Westerbork – Lagerverwaltung transport cards

These transport cards come from the ‘Lagerverwaltung’ of durchgangslager Westerbork.
The cards contain information regarding the deportations from camp Westerbork to concentration camp Auschwitz.

Camp Westerbork

In 1939 a refugee camp was built in Westerbork to receive Jewish refugees from Germany.
On July 1, 1942, the Germans started using the camp as a transit camp.

From 1 July to 1 September 1942 Erich Deppner was a Lagerkommandant.
Then until 9 October 1942 they became Josef Hugo Dischner and a few days later Bohrmann. From October 12, 1942 to April 11, 1945, the SS officer Albert Konrad Gemmeker was the camp’s commander.

The number of German SS men for the entire camp thus amounted to 20 to 30 men.
They were stationed in the nearby camp Hooghalen (Heidelager).

From July 15, 1942 to September 13, 1944, more than 100,000 prisoners were deported from camp Westerbork by train. Only 5,000 Jews and 32 Roma who were deported from camp Westerbork survived the Second World War.

On April 12, 1945, the Canadians liberated 876 Jewish prisoners in camp Westerbork.