Settela Film Auschwitz Museum • 20260522

Deportation of Dutch Roma to Auschwitz – 19 May 1944 • 9-year-old Anna Maria (Settela) Steinbach was deported together with 244 other Roma from Westerbork to Auschwitz (1,2) • Source : Settela•Com • Collection Auschwitz Museum • URL https://fb.watch/Hgg5lusc-8/

The Auschwitz Museum acquired the short film ‘Settela’ from Settela•Com (1) in the Auschwitz Memorial Collection (3), and is succesfully screening the film each year since 2019 on the 19th May at the Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz facebook page .

Last year’s post of the film ‘Settela’ , 19th May 2025 at the Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz facebook page, accumulated by now one million views, and over 3000 comments (Image 1MEMO_20260522).

The film was created in an attempt to keep the scene on screen longer on the one hand, and to preserve the natural and historical original on the other. Thus a compilation was created, showing the same scene twice. The film ends with the original 3 seconds clip selected from the Westerbork film footage shot by Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer (4), and the film starts with that same clip , digitally slowed down 10× in post-production.

This film was created and first online in 2017 (5) , and published (antedated) as the first post (1) shortly after the start May 19, 2019, of the online journal Settela•Communications — short Settela•Com (6).

More on the Roma in Auschwitz , online at the Auschwitz Museum (7).

Notes

1- Settela | 20170721 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2017/07/21

2 – Genocide • 20260519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/19

3 – Settela • Auschwitz Memorial Collection, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum • Facebook reels (retrieved May 22, 2026) URL https://www.facebook.com/reel/1461275455190451

4 – 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

5 – Settela | 20170721 | michelvanderburg.com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2017/07/21/settela/ . Credit line changed later.

6 – Settela | Settela•Com | 20190519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 |

7 – The Roma in Auschwitz. Auschwitz Museum. URL https://lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_roma_auschwitz

TAGS #Auschwitz #museum #memorial #slowmotion #Settela #Steinbach #girl #child #headscarf #railcar #train #deportation #Westerbork #Netherlands #camp #Westerborkfilm #film #Breslauer #nomad #Roma #Sinti #gypsy #Jew #Holocaust #Porajmos #genocide #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

Citation info : Settela Film Auschwitz Museum • 20260522 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/22

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


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_3


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

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

1 – Willy & Settela | Born Nomad | 20210519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://settela.com/2021/05/19/willy-settela-born-nomad/

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

Citation info : Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/18

Undocumented • Portrait #23 • @1MEMO 20251211

Tea is served in one of the tents of the Afghan refugees camp inside the Béguinage church in Brussels, April 2014. Video still.

Béguinage Chronicles

More on the Beguinage Project here :

Afghan refugees in Brussels – Beguinage Project – https://michelvanderburg.com/2014/05/29/beguinage/

Afghans & Belgians « We want justice » – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/11/24/genoeg-gezwegen-sans-papiers/

Samir Hamdard ~ Afghan Refugee Camp Brussels Beguinage Church – https://michelvanderburg.com/2020/07/29/samir-hamdard-afghan-refugee-camp-brussels-beguinage-church/

Samir Hamdard ~ Afghan Refugee Camp Brussels Beguinage Church | 20200729 | YouTube Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media :

https://youtu.be/W4-Pcx3q98I?si=Cw9qZOVsPmeUhA4e

#protest #deportation #art #street #Belgium #Brussels #Afghan #Beguinage #church #refugee #war #undocumented #street #sanspapiers #migrant #portrait #justice #rights #tea #camp #tent #photography #1Memo #michelvanderburg #MiraclesMedia

Citation info : Undocumented • Portrait #23 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • @1MEMO 20251211 • TakeNode 2cd772bf-13ba-41d2-9e9e-569f56e647a8

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

Robert Clary Story • Documentary (Extended Version) • 20250419


From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story : The Documentary (Extended Version) • 20250419 • A film by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg

Today 80 years ago , April 19, 1945 – the Buchenwald band ‘Rhythmus’ – with Jiří Žák & Robert Clary – gave a jazz concert in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald for their comrades and US soldiers that liberated the camp .

We , today, present the extended version of our Robert Clary documentary, now featuring also Robert Clary’s desire that Jiří Žák be nominated as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem…

Full details posted at Settela•Com , here :
Robert Clary Story • Documentary (Extended Version) | 20250419 | Miracles•Media | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2025/04/19/robert-clary-story-documentary-extended-version-20250419/