Background
Camp Westerbork was a transit camp in the Netherlands, originally established in 1939 by Dutch authorities to house illegal
Jewish emigrants. After the invasion of the Netherlands by the Nazis, the camp became a transport camp. From July 1942 until
September 1944, the Germans transported over 97,000 Jews to concentration camps in the east, with the vast majority sent to
death camps Auschwitz and Sobibor. When Canadian troops liberated Camp Westerbork on April 12, 1945, there were 876 prisoners
remaining.