holocaust, jewish, extermination, concentration camp, shoah, auschwitz, belzec, treblinka, monowitz, birkenau, night of the long knives,
deportations, judenrat, majdanek, westerbork, chelmno, vught, wannsee, theresienstadt, roma, sinti, night of the broken glass, extermination camps, nazi´s,
hitler, jews, diaspora, jewish council, judenrat, transportation, birkenau, ghetto, hans vanderwerff, sion soeters, aktion reinhard, terezin, himmler, david irving
holocaust denial, holocaust lest we forget, jews, synagogue, oswald pohl, odilo globocnik, deportations, judenrat, majdanek, westerbork, chelmno, vught,
wannsee, theresienstadt, roma, sinti, night of the broken glass, extermination camps, nazi´s, hitler, jews, diaspora, jewish council, judenrat, transportation,
birkenau, ghetto, hans vanderwerff, sion soeters, aktion reinhard, terezin, himmler, david irving, holocaust denial, holocaust lest we forget, jews, synagogue,
oswald pohl, siegfried seidl, protectorate, bohemia, moravia, murmelstein, karl rahm, anton burger, karl hermann frank,

 

Camp Westerbork Liberation - The Tommy's


Liberation scene of Westerbork (courtesy Westerbork Remembrance Center)


       Liberation for the 876 remaining inmates finally came on the 12th of April 1945. In addition to the 600 Jews also non-Jewish people were incarcerated in Westerbork during the last months of the war. According to Hans Colpa, in 1993 deputy director of the Westerbork Remembrance Center, it was the 8th Canadian Reconnaissance Regiment (# 7 troop), also known as the Terrier platoon under the command of Lt. Sheppard that approached the camp first. They were soon followed by the South Saskatchewan regiment of the 2nd Army Division. Aad van As, the Dutch government employee who had been in charge of the camp's Distribution Center during the war years, temporarily took over responsibilities as camp manager since the departure of Gemmeker.

       He called a meeting at about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th to discuss the immediate future. However, during this meeting, at the shout 'the Tommy's are here,' almost everyone raced outside in the direction of the camp farm to meet the liberators. Several jumped on the armored cars and rode back victoriously toward the entrance of the camp. Aad van As met with Capt. Morris, an intelligence officer attached to the Canadian Scotts. Capt. Afterwards, Morris addressed the liberated prisoners. For a complete and more detailed description of that momentous day please read pages 91 - 98, the chapter "Meneer van As, telefoon voor u! - Mr. van As, you have a phone call" from his book, "In het hol van de leeuw - In the lion's den." This book was published in Dutch in 2004, ISBN 90 72486 29 3.

Mr. Aad van As in '43
courtesy photo Breslauer

Capt. Morris in '45
courtesy photo C. Law

Lt. Ted Sheppard in '44
courtesy photo T. Sheppard 


       A second book which also covers this subject, the pages 105 - 111, "De thuiskomst - the Homecoming," is called "Westerbork, het verhaal van 1939 - 1945 - Westerbork, the story from 1939 - 1945." This book, avialable in the Dutch language only, was written by Harm van der Veen and co-sponsered by Guido Abuys, Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen. It was published in 2003, ISBN 90 72486 23-4. A third book, also in Dutch, on pages 85 - 91, "De Tommies zijn er! - The Tommies have arrived" details the liberation of camp Westerbork quite clearly. This book, under the editorship of Dirk Mulder and Ben Prinsen was published by van Gorcum & Co. B.V. in Assen. It is available under ISBN # 90-232-3924-8. All three books may be ordered from the Remembrance Center camp Westerbork webshop.


 

 





 










































 

 

 


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