Midnight, May 20, 2011 in Kuttekoven, Belgium. Behind the scenes. Making of documentary film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” . Reconstruction of the scene where Simon Gronowski escapes from the 20th Convoy in the early morning (around 2-3 a.m.) of April 20, 1943 . https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/
Settela Steinbach — The Girl with the Headscarf • 1MEMO_20260519_1 • Settela•Com • Frame from camera original film reel of the Westerborkfilm (1).
On May 19, 1944, at the Westerbork transit camp, a glimpse of Sinti girl Settela Steinbach wearing a headscarf appears between the sliding doors of a cattle car awaiting deportation to Auschwitz (1,2,3). In May 1945, her father, Moeselman Steinbach, wrote to “Repatriation” in the Netherlands: “…I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.” (4).
The 9-year-old dutch Sinti-girl Anna Maria ‘Settela’ Steinbach peeks outside , at the last moment just before the sliding door is closed , standing inside a cattle car with 74 people on May 19 , 1944 in the Westerbork transit camp in Holland , when this deportation train leaves for Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Settela is murdered a few months later in one of the gas chambers (5).
While Settela peeks outside , her mother cries behind her in that cattle car : “Get out of there, or soon your head gets in between!”
She is wearing a headscarf made from a torn sheet because the Nazis shaved her head upon arrival at Westerbork transit camp on May 16, 1944, following the “Gypsy raid” carried out that same day at the Zwaaikom caravan site in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (6).
Settela Film • 20220630
Settela was filmed only a few seconds by the Jewish prisoner filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer as part of a documentary film being made in 1944 on the Westerbork camp .
Those seconds , also in slow-motion are shown in the 2022 Settela Film • 20220630 (7)
The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_4
Anna Maria (‘Settela’) Steinbach was born 23 December 1934 in Buchten, Netherlands, and photographed at age ~1 , in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach, with others of the Steinbach family, and other families, at the nearby Sinti caravan site ‘Heksenberg’, October 1935, by photographer Jan de Jong (8) • 1MEMO_20260518_4
Settela was deported together with her brothers and sisters (Willy “Celestinus”, Willem, Elisabeth, Johanna, Philibert, Florentina, Willem, Anna), and mother Toetela (Emilia) Steinbach (born 23 March 1902 in Antwerp, Belgium), with other Steinbach and other nomad families – all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma and ca 450 Jews – on May 19th 1944 from the dutch Camp Westerbork to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps (5,6).
Toetela’s eldest child Moekela (Magdalena; born 14 Sep 1922) had gone to Belgium and had been deported earlier – 15 Jan 1944 – with her 6 months old baby Jeanette – Toetela’s granddaughter – on the Z-Transport from transit camp Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen to Auschwitz, were they were murdered on arrival.
Settela’s father Heinrich (‘Moeselman’) Steinbach (born Nov 11, 1901 in Gründorf in Germany) died alone of grief June 6, 1946 in Maastricht in the Netherlands – his wife and 10 children had not survived the camps.
To : “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands) — “Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too. — Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven , North Brabant” • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com
One year earlier , May 22, 1945, two weeks after the liberation of Holland, Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The text on the postcard reads — translated from dutch (4) :
“Dear Sirs, I very politely request you to inform me whether my wife and 10 children have arrived, or only children (Gypsy children) from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
From May 15, 1944, my children and wife were taken there; no Jews. And Weiss had to come along too.
4 – May 1945 Postcard Heinrich Steinbach • 1MEMO_20260519_2 • Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Source : Collectie HCL, archief Militair Gezag, Maastricht.
‘Moeselman’ Heinrich Steinbach — living at the caravan site in Eindhoven (North Brabant, Netherlands) — inquires about the fate of his wife and ten children on a postcard written to the “Repatriation” in Maastricht (Netherlands). The dutch text on the postcard reads :
“Geachte Heeren, Ik verzoek u zeer beleeft om mijn te willen berichten op mijn vrouw en 10 kinders aan gekomen zein of alleen kinders (zigeunerkinders) uit contrasie kamp uaschwietsch Polen.
Van 15 mei 1944 zein mijn kindeers en vrouw naar toe gebracht, geen joden. En ook Weiss moet ook mee komen. Heinrich Steinbach. Woonwagenkamp Eindhoven N.B.”
