Westerbork (camp)
Encyclopedia
Westerbork concentration camp was a World War II
Nazi refugee, detention and transit camp in Hooghalen
, ten kilometres north of Westerbork
, in the northeastern Netherlands
. Its function during the Second World War
was to assemble Roma and Dutch Jews
for transport to other Nazi concentration camps
.
On 15 December 1938, the Dutch government closed its border to refugees. From then on, any refugees would not have any rights. In 1939, the Dutch government erected a refugee
camp, Centraal Vluchtelingenkamp Westerbork, financed, ironically, partly by Dutch Jewry, in order to absorb fleeing Jews from Nazi Germany. The Jewish refugees were housed after they had tried in vain to escape Nazi
terror in their homeland. During World War II, the Nazis took over the camp and turned it into a deportation camp. From this camp, 101,000 Dutch Jews and about 5,000 German Jews were deported to their deaths in Occupied Poland. In addition, there were about 400 Gypsies in the camp and, at the very end of the War, some 400 women from the resistance movement
.
In 1950, the Dutch government appointed the Jewish historian Jacques Presser
to investigate the events connected with the massive deportation of Dutch Jewry and the extent of the collaboration by the Dutch non-Jewish population. The results were published fifteen years later in The Catastrophe ("De Ondergang"), a book which shocked the reading public and had a profound and lasting effect on the Dutch perception of the war years. Presser also published a novel (The Night of the Girondins) set in Westerbork camp itself. The hero is a Jewish prisoner, who is appointed an officer and has the problematic role of helping the Nazis transporting his "brothers" to their obvious deaths in Occupied Poland.
Between July 1942 and September 1944, almost every Tuesday a cargo
train
left for the concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau
(65 train-loads containing 60,330 people most of whom were gassed on arrival), Sobibór
(19 train-loads of 34,313 people, all of whom were killed on arrival), Bergen-Belsen
and Theresienstadt (9 train-loads of 4,894 people some 2,000 of whom survived the war). In the period from 1942 to 1945, a total of 107,000 people passed through the camp on a total of 93 outgoing trains. Only 5,200 of them survived, most of them in Theresienstadt or Bergen-Belsen, or were liberated at Westerbork.
Anne Frank
stayed in the hut shown to the left from August until early September 1944, when she was taken to Auschwitz
. She and her family were put on the first of the three final trains (the three final transports were most probably a reaction to the Allies'
offensive) on 3 September 1944 for Auschwitz, arriving there three days later.
Etty Hillesum
stayed in this camp from 30 July 1942 until 7 September 1943, when she and her family were put on a train to Auschwitz.
The German film actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson
was interned at Westerbork with her family before being transferred to Auschwitz.
The Canadian 2nd Infantry Division liberated the several hundred inhabitants that were still at Westerbork on 12 April 1945. The first soldiers to reach the camp were from the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment, followed by troops of the South Saskatchewan Regiment.
Following its use in World War II, the Westerbork camp was first used as a penalty camp for alleged and accused Nazi collaborator
s and later housed Dutch nationals who fled the former Dutch East Indies
(Indonesia
). Between 1950 and 1970 the camp was renamed to Kamp Schattenberg and used to house refugees from the Maluku Islands
.
In the 1970s the camp was demolished. Near the site there is now a museum, and monuments of remembrance of those transported and killed during World War II. The camp is freely accessible.
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
(WSRT) was partially constructed on the site of the camp in 1969.
The last transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz with the Frank-family on it.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Nazi refugee, detention and transit camp in Hooghalen
Hooghalen
Hooghalen is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 9 km south of Assen....
, ten kilometres north of Westerbork
Westerbork (village)
Westerbork is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe.The village gives its name to the Westerbork deportation and later, concentration camp, located about 7 km north of the village, in the forests of Hooghalen.The Westerbork Synthesis Radio...
, in the northeastern Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Its function during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was to assemble Roma and Dutch Jews
History of the Jews in the Netherlands
Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.The area now known as the Netherlands was once part of the Spanish Empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence...
for transport to other Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
.
