Marc Michiels – expert author on the history of Transport XX and coordinator for many years of the annual Transport XX commemorations in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium – unfortunately passed away April 2021 . Some months later his web site ‘holocaust’ (at telenet.be) dedicated to Transport XX was taken offline. Now — when searching for info on Robert Korten – Marc’s predecessor as the first coordinator and founder of the XXth convoy-commemorations – I was happy to to find Marc’s website is back online, now at the appropriate new domain : transportxxboortmeerbeek.be
Citation info : Transport XX Boortmeerbeek – Marc Michiels | 20240309 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode fd808fa3-09f2-4c0d-b9c8-f711a47b05ba | URL 1-memo.com/2024/03/09
Filmmaker Rudolf Breslauer also filmed two of his children in the Westerborkfilm…
Stefan (left) & Ursula Breslauer, children of Rudolf Breslauer, the filmmaker of the Westerbork film at the farm of Camp Westerbork in 1944 – identified by the dutch photographer Sake Elzinga, who received Breslauer’s family photo albums last year when the family of Ursula – the only survivor – visited an expo on Breslauer in the Westerbork museum in the Netherlands.
Camp commander (SS-Obersturmführer) Albert Gemmeker ordered the Westerbork film , made by the German Jewish prisoner, photographer, Rudolf Breslauer in the spring of 1944.
Today 80 years ago – March 5, 1944 – the camp is an ‘Arbeitslager’ – a work camp – when Rudolf Breslauer starts filming the daily life of the Westerbork prisoners — inside : in the barracks, for example a religious service, cabaret, workshops, factories, aircraft and battery recycling, medical care, and outside the barracks : construction of a greenhouse, a football match, women working out, chopping wood, incoming transports, and eventually also the departure of a deportation train. After Breslauer films the deportation of Jews, Roma and Sinti to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz on May 19, 1944 the filming stops. The haunting image of the 9-year-old dutch Sinti-girl Settela, standing in the closing doors of the goods train, and the unique footage of that deportation train that leaves the Westerbork camp, became iconic after the war.
Deportation Breslauer family
Werner Rudolf Breslauer , his wife Bella Weihsmann, sons Stefan and Max Michael (Mischa), and daughter Ursula were deported autumn 1944 from Westerbork to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. Only Ursula survived.
Stefan & Ursula Breslauer in Westerborkfilm | 20240305 | Settela•Com | Frame 127475 from Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949 9313 | Footage filmed by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944, courtesy of NIOD | Sound and Vision
Scene with Stefan & Ursula Breslauer, starting at 56:13 in the 1986 RVD edition of the Westerborkfilm: Stefan & Ursula Breslauer in Westerbork Film RVD | 20240305 | Settela•Com | URL https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxfNzA72JeGgVoOFp_VTI4EQQr3yTwXu6_
Settela Film | 20220630 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com
Deportation Westerbork Film | 20210719 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com
CitySkip Featured Video – April 20, 2009 | Short film TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels | 20240229_1 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode deab5515-d0de-453d-9c8d-f4074a39d03b
April 20th, 2009 , TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels was featured as the most popular video at CitySkip.
CitySkip was one of the Web 2.0 communities – a network about all aspects of urban life, from city planning to street art, a forum for “cool people who dig cities” for posting messages, sharing photos and videos – at Ning.com in addition to the mainstream social networks MySpace, Facebook, YouTube. It existed from 2007 untill February 2010.
CitySkip Featured Photo – April 20, 2009 | Storyboard film TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels | 20240229_2 | Miracles•Media | TakeNode 0af46f73-5df8-4aaf-812a-355553775dd3
TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels February 28th, 2009, Brussels. Day two, of my encounter with the TRANSPORT XX installation outside in the Royal park in Brussels, that presented 1200 photographic portraits of Jews deported from Malines (Belgium) to Auschwitz in 1943. One of the stills and establising video shots made that Saturday morning after finishing long take video recordings of the installation, during a walk from our hotel in the Leopold (European) Quarter via the Royal park direction the historic centre of Brussels. That weekend break in Brussels, today 15 years ago, turned out to be a turning point in my life. Two months later – April 19, 2009 – the film TRANSPORT XX — installation Brussels was published.
8. First Encounter TRANSPORT XX … | 20240227 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/02/27 | TakeNode cf0dd64d-4512-4846-8bce-6b2d8cca24ef
9. Camera used for both photo and video (720p HD video) of the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels is the Sony DSC-T500 which has a CCD sensor – with global shutter – thus not affected by rolling shutter distortion while panning the installation.
Citation info : Encounter TRANSPORT XX … | 20240228 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/02/28 | TakeNode a8317838-7470-4538-b788-40e6cc07b55a
February 28th, 2009, Brussels — my first encounter with the TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels, that presented 1200 photographic portraits of Jews deported from Malines (Belgium) to Auschwitz in 1943. Turning point in my life. Two months later – April 19, 2009 – the film was published.
Citation info : First Encounter TRANSPORT XX … | 20240227 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/02/27 | TakeNode cf0dd64d-4512-4846-8bce-6b2d8cca24ef
In 1940, the dutch teen idols Johnny and Jones, even though they were Jews, were able to continue performing under the Nazi occupation without too many problems. The Amsterdam duo sang jazzy Dutch songs with a mock American accent and a parody of current events.
Blackout means black!
July 1940 Johnny and Jones sang a parody on the Blackout , the dutch song ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ (make it dark in the dark).
Later during World War 2, in 1943, they were deported to the Nazi death camps. They died of exhaustion in the last days of the war in 1945 (see Notes).
Still image in film : Poster for the single ‘Maak het donker in het donker’.
Lyrics ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ | Johnny and Jones (1940)
De overheid heeft het publiek bevolen Als het donker is dan moet het donker zijn ! Er mag geen enkel licht naar buiten schijnen Doe verduisteringspapier voor je gordijn Anders staan ze ’s avonds aan je bel te bellen En dan komt de luchtbescherming je vertellen :
Refrein: Maak het donker, maak het donker in het donker Ook al gaan de sterren door met hun geflonker Ik loop langs de huizenkant Met mijn luchtbeschermingsband Een lantaren in mijn hand Om te kijken waar iets brandt Houdt dus rekening met de verduisteringswensen Maak het donker, reuze donker beste mensen ! Refrein
Het blokhoofd van blok zeven uit wijk negen Zag de dochter van het wijkhoofd uit blok tien Met een rood hoofd kwam hij blokhoofd negen tegen, Hij zei hoofd, heb jij het wijkhoofd ook gezien ? Ik heb in het hoofd gezet het wijkhoofd te gaan vragen , Of die wijkhoofd-(griet/strike?) mijn blokhoofdnaam wil dragen : Refrein
Van Zanten zag een meisje in het duister, Zij was slank gevormd en toch niet dik van lijn. Hij dacht, dit is de jonkvrouw mijner dromen, Binnenkort zal zij mevrouw Van Zanten zijn. In de duisternis vroeg hij haar om een kusje, Flip van Zanten zei zij toen, ik ben toch je zusje ! Refrein
Music : Maak het donker in het donker | Text & Music by Johnny and Jones (1940). Recorded in Vara-studio, Hilversum, 19 july 1940. DH2051. (Varagram 7175). | Wikimedia Commons
Film (image) : edited from Polygoon-Profilti cinema news reel week 36, September 1940 (under nazi rule) | Sound & Vision (Open Images).
Citation info : Blackout…Johnny and Jones 1940 | 20240118 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 17a685fd-9944-471b-992f-47be88ead857
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