Transport from Westerbork, Camp, The Netherlands to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 19/05/1944

The deportation list for the transport of May 19 was compiled in Westerbork. Auschwitz survivor Eva Geiringer, who was 15 years old at the time of the deportation recalled in her memoirs the moment that the deportation list was read out: ‘A female prison guard appeared and read out a list of names for immediate deportation. […] Those remaining were extremely relieved that they had been able to prolong their stay in Holland but they did as much as they could to supply us with extra food, clothing, blankets, suitcases, even shoes – anything that might aid our survival on the journey and after.’ Camp-photographer Werner Rudolf Breslauer, who was a German Jewish camp inmate, filmed a documentary about the daily life in Westerbork by order of camp commander Albert Konrad Gemmeker. Apparently the film records the transport that left Westerbork on May 19. Researchers have been able to reconstruct the exact date of the transport through a close-up of the scene of a sick woman who is wheeled to the train on a stretcher. Her name and birth date ‘F. Kroon; 26-9-82’ appear on her suitcase. Frouwke Kroon from Appingedam was indeed deported on the transport of May 19 to Auschwitz where she was murdered on May 22. Breslauer furthermore filmed a cart with provisions that included sausages and margarine. He also showed elderly deportees sitting on the floor of a cattle car and a girl looking out from cattle car No. 10. In addition Journalist Aad Wagenaar was able to prove that this girl, who initially had been regarded as Jewish, was Settela Steinbach, a Roma girl. Breslauer also filmed SS-men and guards standing before the train. Among them were Gemmeker and Scharführer Hendrik van Dam, who checked the deportation lists. Then the departing train is shown. The train cars at the front of the train were third class passenger cars. These cars were intended for 238 deportees who were travelling to Bergen-Belsen. They were mainly diamond workers. The rear part of the train consisted of freight cars and of one passenger car for the guards. The freight cars carried 453 Jewish deportees who were deported to Auschwitz. Many of these deportees had been arrested in hiding. One such arrest took place on April 4, 1944 in Hilversum. Gerardus Ganzevles, a Dutch collaborator who during the war informed on 52 Jews, discovered two hiding addresses where 20 Jews were concealed. They were all arrested by Dutch collaborators and the local police. They were then transported to Westerbork. 13 of them were deported on the transport to Auschwitz of May 19, the other 7 were deported on different transports to Auschwitz. Only two of them survived....