On 15 December 1938, the Dutch government closed its border to refugees. From then on, any refugees would not have any rights. In 1939, the Dutch government erected a refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
camp, Centraal Vluchtelingenkamp Westerbork, financed, ironically, partly by Dutch Jewry, in order to absorb fleeing Jews from Nazi Germany. The Jewish refugees were housed after they had tried in vain to escape Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
terror in their homeland. During World War II, the Nazis took over the camp and turned it into a deportation camp. From this camp, 101,000 Dutch Jews and about 5,000 German Jews were deported to their deaths in Occupied Poland. In addition, there were about 400 Gypsies in the camp and, at the very end of the War, some 400 women from the resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
.
In 1950, the Dutch government appointed the Jewish historian Jacques Presser
Jacques Presser
Jacques Presser was a Dutch historian, writer and poet best known for his book Ashes in the wind on the history of the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands during World War II...
to investigate the events connected with the massive deportation of Dutch Jewry and the extent of the collaboration by the Dutch non-Jewish population. The results were published fifteen years later in The Catastrophe ("De Ondergang"), a book which shocked the reading public and had a profound and lasting effect on the Dutch perception of the war years. Presser also published a novel (The Night of the Girondins) set in Westerbork camp itself. The hero is a Jewish prisoner, who is appointed an officer and has the problematic role of helping the Nazis transporting his "brothers" to their obvious deaths in Occupied Poland.
Between July 1942 and September 1944, almost every Tuesday a cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
left for the concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
(65 train-loads containing 60,330 people most of whom were gassed on arrival), Sobibór
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
(19 train-loads of 34,313 people, all of whom were killed on arrival), Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
and Theresienstadt (9 train-loads of 4,894 people some 2,000 of whom survived the war). In the period from 1942 to 1945, a total of 107,000 people passed through the camp on a total of 93 outgoing trains. Only 5,200 of them survived, most of them in Theresienstadt or Bergen-Belsen, or were liberated at Westerbork.
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
stayed in the hut shown to the left from August until early September 1944, when she was taken to Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
. She and her family were put on the first of the three final trains (the three final transports were most probably a reaction to the Allies'
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
offensive) on 3 September 1944 for Auschwitz, arriving there three days later.
Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum
Esther "Etty" Hillesum was a young Jewish woman whose letters and diaries, kept between 1941 and 1943 describe life in Amsterdam during the German occupation...
stayed in this camp from 30 July 1942 until 7 September 1943, when she and her family were put on a train to Auschwitz.
The German film actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson
Dora Gerson
Dora Gerson was a Jewish German cabaret singer and motion picture actress of the silent film era who was murdered with her family at Auschwitz concentration camp.- Life and work :...
was interned at Westerbork with her family before being transferred to Auschwitz.
The Canadian 2nd Infantry Division liberated the several hundred inhabitants that were still at Westerbork on 12 April 1945. The first soldiers to reach the camp were from the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment, followed by troops of the South Saskatchewan Regiment.
Following its use in World War II, the Westerbork camp was first used as a penalty camp for alleged and accused Nazi collaborator
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
s and later housed Dutch nationals who fled the former Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
(Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
). Between 1950 and 1970 the camp was renamed to Kamp Schattenberg and used to house refugees from the Maluku Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
.
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope is an aperture synthesis interferometer near camp Westerbork, north of the village of Westerbork, Midden-Drenthe, in the northeastern Netherlands. It consists of a linear array of 14 antennas with a diameter of 25 metres arranged on a 2.7 km East-West line...
(WSRT) was partially constructed on the site of the camp in 1969.
Further reading
- Jacob Boas, Boulevard des Misères: the Story of the Transit Camp Westerbork. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1985 ISBN 0-208-01977-4
- Etty Hillesum, Letters from Westerbork. New York: Pantheon, 1986 ISBN 0-394-55350-0 (originally published in the Netherlands as Het denkende hart van de barak, 1982)
- Cecil Law, Kamp Westerbork, transit camp to eternity : the liberation story. Clementsport, N.S. : Canadian Peacekeeping Press, 2000 ISBN 1896551351
External links
The last transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz with the Frank-family on it.
- All Dutch Jewish Holocaust victims
- Cabaret Behind Barbed Wire: Max Ehrlich & the Westerbork Theater Group
- Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (in Dutch languageDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
) - Dutch institute for war documentation (in Dutch language)
- Jewish Virtual Library
- Memorial Center Camp Westerbork
- Netherlands: Westerbork
- Westerbork Paper Money