Pancreas & Islet Transplantation Program • 20240912

Pancreatic Islet Transplantation • Isolation & Transplantation of Islets of Langerhans • 1988 to early 1990s • Islet Transplant Laboratory • Leiden University Hospital • 20240912_1 (Note 1)

Grants

In 1988, we started a project with unique integration of two important trends in research into the treatment of diabetes by transplantation at the Leiden University Hospital (AZL) in Leiden, with major grants from the dutch Ministry of Welfare, Health and Culture (WVC) and the dutch Diabetes Fund (Diabetes Fonds Nederland).

The generous grants were received — as reported June 24, 1988 in both the dutch newspaper Leidsch Dagblad (2) and in Cicero, the biweekly publication of the Leiden Medical Faculty and University Hospital (3), as a result of our preliminary research over the previous five years into improving the technique of pancreas transplantation, and more recently the development of a technique for isolating the Islets of Langerhans from the pancreas, which produce hormones such as insulin. The idea behind this is, that these isolated islets, after injection into the body, will restart and maintain insulin production.

Questions

What is the consequence of the loss of normal nerve connections to the islets during transplantation?
What are the consequences of transplantation of only a segment of the pancreas, or islet transplantation, when fewer islets are available?
What is the consequence after transplantation of the different insulin drainage route, where the insulin does not follow the normal path directly to the liver?
To what extent do transplantation procedures disrupt the normal architecture and interactions of islets, the pancreas, and other parts of the gastro-intestinal system, and the blood sugar regulation in the body?

Project

With the hope of answering these questions, the grants supported an ambitious new project supervised by Hein Gooszen, integrating two concomitant PhD projects for detailed islet function studies in both experimental pancreas transplantation, by Onno Guicherit (4) , as well as islet isolation by Michel van der Burg (5) in the same model.

A special feature of the experimental design in this preclinical model is that the results of functional studies in the experimental animal can be compared with such functional studies with the isolated islets from the pancreas, where the direct effect on the islets is investigated during perifusion tests in our laboratory (6).

Monitoring insulin secretion by pancreatic islets in perifusion • 20240911 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/09/11/monitoring-pancreatic-islets-in-perifusion-20240911/

Minneapolis method

That same month, June 1988, we began research to improve the method of islet isolation in our laboratory, with the assistance of Jane Field, who had come over that month at our invitation from Minneapolis, where she was a key member of the Surgical Research lab, University of Minnesota (led by David Sutherland).

The introduction of this Minneapolis method for islet isolation significantly improved the yield of isolated islets in our Islet Transplant Lab.

New concept : University of Wisconsin solution (UWS) for islet isolation

Next , early 1989 , our Islet Transplant Lab took a major step forward in a new approach to isolation and purification of the islets by replacing the islet isolation solution (the general used basic physiological salt solution or tissue culture solution) with a novel organ preservation solution : the University of Wisconsin solution (UWS). The method of choice nowadays in clinical islet transplantation centers. More on this introduction of UWS will soon be posted here. A reprint of a first poster presented in Minneapolis, Sep. 1989, is now online here (7).

Program

June 1989 our Surgery Department (Leiden University) started an additional project, for ‘auto’ transplantation of isolated islets : Isolation of the islets from the canine pancreas and transplantation of the isolated islets ca 4 hours later in the same animal (8).

Thus, from 1989, we studied the insulin secretion of the isolated islets in perifusion experiments in the laboratory (‘in vitro’) in comparison with both the islet function ‘in vivo’ after transplantation of the isolated islets, and in the concomitant pancreas transplantation experiments — in support of our clinical pancreas transplantation program in Leiden.

Notes

1) Pancreatic Islet Transplantation • Isolation & Transplantation of Islets of Langerhans • 1988 to early 1990s • Islet Transplant Laboratory • Leiden University Hospital • 20240912_1 • michelvanderburg•com | TakeNode 5b5ca362-2adf-497a-b2be-a83e47617017 | Image edit based on : Pancreatic islet transplantation • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • Thesis Repository Leiden University https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3486604

Captions in Note 9

2) Subsidie voor onderzoek suikerziekte. Leidsch Dagblad, June 24, 1988 (leiden.courant.nu) • 20240912_2 • michelvanderburg•com

3) Diabetesonderzoek | AZL krijgt grote subsidies voor diabetesonderzoek | by Sylvia van Leeuwen in Cicero, June 24th, 1988 (ISSN 0920-2900), the biweekly publication of the Academic Hospital and Leiden Medical Faculty | 20240912_3 • michelvanderburg•com | Download PDF article below : file 20240912_3_CICERO

