Eindhoven – michelvanderburg•com

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.

Heinrich Steinbach. Caravan site Eindhoven N.B.”

Notes

1 – Settela Steinbach in Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 (accessed 2026 May 18) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLNDziwEtc&t=1012s

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.”

6 – ‘Zigeunerrazzia’ 16 mei 1944. Peter Jorna. Stichting 18 September (Eindhoven) URL https://stichting18september.nl/zigeunertransport/

8- Sinti Caravan Site • 20260518 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | URL https://settela.com/2026/05/18

TAGS #Settela #girl #headscarf #Steinbach #Westerborkfilm #Westerbork #Breslauer #Roma #Sinti #gypsy #zigeuner #nomad #caravan #razzia #raid #Eindhoven #postcard #Holocaust #Porajmos #genocide #children #camp #deportation #Jew #Netherlands #railcar #train #station #transitcamp #UNESCO #film #letter #Heksenberg #Zwaaikom #Auschwitz #SettelaCom #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg

(English below)

1945 – Terugkeer Van Den Vliegenden Hollander

Brits-Nederlandse propagandafilm over de Nederlandse vliegeniers, ‘vliegende Hollanders’, tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog en bij hun thuiskomst na de overwinning op de Duitsers.
De stijl van de film is heroïsch en bestaat uit fragmenten van archief-, journaal- en speelfilms. Met Philip Bloemendaalachtige voice-over.

De film begint op 10 mei 1940 en toont de overmacht van de Duitsers – voor de Nederlanders was het ‘geen oorlog zoals zij zich die voorstelden’. Te zien zijn beelden van de Duitse inval in het Westen met o.a. de landing bij Moerdijkbruggen en het bombardement op Rotterdam, de gevechten bij Sedan, de Nederlandse overgave, vluchtende Nederlanders naar Engeland en de aankomst van de Koningin Wilhelmina in Londen.

Nederlanders in opleiding bij de RAF als vliegtuigbemanningen. Oefenen op de schietbaan. Nederlanders in eigen land bij het ondergrondse verzet. Ook aandacht voor drukken van illegaal drukwerk in Nederland. Het verspreiden van De Waarheid. “Dit volk bleef aan de overwinning geloven”. Gedwongen te werk stellen in Duitsland, de Arbeidseinsatz. Geloof in de vrijheid werd gevoed door de kerken. Preek vanaf de kansel. ZKH prins Bernhard bij het 322 squadron met hun mascotte, de papegaai Polly Grey. Beelden van aanvallen op Duitse transporten. Verschillende vliegtuigen zijn te zien, zoals de Spitfire, Hawker Typhoon, B-25 Mitchell bommenwerpers en Lancasters. Zij die dit overleefden kregen hulp, van o.a. mevrouw Van Bruggen die vertelt over een gebeurtenis in november 1943, toen een RAF-piloot was neergestort bij een boerderij in de buurt. Samen met de boerin hielpen ze de piloot, en een aantal van zijn collega’s, te ontsnappen, terug naar Engeland.

De invasie in Normandië, tijdens D-Day. “En de kust werd genomen”. Ook de Nederlandse middelzware bommenwerpers werden door Montgomery ingezet. Het oprukken van de geallieerde troepen door Noord-Frankrijk, België en Nederland. Beelden van Artillerievuur en gevangen Duitse soldaten. De bevrijding van Rouan, Amiens, België en Eindhoven.
Landen van North American B-25 Mitchell op vliegbasis [Soesterberg]. Ontvangst en huldiging op het kasteel van Helmond. Een officieel welkom door de burgemeester van ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Daarna komen de Vliegende Hollanders thuis. Vervolgens speldt ZKH prins Bernhard bij sommigen van hen het Vliegerkruis op. Sommige Vliegende Hollanders keerden niet terug…. “Aan hun nagedachtenis wordt deze film eerbiedig opgedragen.” Hun namen verschijnen in beeld.

1945 – Return Of The Flying Dutchman

British-Dutch propaganda film about the Dutch aviators, ‘flying Dutchmen’, in the Royal Air Force — in the Fighter Command, the Bomber Command and the Pathfinder Force — during the Second World War, and on their return home after the victory over the Germans.

World War II propaganda film (1945) produced by the Royal Air Force Film Production Unit & Nederlandsche Luchtstrijdkrachten.
The film is composed of scenes taken from numerous films made between 1940 and 1945.

The film starts with the ‘Blitzkrieg’ in Holland, the German invasion by surprise – landing in the West of Holland , bombing of Rotterdam, and escape of the dutch Queen Wilhelmina arriving in London.

Next training of the RAF flight crews, and of the dutch resistance in Holland is shown, and the forced labor of Dutch workers in Germany – the ‘Arbeitseinsatz’.
The dutch Prince Bernhard visits the Dutch squadron of the Royal Air Force – RAF 322.

Following the Normandy invasion, the British army advances in France and Belgium on its way to the Netherlands. The enthusiastic residents of the dutch city of Eindhoven welcome the tanks. Prince Bernhard honors the brave pilots with the Airman’s Cross (Dutch: Vliegerkruis) . Finally, a plaque shows the long list of names of those who fell in the five war years.

Credit

Return Of The Flying Dutchman ~ Film ‘Terugkeer Van Den Vliegenden Hollander’ produced (1945) by the Royal Air Force Film Production Unit & Nederlandsche Luchtstrijdkrachten ~ Source : “Collection Netherlands Institute of Military History” – thanks to Stephan Deiters | NIMH .
Remastered film :
1945 – Terugkeer Van Den Vliegenden Hollander | Return Of The Flying Dutchman | 20210508 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com – CC BY 4.0 .

TAGS #FlyingDutchmen #RAF #pilot #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #Holland #Belgium #Normandy #Rotterdam #bombardment #WW2 #war #invasion #Blitzkrieg #Arbeitseinsatz #propaganda #plane #pilot #QueenWilhelmina #PrinceBernhard #resistance #decoration #AirmansCross #Vliegerkruis #death #heroic

Updates

20220604 – Changes credit line