Genocide • 20260519

Settela Steinbach — The Girl with the Headscarf • 1MEMO_20260519_1 • Settela•Com • Frame from camera original film reel of the Westerborkfilm (1).

On May 19, 1944, at the Westerbork transit camp, a glimpse of Sinti girl Settela Steinbach wearing a headscarf appears between the sliding doors of a cattle car awaiting deportation to Auschwitz (1,2,3).
In May 1945, her father, Moeselman Steinbach, wrote to “Repatriation” in the Netherlands: “…I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.” (4).

The 9-year-old dutch Sinti-girl Anna Maria ‘Settela’ Steinbach peeks outside , at the last moment just before the sliding door is closed , standing inside a cattle car with 74 people on May 19 , 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp in Holland , when this deportation train leaves for Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Settela is murdered a few months later in one of the gas chambers (5).

While Settela peeks outside , her mother cries behind her in that cattle car : “Get out of there, or soon your head gets in between!”

She is wearing a headscarf made from a torn sheet because the Nazis shaved her head upon arrival at Westerbork transit camp on May 16, 1944, following the “Gypsy raid” carried out that same day at the Zwaaikom caravan site in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (6).

Settela Film • 20220630

Settela was filmed only a few seconds by the Jewish prisoner filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer as part of a documentary film being made in 1944 on the Westerbork camp .
Those seconds , also in slow-motion are shown in the 2022 Settela Film • 20220630 (7)

The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_4

Anna Maria (‘Settela’) Steinbach was born 23 December 1934 in Buchten, Netherlands, and photographed at age ~1 , in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach, with others of the Steinbach family, and other families, at the nearby Sinti caravan site ‘Heksenberg’, October 1935, by photographer Jan de Jong (8) • 1MEMO_20260518_4

Settela was deported together with her brothers and sisters (Willy “Celestinus”, Willem, Elisabeth, Johanna, Philibert, Florentina, Willem, Anna), and mother Toetela (Emilia) Steinbach (born 23 March 1902 in Antwerp, Belgium), with other Steinbach and other nomad families – all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma and ca 450 Jews – on May 19th 1944 from the dutch Camp Westerbork to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps (5,6).

Toetela’s eldest child Moekela (Magdalena; born 14 Sep 1922) had gone to Belgium and had been deported earlier – 15 Jan 1944 – with her 6 months old baby Jeanette – Toetela’s granddaughter – on the Z-Transport from transit camp Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen to Auschwitz, were they were murdered on arrival.

Settela’s father Heinrich (‘Moeselman’) Steinbach (born Nov 11, 1901 in Gründorf in Germany) died alone of grief June 6, 1946 in Maastricht in the Netherlands – his wife and 10 children had not survived the camps.

To : “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands) — “Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too. — Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven , North Brabant” • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com

One year earlier , May 22, 1945, two weeks after the liberation of Holland, Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The text on the postcard reads — translated from dutch (4) :

“Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too.

Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven, North Brabant”

Notes

1 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

4 – May 1945 Postcard Heinrich Steinbach • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Source : Collectie HCL, archief Militair Gezag, Maastricht.
‘Moeselman’ Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The dutch text on the postcard reads :
“Geachte Heeren, Ik verzoek u zeer beleeft om mijn te willen berichten op mijn vrouw en 10 kinders aan gekomen zein of alleen kinders (zigeunerkinders) uit contrasie kamp uaschwietsch Polen.
Van 15 mei 1944 zein mijn kindeers en vrouw naar toe gebracht, geen joden. En ook Weiss moet ook mee komen. Heinrich Steinbach. Woonwagenkamp Eindhoven N.B.”

6 – ‘Zigeunerrazzia’ 16 mei 1944. Peter Jorna. Stichting 18 September (Eindhoven) URL https://stichting18september.nl/zigeunertransport/

8- Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/18

TAGS #Settela #girl #headscarf #Steinbach #Westerborkfilm #Westerbork #Breslauer #Roma #Sinti #gypsy #zigeuner #nomad #caravan #razzia #raid #Eindhoven #postcard #Holocaust #Porajmos #genocide #children #camp #deportation #Jew #Netherlands #railcar #train #station #transitcamp #UNESCO #film #letter #Heksenberg #Zwaaikom #Auschwitz #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518

Willy Steinbach plays the violin at the Sinti caravan site Heksenberg in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_1

In 1935 the nomadic Sinti families Steinbach — musicians — were photographed by Dutch photographer Jan de Jong at their caravan pitch on the heath around the Heksenberg hill in Brunssum, Limburg, Netherlands (1).

