The Netherlands in World War II: Encyclopedia II - The Netherlands in World War II - Persecution of Jews

The Netherlands in World War II - Persecution of Jews

Shortly after the invasion the Persecution of Jews began. The Germans established a government with the Austrian Arthur Seyss-Inquart as leader. They also established a "Jewish Board". Mainly this was a way of organising the identification and deportation of Jews more efficiently. A substantial number of people from the diamond business organised this 'Board' and the Jews were told they were safe, as long as they all came to register themselves.

Only a few disagreed, mainly because it 'would jeopardise the Jewish community'. The Dutch people did not offer much resistance at that time either and a possible Allied victory seemed far away. When the Germans had gathered enough information they broke all promises and started deporting the Jews. In 1942 a transit camp was built near Westerbork by converting an existing internment camp for immigrants; at Vught and Amersfoort German concentration camps were built as well. At the end of the war only 30,000 of the 140,000 Dutch Jews survived. Two of the victims were Anne Frank, and Etty Hillesum who became famous years later because of the diary they produced in the years up to their executions.

The Dutch people reacted with a strike (the February Strike) as a protest against the deportations. Although the strike did not accomplish much, it was a major setback for Seyss-Inquart because he had planned to both deport the Jews and to win the Dutch for the Nazi cause. From then on the Nazis treated the Dutch more strictly.

Part of the reason that it was so easy for the Germans to round up the Jews was that the Dutch had registered their population in too much detail, including information about their religion. To this day, this is used as an argument in the Netherlands that such detailed registration is a bad idea.

There has been some criticism of Dutch Rail (NS) for helping the deportations by not going on strike. But there was little knowledge of what exactly was going to happen to the Jews and the trains were essential in other terrains. As an example of how much they were needed the later 'Hungerwinter' (see below) can be given. Another organisation later accused of assisting the deportation is the Dutch police: most Jews were in fact apprehended by them and not by actual Germans.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Persecution of Jews", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki