ANONYM | Girl with the headscarf … | 20210416

2021041620220604 ~ michelvanderburg

ANONYM | Girl with the headscarf …
(silent film)

Who is she ?

This frightened, dark-eyed girl with a white headscarf – anonymous icon of the holocaust … a few seconds in the unique Westerbork Film. Raw footage shot by Camp Westerbork inmate Rudolf Breslauer during World War II in Holland.

Early 1990s – 50 years later – little is known about this Westerbork film. Dutch journalist Aad Wagenaar starts searching for the girl’s name. Project ‘Esther’ – his working title.
Key finding together with the Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre researchers Gerard Rossing en Koert Broersma analyzing the film footage, is the inscription on the suitcase of that woman brought on a stretcher to that transport. Close inspection of that suitcase – flipping the image – viewing the film frame by frame – to and fro – revealed her name and birthdate : F.KROON
26.9.82

In this video I also inverted the black–white.
Further , a clearer image is possible now in the still presented here – likewise edited – taken from the higher quality , recently recovered ‘camera-original’ film found on other archived reels by Gerard Nijssen for the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision | NIOD – and published Jan 20, 2020.

That special train car with Settela, car #16, with the 74 pers. mark on the vertical shelves, was also part of that train filmed by camp inmate Rudolf Breslauer leaving Westerbork – with the ‘4’ crossed out and a 5 added – so one person had been added before departure.

On that stretcher was Frouwke Kroon – born 26 September 1882 – deported May 19, 1944 – and murdered on arrival in Auschwitz.
That train left Camp Westerbork on May 19, 1944 with ca 700 people – both Jews and 245 Sinti and Roma – the so-called ‘Gypsy transport’ – dutch: ‘Zigeunertransport’.

The girl with the headscarf got her name back Monday 7th February 1994, when Aad Wagenaar met survivor ‘Gypsy mama’ Theresia Crasa Wagner . She told him, she sat on the floor behind the girl , standing near the door. When they heard the doors being closed , her mother yelled :

‘Settela !
Get away from the door, or your head will get stuck !!’

The Dutch Sinti girl Settela (Anna Maria) Steinbach was born – the traditional way , under the family wagon – on 23 December 1934 in Buchten in the Dutch province of Limburg.

Settela’s family had been arrested 3 days before they were deported. Settela’s hair was shaved off in Camp Westerbork – hence the ‘headscarf’ made by her mother.
Mother Toetela (Emilia) Steinbach with ten children and a grandchild were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The 9-year old Settela was gassed and burned early August 1944.
Settela’s father Moeselman (Heinrich) Steinbach died of grief in 1946 in Holland.

Credits

Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands.
Video from Westerbork film montage reel 1 (RVD cat.nr. 02-1167-01) courtesy of NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (KNAW), and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
Still (edit by Michel van der Burg) from camera-original film published Jan 20, 2020 courtesy of Gerard Nijssen | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision | NIOD | NOS.

Story based on :
* 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).
* Kamp Westerbork gefilmd by Koert Broersma and Gerard Rossing (editors Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen; ISBN 9023232658 .
* Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com (accessed 2021 Apr 16) URL: https://wp.me/p91enH-1x
* Nieuwe beelden van iconische Westerborkfilm gevonden (by Ronja Hijmans | NIEUWSUUR | NOS (accessed 2020 Jan 20) URL https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2319497-nieuwe-beelden-van-iconische-westerborkfilm-gevonden.html
* 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/
* ‘Sinti en Roma in Den Haag, voor, tijdens en na de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1900-1970)’ by Peter Jorna (Haags Gemeentearchief, 2021) PDF online (accessed 2021 Apr 15) URL https://www.owrs.nl/nieuws/nieuw-boek-sinti-en-roma-in-den-haag
* The Forgotten Genocide – The fate of the Sinti and Roma. Online exhibition by Tweedewereldoorlog.nl . Including a clip of the interview by journalist Aad Wagenaar with Crasa Wagner ; from documentary Settela, gezicht van het verleden, directed by Cherry Duyns (VPRO 1994) (accessed 2021 Apr 15) URL https://romasinti.eu

TAGS #girl #Settela #headscarf #anonymous #Sinti #Roma #Jew #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Holland #Westerbork #Porajmos #Holocaust #genocide #identification #Wagenaar #WesterborkFilm

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line , references

Stella’s Stars in Amsterdam 1932 | 20210307

2021030720210308 ~ michelvanderburg

Little star Liesje Poons, 9 years-old, wins the first prize at the masquerade ball (bal masqué) organised by Stella Fontaine in 1932 at the Bellevue theater in Amsterdam, Holland.
A show with costumed children doing acts like imitating an indian, magician, Russian, and dancer Liesje Poons dancing on ‘Dass ist die Liebe der Matrose’. With dutch songs like, ‘In Holland staat een huis’, ‘Waarom zijn de bananen krom’.
Dutch diva Stella Fontaine (Saartje Kanes, 1889-1966) – born in a Jewish Amsterdam family – was a cabaret artist, imitator, actress and singer.
Liesje (Elisabeth Cornelia Poons) born 1 July 1922 in a Jewish Amsterdam family of artists – active in the world of theater and music – became a singer , performing eg. July 1940 in the Amsterdam Carré theater, and May 1943 in Leiden (newspaper Leidsche Courant May 8, 1943).

