We left the camp singing

Etty Hillesum, c.1940. Photo: Joods Historisch Museum via Wikimedia.

Each Monday, from July 1942 to September 1944, a long and empty train would slowly snake towards the Dutch village of Westerbork and pull into its overcrowded transit camp. 24 hours later, having been filled with more than a thousand Jews of all ages, that same train would head for one …