Remembrance Day

As it is May 4 today I have one more post from the Westerbork Memorial Centre and former camp grounds (see also my previous posts here and here). This is The National Westerbork Memorial, a permanent reminder of its sad history and one of the blackest pages in the history of our country. It is situated at the spot where, during WWII, the railroad from the town of Hooghalen to the camp terminated. After having cut through the entire camp, the train came to a standstill here. (read more on their website)

The memorial signifies the dismay that results from realising what has happened to the Jewish people. The curled up rails express this despair. The memorial was designed in 1970 by Ralph Prins, himself a former prisoner in this camp.

May 4 is 'dodenherdenking' or 'Remembrance of the Dead' in the Netherlands. Every year, people dedicate 2 minutes of silence at 8pm to pay their respects to soldiers and civilians who died during World War II, as well as other military conflicts and peace-keeping missions.

Memorial Centre photos and postcards

Following up on yesterday's post, this photo wall shows some of the 9,000 portraits that are displayed inside the Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre. Under the title A Name and a Face, the centre wants to bring possible victims and survivors back from anonymity. The names of the victims, their date and place of birth and place of murder are continuously projected onto the museum's special Name Wall, in one of the other rooms.

From the Memorial Centre we walked the 3 km to the former camp grounds, where this photo was taken. It shows one of the enlarged postcards that are displayed along the walking route through the area. They were written by people inside the camp during World War II.

Westerbork Memorial Centre

We recently visited the Westerbork Memorial Center ('Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork'), that tells about everything that happened in the nearby World War II refugee, detention and transit 'camp Westerbork'. The camp's function during the Second World War was to assemble Romani and Dutch Jews for transport to Nazi extermination camps and other concentration camps.

A great amount of photos, letters and postcards, all kinds of documents as well as old film fragments are exhibited and shown. So very impressive, all that happened back then is really beyond comprehension. The museum was built in 1983 on private initiative and with financial support from the Dutch government. The original camp grounds are also part of the Center and accessible for the public, more about that later.

The forest that failed

Last Sunday when we were near the villages of Westerbork/Hooghalen we passed this square area where -apparently- all trees had been cut, and thought nothing special about it until we saw the sign saying 'Mislukt bos' or 'The Forest that failed'. Staatsbosbeheer (a Dutch government organisation for forestry and the management of nature reserves) explains and tells about the planting of the lodgepole pine (Pinus Contorta) 50 years ago on this spot.

Common to the US and Canada, the pines unfortunately didn't do well here in the Netherlands. When some ditches in the area were closed in order to save a nearby vulnerable wet heather field, the forest became wetter. The trees were cut down then and now all is left to nature to 'spontaneously' create an area with whatever else will grow.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Westerbork observatory

Near the village of Westerbork, about 30 min drive from our home, is this row of 14 antennas with a diameter of 25 meters each, and together they form one big (HUGE is a better word) telescope. Four of them are movable along 2 rail tracks. They are operated by ASTRON, the Dutch foundation for astronomy research. The telescopes are often combined with other ones around the world to perform certain observations.
Officially called the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), it is commonly known as 'sterrenwacht Westerbork' ('Westerbork observatory').