Elisabeth Cornelia (Liesje) Poons at the age of around 6 years, ca. 1928. Source : Joods Historisch Museum | JCK

References

Biography (dutch) Stella Fontaine :
Canes, Saartje (1889-1966)
Source : Maarten Hell, Canes, Saartje, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Canes [08/11/2017]

Biography (dutch) STELLA FONTAINE
Source JOODSAMSTERDAM URL: https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/stella-fontaine/

Biography (dutch) Liesje’s grandmother :
Source : Het levensverhaal van Elise Poons, geboren Van Biene. By Frits Slicht in Verhalen uit Amsterdam Oost. URL: https://geheugenvanoost.amsterdam/page/75765/het-levensverhaal-van-elise-poons-geboren-van-biene-1

Newspaper advertisement with both Liesje Poons and her father Sylvain Poons performing in Operette in the Amsterdam Carré theater July 1940 :
De Boemel Baron CARRÉ Operette | Piet Köhler … Liesje Poons – Sylvain Poons ….
In Nieuwe Amsterdamsche Courant | Algemeen Handelsblad Saturday 6 July 1940
Source : National Library of the Netherlands – Koninklijke Bibliotheek. URL: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBNRC01:000052467:mpeg21:pdf

Newspaper advertisement with Liesje Poons singing with Dance orchestra of Harry Pohl, May 1943 :
Leiden Stadsgehoorzaal theater Sunday 9 May | Dance orchestra Harrij Pohl with chansonnière Liesje Poons …
Source : Leidsche Courant May 8, 1943, page 3
URL: https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LC/1943-05-08/edition/0/page/3?query=

Liesje Poons and father Sylvain Poons in Operette Boemelbaron. Source Nieuwe Amsterdamsche Courant | Algemeen Handelsblad Saturday 6 July 1940

Credits

Film source: Polygoontoon (Producer | March 7, 1932) courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).

TAGS #children #jew #theater #1Memo #MiraclesMedia #michelvanderburg #Holland #Amsterdam #StellaFontaine #LiesjePoons #dance #show #holocaust #cinema #Bellevue #masquerade

Amsterdam’s Choir of the Great Synagogue 1935

20190830 ~ michelvanderburg

November 1935, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the NIHS Jewish Community of Amsterdam (orthodox Ashkenazi congregation started 1635) the dutch film factory Polygoon brought this unique cinema sound newsreel of the Amsterdam Choir of the Great Synagogue led by choirmaster Samuel Henri (Sam) Englander, with a solo perfomance by chazzan (cantor) Izrael Eljasz Maroko in the Great Synagogue (inauguration building 1671) – now home to the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, Holland (Ref 1).

As the Amsterdamsche Joodsche Koor (Amsterdam Jewish Choir), the choir also performed in non-religious venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (Ref 2). The choir’s repertoire was expanded to include what were referred to as Eastern European Jewish folksongs and modern Palestinian-Jewish songs (i.e., contemporary Hebrew songs).
The Choir of the Great Synagogue and Amsterdam Jewish Choir was composed of the following singers (those marked with an asterisk sang during synagogue services):

Giacomo Aletrino (tenor)
Marcus Bonn (bass)
Joop Delcanho* (tenor)
David Duque (bass)
Michel Gobets (tenor)
Nathan Gobets Sr.* (tenor)
Barend Levie Muller* (bass)
Meijer Nebig* (baritone)
Lou Nieweg* (tenor)
David Peeper* (baritone)
Louis Polak (bass)
Jo Rabbie* (baritone)
Sal Stodel (baritone)
Bernard de Wit (bass)
Louis de Wit* (bass)
Of all of them, only Lou Nieweg is known to have survived the Second World War.

NL (dutch)

November 1935, ter gelegenheid van het 300-jarig bestaan van de NIHS Joodse Gemeenschap van Amsterdam (de Asjkenazische gemeente Amsterdam of ‘Nederlands Israëlitische Hoofd Synagoge’) kwam het Polygoon bioscoopjournaal met deze unieke geluidsfilm van het Amsterdams Koor der Grote Synagoge onder leiding van koordirigent Samuel Henri (Sam) Englander, met een solo van oppervoorzanger Izrael Eljasz Maroko in de Grote Synagoge in Amsterdam (inwijding gebouw 1671) – nu het Joods Historisch Museum (Ref 1).

