WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM

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 via my Youtube and Vimeo channels and web sites settela.com and michelvanderburg.com .
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. Westerbork Film (20190605) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com – CC BY 4.0 .
Ref. 5. Westerbork Film (20190605) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (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.
Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com – CC BY 4.0 .
Ref. 6. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (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.
Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 (20190615) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com – CC BY 4.0
Ref. 7. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 (20190615) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (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 (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 (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 (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

Ref. 5. Westerbork Film (20190605) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x

Ref. 6. Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b

Ref. 7. Forgotten Westerbork Film Reel…F1015 (20190615) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2a

Ref 8. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News (20190806) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h

Ref 9. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 (20190807) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2019 Dec 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2i

Ref 10. Tracing Lost Westerbork Film…1960s RIOD-NTS clip (20190812) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (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 – 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 – 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