The silence of Camp Westerbork
Schoonloo, Hooghalen, Grolloo
This route takes you through an important and difficult period in Dutch history: the Second World War. You cycle large parts of the route through the dense, silent forests and open meadows of the Drenthe heartland. In the vast nature reserve near Hooghalen, you course along winding roads past little fens, bits of sandy plains and beautiful, multifaceted rows of trees. Until nature ends in a place that literally and figuratively leaves you speechless: the grounds of former Camp Westerbork. Tucked away in this nature reserve, Camp Westerbork is one of the most important relics of Dutch wartime history. From 1942 to 1945, ninety trains departed from here towards Germany and Poland, with a total of more than 100,000 people on board. These were mainly Jewish people. They were rounded up at Camp Westerbork and later taken ruthlessly to a destination, where death often awaited them in a concentration or extermination camp. The majority left for Auschwitz, in Poland. With the above numbers, Westerbork is by far the largest Dutch transit camp of World War II. It took another two years from the occupation in May 1940 before the Nazis took over the camp from the Dutch government in July 1942. Until then, it had been a refugee camp for Jewish refugees from Germany. In January that year, the Nazi leadership had decided to launch the Final Solution: all European Jews were to be systematically exterminated. So also the Jews living in the Netherlands. Many of them stayed in Westerbork for only a short time, only to be deported by train. With an unknown but dreaded destination. Around the camp, which was demolished in the 1970s for the construction of an observatory, you can still find all kinds of buildings and objects that bear witness to the black events of the German occupation. The memorial centre houses a small museum about the period when the site served as a transit camp. You will also find the war memorial, with its more than one hundred thousand memorial stones and the remaining rails of the train track. You can walk along a path where the camp's approach route used to be. There is also an original residence of the camp commander still standing on the grounds. These are places to reflect on this black period in history, in the already quiet, natural surroundings of the former camp. Old photos: National Archives. This Premium cycle route was compiled by our editor: Huub Mol.
| Directions | Distance | Total distance | |
|
Start: Westdorperstraat 29, 9443 TM Aa en Hunze | 39.5 KM | |
|
From
51
to
54
|
4695 M | 4.7 KM | |
| Head west on Westdorperstraat | 2.8 KM | ||
| Turn right onto Ieberen | 195 M | ||
| Make a slight right | 1.7 KM | ||
| You are now at section 54 | 0 M | ||
|
From
54
to
58
|
1458 M | 1.5 KM | |
| Head northwest | 1.5 KM | ||
| You are now at section 58 | 0 M | ||
|
From
58
to
24
|
2556 M | 2.6 KM | |
| Head west | 234 M | ||
| Turn left onto Blankeveen | 30 M | ||
| Turn right onto De Halkenbroeken | 1.6 KM | ||
| Turn left | 705 M | ||
| You are now at section 24 | 0 M | ||
|
From
24
to
22
|
3100 M | 3.1 KM | |
| Head northeast on Grolloërwal | 482 M | ||
| Turn left onto Soartendijk | 966 M | ||
| Turn left onto Tipslagweg | 1.7 KM | ||
| You are now at section 22 | 0 M | ||
|
From
22
to
3
|
3104 M | 3.1 KM | |
| Head southwest on Amen | 3.1 KM | ||
| You are now at section 03 | 0 M | ||
|
From
3
to
31
|
2465 M | 2.5 KM | |
| Head west on Oosthalen | 36 M | ||
| Turn right | 2.1 KM | ||
| Turn left | 281 M | ||
| You are now at section 31 | 0 M | ||
|
From
31
to
33
|
932 M | 0.9 KM | |
| Head northeast on Paradijsweg | 932 M | ||
| You are now at section 33 | 0 M | ||
|
From
33
to
8
|
2998 M | 3 KM | |
| Head northwest on Geelbroekerweg | 462 M | ||
| Make a slight left onto Geelbroek | 2.5 KM | ||
| You are now at section 08 | 0 M | ||
|
From
8
to
37
|
2667 M | 2.7 KM | |
| Head east on Eleveld | 236 M | ||
| Turn left to stay on Eleveld | 938 M | ||
| Turn right onto Hemmenweg | 1.3 KM | ||
| Make a slight right | 122 M | ||
| Turn left onto Hemmenweg | 8 M | ||
| Turn right to stay on Hemmenweg | 101 M | ||
| You are now at section 37 | 0 M | ||
|
From
37
to
95
|
2914 M | 2.9 KM | |
| Head south on Hoofdstraat | 322 M | ||
| Turn left onto Oal Diek | 1.3 KM | ||
| Turn right onto Amen | 1.3 KM | ||
| You are now at section 95 | 0 M | ||
|
From
95
to
96
|
900 M | 0.9 KM | |
| Head east on Amen | 63 M | ||
| Make a slight right | 837 M | ||
| You are now at section 96 | 0 M | ||
|
From
96
to
80
|
5144 M | 5.1 KM | |
| Head northeast on Weg voor de Binnenvelden | 1.1 KM | ||
| Turn right | 43 M | ||
| Continue onto Vredenheimseweg | 908 M | ||
| Turn left to stay on Vredenheimseweg | 2.4 KM | ||
| Turn left onto Amerweg | 450 M | ||
| Turn left onto Hoofdstraat | 234 M | ||
| You are now at section 80 | 0 M | ||
|
From
80
to
83
|
2241 M | 2.2 KM | |
| Head northeast on Hoofdstraat | 106 M | ||
| Make a slight right onto Oostereind | 74 M | ||
| Turn left | 38 M | ||
| Turn right | 15 M | ||
| Turn right | 44 M | ||
| Make a slight left onto Oostereind | 2 KM | ||
| Turn right | 14 M | ||
| You are now at section 83 | 0 M | ||
|
From
83
to
87
|
2470 M | 2.5 KM | |
| Head south | 1.2 KM | ||
| Turn right | 436 M | ||
| Turn left onto Tienmaatsweg | 884 M | ||
| You are now at section 87 | 0 M | ||
|
From
87
to
51
|
1860 M | 1.9 KM | |
| Head south on Tienmaatsweg | 1.2 KM | ||
| Turn left onto Weg langs de Strubben | 629 M | ||
| You are now at section 51 | 0 M |