20240912_3_CICERO Download

4) Onno R. Guicherit. Long-term metabolic sequelae of beta cell mass reduction, systemic venous drainage and denervation of the canine pancreas : experimental studies in relation to clinical pancreas transplantation. (Doctoral Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) , Leiden University)(S.l.: s.n.), (ISBN print: 9789090072319, 9090072314), 1994: 149 p. URL WorldCat https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/69433794

5) Michael P.M. van der Burg. Pancreatic islet transplantation: studies on the technique and efficacy of islet isolation and transplantation. (Doctoral Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) , Leiden University), Boskoop: M.P.M. van der Burg | Miracles.Media (ISBN electronic, pdf, 9789080216402 ; ISBN print 9789080216419, 9080216410), 1994: 192 p. URL Thesis Repository Leiden University https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3486604

6) Monitoring pancreatic islets in perifusion • 20240911 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/09/11/monitoring-pancreatic-islets-in-perifusion-20240911/

7) Minneapolis 1989 Poster | 20240804 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/08/04/minneapolis-1989-poster-20240804/

8) Islet Transplantation Breakthrough in Leiden University Hospital • 20240830 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/08/30/islet-transplantation-breakthrough-in-leiden-university-hospital-20240830/

9) Pancreatic Islet Transplantation • Isolation & Transplantation of Islets of Langerhans 1988 to early 1990s • Islet Transplant Laboratory • Leiden University Hospital • 20240912_1 • michelvanderburg•com | TakeNode 5b5ca362-2adf-497a-b2be-a83e47617017 |

Captions Image 20240912_1 :

1. Paul Langerhans

2. Section of the normal dog pancreas showing islets stained reddish-brown (immunostained for insulin)

3. Michel van der Burg, watching the dog islet isolation procedure in the Minneapolis surgical research laboratory (University of Minnesota), September 1989, with Philippe Morel and Pericles Tzardis

4. Experimental Surgery Laboratory in Leiden, June 1988, with (left to right) Hein Gooszen, Jane Field (Minneapolis), and Onno Guicherit, starting the surgical procedure for canine islet isolation

5. The pancreas (segment) is removed

6. Islet Transplant Laboratory in Leiden, at the start of islet isolation, with infusion of the collagenase solution via the ducts in the dog pancreas (whole gland for islet transplantation) – collagenase leaking from the pancreas is recirculated using a roller pump

7. During collagenase digestion at 37-39°C the pancreas falls apart, shown here in a low magnification microscopy image of pancreatic exocrine tissue, and a free-ed small blood vessel

8. Dissociated pancreatic tissue, on ice

9. Tissue is further dispersed in the cold isolation solution (here RPMI tissue culture solution is used), by aspiration in a syringe, and sieved to remove undigested fragments, ducts and vessels ~ demonstrated here by Jane Field (Minneapolis), with the introduction of the Minneapolis isolation procedure, June 1988, in our Islet Transplant Laboratory in Leiden

10. Microscopy of tissue suspension, with a low purity of the islets (stained red by dithizone) obtained by density separation in Dextran gradients (in Hanks’ solution) after islet isolation in the RPMI tissue culture solution (dark-brown exocrine fragments remain unstained)

11. Pure islet suspension obtained by density separation in Percoll gradients (in University of Wisconsin solution) after islet isolation in the University of Wisconsin solution (islets are only slightly stained due to poor diffusion over the cell membrane in the preservation solution)

12. Section of highly purified islets obtained by Dextran density separation after isolation in the University of Wisconsin solution

13. Islets are autotransplanted by infusion in the spleen of the dog

14. Transplanted islet in section of the spleen of one of the dogs shortly after the onset of fasting hyperglycemia at three months posttransplant (immunostained for insulin), 1989

15. Highly purified human islets obtained by Percoll density separation after isolation in the University of Wisconsin solution (immunostained with gold for insulin; not counterstained), July 1990

Pancreatic islet transplantation • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media | QR code (link to Thesis Repository Leiden University) https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3486604

Citation info : Pancreas & Islet Transplantation Program • 20240912 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com

Islet Transplantation Breakthrough in Leiden University Hospital • 20240830

Breakthrough Islet Transplantation • 20240830_1 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode e12ae9d5-6a93-444f-b5e2-8c83434d7d6e

“Breakthrough in research into treatment of diabetics. Discovery by doctors of Leiden University Hospital” …headlines the Dutch newspaper ‘Leidsch Dagblad’ (1).

