Choir, church service, shoemakers, machinery at Camp Westerbork
Creator(s)
- NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR BEELD EN GELUID
- Rudolf Breslauer (Camera Operator)
- Albert K. Gemmeker (Producer)
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
Slate: GEVAERT CINE-FILM. WS of outdoor wooden sign: INDUSTRIE, VERWALTUNG, HAUPTMAGAZIN, KLEIDER KAMMER. 03:12:15 WS choir, children and adults singing. Shots of conductor and piano player [VQ: washed out, unfocused]. 03:13:41 CU of two young girls singing in the choir with Star of David on one of girls' blouse. Christian religious service, wooden cross in front of minister dressed in black cloak with white collar. Two burning candles. Forced religious conversion? 03:14:25 Pan from minister and choir to room filled with people attending the choir performance. Minister reading from Bible? More footage of choir and people with banners attending the ceremony. Fade in and back to choir [VQ: barely visible, unfocused]. 03:15:47 Westerbork shoemakers in leather aprons, piles of shoes. Group of men sitting around table, fixing shoes, WS of the working room. Pan of large room with men tearing metal apart. 03:17:20 Making brushes. Various machines, pressing old batteries? and stripping wire. Man wearing gloves is covering buttons in leather. CU of man's hands working with large metal piece (wheel?) Pan of machines, more separating metal
Note(s)
See Story 2104, Film ID 2241 for duplicate footage of religious services. See also Story 2102, Film ID 2240 for similar footage of factory scenes.
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
- SINGING
- NETHERLANDS
- STARS OF DAVID
- TRANSIT CAMPS
- SHOES
- CHILDREN
- RELIGIOUS SERVICES
- WESTERBORK
Places
- Westerbork, Netherlands
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film