Jordaan Amsterdam 1931 * ~ Music : Clair du Lune (Debussy) by Ohad Ben Ari | Artlist ~ Film : 20210728 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media
Cinema news reel screened first in Holland in 1931 on the occasion of the upcoming renovation of the poor Jordaan district.
Daily life in the Jordaan district showing the Egelantiersstraat street and Prinsengracht canal with eg. a street sweeper near a city cleaning truck (I guess), bal playing kids, hand carts, horse-drawn wagons, a greengrocer, a woman with a tub cleaning a little cupboard or stove, kids play marbles, girls with breads, jump rope, a black doll, a scissors-grinder and inland ships in the Prinsengracht canal (near the corner Rozenstraat) with a tram car and the Westerkerk church in the background , and the Prinsengracht continuing on the left side of the church were Anne Frank’s family would start living some 10 years later.
Source film footage : Orion – Revue, cinema news reel 1931 “De Amsterdamsche Jordaan Wordt Gesaneerd” (Renovation of the Amsterdam Jordaan) – courtesy of Orion Filmfabriek, Den Haag (producer; Orion Filmfactory, The Hague) | Orion-Profilti | RVD Film- en Fotoarchief (1-3420) | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Sound and Vision)
Note
* Update title July 30, 2021 : This title ‘Jordaan Amsterdam 1931’ replaces the inaccurate and misleading original title (burned in film) “Jordaan Jewish Quarter Amsterdam 1931”. Because though Jews were living there (like Anne Frank’s family 9-10 years later – the actual center of the Jews of Amsterdam the centuries old ‘Jodenbuurt’ (literally Jews quarter) is a district on the opposite side of the historic inner city.
Deportation 19 May 1944 from the dutch Westerbork transit camp, filmed by the German Jewish refugee and camp prisoner Rudolf Breslauer. Shortly thereafter 20 km north in the dutch town Assen, train cars are added from the Belgian Transport XXV (25) from transit camp Kazerne Dossin (Dossin barracks) in Mechelen, and the combined transport with Jews, Sinti and Roma, including Settela Steinbach, continues to the east…to the Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps.
Footage (original camera negative) filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Film edited by Michel van der Burg (film grain noise reduction | reordering footage fragments | black bar removal) using as source : the digital display edition of the 2021 restored Westerbork film compilation – courtesy of the NIOD | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Sound and Vision) – based on the newly discovered original camera negative film (canister E198). File ref: BUM20210719_01_19440519
Deportation Westerbork Film | 20210719 | Michel van der Burg | settela•com
Background
First Westerbork Film (RVD)
The full version of the Westerbork Film (RVD edition) was first published spring 2019 ( settela.com//2019/06/05 ) – 75 years after the German-Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer filmed his last scene in the Westerbork transit camp – the deportation train to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, May 19, 1944 (REF 1).
That Westerbork Film – the so-called RVD edition – is a montage of raw film footage made in 1986 by the Dutch National Centre for Information (the Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, RVD) in 4 parts (Acte 1-4). Though authentic documentary footage – all the reels of film used in the 1986 edition Westerbork Film, actually, are film copies. The fate of the camera-original film was not known.
New restored Westerbork film – 2021 edition
The renewed interest for the Westerbork Film with the Unesco Memory of the World Registration sparkled also interest at the dutch NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the restoration of the Westerbork Film and a new survey of all available film footage archives spring 2019 let to the discovery – by the dutch image researcher, historian, Gerard Nijssen and co-workers of the Sound and Vision institute (Beeld en Geluid) of 2 canisters with ‘camera-original’ footage.
One of these canisters contains the original camera negative footage of all known fragments of the May 19, 1944 deportation – canister E198 (labeled : Negatief origineel – Westerbork – Transport – 64 meter).
This news and a glimpse of the new high quality ‘camera-original’ footage was aired January 20, 2020 by the national dutch broadcaster NOS (REF 2).
Conservator Valentine Kuypers (Sound and Vision) on the restoration
Part of the new restored film premiered online 18 April 2021 during the Mediacafé conference ‘Westerbork, caught on film’ hosted by Valentine Kuypers (conservator, Beeld en Geluid) and Bas Kortholt (Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre).