The dutch newspaper ‘Leidsch Dagblad’ reports October 24, 1989, on a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetic patients…successful transplantation of the insulin producing ‘islets’ in dogs, after isolation of the islets using the UW organ storage solution .

The first successful transplant June 13, 1989 was a big step. Generally multiple pancreases are needed for an adequate number of purified islets for one transplant. Here the dog’s pancreas was used for the isolation of islets, that were injected back in the animals’ spleen.

‘The breakthrough in the research came when Van der Burg came up with the idea of using the UW organ storage solution ( UWS ) — developed several years ago at the University of Wisconsin — for the preservation of the islets. This turned out to yield good results. The yield of pure islets could be increased using this method.’

Cicero

News based on story published Sep. 15th, 1989 by journalist Sylvia Van Leeuwen in Cicero, the biweekly publication of the Academic Hospital and Leiden Medical Faculty (2).

Ploeg, Gooszen and Van der Burg (left to right) discuss the achieved results, Monday Sep 4, 1989 at the Department of Surgery, University Hospital Leiden. Photo Tejo Ringers • 20240830_2 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode 3fc69a06-04bf-4f0d-bc77-cedb6d7b7f75

One more thing

We reported long-term function of the islet transplants (3,4). Failure after 3.5 years of a well-functioning islet transplant is puzzling. Nowadays, in clinical islet transplantation, failure of long-term functioning grafts in diabetic patients is still puzzling. Therefore, note (data not published before), that body weight of this autografted animal had increased to almost 150%, from 12.5 kg at the time of islet transplantation, to 18.0 kg at the time of graft failure 3.5 years later (Dec. 1992) — obviously, with an increased insulin demand that may have contributed to graft failure.

Notes

1) Doorbraak in onderzoek naar behandeling suikerpatiënten. Ontdekking door artsen Leids Academisch Ziekenhuis. (EN tr. “Breakthrough in research into treatment of diabetics. Discovery by doctors of Leiden University Hospital”) | by Gert Visser, in Leidsch Dagblad, Oct 24, 1989 | Dutch newspaper, URL https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LD/1989-10-24/edition/0/page/15

The background in the image here (20240830_1), is the original color slide of the ‘Islets of Langerhans’ showing in the newspaper.

2) ‘Eilandjes’ getransplanteerd | by Sylvia van Leeuwen in Cicero, Sep. 15th, 1989 (ISSN 0920-2900), the biweekly publication of the Academic Hospital and Leiden Medical Faculty | 20240830_3 • michelvanderburg•com | Download PDF article below : file 20240830_3_CICERO

20240830_3_CICERO Download

3) Function and survival of intrasplenic islet autografts in dogs. In : Pancreatic islet transplantation (doctoral thesis, 1994) by Michel van der Burg. ISBN 9789080216402. Scholarly Publications repository of Leiden University. URL https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3486614/view

4) Van der Burg MPM, Guicherit OR, Jansen JBMJ, Frölich M, Lamers CBHW, Lemkes HHPJ, Bruijn JA, Gooszen HG. Function and survival of intrasplenic islet autografts in dogs. Diabetologia 39, 37–44 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00400411

5) Van der Burg MPM, Gooszen HG, Ploeg RJ, Guicherit OR, Scherft JP, Terpstra JL, Bruijn JA, Frölich M. Pancreatic islet isolation with UW solution: a new concept. 4th Congress of the European Society for Organ Transplantation, Barcelona (Spain) November 1–4, 1989.

6) The islet transplant news was first reported by me at an invited lecture July 8, 1989 for the Anglo Danish Dutch Diabetes Group meeting in St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford (UK) :
Van der Burg MPM, Gooszen HG, Scherft JP, Terpstra JL, Frölich M, Guicherit OR, Lemkes HHPJ, Bruijn JA. The isolation of canine pancreatic islets for transplantation. Seventh Annual Meeting Anglo Danish Dutch Diabetes Group, Oxford (UK) July 5–9, 1989.

7) Leiden Islet Laboratory History • 20240803 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com

Citation info : Islet Transplantation Breakthrough in Leiden University Hospital • 20240830 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com

Cradle of Islet Transplants • 20240829

Isolation of Islets of Langerhans from the Canine Pancreas | Fall meeting of the Dutch Association for Calcium and Bone Metabolism, Leiden (The Netherlands) November 13, 1987 • 20240829_1 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode 6b80e3a7-af16-41f7-b15f-cdeb85e377f3

Cradle of Islet Transplants

The Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology in Leiden (headed by Prof J.P. Scherft), was the cradle of our Islet Transplantation Lab, where we made a fresh start Summer 1986 (1), and presented our first poster the following year.

