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Anne Frank in Westerbork

Anne Frank was imprisoned in Camp Westerbork for almost a month. She stayed in Prison Barrack 67 and probably had to work breaking batteries with her mother and sister.

Event

Aug. 8, 1944 - Sept. 3, 1944

52.9173 N 6.607 E

Schattenberg 4

9433 TA Zwiggelte

Nederland

We do not know exactly how Anne Frank experienced Westerbork. However, her father Otto and some others did say something about this.

Otto Frank said that the stay in Westerbork was a relief for the children in a way, because they were no longer 'locked up' and could meet other people.[1] Rosa de Winter, who got to know Anne and her family in Westerbork, described her as a personality, and according to Ernst Schnabel, Rosa de Winter said that Anne made a happy impression in Westerbork. She reportedly spent a lot of time together with Peter van Pels. De Winter also said that Otto Frank spent hours at her bedside when Anne was ill on one occasion and that Anne took care of a sick boy in the barracks.[2] Otto Frank told afterwards that his family had to work in Westerbork, but that they could be together in the evenings.[3]

Anne had turned 15 on 12 June 1944, and in Westerbork children aged 15 and over had to work.[4] Rachel van Amerongen worked in Westerbork in internal services, where she had to: scrub, clean toilets, meet new arrivals from transports, hand out overalls and clogs. She said Otto Frank asked if Anne could help her, but Rachel had no say in the matter.[5] Several witnesses related that Anne and her mother and sister worked breaking up batteries: sitting at long tables, they had to split open old batteries with a hammer and chisel and then separate the different parts.[6] It was dirty and monotonous work.[7] The advantages of this work were that you could talk to each other while working, that you got a glass of milk every day and were allowed to shower after work.[8]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Anne Frank Stiching, Anne Frank Collectie, Otto Frank Archief, reg. code OFA_070: Bitte schreiben Sie mir etwas über Anne Frank, p.5.
  2. ^ Ernst Schnabel, Spur eines Kindes. Ein Bericht von Ernst Schnabel, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag,1958, p.129-130.
  3. ^ Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork: Lagerbefehl Nr. 86 en 87.  
  4. ^ Eva Moraal, 'Als ik morgen niet op transport ga, ga ik 's avonds naar de revue': kamp Westerbork in brieven, dagboeken en memoires (1942-2010), PhD thesis, Faculty FGw:  Instituut voor Cultuur en Geschiedenis, 2013, p. 149.
  5. ^ Willy Lindwer, De laatste zeven maanden. Vrouwen in het spoor van Anne Frank, Hilversum: Gooi & Sticht, 1988, p.106-107.
  6. ^ Onder andere Rachel van Amerongen, Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper, Bloeme Evers, in: Lindwer, De laatste zeven maanden, resp. p. 106, 70, 134.
  7. ^ Lindwer, De laatste zeven maanden, p.70. 
  8. ^ Eva Moraal, 'Als ik morgen niet op transport ga, p.151, 255.