The new 2021 Westerbork film is a compilation of the best quality footage of all unique scenes found on all archive film reels, with digital scanning and conservative restoration aiming at stabilization of the images and removal only of dust, scratches, and splices without damaging film grain. No efforts were done to correct bouncing images (a camera defect) , or sharpen the images.
In addition – after the restoration – a display copy of the archive film was made and that copy has been further adjusted by color grading and retiming to mimic the original playback speed of 16 frames per second. (REF 3).
The full film of the restored Westerbork compilation was presented May 18, 2021 in Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre and made available online that day via Sound and Vision. Work on the 2021 Westerbork film edition has been a joint effort of four dutch organizations : the Dutch media archive, Sound and Vision, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre , the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam.
May 18, 2021 Sound and Vision also published via their YouTube channel (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) the video ‘Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944)’ – a 21 minute compilation of fragments of the new restored film footage of Westerbork, including half of the May 19, 1944 footage (REF 4).
New film findings in book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd”
Dutch Westerbork film researchers Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing also presented May 18, 2021 a new edition of their first in 1997 published book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd”. For this new edition, the newly restored, cleaned and digitized version of the Westerbork Film allowed them to identify more passengers on the deportation train, including children who survived (REF 5, 6). In their book they noted that canister E198 – with the ‘camera-original’ footage of the May 19, 1944 deportation- unfortunately shows 3 splices – and showed an image of one of these splices.
Deportation Westerbork Film | Edition 2021
This film shows all the known footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 of the deportation from Camp Westerbork from the newly discovered original camera negative film (canister E198) made available in the digital display edition of the 2021 restored Westerbork film compilation – courtesy of the NIOD | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Sound and Vision).
The film reel of canister E198 – though camera-original negative has 3 splices between film fragments not assembled in the order shot – i.e. starting with the deportation train leaving Westerbork.
The digital display edition of Sound and Vision shows no splices, but has 2 very short white transitions — and clearly no reordering was done for that archive film based copy.
In order to mimic the sequence of clips shot by Rudolf Breslauer, I reordered for the present film, those 4 fragments guided by both the route of one of the passengers, and the two white transitions in the digital display edition, as well as an image illustrating a splice shown by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing in their book “Kamp Westerbork gefilmd” .
The black bars of the widescreen source were trimmed, resulting in the standard format again.
Specialized software (Neat Video) was used for conservative reduction of film grain noise. No grading, sharpening etc was done.
In the film poster image, the train leaving Camp Westerbork – showing at the rear the freight car with vertical planks deporting 75 people including Settela Steinbach and her family to Auschwitz. That car actually is the fourth-last car of the train.
References
1. Westerbork Film (20190605) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
2. Nieuwe beelden van iconische Westerborkfilm gevonden (Jan 20, 2020) | NOS (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://bit.ly/3isIqTp
4. Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944) (May 18, 2021) Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Youtube (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI
5. Kamp Westerbork gefilmd (May 2021) Koert Broersma, Gerard Rossing (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van) ISBN 9789023257622.
6. Children of the Holocaust Who Are Anonymous No More by Nina Siegal | The New York Times (May 18, 2021) (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://nyti.ms/2UQvAq5
July 19, 2021 – The current video is shown via Vimeo.
A higher quality file has been uploaded to youtube , but is currently blocked etc by two copyright claims – this will take me probably 1(-4) weeks to deal with.
Jul 25, 2021 – Started today two content ID disputes (YouTube edition) , currently under review | Both submitted on Jul 25, 2021.
Jul 26, 2021 – One claimant (restricting monitization) released their copyright claim on the youtube video.
Jul 27, 2021 – Claimant #2 released restrictions (blocking views) for the remaining time of the dispute review proces.
I now replaced the embedded Vimeo video with the YouTube edition.
Aug 18, 2021 – After reviewing my dispute, Claimant #2 has decided to release their copyright claim on the YouTube video “Deportation Westerbork Film | 20210719” . The video is finally screening now on YouTube without restrictions.