The boy with the violin is Willy Steinbach, an older brother of Settela Steinbach. The other 3 prints from the glass negatives that Jan de Jong made at the Heksenberg site in 1935 also show the Steinbach family, among others, with toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach.

The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach (circled in blue) at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_2

Settela Steinbach became known as the girl with the headscarf, featured a few seconds in the Westerbork film by Werner Rudolf Breslauer showing the deportation of the Steinbachs’ and other nomad families — all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma, and ca 450 Jews — on May 19th 1944 from the dutch transit camp Westerbork to Auschwitz (1,2).

Notes

2 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

TAGS #Settela #girl #headscarf #family #Holland #violin #Sinti #Roma #Steinbach #caravan #nomad #Porajmos #Holocaust #genocide #Westerbork #WesterborkFilm #MiraclesMedia

Source : Sinti trailer camp 1935 by Jan de Jong (photographer De Spaarnestad) • Wikimedia Commons, Collection Limburgs Museum

Sally Stumbling Stone • @1MEMO_20260501

Sally Stumbling Stone • @1MEMO_20260501 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media •
Stumbling stone placed Friday , April 11, 2025. Stolperstein street art monument by Gunter Demnig. Rue Marie-Therese 13 , Brussels, Belgium . Update image for post Settela.Com/2025/04/11

TakeNode 476657d3-a2c5-4c31-9d20-081d196a4ce8

#stolperstein #Brussels #Sally #Frankenthal #Nelly #Quintart #resistance #holocaust #Belgium #Quintard #art #street #Demnig

Saint Sepulcre Moments • Miracles Docs #8 • 20250918

Moments from a vibrant testimony and jazz by Simon Gronowski at the Saint-Sépulcre school in Liège, Belgium, 19 november 2013.

The Institut Saint-Sépulcre (now S2J School Center) hosted 3 sessions with Simon Gronowski that day for different age groups, including adults in the evening — and, in between, an intimate jazz moment was created in the surreal ambience of the school’s chapel.

Thanks to friends Philippe Renette (co-producer), Simon Gronowski, Koenraad Tinel (Photo Dieter Telemans featured in Die Welt , Saturday 16th Nov 2013 – Feinde wie wir, by Felix Stephan) and Patrick (assisting with sound), staff Marc Belleflamme and André Hérin, and teachers Christine Marchal, Ingrid Lothe, others, and the Saint-Sépulcre students.
Special thanks to the students Hélène, Charline, Tristan, Kimberley, Elodie, Farah, Esther, Estelle, Laetitia, Catherine, Tracy, and Pauline for making possible the unique events that month in 2013 for this Miracles film project.

Filmed by Michel van der Burg at the Station Liège-Guillemins, and Institut Saint-Sépulcre , Liège, Belgium, 19 november 2013.

Saint Sepulcre Moments | Miracles Docs #8 | Miracles•Media | 20250918

Notes

French talks with English subtitles in open captions (OC).

Miracles Docs #8 :

The first French edition was published in 2022 as Simon Stompin’ at the Saint Sépulcre | Miracles•Media | 20221119 | ISAN 0000-0007-329C-0008-C-0000-0001-0 .

The here presented, second, edition is titled ‘Saint Sepulcre Moments’ and has open captions (burned in) showing English subtitles.

Westerbork Girl • 20250916

Westerbork Girls – From left to right: Catharina Frank, Hannelore Cahn, Beatrice Lissauer, Ulla Gross, Lotte Heider-Lehmann and Ruth Pagener. (Source : Westerbork Memorial)

The documentary ‘Westerbork Girl’ (2007), directed by Steffie van den Oord, tells the story of Hannelore Cahn (later Eisinger-Cahn), a Jewish woman imprisoned in Camp Westerbork for more than two years during World War II. She performed as a dancer in the camp revue, attracting the attention of many, including camp commander Gemmeker and Jewish camp policeman Hans Eisinger, member of the Jewish Order Service—also known as “the Jewish SS”.

Westerbork Girl (VPRO 2007)

Hannelore had earlier met actor and resistance fighter Rob de Vries, with whom she was close. Rob smuggled her out of Westerbork by disguising himself as a train stoker and taking her to Amsterdam, where she briefly went into hiding. Hans Eisinger manages to track her down and one week after her escape Hannelore voluntarily accompanies him back to the camp…possibly due to loneliness, Rob’s existing relationship, or pressure from the Order Service to prevent others being deported to Auschwitz. Shortly thereafter, Hannelore and Hans get married in Westerbork.