Poster

Our first year of research was presented in this poster (Image 20240829_1) at the Fall Meeting Friday, November 13, 1987 , of the Dutch Association for Calcium- and Bone-metabolism*, in Leiden, Holland (2) in that Cell Biology building of the University Hospital Leiden (‘Building 55’) where our Islet Lab was hosted for the first decade.

The poster shows the results of islet isolations from canine pancreas segments performed with a method developed for human islet isolation by the surgeon Derek Gray (Oxford, UK) with some modifications (3). Pancreas segments were harvested at surgery for our concommitant research on segmental pancreas transplantation in this pre-clinical model (4,5,6,7).

Isolation of Islets of Langerhans from the Canine Pancreas | Islet Transplantation Laboratory, Leiden University Hospital, 1987 • 20240829_2 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode a9a389d9-c06f-467a-9ee0-1c2dc5f2403a

The photo collage (Image 20240829_2) also shown in the Methods section of the poster illustrates, resp. :

1) removal of a canine pancreatic segment at surgery;
2) distension of the gland by ductal injection of a collagenase solution;
3) the mucoid appearance after collagenase digestion of the connective tissue in the gland for 20-25 min at 39°C;
4) the digestion end-point, when gentle contusion of a sample of the tissue appears to liberate free islets from the surrounding exocrine tissue;
5) dispersion of the tissue with forceps and aspiration through needles;
6) microscopy of the suspension of purified islets (arrow denotes islet) contaminated with some exocine fragments , after sieving and Ficoll density gradient centrifugation to separate the islets from most of the exocrine fragments.

Figure 1 of the Results shows the relation between islet size and number of the isolated islets. Quantitation of the total volume of islets in the pancreas, and after islet isolation , demonstrated that on average 5-10% of the islets in the pancreas are isolated after purification. Figure 2 shows the timeline of insulin secretion by the isolated islets, in response to stimulation with glucose (sugar) during perifusion with a basic salts solution containing low -, high -, and low sugar levels, resp.

Posters Cell Biology, Leiden, Nov. 1987 • 20240829_3 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode 19d17e89-3138-4ef7-9490-6716f3994067

The posters were produced at the Cell Biology department using a pen plotter machine.
A corridor in the building with part of the gallery of posters was photographed at the meeting (Image 20240829_3).

Cell Biology – 40th anniversary, 1947-1987

Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology, Leiden (Holland) celebrating the 40th anniversary, 1947-1987. Front entrance ‘Building 55’ University Hospital Leiden, November 14, 1987 20240829_4 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode bcf4674c-0cc7-4545-96b1-1a8e0c451150

The 40th anniversary of the Cell Biology Department was celebrated 13-14 November 1987 (with a banner and flags at the entrance of the building (Image 20240829_4) , with the science meeting Nov. 13th and a get-together with (former) co-workers, including Professor emiritus Pieter J. Gaillard, dutch pioneer of tissue culture and transplantation, and founder of the laboratory when appointed professor of Experimental Histology at the Leiden University, Friday, November 14, 1947 (8,9).

Professor Gaillard’s lab started in 1947 in the cellar of the Anatomical Laboratory, and moved in 1953-1954 to ‘Building 55’ of the University Hospital Leiden; shown above. The name was changed to Cell Biology and Histology, in 1964. Cell Biology is currently part of the Department Of Cell & Chemical Biology , and housed within the research building of the Leiden University Medical Centre.

I photographed the emiritus Gaillard receiving a ‘souvenir’ from Professor Scherft (Image 20240829_5) at the 40th anniversary of the Cell Biology Laboratory in Leiden (Holland), Nov. 14, 1987.

P.J. Gaillard (on the left) & J.P. Scherft, Cell Biology Laboratory in Leiden (Holland), Nov. 14, 1987 • 20240829_5 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode 08054d8f-c978-422f-9f3f-5c8507cf8869

First clinical islet cell transplant

In 1944, during World War II, Gaillard and the Leiden surgeon P.J. Kooreman performed the first successfull clinical (allogeneic) transplant of (cultured) islet cells in Leiden.
Dutch newspapers reported (10), Gaillard had spoken at a meeting in 1949 organized by local hospitals in The Hague, Holland, on some of his early transplants in diabetic patients, with success in one patient during the war (Image 20240829_6) :
“Prof. Gaillard considers it too early to say much about the possibilities of this intervention. Although he could report that a female patient can be considered cured in nine months. A bombing took her life, so that further observation was cut off.” .
The Islet Transplant Registry listed the transplant as the 5th performed in the world (6).
Gaillard & Kooreman also performed a successful series of transplants of cultured parathyroid tissue , a firm base of what would become the focus of Gaillards research and the Cell Biology Laboratory , the hormonal regulation of bone metabolism (9,10,11,12).