Caravan dwellers in 1923 at the Binckhorsthoek site in The Hague, Holland.
Note the ‘license plate’ numbers G-932 from ’s-Gravenhage (The Hague) and H-491 from Haarlem town. Information from the dutch book :
Sinti en Roma in Den Haag (2021) Peter Jorna | Haags Gemeentearchief | haagsgemeentearchief•nl
Source video : Polygoon-Profilti (Producer | Jan 1, 1923) courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).
Travellers | Holland 1923 ~ Music : Creme Brulee by Ziv Moran | Artlist ~ Film : 20210529 | Michel van der Burg | settela•com
Evrard Voorpijls – Belgian political prisoner , resistance fighter – told a grim story on Gestapo torture methods, during the Last Witnesses – “De Laatste Getuigen” – book (ISBN 9789054877370) presentation by Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman of vzw “De werkgroep 10 december 2008”) on 20 May 2011 in Tongeren , Belgium.
Evrard Voorpijls (born 6 March 1923) died at the age of 89 (March 5, 2013) in the town he was born, in Maaseik, Belgium.
First post 20210520 – Updated film (for music copyright reasons dd 20210521 by shortened film edition, with replacement of the Belgian national anthem ‘La Brabançonne’ by an U.S. Navy performance of François Van Campenhout’s composition (public domain retrieved from commons.wikimedia.org) .
TRANSCRIPT
Ik ben aangehouden geworden, nieuwjaar 1944.
Ik werd overgebracht van Maaseik naar Hasselt, naar de gevangenis.
En de tweede dag dat ik in die gevangenis zat in Hasselt, heeft de Sicherheitsdienst die gehuisvest was op de Havermarkt te Hasselt, recht tegenover het gerechtshof …
Ik werd daar naartoe gebracht.
En met handen op de rug achter de stoel gebonden.
Scherp licht op mijn ogen gezet.
En ze hadden juist, de opdracht, wat ik deed in de weerstand.
Ik werd ondervraagd, en ik heb dat altijd doen afschreeuwen.
Ik werd beschuldigd, dat ik wapens en munitie van Wallonie naar Maaskant bracht.
Dat ik de sluikpers verspreidde – dat was in die tijd de ‘De Rode Vaan’.
Ik heb Russische en Franse krijgsgevangen – die ontvlucht waren – heb ik geholpen.
En eventueel zelfs piloten die ik aangewezen kreeg, dat ik die dan naar een weerstands-huis moest brengen, en van daaruit gingen ze dan terug naar Engeland, over Frankrijk en Spanje.
Ik heb het altijd afgeschreeuwd, waarvan ik beschuldigd werd.
En ik heb gezegd tegen de ondervragers:
Hoe kan ik dat gedaan hebben ?
Ik, als mijnwerker, want …
Als mijnwerker, was het geluk onder den oorlog – ge werd nooit naar Duitsland gevoerd, want ge werkte voor de Duitsers – daar werd wel sabotage gepleegd in de kolenmijnen.
Ze hebben mij geslagen en gestampt.
Totdat ik bewusteloos neerviel op de vloer.
Ik kreeg een kom water over mijn gezicht gesmeten.
Terug … ondervraagd , drie dagen aan één stuk.
Dan hebben ze me weer terug naar de gevangenis gebracht in Hasselt.
En de week daarna zijn we overgebracht worden, naar Antwerpen, naar de Begijnenstraat, naar de Wehrmacht gevangenis.
Daar ben ik dan ondervraagd geworden door de Gestapo in de Dellafaillelaan onder in de kelder.
Toen ze mij daar binnen brachten – zag ik bloedplekken op de muren.
Toen begon ik toch een beetje te bibberen, zal ik maar zeggen.
Maar van de ene kant – ik ben een stijfkop.
En dat ben ik nog – wat ik voor heb , dat moet gebeuren.
Ze hebben me weer ondervraagt .
Dezelfde vragen gesteld als in Hasselt.
Ik bleef altijd hetzelfde zeggen.
