Kamp van hoop en wanhoop

This book is based on a television documentary of the same name, made for TROS, a Dutch broadcasting corporation, in 1990. Preceded by a survey on the history of the camp (pp. 20-48), presents fourteen interviews with survivors (three of them couples) who related their experiences in Westerbork between 1939-45. Most of them were Dutch Jews, some were German Jewish refugees. Describes the organization of the camp, the conduct of the Dutch and German SS and of the German commander Albert Konrad Gemmeker, the role of the Jewish Council, and the organization of the transports. Sketches daily life - the hospital, the pharmacy, the orphanage, children's activities, religious activities, and social-cultural activities. Contains an essay on Rudolf Werner Breslauer (1904-1944), a professional photographer and filmmaker, who made a film on the orders of Gemmeker. Some of his photographs appear in this book. All of those interviewed declared that Gemmeker knew the purpose of the transports, namely the extermination of the Jews. Includes a chronological list of all the 93 transports to the concentration and extermination camps. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)