Willy Steinbach plays the violin at the Sinti caravan site Heksenberg in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_1
In 1935 the nomadic Sinti families Steinbach — musicians — were photographed by Dutch photographer Jan de Jong at their caravan pitch on the heath around the Heksenberg hill in Brunssum, Limburg, Netherlands (1).
The boy with the violin is Willy Steinbach, an older brother of Settela Steinbach. The other 3 prints from the glass negatives that Jan de Jong made at the Heksenberg site in 1935 also show the Steinbach family, among others, with toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach.
The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach (circled in blue) at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_2
The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_3
The toddler Settela in the arms of her older sister Elisabeth Steinbach at the Heksenberg Sinti caravan site in 1935 • Photo Jan de Jong • 1MEMO_20260518_4
Settela Steinbach became known as the girl with the headscarf, featured a few seconds in the Westerbork film by Werner Rudolf Breslauer showing the deportation of the Steinbachs’ and other nomad families — all together ca 245 Sinti and Roma, and ca 450 Jews — on May 19th 1944 from the dutch transit camp Westerbork to Auschwitz (1,2).
Reconstruction of the scene when Transport XX, the 20th Convoy, stops for approximately 15 minutes in the early morning of April 20, 1943, around 1 a.m., at Korbeek-Lo station on Belgian railway line 36 near Leuven, between the villages of Korbeek-Lo and Bierbeek, with the St. Kamillus Institute on the Krijkelberg hill.
This transport, coming from Mechelen and bound for Auschwitz, carries Jewish prisoners in 35 cattle wagons.
This train DA.801 has an estimated length of 400 meters, so that when the locomotive is positioned before the bridge—the bridge over Bierbeek Street—the last wagon stands opposite the St. Kamillus Institute.
NL – Reconstructie van de scène waarin Transport XX, het 20e konvooi, in de vroege ochtend van 20 april 1943, rond 1 uur ‘s nachts, ongeveer 15 minuten stopt op station Korbeek-Lo aan de Belgische spoorlijn 36 vlakbij Leuven, tussen de dorpen Korbeek-Lo en Bierbeek, met het St. Kamillus-instituut op de Krijkelberg. Dit transport komende van Mechelen , met bestemming Auschwitz , vervoert Joodse gevangenen in 35 veewagons. Deze trein DA.801 heeft een geschatte lengte van 400 meter , zodat wanneer de locomotief zich voor de brug bevindt , de brug over de Bierbeekstraat, de laatste wagon tegenover het St Kamillus instituut staat.
Station Corbeek-Loo • 1MEMO_20260504 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Route Transport XX, Korbeek-Lo, Belgium. TakeNode 50f42693-3f86-4573-ab7a-dc583d465e14
L36 • 1MEMO_20260511 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Along Belgian railway line 36, Viviane is looking for the site her mother Isabella Weinreb-Castegnier escaped the 20th Convoy (Transport XX) 80 years earlier, and saved both their lives, en route together with photographer Jo Struyven , author Nathalie Strubbe, and documentary filmmaker Michel van der Burg, near St Kamillus on the Krijkelberg ridge, on the border of Korbeek-Lo (Bierbeek) Belgium, April 18th, 2023. TakeNode e92d1b1e-d513-4b12-afcf-364740530cfa
Resistance Chapel • 1MEMO_20260510 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Resistance Chapel, at Roosbeek railway crossing, while Viviane is looking for the site her mother escaped the 20th convoy and saved both their lives, together with photographer Jo Struyven , author Nathalie Strubbe, and documentary filmmaker Michel van der Burg, in Roosbeek (Boutersem) Belgium, April 18th, 2023. TakeNode 1708dc1d-0fcc-4293-8a69-a04ea2a5cf39
Notes
Weerstandskapel Roosbeek
PDF ‘Weerstandskapel_Roosbeek’ via link reads ‘donderdag 22 april 1943’ , this should be ‘dinsdag 20 april 1943’ . URL https://archeoregio.be/Weerstandskapel/ . (retrieved May 10, 2026)
Sanctuary • 1MEMO_20260509 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Escape from the 20th Convoy, Sint Kamillus, Krijkelberg … Korbeek-Lo , Bierbeek, Belgium, April 18th, 2023 TakeNode c9707b6d-1082-4ae6-99e4-a74d49765d7c
