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       The Dutch Newspaper the Telegraaf, dated 14 September 1993, printed the story shown above: "Escaped prisoner saved Westerbork from a bombardment." It would appear that on 12 April 1945 the last 900 remaining Jewish prisoners, which still were held in concentration camp Westerbork, escaped certain death in the very nick of time."

       It is unfortunate indeed that more that 60 years have gone by without having obtained a crystal clear picture as to what exactly happened on that momentous day, the 12th of April 1945. Various stories have emerged, several have been recorded on this Website. I believe all who were there and lived through the liberation period are sincere men. Each of them sheds a ray of light on an otherwise clouded over bit of history. Somewhere in between rests the truth.

       The Dutch Newspaper the Telegraaf, dated 15 September 1993, featured the following story written by reporter Hens Schonewille in response to reactions received from, among others, Abraham Mol. The article in question, which appeared a day earlier, is shown to the left.

"That Canadian troops were prepared to shell concentration camp Westerbork with artillery fire has perplexed and shocked a number of former camp inmates. According to some of them the Canadians were ignorant of the fact that the camp even existed.

       As was reported yesterday in this Newspaper, the artillery bombardment was to have preceded the camp's occupation rather than its liberation. It would have led to a bloodbath, resulting in the loss of life for many inmates. According to newly released or discovered documents, the Canadians believed the camp to be a German military base. They did not know that the Germans had fled the camp on the 10th of April and apparently had no idea that some 900 inmates still were inside.

       The intervention of the Amsterdam born Samuel Schrijver supposedly prevented that shelling. The Jewish resistance fighter had escaped the camp during the night of April the 11th. He encountered the Canadians after swimming across the Oranjekanaal - Orange canal. Schrijver managed to reach the Canadian Brigadier General Allard. It cost him some effort to convince the general that only civilians were housed in the camp. He even stated that a Canadian reconnaissance patrol was dispatched, taken him along, to verify his story."

       Schrijver's statement, which by the way is fully corroborated by General Allard, has among others, upset the then camp inmate Abraham Mol from Scheveningen. The former civil servant of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and former male nurse of camp Westerbork tells a different liberation story of Transit Camp Westerbork. This camp was located in the moors of the province of Drente, from where Dutch Jews were deported to the extermination centers in Poland.

       Commandant Gemmeker, together with his SS guard unit, absconded on the 11th of April, 1945, when the Allied forces moved in northern direction. Mol: "They posted posters which said that the camp was turned over to the Red Cross. For the last Jewish prisoners still in the camp it said that we could remove our Jew stars. Furthermore, we were advised to remain in our barracks, seeing the camp had now become front-line."

       According to Mol, in this uncertain time period Schrijver as well as other former camp inmates feared the retreating Germans the most. "We were afraid that the Germans would level the camp with the ground. Others suspected it had to be an ambush, a reason for the Nazis to shoot anyone who dared to leave the camp," Mol remembered.

       To his relief Mol heard on the 12th of April that the Canadians had advanced to the Oranjekanaal which was approximately 3 KM south of the camp. Mol: "Together with a few other inmates I went to meet them. What caught our attention was the apparent fact that the soldiers we met were unaware of the existence of the camp. We had to show them the way." As far as Mol was concerned, Schrijver's story raised too many questions.