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Until July 1942, Westerbork was a refugee camp for Jews who had moved illegally to the Netherlands. After the German conquest of the Netherlands, Westerbork was expanded into a transit camp for Jews deported from the Netherlands to killing centers.
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Westerbork

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Anna Pfeffer
ID Card
Anna Pfeffer
Arrival of a transport at the Westerbork camp. Westerbork, the Netherlands, October 1942.
Photo
Arrival at Westerbork
The interior of a barracks at the Westerbork transit camp, after liberation. Westerbork, the Netherlands, after April 12, 1945.
Photo
Barracks in Westerbork
Deportation of Jews from the Westerbork transit camp. The Netherlands, 1943.
Photo
Deportation from Westerbork
Deportation from the Westerbork transit camp. Members of the Jewish police are seen in the photograph. The Netherlands, 1943–44.
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Deportation from Westerbork
Train station in the Westerbork camp. Westerbork, the Netherlands, between 1942 and 1944. From 1942 to 1944 Westerbork served as a transit camp for Dutch Jews before they were deported to killing centers in German-occupied Poland. 
Timeline Event
Deportation of Dutch Jews
Dutch Jews from Hooghalen during deportation to the Westerbork transit camp. The Netherlands, October 1942.
Photo
Deportation of Dutch Jews from Hooghalen
Franz Anton Ledermann
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Franz Anton Ledermann
Gert Laske
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Gert Laske
Grietje Polak
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Grietje Polak
The Dutch government established a camp at Westerbork to intern Jewish refugees who had entered the Netherlands illegally. This sketch of the Westerbork transit camp was made by a Jewish inmate who was able to emigrate to the United States. In early 1942, the German occupation authorities decided to enlarge Westerbork and convert it into a transit camp for Jews. The systematic concentration of Jews from the Netherlands in Westerbork began in July 1942. From Westerbork, Jews were deported to the killing centers in German-occupied Poland.
Document
Hand-drawn plan of Westerbork transit camp
Ilse Luise Citroen Ledermann
ID Card
Ilse Luise Citroen Ledermann
Roll call of the camp Jewish police. Westerbork transit camp, the Netherlands, 1942 or 1943.
Photo
Jewish police in the Westerbork camp
Until July 1942, Westerbork was a refugee camp for Jews who had moved illegally to the Netherlands. After the German conquest of the Netherlands, Westerbork was expanded into a transit camp for Jews deported from the Netherlands to killing centers.
Timeline Event
Liberation of Westerbork
Map
Major camps in the Low Countries, Westerbork indicated
Ruth moved to the Netherlands after Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass") in 1938. She and her father had permits to sail to the United States, but Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 and they could not leave. Ruth was deported to the Westerbork camp in 1943 and to the Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany in 1944. After an exchange agreement with the Allies broke down, Ruth was interned near the Swiss border until liberation by French forces in 1945.
Oral History
Ruth Moser Borsos describes forced-labor assignments in Westerbork

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