Camp Westerbork Memorial Center is concerned about the ‘major revival of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands’ due to the war between Hamas and Israel. To combat this, access to the memorial center is free on Sunday, December 10, during the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah.
“We have been seeing for some time that there is little awareness of Judaism in the Netherlands and that knowledge about the Holocaust in our country is decreasing,” says director Bertien Minco. “We as the Camp Westerbork Remembrance Center want to do something about this. By organizing meetings and transferring knowledge, we can prevent the trivialization of the Holocaust. And thus help to create a society in which there is no place for anti-Semitism.”
On December 10, the memorial center will reflect on the story behind the photo that camp prisoner and photographer Rudolf Breslauer took in Westerbork camp in 1942 during Hanukkah. Minco: “In that famous photo you see children in a barracks lighting the hanukkiah, the nine-armed candelabra used during the celebration.”
Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish festival of lights. Light has an important symbolic meaning in Judaism. “It symbolizes both life and knowledge. Light brings the end of darkness, the end of a period of ignorance,” said Minco.
On December 10 there will also be additional tours of the camp grounds and two guest speakers will share their experiences. Micha Gelber talks about his time as a child imprisoned in Westerbork and Naomi Koster-Levie shares her family story. Her parents were stuck in Westerbork for a long time and also witnessed the liberation there.