Westerbork labor
Creator(s)
- Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst Film-en fotoarchief
- Albert K. Gemmeker (Producer)
- Rudolf Breslauer (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
Lagerkommandantur Westerbork
Rudolf Breslauer (1903-1944) was a photographer and lithographer by trade, educated at the Academy for Art Photography in Germany. He was married to Bella Weihsmann and had three children: Stephan, Mischa, and Ursula. They fled Leipzig and settled in the Netherlands in 1938. In the summer of 1940, non-Dutch Jews were forced to leave Leiden because the city was near the sea. The Breslauers moved to a boarding house in Alphen aan de Rijn and left for Utrecht shortly thereafter. On February 11, 1942, they were sent to Westerbork, where Rudolf Breslauer was ordered to make passport photos of incoming camp prisoners and film daily life in Westerbork. In the spring of 1944, the camp commander commissioned Breslauer to make what would later be known as the Westerbork-film. In September 1944, Breslauer and his family were deported to Theresienstadt with other privileged prisoners and subsequently deported to Auschwitz in October 1944. Only Ursula survived the camp.
Scope and Content
Slave labor at Westerbork transit camp. Recycling metals - men working at tables, putting things into baskets and barrels marked Kupfer [copper], Messing [brass], etc. Forward tracking shot through shop past workers, including at least one woman. Man with goggles and sledge hammer working outside on metal rods. (Some scenes marred by camera fault). Close view of men at work table, in assorted clothing and assorted markings. Some have stars; armbands are present on most. Women pulling wire through boards, in a circle. Some have stars. Closeup of hands and tangled wires. Men at work table working with gloved hands. Agfa/End.
Note(s)
See Wild Tape W87 for 3/4" and VHS PAL version of this footage.
This film was commissioned by camp commander Konrad Gemmeker to convince the Gestapo headquarters of Westerbork's vital production value. The Jewish prisoner Werner (Rudolf) Breslauer documented activities at the transit camp with a 16mm film camera. Discovered after liberation, the footage contains some of the most famous and often reproduced images of deportation. The Westerbork-film was nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register of documentary heritage in 2017.
Subjects
- WESTERBORK
- WOMEN
- WORKERS
- TRANSIT CAMPS
- NETHERLANDS
- FORCED LABOR
- ARMBANDS
- STARS OF DAVID
Places
- Westerbork, Netherlands
Genre
- Unedited.
- Film