Prof. Dr. P.J. Gaillard spoke about successes in transplant trials. Nieuwe Leidsche Courant, Oct. 1, 1949 • 20240829_6 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode c5be6800-f3da-453e-9d40-d8fafffd27aa

Introduction of collagenase isolation of islets

Also, of note, is the first introduction of pancreatic islet isolation by collagenase digestion in 1965 by the polish researcher Stanislaw Moskalewski with the help of Gaillard working at the Cell Biology Laboratory (13) — the basis of large scale islet isolation and transplantation.

Notes

1) Leiden Islet Laboratory History • 20240803 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com

2) Van der Burg MPM, Gooszen HG, Terpstra JL, Scherft JP, Frölich M, Lemkes HHPJ. Isolation of the islets of Langerhans from the canine pancreas. Fall meeting of the Dutch Association for Calcium and Bone Metabolism, Leiden (The Netherlands) November 13, 1987.

3) Gray DWR, McShane P, Grant A, Morris PJ. A Method for Isolation of Islets of Langerhans from the Human Pancreas. Diabetes 1 November 1984; 33 (11): 1055–1061. https://doi.org/10.2337/diab.33.11.1055

4) Gooszen HG. Canine segmental pancreatic autotransplantation. Analysis of the effects of ductobliteration. Thesis, Leiden, 1984

5) Van der Burg MPM, Gooszen HG, Guicherit OR, Jansen JBMJ, Frölich M, Haastert FA, Lamers CBHW. Contribution of partial pancreatectomy, systemic hormone delivery and duct obliteration to glucose regulation in canine pancreas: Importance in pancreas transplantation. Diabetes 1989; 38: 1082–1089.

6) Pancreatic islet transplantation (doctoral thesis, 1994) by Michel van der Burg. ISBN 9789080216402. Scholarly Publications repository of Leiden University. Persistent URL https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3486604

7) Eerste alvleesklier-transplantatie | Nederlandse primeur in Academisch Ziekenhuis Leiden. In : Leidsch Dagblad, May 18, 1984 | Dutch newspaper , URL https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LD/1984-05-18/edition/0/page/1

Eerste alvleesklier-transplantatie | Nederlandse primeur in Academisch Ziekenhuis Leiden. Leidsch Dagblad, May 18, 1984 (leiden.courant.nu) • 20240829_7 • michelvanderburg•com • TakeNode 5d3c88a5-4c67-48fd-8a8c-8165a5c2edfe

8) Van CH0 naar CH40 met Ca2+ als katalysator. Scherft J.P. In : Laboratorium voor Celbiologie en Histologie 1947-1987 | Uitgave ter gelegenheid van het veertigjarig bestaan van het Laboratorium voor Celbiologie en Histologie van de Medische Faculteit te Leiden.

9) Enkele notities over het begin van de weefselkweek in Leiden. Gaillard P.J. In : Laboratorium voor Celbiologie en Histologie 1947-1987 | Uitgave ter gelegenheid van het veertigjarig bestaan van het Laboratorium voor Celbiologie en Histologie van de Medische Faculteit te Leiden.

10) Prof. dr P.J. Gaillard sprak over successen bij transplantatie-proeven. Nieuwe Leidsche Courant, Oct. 1, 1949. | Dutch newspaper , URL https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/NLC/1949-10-01/edition/null/page/2 | “Prof. Gaillard acht het nog te vroeg om over de mogelijkheden van deze ingreep veel te zeggen. Al kon hij mededelen, dat een vrouwelijke patiënt in negen maanden tijds als genezen beschouwd kan worden. Een bombardement benam haar het leven, zodat men van verdere observatie werd afgesneden”.

