Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298
After the war , in 1946, the National Institute for War Documentation in Holland , known as the ‘RIOD’ (Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) collected the footage filmed by the Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer spring 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp.
The RIOD glued fragments together probably, and also extracted fragments (Ref 1) . In 1948 parts of the Westerbork film were given on loan to the Dutch Polygoon-Profilti cinema newsreel company for use in one of the weekly Polygoon cinema news items (week 15) : the 1948 trial against Rauter – the ‘Proces Rauter’ . That cinema news was posted May 20 (20190520) as : Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 at Settela•Com (Ref 2).
Later , in 1958, this ‘RIOD film’ went on loan to the Dutch Filmmuseum (now EYE Film Museum) for conservation, and in 1986 that raw film footage – 9 reels of film – was handed over by the Filmmuseum to the RVD (Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst) , the Dutch National Centre for Information. The RVD conservator glued together these reels into the 4 parts (Acte 1 , Acte 2 , Acte 3 , and Acte 4) that have become known as the “Westerbork film”.
The RVD, however, had not received all footage from the Filmmuseum .
Research published in the 1997 Dutch book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658) traced missing film fragments (Ref 3)
The 1948 Dutch Polygoon cinema news extracts were not all assembled back in the Westerbork film reels .
And not all footage given on loan for that ‘Polygoon news’ ended up in that news item.
The clips actually used in the 1948 week 15 Polygoon cinema newsreel on the Rauter trial were presented in yesterday’s post (20190806) : “Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News” (Ref 4).
Link : https://settela.com/2019/08/06/westerbork-film-fragments-1948-polygoon-news/
‘Lost’ fragments were traced on another reel of Polygoon 35 mm footage copied from the original 16 mm film (intended for cinema use) consisting of fragments both used in the news and surplus fragments not used in the news – including 4 ‘lost’ clips that were never reassembled in the Westerbork film. This 1948 Polygoon version #48298 (cat.nr. NO-48-09-001) is posted here. These are the 4 additional ‘lost’ clips :
1. Railway wagon 13 with man on ladder and camp leaders: 6 sec. (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting at timeline ~ 4 min 1 sec)
2. Gemmeker and a soldier looking at the train: 4 sec. (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting probably at timeline ~ 5 min 41 sec)
3/4. Gemmeker and a soldier, with a nurse in white uniform in the background (actually 2 scenes): 9 sec (incl my 6 sec leader in this post starting at timeline ~ 5 min 45 sec)
References
1. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0 ; (accessed 2019 Jun 15). Short-link https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
2. Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 6). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p1IheQ-JY
3. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658
4. Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 7). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2h
Credit / Edit / Source info :
Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298. Unedited footage.
Source 1948 Polygoon reel #48298 (cat.nr. NO-48-09-001) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid
(public domain link http://in.beeldengeluid.nl/collectie/details/expressie/20424/false/true ) via portal OpenImages. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Tracing Lost Westerbork Film Clips…Polygoon Reel 48298 | 20190807 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0
Updates
20220604 – Format changes credit line , references .