En te lange laatste, na 3-4 dagen ondervraging…
…hebben ze mij duimschroeven opgezet –
op deze vingers – want dat zijn de pijnlijkste vingers , als ge aan het werk zijt.
Nog niet bekennen – aandraaien , aandraaien, aandraaien – nog niet toegeven.
En toen, hebben ze tandenstokers onder mijn nagels geklopt.
Nog niet toegeven.
En toen, hebben ze ijskoud, die nagels uitgetrokken.
En als ge wilt – ge kunt het zien :
Ze zijn mismaakt – en met die handen kan ik niet veel doen.
Zelfs de grote tenen – hebben ze de nagels uitgetrokken.
Dat was hier bij de ondervraging door de Gestapo.
Marc Van Roosbroeck (voorzitter) : Dank u wel Evrard, voor deze zeer moedige getuigenis.
—
TRANSLATION (20210525) by Michel van der Burg
I have been apprehended, New Year 1944.
I was transferred from Maaseik to Hasselt, to prison.
The second day in that prison…
taken to the Sicherheitsdienst…
housed at the Havermarkt in Hasselt…
right in front of the court.
I was taken there.
And…with hands behind my back…
tied to a chair.
Bright light, put on my eyes.
They were right…about my assignment…
what I was doing in the resistance.
I was interrogated…
and that, I always have screamed away.
I was accused, of bringing weapons and ammunition,
from Wallonia to the Maaskant.
That I distributed the clandestine press…
that was ‘De Rode Vaan’ at the time.
I helped Russian and French prisoners of war, who had fled.
And, on occasion, even pilots that I was assigned.
I had to take them to a resistance house…
from which they went back to England – over France and Spain.
I have always denied their accusations.
And I said to the interrogators:
How could I have done that?
Me, as a miner, because…
As a miner…luck was…during the war…
you were never taken to Germany…
because, you worked for the Germans…
though, sabotage was committed there in the coal mines.
They hit and kicked me.
Until I fell unconscious on the floor.
I got a bowl of water thrown in my face.
Then, interrogated again, three days in a row.
Then, they brought me back to prison, in Hasselt.
And the week after, we were transferred…
to Antwerp, to the Begijnenstraat, to the Wehrmacht prison.
There, I was interrogated by the Gestapo…
in the Dellafaillelaan, in the basement.
When they brought me in there…
I saw blood stains on the walls.
Then, I started to shiver a bit…so to speak.
But on the other hand…I’m a pigheaded person.
And I still am : what I’m planning, that must be done.
They interrogated me again.
Asked the same questions as in Hasselt.
I always kept saying the same thing.
And finally, after 3-4 days of interrogation…
they put thumbscrews on me…
on these fingers…
because, those are the most painful fingers…
when you are at work.
Still don’t confess…
tighten, tighten, tighten…
still don’t give in.
And then, they knocked toothpicks under my fingernails.
Still don’t give in.
And then, they icily, pulled those nails out.
And if you like…
you can see it :
they are deformed…
and I can’t do much with those hands .
Even the big toes…they have pulled out the nails.
That was here at the Gestapo interrogation.
Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman) : Thanks for this very courageous testimony.
Credits
Testimony by Evrard Voorpijls during the Last Witnesses – “De Laatste Getuigen” – book (ISBN 9789054877370) presentation by Marc Van Roosbroeck (chairman of vzw “De werkgroep 10 december 2008”) on 20 May 2011 in Tongeren , Belgium.
Transcript & Translation (20210525) by Michel van der Burg.
In 1935 the nomadic Sinti families Steinbach were photographed by Dutch photographer Jan de Jong in their caravan camp on the heath around the Heksenberg hill in the southern Netherlands. Jan de Jong was working for De Spaarnestad publishing house of the dutch weekly, catholic, illustrated magazine “Katholieke Illustratie” , that used his high quality pictures in this May 1936 spread (REF 1), with a somewhat simple romanticized short story on their origin and culture – entitled ‘Zwervers van geboorte’ or ‘Born nomad’ (my translation).
