Footsteps of WWII · The Netherlands
Camp Westerbork Memorial Centre
Camp memorial · Jul 1942 – Apr 1945
The story
Westerbork was built by the Dutch government in 1939 to house Jewish refugees from Germany. From 1 July 1942 the Germans used it as the transit camp for the deportation of Jews, and also Sinti and Roma, from the Netherlands. Ninety-three trains left Westerbork: 65 to Auschwitz, 19 to Sobibór and 9 to Theresienstadt and Bergen-Belsen. Anne Frank and the others from the Secret Annex arrived on 8 August 1944 and were put on the last train to Auschwitz on 3 September. Canadian troops liberated the camp on 12 April 1945, finding 876 prisoners. The memorial centre opened in 1983.
What to look for
The museum tells individual stories through film, letters and objects, including footage shot in the camp in 1944. A shuttle bus runs 3 km to the camp site, where the 102,000 stones memorial, the National Monument of curled rails and a goods wagon stand among the outlines of the barracks.
Plan your visit
Open Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00, weekends and holidays 11:00–17:00; closed 25 and 31 Dec, 1 Jan, and about three weeks in January for maintenance. Adults €13.50, including shuttle bus and audio tour; debit card only. Cars cannot drive to the camp site.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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