Memorial Center Camp Westerbork, Holocaust memorial museum in Midden-Drenthe, Netherlands.
Memorial Center Camp Westerbork is a memorial and museum in Midden-Drenthe, in the northern Netherlands, dedicated to the deportations that took place during World War II. It stands on the original camp grounds and features restored barracks, personal objects, film recordings, and photographs from the time of the camp's operation.
The camp first opened in 1939 as a reception site for Jewish refugees from Germany, then came under German occupation control from 1940 onward. Starting in 1942, it was used as a transit camp from which transports left regularly for extermination camps further east.
The name comes from the nearby village of Westerbork. Inside the exhibitions, visitors come across letters, photographs, and recorded testimonies left by people who were held in the camp.
The site covers both indoor and outdoor areas, so sturdy footwear and weather-appropriate clothing are a good idea. Allow several hours for a full visit, as the exhibitions and the open grounds each take time to explore properly.
During the war, an SS officer filmed daily life inside the camp on 16mm film, and those recordings are among the very few moving images that show the interior workings of a transit camp of this kind. Some of that footage is shown in the permanent exhibition.
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