WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM

2020012020230518 ~ Settela•Com

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

2019081220230518 ~ Settela•Com

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

RIOD 1948 ~ National Institute for War Documentation in Holland

2019080820230518 ~ Settela•Com

RIOD 1948 ~ National Institute for War Documentation in Holland ~ In the first years after the war, the National Institute for War Documentation in Holland , known as the ‘RIOD’ – Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie – started collecting original documents about the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies during the Second World War. In addition to collecting and organising all these documents RIOD also did research, performed historical studies into the Second World War and the Holocaust. In 1946 the RIOD started the collection of the footage filmed by the Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer spring 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp.
Here in this Polygoon cinema newsreel week 3 in 1948 the RIOD’s director Loe de Jong gives the dutch cinema public a look behind the scenes of the RIOD institute.

Credit info :

RIOD 1948 ~ National Institute for War Documentation in Holland
Source 1948 Polygoon newsreel week 3, 1948 (WEEKNUMMER480-HRE0000DED7_1757240_1937680) courtesy of Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (producer) / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (OpenImages, public domain).
RIOD 1948 | 20190808 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 .

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line

20230518 – Credits updated with ISSN

Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298

2019080720230518 ~ Settela•Com

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

Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News

2019080620230518 ~ Settela•Com

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

According to the inventory of the RIOD from 1958 – when the film reels were handed over to the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Dutch Film Museum) – the Westerbork Film (https://youtu.be/8E-IWGjbGZM ) basically consisted of 9 film reels.

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

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

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

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

References

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

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

Credit / Edit / Source info :

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

Updates

20230518 – Credits and references updated with ISSN