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More than 100,000 Jews were deported to concentration and extermination camps through Westerbork. Westerbork was also a transit point for 245 Sinti and Roma and several dozens of non-Jewish resistance fighters. The trains were usually destined for Auschwitz. There were also trains sent to Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen, and to the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Day to day living in Westerbork
Transports
Personal story: Stertzenbach, Van Reemst and Wagenaar
Movie by Rudolf Breslauer

1. Members of the Ordedienst working during a transport to 'the east'.
   Unknown photographer, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam / HCKW, Hooghalen
2. External work on a farm
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
3. Work in the Westerbork camp
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
4. The sewing shop in the Westerbork camp
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
5. Producing toys in the Westerbork camp
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
6. In comparison with other German camps in the Netherlands, medical facilities in Westerbork were good.
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
7. Children in Westerbork celebrating Chanukah
   Unknown photographer, HCKW Collection, Hooghalen
8. Barrack 35 in Westerbork was set up as a place for sick children. On orders of commander Gemmeker, the well-known artist Jo Spier decorated the walls of the barrack, including illustrations from ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’.
   Unknown photographer, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
9. Cabaret performances were organised in Westerbork. In the summer of 1943, these performances took place on Tuesday evenings. During that period, the transports left on Tuesdays. The performances in the evening were intended as distraction. Contrived gaiety was supposed to make people forget about the departure of trains to 'the east'.
   Unknown photographer, HCKW Collection, Hooghalen
   
10. Erich Ziegler at the piano. Ziegler was a famous German Jewish entertainer who was sent to Westerbork as a refugee. In the late spring of 1943, together with his German colleagues Max Ehrlich and Willy Rosen, he convinced the camp commander, Gemmeker, to set up the cabaret troupe.
    Unknown photographer, HCKW Collection, Hooghalen

1. One of the 93 trains that left Westerbork for 'the east'. Most of the trains were destined to Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp and the Sobibor extermination camp.
   A still from the Westerbork film made by Rudolf Breslauer, 1944, NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
   
2. A report from the head of the German police in the Netherland, Rauter, to SS commander Himmler regarding the deportation of Jews in the Netherlands. The document contains the entire blueprint for the destruction of Dutch Jewry. Himmler approved the document with the words 'sehr gut' (very good).
   NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
3. A report from the head of the German police in the Netherland, Rauter, to SS commander Himmler regarding the deportation of Jews in the Netherlands. The document contains the entire blueprint for the destruction of Dutch Jewry. Himmler approved the document with the words 'sehr gut' (very good).
   NIOD Collection, Amsterdam
4. A report from the head of the German police in the Netherland, Rauter, to SS commander Himmler regarding the deportation of Jews in the Netherlands. The document contains the entire blueprint for the destruction of Dutch Jewry. Himmler approved the document with the words 'sehr gut' (very good).
   NIOD Collection, Amsterdam

quotations
westerbork until 1942
amersfoort camp
vught concentration camp
westerbork camp 1942-1944
transports to auschwitz
other camps
chronology:
april/may strikes
handing in radios
radio oranje
chronology:
railway strike 1944
winter of starvation
the south is liberated