What was the extent of Dutch collaboration with the Nazis? How did the Dutch resistance compare to the resistance in other countries? Lastly, how were Dutch Jews received when they returned following the war?

by alleeele

I am a Jewish exchange student in the Netherlands, and I have become very curious about the Dutch narrative of the Holocaust/WWII. My experience during the lead-up to Memorial Day and Liberation Day was that there was a lot of focus on Dutch resistance, and no mention of collaboration. The Dutch narrative appears to be one of pride due to the very active resistance forces in the region. I have visited multiple museums and taken tours in many cities, and this has always been the focus. Throughout all this, my question has become--then why were 90% of the Dutch Jews murdered?

However, recently I went on a tour through Amsterdam with a very passionate tour guide who, for the first time, asserted that collaboration between Dutch police in Amsterdam and the Nazis was extremely high, and that this was the reason for the disappearance of the Dutch Jews, and that Dutch people don't like to discuss this aspect of Dutch history. I found this very interesting, as the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam had presented a narrative of coexistence and prosperity until the Nazis came along. So, I guess I'm asking;

  1. Is this narrative true? Were the Netherlands truly a better place to be Jewish than most of the world? Were Jews as assimilated as I have been told?
  2. Is the Dutch pride in resistance and WWII tolerance a 'whitewashing' narrative or one that reflects a reality in which the Dutch had less collaboration with the Nazis and greater resistance efforts than most of Europe? What I mean by collaboration is on the more local level, individuals acting out of hatred.
  3. What happened to the surviving Dutch Jews? Were there any instances of anger or violence such as the Kielce pogrom in Poland? Did they remain in refugee camps? After that, where did they go?
  4. As a bonus question: how do the Dutch remember the Jews?

Thanks in advance!

Paixdieu

Is this narrative true? Were the Netherlands truly a better place to be Jewish than most of the world? Were Jews as assimilated as I have been told?

Prior to German occupation? Essentially yes.

The Netherlands had long and consistent history of being a relatively safe haven for Jews since the Early Modern Period. Violent pogroms have been exceedingly rare in Dutch history, almost entirely limited to a few localities during the mass hysteria of the Black Death. During the 16th and 17th century, the Netherlands were a much favored destination for Iberian Jews who had been driven from Spain and (by contemporary standards) they were integrated into Dutch society to a remarkable degree.

Various explanations have been put forward for this, the most plausible focus on

  • The necessity of religious tolerance in the Dutch Republic, which is often described as protestant, but in reality had a large catholic minority, which in practice extended towards the Jews;
  • The high development of the Dutch economy, which was second only to that of the Italian Republics ever since the High Middle Ages and limited the opportunities for Jews to go into financial sector and subsequently be stigmatized for this.
  • The high degree of urbanization typical for the Low Countries, which is supposed to have made the Jewish community more familiar to the Dutch populace compared to more rural societies.

Antisemitism never really caught on in Dutch society. It wasn't non-existent, but it was incomparable to the antisemitism prevalent in France, let alone Germany or Eastern Europe.

For example, the Dutch National Socialist Party (NSB) even allowed Jews to become members until 1938; after which it radicalized due to the electoral success of the German Nazi party (the NSB never got more than 4.2% of the national vote) and did get more antisemitic in its rhetoric hoping (to no avail) to imitate German successes.

It's debatable to which extent the Jews were integrated at the onset of World War II. Dutch society was heavily pillarised which essentially meant a high degree of tolerance for different societal groups, but at the same time created a strong in-group/out-group mentality among them.

It's also important to discern between the Dutch Jews which had lived in the Netherlands for centuries and more recent arrivals from Germany, which tended to have a more marked identity and of course, did not speak Dutch. The family of Anne Frank (themselves refugees from Germany) is somewhat typical. Her parents saw themselves as German-speaking Jews, but Anne defined herself explicitly as both Dutch (not just Dutch-speaking) and Jewish. Which in a way, says a lot about the acceptance and integration of Jews within Dutch society as a whole.

Is the Dutch pride in resistance and WWII tolerance a 'whitewashing' narrative or one that reflects a reality in which the Dutch had less collaboration with the Nazis and greater resistance efforts than most of Europe? What I mean by collaboration is on the more local level, individuals acting out of hatred.

Dutch collaboration with the Nazi regime certainly existed and isn't white washed from history books. However, the degree to which this collaboration was truly antisemitic or due to hatred is quite debatable.