Members of other Steinbach families, I recognized in this magazine spread in the caravan window image with caption ‘Buurpraatje’ (my tr. ‘Neighbor chat’), are Anna Steinbach in the window (born 24 March 1916 – killed 31 July 1944 in Auschwitz) talking with Maria Steinbach (born 6 Nov 1912 – killed 31 July 1944 in Auschwitz) .
The 15 year old Willy (Celestinus) Steinbach (born 13 Feb 1929 in Heerlen) was deported together with his 9-year old sister Settela ((Anna Maria) Steinbach (born 23 Dec 1934 in Buchten), their brothers, sisters (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 Auschwitz — and some, like Willy, later to other camps.
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 Mechelen to Auschwitz, were they were murdered on arrival.
Note : I found Jeanette on the Transport lists in the image bank of Kazerne Dossin, Mechelen – but not yet her mother Magdalena.
Settela’s father Moeselman (Heinrich) 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.
Their deporatation was filmed for the Westerbork Film by Rudolf Breslauer (REF 2).
This post is based on the story of the Steinbach families as researched in detail and published in book (REF 3) and film (REF 4) by Rob Hendrikx and Marouska Steinbach.
Update May 20, 2021 – Minor corrections in text , plus more detailed family information added. Poster image film replaced with clearer portrait image of Willy.
Below – because of space and linking constraints on social media – the references, source and full credits on websites only – eg. Settela•com
CREDITS & REFERENCES
1 – Source – photography Jan de Jong – in ‘Zwervers van Geboorte’ | Katholieke Illustratie 7 mei 1936 No 32 (Haarlem, Spaarnestad) via Delpher archive URL https://bit.ly/3f1jv90
2 – Westerbork Film (20190605) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2021 May 19) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
3 – Story based on book : Settela en Willy en Het geheim van de Heksenberg (2e druk) by Rob Hendrikx and Marouska Steinbach (Heerlen : Historisch Goud – Rijckheyt, centrum voor regionale geschiedenis en Stichting Historische Kring “Het Land van Herle”, April 2017) ISBN 9789082241686. URL https://www.landvanherle.nl/product/settela-en-willy-en-het-geheim-van-de-heksenberg-2e-druk/
4 – Story based on Films : ‘Settela en Willy’ by Rob Hendrikx & Marouska Steinbach | lifepowervideo YouTube user | (accessed 2021 May 19) Deel 1 Historische Gebeurtenissen link https://youtu.be/1wI9_vt9RlY | Deel 4 Holocaust Slachtoffers https://youtu.be/wVta6g6Mo1o
Willy & Settela | Born Nomad | 20210519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•com
Westerbork Film Football Edit | Edition 2021 | 20210517
SILENT FILM
The UNESCO – Memory of the World – ‘ Westerbork films’ dossier (REF 1) consists of both the actual film footage, as well as a dossier with the 1944 film plan, film script, title cards (intertitles), and a file with correspondence between the camp and the outside world on obtaining camera’s , film and film processing. That film footage was researched and presented before on Settela•com.
In a recent post (Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515; REF 2) the drawings for the title cards were shown in a short film I made, that also showed a few seconds of Breslauer’s archive film footage demonstrating that not all of his Westerbork Film is a compilation of rushes only -he also had done some experiments filming and animating title cards. Aside from that, the film was not edited, and title cards were not yet inserted.
Today, working on presenting that 1944 film plan and script, I noticed in that editing script (all written in the German language) the instruction “Untertitel: ( in einen rollenden Fussball einkopiert ) Appelplatz am Sonntag Nachmittag.” , in English : ‘Subtitle: copied into a rolling football – roll call area on Sunday afternoon’. That is the text on one of these title cards I worked with, and I had seen Breslauer’s filming and slow-motion experiments with a rolling football, on that same F1014 reel that was used for his animation tests (REF 3). This has been described also in the 1997 dutch Westerbork film dossier analysis by Broersma & Rossing (REF 4) – a book I studied 2 years ago – and details I re-discovered later today. Tomorrow these authors will present a new edition (dutch), available later this month.
Breslauer never got the chance to try copying that title card on the rolling ball – I did today : a little digital experiment of copying that title card Appellplatz am Sonntag Nachmittag on the rolling ball. Just 4 seconds, repeated 4 times in this little film : Westerbork Film Football Edit.