Hannelore survived the war and avoided punishment after her return. The film reconstructs her story through interviews, archival footage, and music, presenting it as one of survival, love, and the difficult choices faced under Nazi persecution.

Hannelore sings and is still intensely sung about by Louis de Wijze, who witnessed her escape and remembered the revue songs from Westerbork: Ich hab es bei Nacht den Sternen erzählt, Ich liebe Dich.

Powerful documentary—this story, with close-ups of this Westerbork Girl, that resonate with me. Beautiful surprise while researching the use of the Westerborkfilm. Review by Michel van der Burg , editor Settela.Com

Citation info : Westerbork Girl • 20250916 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2025/09/16

News • Miracles Moment #5 • 20250915

Surprise

Tuesday , November 19, 2013, Simon Gronowski arrives at Station Liège-Guillemins on his way to give a series of testimonies all day at the Saint Sépulcre school in Liège, Belgium. When he gets off on the platform, and teacher Philippe Renette and I – while filming – welcome him, Simon surprises us, showing me last Saturday’s news in the German national daily newspaper Die Welt (The World) at the front page of the weekly supplement Die Literarische Welt (The Literary World).

Unlikely Friends • Feinde Wie Wir

In the article ‘Feinde wie wir’ (Enemies like us) in the German newspaper Die Welt of November 16, 2013 (1), cultural journalist Felix Stephan reports on his conversation in Berlin with Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel, which took place after their presentation there at the 13th International Literature Festival Berlin (2) of their book (3,4) ‘Enfin libérés’ / ‘Eindelijk bevrijd’ (Finally liberated) — the story of their history as children of war and the special friendship since their first meeting a year earlier, in 2012 (5).

The lead of the story reads as follows (my translation):

A story of reconciliation: Belgians Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel were children during World War II: one a Jew whose family was murdered, the other the son of a committed Nazi. Decades later, they discover how close their lives were and send an emphatic message to Europe.

French, German, with English subtitles.

Enemies like us • Miracles•Media • 20250915_1 • TakeNode d6238cf6-2521-42fe-9323-a90d521a94f6

Notes

1. Feinde wie wir. Felix Stephan | Die Welt (Germany) Nov 16, 2013. URL https://www.welt.de/print/die_welt/literatur/article121955638/Freunde-wie-Brueder-Feinde-wie-wir.html

2. Finally Free after 70 years. Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel (Belgium). internationales literaturfestival berlin (13.ilb), Sep 7, 2013.

3. Ni victime, ni coupable, enfin libérés. French edition (2013) by Simon Gronowski, Koenraad Tinel, David Van Reybrouck. Renaissance du livres ISBN 978-2507051051

4. Eindelijk bevrijd – geen schuld, geen slachtoffer. Dutch edition (2013) by Simon Gronowski, Koenraad Tinel, David Van Reybrouck. Hannibal ISBN 978-9491376405 . Reissue (2021) 978-9464366204

6. Enemies like us • Miracles•Media • 20250915_1 • TakeNode | Still (frame 340) Simon Gronowski shows Die Literarische Welt at Station Liège-Guillemins, Nov 19, 2013 , with a portrait photo of Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel by Belgian photographer Dieter Telemans – https://www.dietertelemans.com

500 Jewish Children • SS Negbah to Israel • 20250820

Summary — October 1948 Dutch cinema news on the departure of the first Jewish ship – the SS Negbah – in Amsterdam, bound for Haifa, Israel, with immigrants, including the circa 500 Jewish Children from Eastern Europe after their one year stay in the Children’s Village Ilaniah in Holland, where they were trained for their future task in Palestine.

500 Jewish Children – Series

Episode #1 — In the first episode the arrival of 500 Jewish Children in Holland by steam train from the Dutch National Cinema newsreel of Sep 22, 1947 was reported. Displaced children from Eastern Europe, many of whom lost their parents in the Nazi camps. Travelling from Romania to their destination in the Netherlands, the Children’s Village “ILANIAH”, where they would stay for one to two years, to be trained for a mission in Palestine. The children were then between six and fourteen years old (Note 1).

Episode #2 — The second episode of this short series on these 500 Jewish Children, documented their stay and education in this Children’s Village Ilaniah in Apeldoorn (Netherlands), from their arrival Sep 1947 untill the closing of Ilaniah , October 6, 1948, the day the children started their journey to Israel (Note 2).