On 10 and 11 December 1944, Leiden was bombed by English RAF aircraft. The bombings missed their target. Residential areas near Leiden railway stations were hit, resulting in many civilian casualties. Info from Erfgoed Leiden URL https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/nieuws/vondst-van-de-week/1092-vvdw-bombardementen-op-leiden

11) Een totaal nieuw terrein voor de chirurgie. Prof. Kooreman inaugureerde in Leiden. In : Nieuwe Leidsche Courant 20 jun. 1959, p. 3 | Dutch newspaper , URL URL https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/NLC/1959-06-20/edition/0/page/3

12) Jon van Rood: The pioneer and his personal view on the early developments of HLA and immunogenetics. Martine J. Jagera M.J, Brand A, Claas F.H.J. Transplant Immunology 52 (2019) 1–26

13) Beginning of pancreatic islet isolation by collagenase digestion (personal reminiscences). Stanislaw Moskalewski. Ann Transplant 1997; 2(3): 6-7. URL https://annalsoftransplantation.com/abstract/index/idArt/647800

* Strange to find the Dutch Association for Calcium and Bone Metabolism indicates online a start in 1990 – while I visited their fall meeting in 1987 (see also refs 8,9)

Update (20240912) correction text perifusion solution.
NB . the basic salts solution is a Krebs-Ringer solution, HEPES-buffered

Citation info : Cradle of Islet Transplants • 20240829 • Michel van der Burg • michelvanderburg•com

Deportation | 20240226

Camp commander (SS-Obersturmführer) Albert Gemmeker oversees the deportation of Jews, Sinti, and Roma from the Westerbork transit camp May 19, 1944 .

Gemmeker is the producer of the Westerborkfilm — he ordered the film. Cameraman is the German Jewish prisoner Rudolf Breslauer.

Source : Frame 2608 from Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2022/05/07/westerborkfilm-introduction-20220507/

Westerborkfilm Introduction

Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm first showing May 7, 2022 in cinema METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.

This introduction is now screening via YouTube , and embedded above.

NOTE : Today also available for watching online the fully annotated new Westerbork film — annotated both in closed captions (CC) and direct links in the description :
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Settela•Com | URL https://settela.com/2022/03/02/westerbork-film-🎦-2021-complete-remastered-edition-20220302/

Westerborkfilm with introduction – DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial

CREDITS & REFERENCES

Special thanks to Valentine Kuypers , curator at Sound and Vision, image researcher Gerard Nijssen, and the Westerbork Memorial Center researchers Bas Kortholt , Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing. Aad Wagenaar, research journalist and author of book Settela.

Work on the 2021 Westerbork film edition has been a joint effort of four dutch organizations : the Dutch media archive Sound & Vision, Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre , the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam.

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies | 250i Westerbork, Judendurchgangslager | 854 Stukken over de Westerbork-film, 7 maart – 20 april 1944 en z.d. | File retrieved May 23, 2019 from Nationaal Archief (last accessed 2021 Apr 17)
URL https://www.archieven.nl/nl/search-modonly?mivast=298&mizig=210&miadt=298&micode=250i&milang=nl&mizk_alle=westerbork%20film&miview=inv2#inv3t2

Unesco.org – Memory of the World – Westerbork films (accessed 20190605)
URL http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-9/westerbork-films/

The Westerbork film, May 7, 2022 at the symposium DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG of the Jüdischen Filmfestival Wien , the Mauthausen Memorial , and Filmarchiv Austria.

Settela, het meisje heeft haar naam terug (1995-2007) by Aad Wagenaar ISBN 9789089751898 / English translation by Janna Eliot ‘Settela’ (2005-2016) ISBN 978-0-9933898-2-5 .

Documentary film Settela, gezicht van het verleden by Cherry Duyns (VPRO, 1994).

De Westerborkfilm 📽️🎞️ | Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid | YouTube Apr 8, 2021 URL https://youtu.be/8Y-A4BkWY18

Restauratie Westerborkfilm (May 12, 2021) Valentine Kuypers | Beeld en Geluid (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://bit.ly/3kGteVs

Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944) (May 18, 2021) Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | Youtube (accessed 2021 Jul 19) URL: https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI

Kamp Westerbork gefilmd (May 2021) Koert Broersma, Gerard Rossing (editor Gorcum B.V., Koninklijke van) ISBN 9789023257622.

