Kazerne Dossin • Transport XX • 1MEMO_20260420 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Today 15 years ago, the night of April 20, 2011 , at the Courtyard of the former Dossin barracks (Kazerne Dossin) , Mechelen, Belgium , preparing for my 1st interview with Simon Gronowski scheduled the next day, April 21, 2011 at his office in Brussels — while working on our documentary film Transport XX to Auschwitz.
You’ve Got Mail • Transport XX • 1MEMO_20260419 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • Today 15 years ago, on April 19, 2011 , Simon Gronowski mailed me photo’s in preparation for our 1st interview scheduled April 21, 2011 at his office in Brussels, working on our documentary film Transport XX to Auschwitz.
Jun 21, 2007, I started pioneering at YouTube, creating Channel012. The first YouTube video ‘Fire Breather’ was shot at a 4:3 aspect ratio (640×480 pixels) and produced at a 16:9 aspect ratio with black bars for my first YouTube upload on Dec 30, 2007.
Unlisted ‘Fire Breather • 2nd Edition’
Next a 2nd edition of ‘Fire Breather’ was produced at the original 4:3 aspect ratio, and uploaded the next month, Jan 18, 2008. YouTube displayed that 2nd edition at a higher quality. Sometime later though I decided to change visibility of that 2nd edition to ‘unlisted’ in order to preserve and favor the 1st edition views count.
Lost Forgotten Film
More recently that forgotten unlisted 2nd edition video appeared to be lost somehow…until I learned today that YouTube had changed visibility in 2021 of all unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 to ‘private’ automatically for security reasons with a worldwide system change.
Today I changed visibility at YouTube of that 2nd edition (video shown above) to public.
From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story : The Documentary (Extended Version) • 20250419 • A film by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg
Today 80 years ago , April 19, 1945 – the Buchenwald band ‘Rhythmus’ – with Jiří Žák & Robert Clary – gave a jazz concert in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald for their comrades and US soldiers that liberated the camp .
We , today, present the extended version of our Robert Clary documentary, now featuring also Robert Clary’s desire that Jiří Žák be nominated as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem…
Almost certainly, three Jewish people have been recognized in the unique Westerbork film from 1944 (1). This time it concerns the 9-year-old boy Israël Wijnschenk, his father Max Wijnschenk, and his grandmother Betje Kokernoot-van Furth, who all lived in Utrecht (Holland).
Last week, the Dutch public broadcaster NOS (2) reported the news from the Utrecht (Dutch) news site Nieuws030 (3) that it is very likely that three people were recognized again in this film made by the Jewish prisoner and filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer showing the deportation of Jews, Roma and Sinti by train in Camp Westerbork on May 19, 1944.
Image researcher Koen Hulsbos — who previously identified an Amsterdam couple in this deportation train (4) — thought he recognized the young Israël Wijnschenk, a pupil at the time of the Joodse (Jewish) School Utrecht, and presented this to Victor Frederik, researcher of the Joodse School (5,6). The boy, the man, and the woman seem to belong together, and were recognized from family photos, also by family members.
It is certain that Max and his wife Chel (not in the images) returned to Utrecht after the war, their children Israël and his sister Kitty were murdered. Grandma Betje was also gassed in Auschwitz.
A portrait of Israël Wijnschenk is shown at the site of Joods Monument (7).
According to the transport list, there were two other children in that wagon, Joseph Beugeltas (11 years old) and Manfred Studzinsky (7 years old). Joseph Beugeltas appeared to have blond hair, and could not have been it (6). To be completely sure, the researchers are still looking for a photo of Manfred Studzinsky, for comparison…
October 15, 2024 — Watch free online the full documentary “The Jews of Corfu” – a film by Mirjan Gjergjevica & Maria Boua (1) .
Documentary “The Jews of Corfu” – a film by Mirjan Gjergjevica & Maria Boua
The Jews of Corfu – Review
The Jews of Corfu – a population group that was an important part of the island, contributed to the formation of its history. But the tragic events that befell them were added to the black page of human history. The film The Jews of Corfu (2021) is a powerful documentary by Mirjan Gjergjevica (direction, cinematography, editing, production) & Maria Boua (script, music, sound, production) with narration by Yannis Andriotis and stories told by Zaharias Matathias • Linos Sousis • Nina Vital. Powerful — both visually and the sound — filmed in an innovative way, combining ambient sound and stories told outdoors with the Mediterranean background, in public spaces, the streets, and Corfu synagogue – with an excellent film score – that is especially impressive how it manages to accompany the viewer in scenes of holocaust atrocities. The history of the Corfiot Jews – a mixture of Pugliese (from south Italy) and Romaniote (from Greece) is told in vivid detail from the Middle Ages to today. I watched this fast paced film twice, last premiere weekend, to fully grasp the whole picture ~ Michel van der Burg – Monday , March 14, 2022 (2).
Film festivals & education & online
The free public release of the film was announced last Saturday (Oct 12, 2024) by filmmaker Mirjan Gjergjevica (3) :
“It is with great pleasure and honor that we present to public our documentary, The Jews of Corfu. This work has been screened in many festivals around the world, from America to Australia, and has been lovingly embraced by schools and universities. Now, we are happy to share this freely with you all. I warmly thank all the main contributors who contributed to the realization of this documentary: Maria Boua, Christiana Latsa, Yiannis Andriotis, Anthi Kyrtsoglou, Giorgos Zumbos and all those who helped directly or indirectly. We hope this documentary continues to convey its message to even more people and be a way to learn about the history of the Jews of Corfu.”
Mirjan added in an update Oct 13, 2024 :
“We would like to clarify that the present publication of the documentary is not related to the recent war events that are taking place. We condemn all forms of violence and conflict, and we strongly advocate peace and reconciliation among the peoples. “
