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Daily life in camp Westerbork

At camp Westerbork, the people in hiding had to perform forced labour.

Subject

Daily life in Westerbork camp was largely determined by work. Everyone in Westerbork between the ages of 15 and 65 had to work six days a week, ten hours a day.[1] But criminal cases also were forced to punitive drills (for men) or compulsory gymnastics (for women) on Sunday mornings from six to eight o'clock.[2]

Scapping batteries

Edith, Margot and Anne Frank had to work "in the batteries".[3] Scrapping batteries was dirty and unhealthy work. After work they went to the showers accompanied by the camp police force, the so-called Ordedienst (OD).[4] Most people had no soap to wash with. However, they did receive an extra ration of milk every day.

What the other people in hiding had to do is unknown. Rose de Liema-van Gelder – whose husband Sal would later become good friends with Otto Frank in Auschwitz – suggests in an interview that Otto Frank and Peter and Hermann van Pels were also assigned to the battery recycling detail.[5] No other data has been found that confirms this, and it is also not clear from Otto Frank's own statements whether the men and women in Westerbork did similar work. Otto Frank only stated that everyone had to work and they were free in the evenings.[6]

Daily routine

So we only know some general details about their daily routine in Westerbork. At half past five in the morning the prisoners in the penal barracks were awakened. After washing, dressing, getting food and breakfast, they had to line up next to the huts in blocks of three by three at a quarter to seven. Escorted by the OD, they then went through the gate to the industrial barracks in the "free" camp. There they worked from seven o'clock till noon. Then, accompanied by the OD, back to the barracks to eat (usually stew of red cabbage or turnip) and then they were taken back to work from two to seven o'clock.[7] They were allowed to converse with each other while working, but the OD strictly ensured that there was no contact with prisoners from other parts of the camp. You needed permission to go to the toilet.[8] After work and a shower (for those who worked in the batteries), they ate bread in the penal barracks.

In the morning and evening everyone had to report to the hut or hall leader. Outside working hours, men, women and families could be together. At ten o'clock in the evening everyone had to be back in their own section, the door between the two parts of the barracks was then closed and the lights went out at a quarter past ten.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Eva Moraal, Als ik morgen niet op transport ga... : kamp Westerbork in beleving en herinnering, Amsterdam: De Bezig Bij, 2014, p. 83-85.
  2. ^ Jacques Presser, ndergang. Dee vervolging en verdelging van het Nederlandse Jodendom, 1940-1945, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff, 1965, deel 2, p. 324-325
  3. ^ Willy Lindwer, De laatste zeven maanden, Vrouwen in het spoor van Anne Frank, Hilversum: Gooi & Sticht, p. 76, 144; Ersnt Schnabel, Anne Frank: Spur eines Kindes. Ein Bericht, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Bücherei, 1958, p. 129.
  4. ^ Het bewaken van de gevangenen was vooral de taak van de Ordedienst, een ploeg die uit Joodse gevangenen bestond die daarmee hun deportatie naar Oost-Europa wisten uit te stellen. Het is niet verwonderlijk dat de Ordedienst door de gevangenen werd verafschuwd. 'De joodse SS', zo luidde hun bijnaam. Zie verder: Frank van Riet, De bewakers van Westerbork, Amsterdam: Boom, 2016.
  5. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief, interview Rose de Liema-van Gelder door David de Jongh, 11 juni 2009.
  6. ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie, Otto Frank Archief, reg. code OFA_070, Bitte schreiben Sie mir etwas über Anne Frank, p. 4.
  7. ^ Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork, Hooghalen, Interview van H.J. van Collem door Guido Abuys, Schoonhoven, 5 juli 2000.
  8. ^ Leny Boeken Velleman Breekbaar, maar niet gebroken. Het verhaal van een Auschwitz-overlevende, Laren: Uitgeverij Verbum, 2008, p. 14.