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

Dawn Skorczewski & Bettine Siertsema (2018): ‘The kind of spirit that people still kept’: VHA testimonies of Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews, Holocaust Studies URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2018.1516361

Diamantkinderen: Amsterdamse Diamantjoden en de Holocaust . Translated title of the contribution: Diamond Children: Amsterdam’s Diamond Jews and the Holocaust. Siertsema, Bettine (2020) Uitgeverij Verbum ISBN 9789493028340

Fabian Schmidt (2020): The Westerbork Film Revisited: Provenance, the Re-Use of Archive Material and Holocaust Remembrances, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, URL : https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2020.1730033

Children of the Holocaust Who Are Anonymous No More | May 18, 2021 by Nina Siegal | The New York Times |
URL https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/arts/children-of-the-holocaust-who-are-anonymous-no-more.html

Refugee Camp. Camp Westerbork Memorial Center. URL https://kampwesterbork.nl/en/history/second-world-war/refugee-camp

Location map of the Netherlands | Karte: NordNordWest | Wikimedia | Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de | URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerbork_transit_camp

Westerbork Film Intertitles | 20210515 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | URL https://settela.com/2021/05/15/westerbork-film-intertitles/

Westerbork Film Scripts | 20220508 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Westerbork Film Correspondence | 20220509 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

ANONYM | Girl with the headscarf … | 20210416 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Westerbork Film in ‘Proces Rauter’ 1948 | 20190520 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | Display edition annotated online in CC.

Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm screening in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.

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Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | Complete Remastered Edition | 20220302

Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | The complete remastered edition of the Westerbork Film , here annotated online in CC – by Michel van der Burg as an ongoing integrating resource.

The original display edition of the restored Westerbork film was edited only for black bar removal conform 4:3 format and insertion of a title card intro and outro. Annotations are added as CC – closed captions.

Source : digital display edition of the restored Westerbork film compilation made available in Public Domain by Sound and Vision from May 18, 2021. Courtesy of Collection NIOD held at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Source File : Westerbork (gerestaureerd) | Display edition. Retrieved (20210518) PID: URN:NBN:NL:IN:20-ZCRLTUSICOSDILNR .

Credit line :
Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0

Description & Introduction film

The Westerbork Film – a silent film – is unique…the only authentic documentary footage filmed in a Nazi camp – a waiting room for death in the Netherlands for more than 100,000 Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance workers. A documentary filmed spring 1944, in the Westerbork camp, by the German-Jewish camp prisoner Rudolf Werner Breslauer – the camp photographer, and commissioned by camp commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer, Albert Konrad Gemmeker.

The Westerbork camp was set up in 1939 before the war in Holland, by the Dutch government, as a central refugees camp for Jewish refugees from Nazi-Germany.
July 1942 , when the Nazi’s decided to start ‘Entjüdung’ of the Netherlands, they took over the camp for use as transit camp for deportation of mainly Jews, and Roma, Sinti, and resistance people to eastern Europe.
March 2, 1944 , SS leader Rauter in the Netherlands reports to Germany’s SS Reichsführer Himmler : the Netherlands are ‘Judenfrei’. March 5, 1944 the camp is ‘Arbeitslager’ – a work camp – when
Rudolf Breslauer starts filming the daily life of the Westerbork prisoners. After Breslauer films the deportation of Jews, Roma and Sinti to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz on May 19, 1944 the filming stops. The film is also not edited. In 1986 the dutch RVD Information Center makes a first montage in 4 acts of the footage into what is known now as the Westerborkfilm. In 2017 the film dossier – film and production documents – enter the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Spring 2019 the Westerbork Film – full version (RVD) was published online and annotated – https://settela.com/2019/06/05/westerbork-film-full-version-rvd/ .

Spring 2019 the dutch Sound & Vision , EYE Filmmuseum and NIOD (former RIOD) started a major restauration project and search for all footage of the Westerbork film in all archives.
Two reels with original negative film were discovered by image researcher Gerard Nijssen.
All restored unique shots using both the camera original film and film copies (prints – when no original is known) were used for the new restored Westerbork film compilation made available as ‘display edition’ – with no title actually – by Sound and Vision | NIOD on May 18, 2021.

This newly restored 2021 version of the Westerbork film , 145 min long – was prepared for presentation here in 4:3 format (black bars removed) with a 6 seconds title card superimposed both at the start and the end of the film (superimposed on the originally 30 sec intro text and 17 sec outro text sections by Sound & Vision), in order not to change the length of the film – to allow exact reference to the original file’s timeline.

Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 was first uploaded March 2, 2022, and is now after annotation of the online film made public May 7, 2022 together with a short introductory film : Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | An introduction film by Michel van der Burg on the Westerbork film with a first showing May 7, 2022 in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.

