Breslauer was born in Leipzig, where he was trained as a photographer and as a printer. In 1938, as the Nazis began the extermination of Jews, he fled to the Netherlands, where he lived and worked in Leiden, Alphen, and Utrecht.^[1] In 1942, Breslauer, his wife Bella Weissmann, sons Mischa and Stefan and daughter Ursula were imprisoned and deported to Westerbork transit camp. Camp commander Albert Konrad Gemmeker [de] ordered Breslauer to make photographs and films of life in Westerbork.^[2] Breslauer and his family were transported to Auschwitz in the autumn of 1944.^[3] His wife and two sons were immediately killed, Rudolf Breslauer died a few months later. Their daughter Ursula survived the war.

The German camp commander, Albert Gemmeker ordered Breslauer to document everyday life in the Westerbork transit camp. In 2017, these films were submitted by the Netherlands and included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.^[4]

•  
  Settela Steinbach May 19th 1944
•  
  Christmas 1942 in Westerbork (from left to right) Albert Konrad Gemmeker [de], Hassel, Aus der Fünten and Scheltnes of Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co.
•  
  Hanukkah in Westerbork
• Transport to Auschwitz (Westerbork movie [nl])
•  
  Train: No carriage ..... Train must be closed when returned to Westerbork

•   Media related to Rudolf Breslauer at Wikimedia Commons
• The Westerbork movie by Rudolf Breslauer in 1944. NPO-Geschiedenis, May 2011 (Four short movies and two films with loose footage)
• Holocaust Encyclopaedia: Westerbork