By the end of the month 6,000 Jews had reached Auschwitz where the majority of them were gassed. More than 103,000 Jews would be transported to Auschwitz or Sobibor Extermination Camp.
Westerbork transit camp was a very strange place. There was a school for orphans - children who'd come without parents - a hair dresser, an orchestra, and even a restaurant. If a prisoner had enough money, it was possible for them to buy goods that were impossible to find elsewhere in Holland. This "comfort" was designed by the SS in order to avoid any problems during the transfer to Auschwitz. A lot of the prisoners felt that the condition of life in other prison camps would be the same as Westerbork. The Nazis seemed to always leave just a little hope for survival.
The most tragic part of this camp is the SS had very little to do with the transfers. The Nazi Commandant gave the orders, the Jewish "governing" body carried them out, in fear for their own safety. Imagine the irony, Jews selecting other Jews for certain death. The transfers were often done under the control of Dutch police. Every Tuesday a transport to the extermination camps would leave Westerbork. Naturally, the prisoners would be in a panic the days before the transports would leave. On Tuesday evenings, those not selected would have another week reprieve before it would start again.
In Sept. of 1944 the transports stopped. 900 prisoners remained in Westerbork when the Allied liberated the camp on April 12, 1945. The camp was totally destroyed after the liberation, nothing remains of Westerbork. However, there is a very poignant monument and a very interesting and well documented memorial at the site of the camp. The monument consists of a piece of railroad track, with each end twisting up to the sky.
