Editing Westerbork transit camp (section)

==Post World War II==
Following the war, Westerbork was first used as a [[remand prison]] for alleged and accused Nazi [[Collaborationism|collaborators]]. It housed later Dutch nationals who fled the former [[Dutch East Indies]] ([[Indonesia]]).

Westerbork was completely disassembled in the 1960s by the Government of the Netherlands.<ref name=":1" /> Later, the Dutch built the [[Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope]], a large [[radio telescope]], on the site. Only the former camp commander’s house has been preserved, in a glass container.<ref name=":1" />

=== Historiography ===
[[File:Modell Westerbork.jpg|thumb|Model of the Westerbork concentration camp]]
In 1950, the government appointed Jewish historian [[Jacques Presser]] to investigate the events connected with the mass deportation of [[Jews in the Netherlands|Dutch Jewry]] and the extent of the collaboration by the non-Jewish Dutch population. The results were published fifteen years later in ''The Catastrophe'' (''De Ondergang''). Presser also published a novel, ''The Night of the Girondins'', which was set in Westerbork.

=== Holding place for Moluccan soldiers ===
In 1949, when the Dutch left their over [[Dutch East Indies|300 year occupation]] of Indonesia, [[native Indonesians]] were left in political unrest. Some people who had worked with French, Algerian and Dutch militaries were evacuated, because they were the subject of anger by the other indigenous people who had resisted colonisation and felt betrayed at the Moluccan peoples siding with their [[Colonization|colonisers]]. The peoples were promised a quick return to their homeland. However, from 1951 to 1971, former indigenous [[Moluccans|Moluccan]] [[Royal Netherlands East Indies Army|KNIL]] soldiers and their families were made to stay in the camp. During this time, the camp was renamed ''Kamp Schattenberg'' (Camp Schattenberg).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy|last=Polakow-Suransky|first=Sasha|publisher=Nation Books|year=2017|isbn=978-1568585925|pages=19}}</ref>

=== Memorials ===
[[File:Monument appelplaats Kamp Westerbork2.jpg|thumb|"{{ill|The 102,000 stones|nl|De 102.000 stenen}}" monument at Westerbork. Each individual stone represents a single person that stayed at Westerbork and was killed in [[Nazi concentration camp|Nazi concentration]] and [[extermination camp]]s.]]

A museum was created two miles from Westerbork to keep the memories of those imprisoned in the camp alive.<ref name=":1" /> As a tribute to those inmates who were killed after deportation, a memorial was commissioned;<ref name=":1" /> it consists of 102,000 stones, representing each person who was deported from Westerbork and never returned.
[[File:Memorial stones at Camp Westerbork.jpg|thumb|Memorial stones at Camp Westerbork]]
The National Westerbork Memorial was unveiled at the site by Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands]] on 4 May 1970.<ref>{{cite web | title=Jodenvervolging: Nationaal Monument Westerbork| website=Drenthe in de oorlog | url=http://www.drentheindeoorlog.nl/index.php?aid=346 | language=nl |quote=Het Nationaal Monument Westerbork wordt op 4 mei 1970 officieel door Koningin Juliana onthuld| access-date=2019-02-08}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kampwesterbork.nl/en/museum/camp-grounds/the-national-westerbork-memorial/index.html#/index|title=The National Westerbork Memorial|website=Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork|access-date=1 May 2018}}</ref> Also, a monument of a broken railroad track torn from the ground is displayed near the camp to symbolize the destruction the camp, as well as others, wrought on the European Jewish population, and the determination that the tracks would never again carry people to their deaths.<ref name=":6" />

In 2017, [[Westerbork film| films commissioned by the German camp commander Albert Gemmeker]] from a Jewish prisoner, [[Rudolf Breslauer]], to document everyday life in the Westerbork transit camp, were submitted by the Netherlands and included in the [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World]] Register.<ref>{{cite web|title=Westerbork films|website=Memory of the World|publisher=United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/westerbork-films|access-date=2025-05-02}}</ref>