How did the mostly Jewish prisoners experience their time in Westerbork transit camp? Often very different from how they remembered it later. This is apparent from a large study of camp letters and reports by historian Eva Moraal. She will receive her PhD at the University of Amsterdam on 20 September.
Camp Westerbork was a strange kind of twilight world. On the one hand, it resembled a 'normal' village, where people lived, worked and children went to school. On the other hand, the camp residents saw a transport train leaving for the east every week. What exactly happened there was unknown, but everyone knew that you had to do your very best not to end up on the transport lists.
Historian Eva Moraal investigates in her dissertation with the telling title 'If I don't go on a transport tomorrow, I will go to the revue in the evening,' how the prisoners of Westerbork experienced this strange world and how they later dealt with their memories. She did this by comparing a large collection of letters and diaries from the camp with memoirs written by survivors of Westerbork after the war. There appears to be a significant difference in the way people experienced the camp and how they looked back on it later.
“Take, for example, the Dutch Marechaussee, who was made responsible by the Germans for guarding the camp,” says Moraal. “It is surprising that the reports and the letters that the prisoners wrote home asked so few questions about their position. There was understanding, they were also obliged to do this work, the people wrote. They did their best, otherwise they would probably face punitive measures.”
Curlers and hats
After the war, when the immediate danger had passed, the gulf between 'right' and 'wrong' became much deeper. “Many more questions were asked about the Dutch security of the camp. In the memoirs written afterwards, it is also much more about resistance, people tried to explain why they could not escape. Most letter writers probably thought it was better to work with. For every escaped prisoner, ten extra went on transport, and that could also be family,” says Moraal.
“Precisely because Westerbork was such a strange in-between world, people tried to reassure themselves by continuing their familiar lives as much as possible. Memoirs are a place for reflection and identity formation. Survivors tried to give their own experiences a place in it.”
Moraal also conducted research for the first time into the different ways in which men and women experienced the camp. “In the letters that men and women wrote home, you can see very nicely how they dealt with the lack of hygiene in the camp, for example. In those letters, women asked the home front to send things for their grooming, curlers and the like. They thought it was important to preserve something of their feminine identity.”
“For men, it was more about the loss of their social status. For example, they wrote how annoying it was that they didn't have a hat to put on in the camp," says Moraal. Nevertheless, Moraal's research shows that men and women mainly experienced the camp together. Daily life revolved around caring for the family together and trying to escape transport together.
Letters were exceptions
In her research, Moraal has tried to visualize the enormous variety of experiences of Westerbork. "We all know famous chroniclers such as Etty Hillesum or Philip Mechanicus who wrote about their experiences in the camp. The average letter writer from Westerbork used much less beautiful sentences and striking metaphors, but it is precisely through their work that the different way in which people experienced the camp becomes clear. .
Incidentally, most of the Jews of Westerbork never got the opportunity to write a letter home. Moraal:“For most people, Westerbork was literally a transit camp. They were transported within a few days. The letter writers were the exceptions. People who were on some list somewhere. For example, they were people who were considered indispensable in the camp because of their profession. But also people who managed to stay in the camp by building a good relationship with the – mostly German – Jews who had to draw up the transport lists.”
“In the fight to get a 'Sperre' – the coveted document that granted temporary exemption from deportation – enormous favoritism and corruption had developed within the camp. That too is something you should keep in mind when you read all those different ego documents.”