In 1939, the refugee camp Westerbork was established outside of the village to accommodate German refugees who had fled Nazi Germany. A year later, Nazi Germany had occupied the Netherlands following the Battle of the Netherlands. In 1942, the refugee camp was turned into a transit camp and more than 100,000 Jews, Roma, and Sinti were deported via Westerbork to concentration and extermination camps in Nazi Germany and occupied Poland. Between 1945 and 1948, after the war had ended, the camp was used as internment camp for collaborators.