Westerbork, Jewish transit camp Westerbork, Judendurchgangslager (Fond 250i)

This collection contains documents relating to the Westerbork Jewish transit camp between 1942-1945, including are reports, maps and some photos as well as pre-war correspondence, and post-war court proceedings. The collections also contains documents on the refugee camp Westerbork between 1939-1942, as it was still under Dutch administration. A special component of the collection is called “Westerbork kartothek” containing lists of name and date of birth of deportees, their last official place of residence before leaving for Westerbork and the date of shipment from the camp. These lists were secretly compiled by Jewish camp residents who worked in the administration of the camp. They kept in mind that the original card file would be destroyed during the last months of the war. Indeed, the original card file, which contains many more names, was destroyed in late 1944. Other lists were also buried in a barracks under the ground. After the liberation, the lists were handed over to the Canadian Army, who had liberated the camp. They photographed the lists in duplicates: one set is currently stored at the Information Office of the Dutch Red Cross in The Hague, the second set is based at the NIOD collection (Inventory numbers 216-231).

Arranged in eight subject series: 1. Construction and commissioning of the camp; 2. Categories of prisoners; 3. Organization and administration of the camp; 4. Conditions at the camp; 5. Relations with the outside world; 6. Punishment and mistreatment of prisoners by security staff; 7. Liberation and repatriation; 8. Social interactions of camp prisoners after the war. Name list are organized alphabetically.