2- Westerbork Film Intertitles (20210515) Michel van der Burg | Settela•com (accessed 2021 May 17) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-3e
3 – Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2021 May 15) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b
4 – ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658). Note, a new edition will be available May 2021 (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van; ISBN 9789023257622 ) – not yet published.
Notes : Both Appelplatz and Appellplatz are used in German and in script and title card
Credit
Thanks to ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658). Note, a new edition will be available May 2021 (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van; ISBN 9789023257622 )
Film footage source : Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer, retrieved from : Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (accessed 2021 May 17) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-2b
Westerbork Film Football Edit | Edition 2021 | 20210517 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•com
Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•com
SILENT FILM
Westerbork Films Dossier
The UNESCO – Memory of the World – ‘ Westerbork films’ dossier (REF 1) consists of both the actual film footage, as well as a dossier with the 1944 film plan, film script, title cards (intertitles), and a file with correspondence between the camp and the outside world on obtaining camera’s , film and film processing. That film footage was researched and presented before on Settela•com.
These Westerbork film documents – the film script etc – complement the Westerbork film footage presented earlier – a first full version (RVD) of the Westerbork Film posted in 2019 (20190605) and the complete UNESCO album of all known footage shot by inmate Werner Rudolf Breslauer in the Westerbork camp in 1944, posted early 2020 (REF 2).
The final part of the UNESCO registry (Le film de Westerbork – édité le 8 mai 2017 – ID code 2016-118 ) lists all the documents on the Westerbork Film at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
That NIOD archive file — called (translated) : Directing, texts and correspondence of the film “Westerbork” consists of a file containing the original screenplay or script for the film, title cards, notes, correspondence and administration . That entire file has been scanned (total of 60 black and white scans) and is available online.
More information on the history and origin of the film translated from the french UNESCO registration is posted later.
Title Cards
Here, in this short film, the title cards are presented. Title cards referenced in the UNESCO registry, and prepared in the camp in 1944 for the Westerbork film. The name of the artist drawing these cards is not known, I guess. Digital scans of 11 different letter cards were retrieved from the public online archive of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the dutch National Archive (Nationaal Archief) – full info in CREDITS.
Film Sections
In this film these title cards are used in different ways, shown in 5 sections. The arrangement of the cards was chosen by me.
1 : ‘ORIGINALS’ – TRANSLATION IN SUBTITLES – The first section shows english subtitles with the restored scan images of the orignal drawings made in Camp Westerbork. The restoration includes exposure adjustment, crop, and if necessary rotation and flip horizontal or vertical of the supplied scans.
2: NEGATIVES – The second section shows the same images, now as negatives (white on black), the way title cards are usually shown in movies, and Breslauer did too while working on the Westerbork Film – see below on section 4.
3) The 3rd sequence of the title cards shows the negatives again, now animated with cross-overs (fade in- and out) between the negatives.
Trickaufnahmen – trick shots – was mentioned in the film plan (discussed further in a later post). Trick shots like slow-motion and similar animation work by Breslauer is actually found on the Westerbork film reel F1014 with so-called ‘Residual material’. This was previously reported in the 1997 edition of the book ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Broersma & Rossing (REF 3). That reel’s footage, to me feels like this was Breslauer’s working material for tests – so a test reel, rather than rest reel.
4 : BRESLAUER’S 1944 ANIMATION TEST – This 4th segment shows the above discussed footage of Breslauer’s test work with a title card’s negative on film, as well as his animation of cards with numbers of ‘input’ and outgoing deportations. That animation uses drawings , images , not found in the NIOD archive – showing statistics for deportations to Bergen-Belsen 3029 , and Lager Vught 897 . This Westerbork film footage was retrieved from : Unknown Westerbork Film Reel…F1014 (20190616) Michel van der Burg | Settela.com (REF 4).
5 : ANIMATION COLLAGE – Here I combined the animation made in section 3 of this film, with the 1944 animation footage of Breslauer – all edited here again to conform.
