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Transit Camp Westerbork
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Camp Westerbork served as a transit camp in the northeastern Netherlands in the Dutch province of Drenthe during World War II. [1]Established by the Dutch government in the summer of 1939, Camp Westerbork was meant to serve as a refugee center for Jewish individuals who had illegally entered the Netherlands.[2][1] On October 9,1939 the first Jewish refugees had arrived.[2]
After its establishment, the German Security Police, assisted by Dutch military police and the SS took management of the camp in 1942.[3] [1]Appointed camp commandant Erich Deppner transformed Westerbork from a refugee camp to a transit facility to aide in deportation of Jewish peoples from the Netherlands.[3] [1]
Operation During World War II
[edit]Dates of Operation
[edit]Camp Westerbork was first operational as a transit camp beginning on July 15 1942 when 100,000 Jewish inmates were arranged transport by Adolf Eichmann’s office from Westerbork to the extermination camp of Auschwitz. [4] The end of deportation of Dutch Jews came on September 3, 1944. [3]
Purpose of Camp Westerbork
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The transit camp was utilized as a pit stop for deportation of Jewish individuals.[3] Located within the confines of one-half square kilometer, this small transit camp was not built for the purpose of annihilation such has the concentration and extermination camps. As a whole Westerbork was scene as “humane” by Nazi standards.[3] Jewish inmates with families were housed in 200 interconnected cottages that contained two rooms, a toilet, a hot plate for cooking, and a small yard. While single inmates were placed in oblong barracks which contained a bathroom for each gender.[2]
Trains entered Westerbork every Tuesday between July 1942 and September 1944 leaving with an estimated 97,776 Jews came and left the confines of Westerbork.[1] Jewish inmates were deported in waves of transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz, Sobibor, Theresienstadt ghetto, and to the Bergen-belsen concentration camp.[2] [1]Almost all of the 89,243 Jewish inmates who were deported to Auschwitz and Sobibor were killed upon arrival.[1]The camp also contained a school, orchestra, hairdresser, and even a restaurants utilized by SS officials to give inmates a sense of hope for survival and to aid in avoiding problems during transportation.[2]
Additionally, the camp housed not only Jewish individuals for deportation but also contained 2,000 “permanent” Jewish inmates that were used as a camp labor force.[1]Normal activities enforced by Nazi patrol for these individuals included metalwork, health services work, and other cultural activities. There was an additional group among these individuals that made up a camp Jewish police that were forced to assist with transports and help keep order.[1]The SS themselves had very little contribution to selecting transfers; this job was upheld by a Jewish security service. [2] Unfortunately most of these 2,000 so called "permanent" inmates were also sent to concentration or death camps.[1]
Furthermore, some notable prisoners in Westerbork included Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum.[5]Each noted their experiences in dairies which were discovered after the war.
Anne Frank was a Jewish child who had gone into hiding during World War II. Eventually she was discovered and transported to camp Westerbork on August 4, 1944.[5] She remained within the confines of the camp in a small hut until September 3,1994 when she was deported to Auschwitz and was ultimately killed.[6]
Etty Hillesum was able to remain anonymous to Nazi soldiers for a period of the war, but on April 29,1942 she was forced to wear the Star of David.[7] Even after being labeled as a Jewish citizen Hillesum began to report on antisemitic policies. Hillesum took a job with Judernat for two weeks and then decided to volunteer to accompany the first group of Jews sent to Westerbork. [5][7]She survived Westerbork until September 7, 1943 when she was deported to Auschwitz to await the same fate as Anne Frank had. Hillesum died three months after she had arrived at Auschwitz.[7]
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Leadership within the Camp
[edit]As noted previously, German authorities took control of Westerbork from the Dutch government on July 1, 1942. [1]Deportations began under the orders of Gestapo sub-Department IV-B4, authorized and controlled by Adolf Eichmann.[3] Within the confines of the camp, German SS commanders were in charge of inmates, but sectors of Jewish police and security were used to keep order and aid in transport.[8]
Post World War II
[edit]Liberation
[edit]Transports came to a halt in camp Westerbork in September 1944.[2] After World War II, allied troops neared Westerbork in early April 1945 after German officials had abandoned the camp. Westerbork was liberated by Canadian forces on April 12,1945. A total of 876 inmates were found.[1]
Demolition
[edit]Westerbork was entirely destroyed after the liberation and then completely disassembled in the 1960s by the Dutch government.[2] Later the Dutch government built large radio telescopes on the site. Only the former camp commander’s houses was preserved in glass, aside from that nothing else remains of Westerbork.[2]
Memorials
[edit]A museum has been created two miles off-site of Westerbork to keep the stories of those imprisoned in the camp alive.[2] As a tribute to those inmates that had faced untimely deaths with their deportation from Westerbork a memorial has been devised in their honor. [2]The memorial consists of 102,000 stones that represent each person that had stayed in Westerbork and never returned after deportation.[9] In addition to this memorial, a monument of a broken railroad track torn from the ground is also displayed near the camp to symbolize the destruction these camps had on the European Jewish population.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Encyclopedia, Holocaust. "Westerbork". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Project Aice (28 February 2018). "Westerbork Transit Camp: History & Overview". Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
- ^ a b c d e f Boas, Jacob (1985). Boulevard Des Miseres The Story of Transit Camp Westerbork. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books. ISBN 0208019774.
- ^ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (5 July 2011). "Westerbork: Transit Camp, Netherlands". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ a b c De Costa, Denise (1998). Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum Inscribing Spirituality and Sexuality. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813525500.
- ^ Prose, Francine (2009). Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. New York, New York: Harper Collins.
- ^ a b c Frenk, Hanan. "Etty Hillesum". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Camp Westerbork". Kamparchieven. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ a b "The National Westerbork Memorial". Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
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