Annotations

On YouTube called Chapters – there limited number due to limit number of characters in description

0:00:08 Introduction

Original Reel E325

00:00:29 Batteries recycling – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:01:28 Clothing factory – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:02:15 Shoemaking – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:02:43 Batteries recycling – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:04:43 Laundry…ironing – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:04:56 Furniture workshop – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:08:04 Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:09:50 Outside workshops Tischlerei | Wood work – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:10:04 Outside workshops Schlosserei | Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:10:33 Schlosserei | Metalwork – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:12:29 Medical laboratory – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:13:37 Zahnstation | Dental Clinic – April/May 1944 – Original Reel E325

00:14:22 Entrance camp – March/May 1944 – New clip found by researcher Gerard Nijssen on original reel E325

Original Reel E198 Roll 1/4

00:14:26 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 1/4

Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:21 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:44 Boarding in 3rd class cars for Bergen-Belsen , including the ‘Diamond Jews’ group – E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:49 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen – May 19, 1944 – Toddlers Marc and Stella Degen – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:16:52 Settela Steinbach | Roma & Sinti |

NOTE : for this shot right after the Degen toddlers, Breslauer had to move all the way back to last cars of the transport to Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – E198 Roll 2/4

00:17:03 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

00:17:49 Gemmeker group passing camera in the middle

00:17:55 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 2/4

Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:18:13 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:18:51 On the right : SS-Obersturmführer Albert Gemmeker , Commander of Westerbork transit camp

00:18:56 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:19:00 Albert Gemmeker – 3rd from left

00:19:03 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:19:35 Dienstleiter Heinz Todtmann | Personal Aide Gemmeker | frontal view | Author Westerbork Film Plan

00:19:40 Pushing an extra cattle car – Original Reel E198 Roll 3/4

00:19:48 Dienstleiter Heinz Todtmann | Author Westerbork Film Plan | standing on the right with papers

00:19:59 Gemmeker , Commander of Westerbork transit camp

00:20:15 Gemmeker | looking up

Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:20:18 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:20:35 Jews (incl. from penal barrack 67) boarding cattle cars for Auschwitz – FK, the flying squad, assisting with luggage

00:21:19 Name & date on this suitcase were key to finding the transport date ; Suitcase F. Kroon 26-9-82

00:21:33 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

00:21:51 Boarding 3rd class cars for Bergen-Belsen, including the ‘Diamond Jews’ group

00:22:04 Outbound transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz – May 19, 1944 – Original Reel E198 Roll 4/4

Restored RVD Westerbork Film duplicates

00:22:30 Inbound transport from Amsterdam – March 15, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:24:55 Inbound transport prisoners Camp Vught – March 21, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:26:40 Registration prisoners Camp Vught – March 21, 1944 – filmed with Victor camera

00:28:02 Inbound transport from Vught – March 21, 1944

00:28:09 Aircraft recycling – April/May 1944

00:45:14 Agfa film

00:45:25 Batteries recycling

00:47:14 Silver paper recycling, April / May 1944

00:49:20 Clothing factory

00:53:35 Toy factory

00:55:00 Toy factory

00:58:48 Manufacture of brushes

00:59:55 Shoemaking

01:02:25 Manufacture of handbags

01:04:09 Manufacture of soles and gloves

01:05:02 Weaving, repairing stockings

01:07:08 Agfa

01:07:14 Cufflinks factory

01:09:09 Laundry … ironing

01:11:06 Construction materials for barracks, April / May 1944

01:13:26 Construction greenhouse

01:16:05 Train to Oranje canal ship … loading bricks

01:24:46 Camp farm

01:35:30 Work the land

01:41:57 Arrival camp mine carts with bricks

01:44:01 Construction purification plant

01:45:20 Logging trees near Assen town

01:52:37 Religious Service Protestant Group in Great Hall , March 5 , 1944

01:52:46 Soccer match at Appellplatz, Sunday afternoon

01:55:52 Women workout

01:57:22 Revue night Bunter Abend – April 1944

Restored reel F1014

02:03:31 Animation Intertitles Transport Data

02:03:36 Camp farm / Work the land

02:04:41 Intertitle (planned for Revue Bunter Abend footage)

02:04:43 Construction barracks

02:05:03 Soccer match at Appellplatz

02:05:17 Ball shots – Special effects

02:06:23 Revue night Bunter Abend – April 1944

02:11:29 Miscellaneous short takes

Restored reel F1015

02:11:53 Gevaert logo

02:11:55 Young woman in overalls attaches sign to camp sign (Verwaltung, Hauptmagazin, Industrie, Kleiderkammer)

02:12:08 Religious Service of Protestant Group in Great Hall, March 5, 1944

02:16:14 Shoemaking

02:17:13 Aircraft recycling

02:17:56 Manufacture of brushes

02:18:05 Cufflinks factory

02:18:21 Aircraft recycling

Credits

02:25:19 Credits

CREDITS & REFERENCES