At first the prisoners were not used as cheap labour for (the war) industry. Because the Nazis held that work had a disciplining effect, the prisoners were made to work all day in Kommandos: teams of various sizes which carried out work inside and outside the camp. The heavier work was done by the teams that worked outside: felling trees, constructing defences, and levelling land for the expansion of the camp. The prisoners also worked in the kitchen, the cobbler's, the tailor's, the sawmill, the rag sorting area, the metal demolition area, the sick wing, and the depot. Prisoners in Westerbork also worked in agriculture and market gardening, and all the organisational and administrative work there was done by the Jewish prisoners.

References to documents with information about the work that prisoners did

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