Episode #3 — Here the third , and final, episode , with the Dutch National Cinema Newsreel of October 1948, documenting the departure of the children of Ilaniah on the first Jewish ship – the SS Negbah (Hebrew for southbound) – in Amsterdam for their journey to Haifa, Israel. This was one of the first ships to transport legal immigrants to Israel.

The SS Negbah – at the quay in Amsterdam, Oktober 1948 (frame video 20250820). Miracles•Media • 20250820_2

In October 1948, in the port of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the ship Negbah is ceremonially handed over to the Israeli Shipping Company of Haifa. The Israeli national anthem is sung, the flag is raised, and the chairman of the Dutch Zionist League, Professor S. Kleerekoper, delivers a speech. A Torah scroll is carried on board on behalf of the board of the Netherlands – Israelite Main Synagogue and received by the captain.

The Ilaniah children embark on the Negbah in Amsterdam, 6 Oktober 1948. Source : Dutch National Archive (Photo by Ben Merk | Anefo) | Miracles•Media • 20250819_9

The SS NEGBAH starts its first voyage October 6, 1948 with about 600 passengers from Amsterdam to Haifa, including over 400 of the mainly Romanian Jewish children,
after their one year stay in the Children’s Village Ilaniah in Holland, where they had been trained for their future task in Palestine.

The Ilaniah children embark on the Negbah (frame video 20250820). Miracles•Media • 20250820_1

Notes

3. Captions (translated from dutch transcript)

This ship was built here years ago.

It sailed under various flags.

Now it has been purchased by the Israeli shipping company, and symbolically transferred in Amsterdam.

Professor Kleerekoper outlines the importance of this Jewish ship for immigration in Israel. And ends his speech with the assurance that he

‘wants to wish a safe journey.
Not only the crew, also the passengers, but also the entire Jewish people, a safe journey in its path, through a difficult economy, in a threatened world , and a great struggle for independence of its own culture.

The board of the Netherlands – Israelite Main Synagogue donates a Torah, which will remain on board as long as the Negbah will transport Jewish emigrants.

The ship’s name is also a slogan: ‘Na Negev’ – To the Negev – a desert area in southern Palestine that Israel claims.

More than a million immigrants can settle here , once this area has been made fertile.

The NEGBAH takes about 600 emigrants on its first voyage, including a number of stateless people, and almost 500 mainly Romanian children, who were temporarily housed in Apeldoorn.

May the passengers find a happy home in their new fatherland. Shalom.

4. NL – Transcript (dutch , original)

Dit schip werd hier jaren geleden gebouwd. Het voer onder verschillende vlaggen.

Nu werd het aangekocht door de Israëlische scheepvaartmaatschappij en in Amsterdam symbolisch overgedragen.

Professor Kleerekoper schetst het belang van dit Joodse schip voor de immigratie in Israël. En eindigt zijn rede met de verzekering dat hij :
‘een behouden vaart wil wensen…niet alleen de bemanning, ook de passagiers, maar ook het gehele joodse volk, een behouden vaart in zijn weg de moeilijke economie in een bedreigde wereld en een grote strijd om zelfstandigheid van de eigen cultuur.’

Het bestuur van de Nederlands-Israelitische Hoofd Synagoge schenkt een wetsrol, die zo lang aan boord zal blijven als de Negbah joodse emigranten zal vervoeren.

De naam van het schip is tevens een leuze, ‘Na Negev’ – Naar de Negev – een woestijnstreek in het zuiden van Palestina, waarop Israël aanspraak maakt.

Meer dan 1 miljoen immigranten zal dit gebied kunnen opnemen, wanneer het eenmaal vruchtbaar zal zijn gemaakt.

De Negbah neemt op zijn eerste reis ongeveer 600 landverhuizers mee, onder wie een aantal statenlozen en bijna 500 in hoofdzaak Roemeense kinderen, die voorlopig in Apeldoorn waren ondergebracht.

Mogen de opvarenden in hun nieuwe vaderland een gelukkig tehuis vinden. Shalom.

Tags #Negbah #children #Jewish #ship #Palestine #Aliyah #Holland #Ilaniah #Romania #Amsterdam #zionism #education #emigration #holocaust #news #history #ww2 #Polygoon #NIHS #torah

Credits

Film source: Dutch cinema news Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (Producer | Oct 1948) courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).