German footballer Erich Gottschalk fled with his family to the Netherlands before the start of WWII. They were brought to Westerbork after the German invasion in 1940, which at that time still served as a central refugee camp. On July 1, 1942, Westerbork was converted into a “Judendurchgangslager” (transit camp for Jews), and many German-Jewish refugees were involved in the organization of the camp. Many of these people, known as “oude kampbewoner” (old camp residents), were exempt from deportation for some time. The Gottschalk family was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on September 4, 1944.