Het koor trad ook op als het Amsterdamsche Joodsche Koor op niet-religieuze locaties, waaronder het Amsterdamse Concertgebouw (Ref 2). Het uitgebreide repertoire van het koor omvatte ook zogenaamde Oost-Europese Joodse volksliederen en moderne Palestijnse-Joodse liederen (d.w.z. hedendaagse Hebreeuwse liederen).
Het Koor der Grote Synagoge en het Amsterdam Joods Koor bestond uit de volgende zangers (die met een asterisk gemarkeerd, zongen tijdens synagoge-diensten):

Giacomo Aletrino (tenor)
Marcus Bonn (bas)
Joop Delcanho * (tenor)
David Duque (bas)
Michel Gobets (tenor)
Nathan Gobets Sr. * (tenor)
Barend Levie Muller * (bas)
Meijer Nebig * (bariton)
Lou Nieweg * (tenor)
David Peeper * (bariton)
Louis Polak (bas)
Jo Rabbie * (bariton)
Sal Stodel (bariton)
Bernard de Wit (bas)
Louis de Wit * (bas)
Alleen van Lou Nieweg is bekend dat hij de Tweede Wereldoorlog heeft overleefd.

References

1. De Eerste Zichtbare Synagoge Van West-Europa. Amsterdam (Netherlands) : Joods Historisch Museum | jck.nl ; (accessed 2019 Aug 30). Link URL: https://jck.nl/nl/longread/de-grote-synagoge
2. Anton Kras. The Choir of the Great Synagogue, Amsterdam, Holland. Tel Aviv (Israel) : Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot | http://www.bh.org.il ; (accessed 2019 Aug 30). Link URL: https://www.bh.org.il/choir-great-synagogue-amsterdam/

Credit / Source info :
Source: Polygoon-Profilti courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Public Domain – Open Images).
Amsterdam’s Choir of the Great Synagogue 1935 (20190830) Michel van der Burg | miracles.media – CC BY 4.0 .

Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931

20190826 ~ michelvanderburg

Like in Hollywood , the Jewish Dutch are prominent in the Dutch film world before World War II – during the interbellum.
The three top players in the Dutch film industry also share that Jewish background – Abraham Tuschinski (Ref. 1, 2), Loet C. Barnstijn (Ref. 3) and David Hamburger Jr.

Here a speech by David Hamburger jr., chairman of the Nederlandsche Bioscoopbond (NBB) (Dutch Union of Cinema Proprietors), a film published May 17, 1931 (commissioned by Polygoon / courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision – Open Images) on the upcoming Polygoon cinema newsreels with sound that will soon replace the silent newsreels of Polygoons Hollands Nieuws (Dutch News).

References

1. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Jul 24. Turn .. “Draaien” .. Filmland 1934. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nnk
2. Michel van der Burg. 2017 Nov 25. Lon’s World Premiere. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nhx
3. Michel van der Burg. 2019 Aug 24. Hollywood in Holland – Barnstijn’s FILMSTAD Opening 1935. Netherlands : Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com ; (accessed 2019 Aug 26). Short-link URL: https://wp.me/p14gqN-nng

① memo 20190826 ~ Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931

Sjabbos

2019082320190824 ~ michelvanderburg

Film link : http://www.oorloginblik.nl/film/niod/2759421

Sjabbos | Friday Night (1932) avant garde film documentary made by dutch filmmaker Jan Teunissen (G.J. Teunissen) on the Amsterdam Jewish Quarter when sabbath starts.
It’s the first film presented by the dutch jewish film producer Loet C. Barnstijn – and as and artistic documentary , different from his later films. Sound by Polygoon Haarlem and Tobis-Klangfilm, Studios Éclair Paris-Èpinay-sur-Seine.

Pre-war Amsterdam’s Jewish quarter at the start of the shabbat: street life with shops and market, the Zuidertoren tower strikes 4 o’clock and the sabbath starts. The shops are closing, businesses are being shut down, employees are rushing home.
While the women at home put the finishing touches to the meal, carefully set the table and light the candles, the men hurry to the synagogue. Chazan Blanes enters the Snoge (Portuguese Synagogue) through the side gate, cantor Maroko greets the shabbat in the Grote Synagoge (Great Synagogue).

Jan Teunissen joined the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands in 1940, benefactor member of the dutch SS in 1941 and head of the Filmgilde – the film section of the dutch ‘Kultuurkamer’ – the NS propaganda organisation in Holland during WW2.
Fragments of this film where used in 1941 in the dutch version of the Nazi antisemitic propaganda film “The eternal Jew”.
After the war Jan Teunissen was detained 3 years and subsequently prohibited from working in the Dutch film industry for ten years.

References
http://www.oorloginblik.nl/film/niod/2759421
https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/collection/film-history/person/jan-teunissen https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Teunissen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTMN_QOrdKQ