Vienna Jewish Film Festival

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.

NOTE : Today also available for watching online the fully annotated new Westerbork film — annotated both in closed captions (CC) and direct links in the description :
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2022/03/02/westerbork-film-🎦-2021-complete-remastered-edition-20220302/

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.

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

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN

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