad Wagenaar, Cherry Duyns, Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing for their Westerbork film footage research and reports that formed the UNESCO documentation.
Film : WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM | 20200120 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

NL – WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM, met dank aan het NIOD instituut voor oorlogs-, holocaust- en genocide studies (KNAW), en het Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Open Beelden | Polygoon | NTS | US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Gefilmd door Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Kamp Westerbork, Nederland.
Dank vooral aan Aad Wagenaar, Cherry Duyns, Koert Broersma en Gerard Rossing voor hun Westerbork film onderzoek en verslaglegging, waarop de UNESCO documentatie is gebaseerd.
Film : WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM | 20200120 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

NEWS :
Jan. 20, 2020 – Tonight 8 PM the NOS dutch daily news broadcaster (reporter Ronja Hijmans) showed a newly discovered 6 sec Westerbork film clip – of a german guard in the camp – found by dutch image researcher Gerard Nijssen. In total currently 96 minutes of unique footage are known. Link https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2319497-nieuwe-beelden-van-iconische-westerborkfilm-gevonden.html ma 20 jan 2020

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip

After the war , in 1946, the National Institute for War Documentation in Holland (Ref 1), known as the ‘RIOD’ (Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) collected the footage filmed by the Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer spring 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp.

Not all of this RIOD raw film footage – 9 reels of film – was handed over in 1986 to the RVD (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst) , the Dutch National Centre for Information, were these reels were glued together into the 4 parts (Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , and Acte 4) that have become known as the “Westerbork film” (Ref 2).

The story of research on this unique film footage published in the 1997 Dutch book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ – Camp Westerbork filmed (Ref 3) – included findings of more film footage on which I reported before : a forgotten reel (Ref 4), an unknown reel (Ref 5) footage in a 1948 Polygoon newsreel (Ref 6, 7) and lost fragments on an extra 1948 Polygoon reel (Ref 8) .

Another ‘lost’ fragment was traced in clips the RIOD had extracted for use in the 60s dutch TV series ‘De bezetting’ (The Occupation) presented by RIOD director Loe de Jong, and directed by Milo Anstadt (Ref 9).

That ca 10 sec short film fragment “Loading toilet barrels in train wagon 8” (dutch : (Toilet tonnetjes inladen bij wagon 8) was identified in Episode 9 ‘De Jodenvervolging’ (The Jews Persecution) broadcasted first in 1962 via dutch public TV – and is posted unedited here.

References

1. RIOD 1948 | 20190808 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2j

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

4. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 | 20190615 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2a

5. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 | 20190616 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

6. 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

7. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 7). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

8. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 12). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2i

9. Wikipedia. The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II. (accessed 2019 Aug 13). URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands_During_World_War_II

Credit / Edit / Source info

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip.
Fragment “Loading toilet barrels in train wagon 8” unedited except for minor cropping.
Source NTS, De Bezetting, De Jodenvervolging 1962 (cat G42002C1) courtesy of dutch public broadcast NPO-VPRO.
Original footage (public domain) filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip | 20190812 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

Updates

20190813. Post updated with more background and more references.

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298

After the war , in 1946, the National Institute for War Documentation in Holland , known as the ‘RIOD’ (Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) collected the footage filmed by the Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer spring 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp.

The RIOD glued fragments together probably, and also extracted fragments (Ref 1) . In 1948 parts of the Westerbork film were given on loan to the Dutch Polygoon-Profilti cinema newsreel company for use in one of the weekly Polygoon cinema news items (week 15) : the 1948 trial against Rauter – the ‘Proces Rauter’ . That cinema news was posted May 20 (20190520) as : Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 at Settela•Com (Ref 2).

Later , in 1958, this ‘RIOD film’ went on loan to the Dutch Filmmuseum (now EYE Film Museum) for conservation, and in 1986 that raw film footage – 9 reels of film – was handed over by the Filmmuseum to the RVD (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst) , the Dutch National Centre for Information. The RVD conservator glued together these reels into the 4 parts (Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , and Acte 4) that have become known as the “Westerbork film”.

The RVD, however, had not received all footage from the Filmmuseum .
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 missing film fragments (Ref 3)

The 1948 Dutch Polygoon cinema news extracts were not all assembled back in the Westerbork film reels .
And not all footage given on loan for that ‘Polygoon news’ ended up in that news item.
The clips actually used in the 1948 week 15 Polygoon cinema newsreel on the Rauter trial were presented in yesterday’s post (20190806) : “Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News” (Ref 4).
Link : https://settela.com/2019/08/06/westerbork-film-fragments-1948-polygoon-news/

‘Lost’ fragments were traced on another reel of Polygoon 35 mm footage copied from the original 16 mm film (intended for cinema use) consisting of fragments both used in the news and surplus fragments not used in the news – including 4 ‘lost’ clips that were never reassembled in the Westerbork film. This 1948 Polygoon version #48298 (cat.nr. NO-48-09-001) is posted here. These are the 4 additional ‘lost’ clips :
1. Railway wagon 13 with man on ladder and camp leaders: 6 sec. (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting at timeline ~ 4 min 1 sec)
2. Gemmeker and a soldier looking at the train: 4 sec. (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting probably at timeline ~ 5 min 41 sec)
3/4. Gemmeker and a soldier, with a nurse in white uniform in the background (actually 2 scenes): 9 sec (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting at timeline ~ 5 min 45 sec)

References

2. 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

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

4. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 ; (accessed 2019 Aug 7). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

Credit / Edit / Source info :

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298. Unedited footage.
Source 1948 Polygoon reel #48298 (cat.nr. NO-48-09-001) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid
(public domain link http://in.beeldengeluid.nl/collectie/details/expressie/20424/false/true ) via portal OpenImages. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | 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