Spring 1944 a film is being made in the Westerbork camp, ordered and produced by camp commander SS-Obersturmführer Albert Gemmeker. Cameraman is the German Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer – the camp photographer. In addition film scripts were made, but the film was never really finished or edited.
Westerbork Film Dossier
In 2017 the film dossier – with the film footage and production documents – enters the UNESCO Memory of the World Register (REF 1) . 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 (REF 2).
That NIOD archive file — called (translated) : Directing, texts and correspondence of the film “Westerbork” has been scanned and made available online. The file contains film scripts, title cards, and the correspondence on the film.
Westerbork Film
May 7, 2022 the latest edition of the Westerbork Film – a compilation of digitally restored footage – was posted with annotations as optional closed captions – CC (REF 3). In addition a short film ‘Westerborkfilm Introduction’ was posted (REF 4) that addresses briefly the history, context, and contents of the film dossier, camp and film crew, postwar route of the film footage, including a glimpse of the film plan, title cards and correspondence.
Production documents
Before , the title cards (REF 5) and the film scripts (REF 6) were posted.
All other production documents – a file with correspondence between the camp and the outside world on obtaining camera’s , film and film processing – are detailed chronologically here in this short silent film “Westerbork Film Correspondence | 20220509” .
CREDITS
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 (REF 10).
Westerbork Film Correspondence | 20220509 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0
9 – 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 .
Westerbork Film Plan
Spring 1944 a film is being made in the Westerbork camp, ordered and produced by camp commander SS-Obersturmführer Albert Gemmeker. A Film Plan propasal – 1.5 page – is written by his personal assistant the German prisoner Dienstleiter Heinz Todtmann – a journalist before WW2. Cameraman is the German Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer – the camp photographer – who may have contributed to this filmplan too. In addition to the film plan , more detailed scripts were made with camera instructions and edit instructions. The film was never really finished or edited.
Westerbork Films Dossier
In 2017 the complete film dossier enters the UNESCO Memory of the World Register — including the film footage, the scripts, the drawn title cards, and the camp correspondence on the film (REF 1) . 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.
Westerbork Film
May 7, 2022 the complete remastered 2021 edition of the Westerbork Film – a compilation of digitally restored footage – was posted with annotations as optional closed captions – CC (REF 2) .
Westerborkfilm Introduction
May 7, 2022 also a short film ‘Westerborkfilm Introduction’ was posted (REF 3) that addresses briefly the history, context, and contents of the film dossier, camp and film crew, postwar route of the film footage, including a glimpse of the film plan, title cards and correspondence.
Title Cards
The title cards were posted in detail May 2021 (REF 4).
Film Scripts
Likewise now the film scripts (REF 5) are detailed in this short silent film Westerbork Film Scripts | 20220508 .
9 – 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 .
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 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
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.
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
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
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
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 