Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News


As discussed with the presentation of the full unedited Westerbork Film recently (Ref. 1), the collection of the film footage was started in 1946 by the ‘RIOD’ Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (National Institute for War Documentation).

According to the inventory of the RIOD from 1958 – when the film reels were handed over to the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Dutch Film Museum) – the Westerbork Film (https://youtu.be/8E-IWGjbGZM ) basically consisted of 9 film reels.

Over the years fragments have been extracted from the ‘Westerbork film’ on several occasions for screening in news or documentary (Ref. 2).

In 1948 ‘Polygoon’ Dutch cinema news (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) got footage for use in the reportage of the trial in The Hague of Hanns A. Rauter, an Austrian who was the highest SS official in Nazi-occupied Holland and who was tasked with setting up the camps in Westerbork and other dutch cities, and the arrests , internment and deportation of Dutch Jews and other groups of Dutch people , Roma, Sinti, resistance workers.

I posted that entire Polygoon 1948 week 15 cinema news report earlier (May 20, 2019) on Settela•Com in the post entitled “Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948” (Ref. 3) – here the link https://settela.com/2019/05/20/westerbork-film-in-proces-rauter-1948/

The actual Westerbork film footage fragments (4 fragments) used in that ‘Proces Rauter’ cinema news item – Polygoon Hollands Nieuws week 48-15 (cat.nr. 002338-001) are posted unedited in this collage : “Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News” (20190806) .

References

1. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Jun 15). Short-link https://wp.me/p91enH-1x

2. ‘Kamp Westerbork gefilmd’ by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen); ISBN 9023232658

3. Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 6). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p1IheQ-JY

Credit / Edit / Source info :

Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News. Slightly cropped, otherwise unedited footage.
Source ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 Polygoon Hollands Nieuws week 48-15 (cat.nr. 002338-001 ) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Public Domain) via OpenImages. Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944 , Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Westerbork Film Fragments…1948 Polygoon News | 20190806 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0 .

Mare Manuschenge ~ Music Roma Memorial Berlin

Mare Manuschenge ~ Music Roma Memorial Berlin

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism – located between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany – filmed in 2013.

The monument is dedicated to the memory of the estimated 500,000 European Roma and Sinti that were murdered during the Holocaust – called Porajmos or Pharrajimos in the Romani language (“the Devouring” or “Destruction”) – the genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples by the German Nazis and their fascist allies ( http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home ).

The memorial by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan consists of a circular pool of water with a triangular stone in the center upon which a fresh flower is placed daily.

At the site you hear the sound, a note of a lonely violin from a composition/sound installation titled “Mare Manuschenge” / “Our People” by Romeo Franz, a Sinto musician, composer and politician in Germany.
Karavan : „dem Klang einer einsamen Geige allein geblieben von der gemordeten Melodie, schwebend im Schmerz“

Romeo Franz:
Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of the Sinti and Roma, called me in 2012 and said he was looking for a violinist who could play just one single note at the ceremony. I tried, but at some point I couldn’t stand this note any longer. Instead I imitated a whistle that Sinti often use to call their children. It’s a sound that each of us recognise, it’s a bit like a mark of identification, a signal. Then I transposed it onto the gypsy minor scale. Shortly before the memorial was completed, I met with Dani Caravan, the Israeli architect who designed the memorial, at the construction site, and he said, “That’s it!” For me, it was possibly the most significant thing I’ve ever achieved in my life.
From : The Handreader’s Tale via https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/magazine/magazine_26-1/the_handreaders_tale.html

Note
Yesterday – August 4, 2019 – a more subjective short film impression of the memorial was posted see  ‘Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe’ ~ https://settela.com/2019/08/04/porajmos-memorial-sinti-roma-europe/ More information on this memorial also in that 20190804 post.

Film: Mare Manuschenge | Music Roma Memorial Berlin | 20190805 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line

Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe

Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism, filmed in 2013 in the Tiergarten (close to other Holocaust memorials) in Berlin – between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, in Germany.

The monument is dedicated to the memory of the estimated 500,000 European Roma and Sinti that were murdered during the Holocaust – called Porajmos or Pharrajimos in the Romani language (“the Devouring” or “Destruction”) – the genocide of the European Sinti and Roma peoples by the German Nazis and their fascist allies ( http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home ).

August 2 is European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day commemorating this genocide of Roma people during World War II. Declared by the European Parliament in 2015 (Resolution 2015/2615), the day marks the anniversary of the extermination of around 3,000 Roma at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the night of 2 August 1944. The so-called Gypsy Camp in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was dissolved – or “liquidated,” as the SS called it.

Settela Steinbach (9) was one of those murdered early August 1944, now 75 years ago.

The memorial (by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan) consists of a circular pool of water with a triangular stone in the center (not shown in this film) upon which a fresh flower is placed daily.

Film: Porajmos Memorial Sinti Roma Europe | 20190804 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0

Poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli

In a ring around the pond in English and German – and in two Romani dialects on a stone – are the words of the poem “Auschwitz” by Santino Spinelli (artist name Alexian), a Rom from the Abruzzi region of Italy – a musician, poet, teacher, composer and essayist.

Auschwitz (Original)
Muj šukkó, kjá kalé vušt šurde; kwit. Jilo čindó bi dox, bi lav, nikt ruvbé.

