Here are some pictures I took at the (former) Westerbork Transit Camp, or rather: what's left of it...

The camp was built in 1939, originally meant to be a refugee camp. Ironically, it was largely funded by Jews. After the German invasion in 1940 it was turned into a Transit Camp for Jews, Roma and Sinti.
Over 107,000 people were transported through the camp to other camps, such as Auschwitz, Sobibor and Bergen-Belsen. Barely 5,000 of them returned. The memorial site (see pictures below) consists of 102,000 small stone pillars, each representing one deported person that died in a German concentration camp.

After WW II, the site was turned into an internation camp for (alleged) Nazi collaborators (until 1948). For several months in 1945, this meant both freed Jews and imprisoned Nazis were staying in the camp simultaneously.

From 1951 to 1971, the camp was used to house refugees from the South Moluccan Islands. After that, most of the site was torn down. That is why most pictures below show empty grounds. The Camp Leader's residence however was used as a family residence until 2008 and thus escaped demolition.

One of the most famous people to have spent time in Westerbork Transit Camp is Anne Frank.

The former Camp Leader's residence:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3733/9490337868_49a38e5083_o.jpg


Site of one of the former men's sleeping barracks:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3772/9487459563_a9edcd366d_o.jpg

The railroad track that lead to Westerbork Transit Camp:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/9505091296_2db3520baf_o.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7354/9490301386_1061de3e7c_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3668/9487509723_472441a07e_o.jpg

Empty spaces where there used to be buildings...

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/9490333188_ef2d4023b7_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3740/9505097096_c3e62ca7fb_b.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2816/9502273977_7bc02defe2_b.jpg

The impressive memorial site:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3682/9487516093_fe3b839d88_b.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2830/9487523309_f660d79c9a_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/9487530119_a08f69f0f4_b.jpg

These are great pictures and the ones at the memorial site with the pillars are very moving, thinking of how many lives were lost in the holocaust.

It must have been a moving experience for you to visit that place.

Sobering is the only word I can think of right now... :-\\

Very heavy. I'm sure you could feel all the ghosts and sorrow there.



Cat

Sobering is a good word for those pictures.  Thanks for posting them.

Thanks for responding, everyone.

Visiting Westerbork Transit Camp has been one of the strangest experiences in my life. On one hand, it is sobering to think of all the things that happened there, while on the other hand there's virtually nothing left of the original camp site. That makes it very hard to put things in the right perspective.

For one, the trees in the pictures are all post-war. In the 1940s, the camp site was surrounded by moors. The nearest road was (and still is) 3km away.
Nearly all of the original buildings have gone - that doesn't help making things tangible either. (But even WITH those buildings, you'd miss the people, the sounds, the smells, the diseases, the fears...)
Another thing that you don't see in the pictures: the memorial site is currently being restored. There were dozens of people (Dutch and German!), some working with high pressure hoses, cleaning the pillars, restoring what was broken or lost in time. (The memorial dates from 1993)
And then there's other people walking around, some with small children, who think it's a park (admittedly, it has more of a park these days)... it's distracting.

The first building on entering the camp site is the Camp Leader's residence. I found it very hard taking pictures of that building. It felt like sacrilege, almost.

Some interesting pictures there Henk.

In the memorial blocks I see there are various photos.  do you know if these were placed by the creators of the memorial or by relatives?

Some interesting pictures there Henk.

In the memorial blocks I see there are various photos.  do you know if these were placed by the creators of the memorial or by relatives?


Thank you.

To answer your question: I'm not sure, but I think they are later additions to the original memorial by the creators. The photos seem to be placed rather randomly.

I couldn't tell if the stars on each block had a name on it and thought perhaps relatives had found the relevant block and placed a photo on it.

I couldn't tell if the stars on each block had a name on it and thought perhaps relatives had found the relevant block and placed a photo on it.


The stars don't have names on them. I'm not even sure all names are known.

And FTR: although in my pictures all you see is blocks with stars, there are also some blocks with different symbols for the Roma and Sinti that were killed, as well as for some resistance workers that were executed in the camp.

Thanks for the pictures Henk, words cannot describe the feeling one must have when their there.

Very heavy.  A chapter not to be forgotten

Very heavy.  A chapter not to be forgotten



Unfortunately, you have idiots denying that it happened.  >:( >:(

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

                                        ~ George Santayana



Cat

Emotional, but great pics anyways.

Unfortunately, you have idiots denying that it happened.  >:( >:(

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

                                        ~ George Santayana



I may have said this before, but my dad was in a concentration camp. Not the one Henk visited, but another one. He didn't talk about his experiences often, but when he did he was usually plastered and his thoughts/memories weren't put together well, so I picked up bits and pieces from his story, here and there.  He was lucky he survived, because so many here (at Westerbork) and elsewhere did not. :-\\

I may have said this before, but my dad was in a concentration camp. Not the one Henk visited, but another one. He didn't talk about his experiences often, but when he did he was usually plastered and his thoughts/memories weren't put together well, so I picked up bits and pieces from his story, here and there.  He was lucky he survived, because so many here (at Westerbork) and elsewhere did not. :-\\



WOW!!!!


I'm sure I probably had distance relatives who did-because of Jewish decent. Personally, I didn't know anyone did.



Cat

I may have said this before, but my dad was in a concentration camp. Not the one Henk visited, but another one. He didn't talk about his experiences often, but when he did he was usually plastered and his thoughts/memories weren't put together well, so I picked up bits and pieces from his story, here and there.  He was lucky he survived, because so many here (at Westerbork) and elsewhere did not. :-\\


Wow. That must have been a heavy cross to bear.

Wow. That must have been a heavy cross to bear.


I guess it was.

I may have said this before, but my dad was in a concentration camp. Not the one Henk visited, but another one. He didn't talk about his experiences often, but when he did he was usually plastered and his thoughts/memories weren't put together well, so I picked up bits and pieces from his story, here and there.  He was lucky he survived, because so many here (at Westerbork) and elsewhere did not. :-\\


Wow...

My Xwife's family lost people during the holicost.  Can't imagine