The Netherlands were (and are) an incredibly high trust society with a highly efficient bureaucracy and social organisation. When the Germans took over (quick note: the Netherlands were made into a Reichskommissariat, there was no civilian collaborationist government like in Belgium, Denmark or France) they were completely caught by surprise how well organised the population registers were: the religious denomination, address, occupation, familial ties of every Dutch citizen was neatly listed. Dutch society was naive and isolationist. The Dutch had a policy of strict neutrality since 1815; which had kept them out of the First World War and fully expected to remain out of the next one. They had no real idea of the consequences of a foreign occupation, of a total war, there was no contingency plan, documents (such as a the files listing all Dutch Jews) were not burned as the German panzers rolled ever closer.

This attitude wasn't even restricted to the non-Jewish Dutch populace. It is telling, that most of the Jews who committed suicide in the days directly after the Germans invaded the Netherlands, were almost exclusively German refugees, who knew exactly what awaited them; whereas most Dutch Jews cooperated with the German occupiers; with the majority expecting to be treated in a civil manner and assuming the warnings of the German Jews had been exaggerated! The sad reality of the Holocaust in the Netherlands, is that many Dutch Jews peacefully went along with Dutch policemen, who weren't antisemitic, but carrying out (what they believed was) their job.

After 1941, there was a change in public opinion. German soldiers had rounded up Jews in Amsterdam; which led to a mass protest, the only one of its kind in occupied Europe; but it failed to convince the Germans to ease down on either the deporting or treatment of Dutch Jews and the protests were violently put down. The general Dutch mood towards the Jews at this point, has been typified as apathy. They were preoccupied with their own survival. There were organised resistance groups from 1941 onward, but those engaged in more than passive resistance were typically either communists or from the Dutch Reformed community. All in all, out of a population of about 8,8 million, some 45.000 people were part of the organised resistance; of which 10.000 were executed. The number of Dutch people who offered passive resistance is much larger, with 350.000 Dutchmen going into hiding alone. By comparison, about 22.000 Dutchmen joined the Waffen SS.

Between 1941 and 1942 a significant number of Jewish families went into hiding; the majority however didn't and was deported to concentration camps, with almost all of them being murdered. Of the about 28.000 Jews who went into hiding, about 8.000 were either betrayed or discovered. The main incentive to betray Jews was money, not hatred or antisemitism. The betrayer was usually an unknown to the Jews themselves, in close to none of the cases were Jews betrayed or given up by their hosts, who were in grave danger themselves for harboring Jews in the first place. A total of 5,910 Dutchmen and women were awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations , which per capita is more than any other nation , though Poland has a higher tot absolute total.

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What happened to the surviving Dutch Jews? Were there any instances of anger or violence such as the Kielce pogrom in Poland? Did they remain in refugee camps? After that, where did they go?

There were no pogroms; they returned to the Netherlands or came out of hiding to initially find (again) a general sense of apathy: the final year of the German occupation of the Netherlands had been brutal, with famine and wide spread destruction and loss of life. Only later, did the general Dutch populace truly realize what the Jews (and other Dutchmen) went through in German concentration camps.

Jews were given back their houses and (if possible) their belongings. If nobody came to claim an inheritance, house or belongings, it was placed into the custody of the Dutch state. Though, as proven by the Goudstikker-case, this process didn't always go smoothly.

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As a bonus question: how do the Dutch remember the Jews?

The number of Jews currently living in the Netherlands, is about 40.000 to 50.000; almost all of them are fully integrated into Dutch society and, apart from their religion and the occasional surname, are generally indistinguishable from the general populace; so they're not gone.

Remembrance of the Dutch Jews who died during World War II tends to be very visible though. One can find memorial plaques on many houses in which Dutch Jews used to live and during the 4th of May (Remembrance Day) the names of the fallen (including Dutch Jews) are read aloud in nearly all ceremonies.

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Throughout all this, my question has become--then why were 90% of the Dutch Jews murdered?

The number of Dutch Jews which were killed in the Holocaust was about 70%, which though lower than 90% is still more than any other Western European country.

To summarize what was written above, there were multiple reasons:

  • The Netherlands were under direct German military control.
  • The Dutch bureaucracy was highly efficient and cooperative.
  • The various subgroups in Dutch society remained apathetic to one another, including the Jewish community, due to pillarisation.
  • The Dutch, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, were highly trustful of governmental institutions.
  • Both the Dutch and Dutch Jews had an initial degree of naivety towards the Germans and the Nazi ideology, causing them to greatly underestimate the danger it posed.

In addition to these factors, but which wasn't discussed in depth, is that the geography of the Netherlands tends to be unsuited for people trying to hide on their own. The Netherlands is a densely populated country, almost completely flat and without vast woods or swamps to hide in or sustain oneself (unlike for example, the Bielski partisans in Poland)