Auschwitz (Sinti-Romanes)
Drenperdo Mui, phagede Jakha, schiel Wuschtia; Pokunipen. Phagedo Dschi, kek Ducho, kek Labensa, kek Asvia.

Auschwitz (Deutsch)
Eingefallenes Gesicht, erloschene Augen, kalte Lippen. Stille. Ein zerrissenes Herz, ohne Atem, ohne Worte, keine Tränen.

Auschwitz (English)
Pallid face, dead eyes, cold lips. Silence. A broken heart without breath, without words, no tears.

Music “Mare Manuschenge” by Romeo Franz

At the site you faintly hear the sound, a note of a lonely violin from a composition/sound installation titled “Mare Manuschenge” / “Our People” by Romeo Franz, a Sinto musician, composer and politician in Germany.
The sound in this film I posted is mixed from several video recordings there, with the emphasis on the sound from one video of one of the loudspeakers in the surrounding trees.

Bibliography

Online Teaching Resource for Genocide of Sinti and Roma , Site – Roma Sinti Genocide – http://www.romasintigenocide.eu/en/home
Reference from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/educational-materials/online-teaching-resource-genocide-sinti-and-roma )

Genocide of the Roma – International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/genocide-of-the-roma

European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – European Parliament Resolution 2015/2615(RSP) – Text P8_TA(2015)0095 available as PDF via http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2015-0095_EN.pdf )

Deutsche Welle or DW – Germany’s public international broadcaster – https://www.dw.com/en/75-years-ago-nazis-carry-out-mass-murder-of-sinti-and-roma-people-in-auschwitz/a-49874353

European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: Statement by First Vice-President Timmermans and Commissioner Jourová
Brussels, 1 August 2019 – STATEMENT-19-4869_EN
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-19-4869_en.htm

The Roma Holocaust Memorial That Wasn’t Built in a Day
Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan has left no stone unturned in his efforts to build his gypsy Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
by Ofer Aderet / HAARETZ Sep 14, 2012
https://www.haaretz.com/the-roma-memorial-that-wasn-t-built-in-a-day-1.5162513

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under the National Socialist Regime
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial.html#c952

Dani Karavan
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/dani-karavan.html

Poem by Italian Rom Santino Spinelli
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en/memorials/sinti-and-roma-memorial/poem-by-santino-spinelli.html

Newess 1|13

Click to access Newess_1_2013_web_DS.pdf

Santino Spinelli – RomArchive
https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/p/santino-spinelli/

Music by Romeo Franz
The Greens/EFA – Welcome Tilly Metz and Romeo Franz
https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/press/welcome-tilly-metz-and-romeo-franz/
The Handreader’s Tale
https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/magazine/magazine_26-1/the_handreaders_tale.html

Updates

20190805 – Major update August 5, 2019 with corrections, more details including poem languages and now a bibliography

20220604 – Format changes credit line

Cricket Beguinage Afghans Team


In March 2014 Kristen Cattell (USA) and Michel van der Burg (Holland) traveled to Brussels, Belgium to meet a group of Afghans living inside an old Catholic church – the church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage (Beguinage Church). At the time, nearly one hundred Afghan refugees had set up camp within the walls of the seventeenth century compound. We made a reportage and interviewed several people including Samir Hamdard – the spokesperson for these afghan refugees – who died last Wednesday (report yesterday http://bit.ly/2GJe64S ). In between the interviews we enjoyed watching Samir and the others playing a cricket game in front of the Beguinage church. More about the Beguinage Project here http://bit.ly/1HZguvY
20190802 ~ Cricket Beguinage Afghans Team ~ Beguinage Project reportage Kristen Cattell / Michel van der Burg (film) – michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media

Samir «Afghans Sans-Papiers Spokesperson»


Thursday Aug 1, 2019.  Shocked today to learn that Samir Hamdard (Ahmad Samir Hamdard) has died yesterday (Wednesday) in a hospital as a result of his terrible injuries after he jumped out of the window last Monday in an attempt to escape an explosion and fire of the house in Schaerbeek, Brussels. Samir the tireless activist of peace, justice and solidarity, was chosen as the spokesperson for the afghan refugees in Belgium.
My condolences to his family, afghan and belgian and other friends, the activists who crossed his road in the fight for regularization of the afghan sans-papiers.
Here in commemoration a short film of Samir demanding Justice! – 20 nov 2013, on the arrival of the silent solidarity march for afghan refugees in Brussels.

Samir «Afghans Sans-Papiers Spokesperson»

Ahmad Samir Hamdard demanding justice at the solidarity march for the Afghan “sans papier” community in Belgium, Brussels , Nov 20, 2013.
20190801 ~ Samir ~ Film : Michel van der Burg – michelvanderburg.com

Jazzman ~ Simon Gronowski & Woody Allen ~ Aftermovie


Aftermovie of that swinging Saturday night June 22th 2019 when Woody Allen invites the Brussels Jazzman – holocaust survivor – Simon Gronowski to play with him and The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band in the Bozar theater in front of some 2200 people in Brussels, Belgium.

Simon Gronowski was only 11 years old when he jumped from the XXth death train to Auschwitz , and an orphan after the war … jazz helped Simon find his way – watch Simon’s story in the documentary film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” – online here http://bit.ly/1fqFdOb

Many thanks to Woody Allen & The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band | Simon Gronowski | Sarah Ehrlich | BOZAR | Greenhouse Talent. Film JAZZMAN (20190715) Michel van der Burg | Miracles.Media