photo: © Sake Elzinga
This year marks 75 years since around 3,000 Moluccans, soldiers of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), and their families were housed at Camp Westerbork. They were told it would be a temporary stay. The camp had been renamed the Schattenberg Residential Camp.
In April 1952, Maria Austria (1915-1975) visited Schattenberg to photograph the Moluccan orchestra. Her sister, mother, and brother had been imprisoned in the barracks where Moluccans now lived. Austria made thirty-one photographs in Schattenberg.
The exhibition Maria Austria Was Here presents photographs from her work: the Schattenberg photographs, images from the Second World War and its aftermath, and music and theater photography.
Projections also tell the history of two families: the Jewish Oestreicher family, centered on Maria Austria, and the Moluccan Wairata family, centered on Otto, who died in Schattenberg at the age of 8.
The exhibition is part of the Memorial Center's Schattenberg theme year and was created in close collaboration with the MAI.
This opening marks the launch of the Schattenberg theme year. Through it, the Memorial Center aims to raise awareness of Camp Westerbork's 'other history' and develop a meaningful place for the Moluccan community, with room for commemorations and other activities.
Maria Austria Was Here - In Schattenberg, formerly Camp Westerbork
From March 21, 2026
Camp Westerbork Memorial Center
Oosthalen 8
9414 TG Hooghalen
