Why Was the Percentage of Dutch Jews that Were Slaughtered So High?

Manfred Gerstenfeld
The percentage of Dutch Jews murdered by the Germans and their collaborators in World
War II was higher than in any other Western European country. When the war broke out,
there were 140,000 Jews living in Holland, representing about 1.6 percent of the total
population of the country. In Amsterdam, the Jewish population numbered 9.5 percent of
the citys population.
About 107,000 Jews were deported from Holland; 102,000 of them were murdered. The
others hid, or were married to non-Jews and were thus saved from deportation, or tried to
escape to other countries. Fewer than a thousand survived the war in Westerbork, the
transit camp from which most of the Dutch Jews were sent to their deaths in the east.
Numerous explanations have been offered for the high proportion of Jews murdered.
Even before the capitulation of the Dutch army only five days after the German
invasion on May 10, 1940 Queen Wilhelmina had fled to England. She did so without
consulting her government, which decided afterwards to follow in her footsteps.1
The Germans had planned to establish a military government in Holland. However, Hitler
recognized the opportunity to establish a civilian Nazi government in the governmental
vacuum created by the flight of the queen and the government. A representative of the
Reich was appointed as early as May 18 to serve as the head of the civil government in
Holland. This representative, an Austrian Nazi leader, Dr. A. Seyss-Inquart, reported
directly to Hitler. Seyss-Inquart brought with him a number of other Austrians, who
subsequently proved their efficiency in organizing the plundering and deportation of the
Jewish population of Holland.
Historian Jozeph Michman, the former chairman of the Institute for the Study of Dutch
Jewry, which is located in Jerusalem, has suggested yet another factor to explain the
widespread repercussions of the Holocaust in Holland: He maintains that Hitler in fact
1

Nanda Van der Zee, Om erger te voorkomen. Amsterdam: Meulenhof. 1997. p.141ff.

intended to turn Holland into part of the Third Reich after the war. Indeed, many Nazi
leaders claimed that Holland had been mistakenly separated from Germany some time in
the distant past.
One of Eichmanns delights
Because Hollands administrative system ran very smoothly and the documentation of all
individuals was exemplary, it was very easy to round up the Jews. The occupiers handed
down orders and the Dutch authorities carried them out. Another explanation often raised
credited the high proportion of Dutch Jews that were murdered to the fact that Holland is
a small, flat country in which it is much more difficult to hide than France or Belgium.
This is a weak argument: After all, in the final years of the war, plenty of hiding places
were found for the Dutch laborers summoned to the work camps in Germany. Towards
the end of the war, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people were hidden, and only five
percent of them were Jews.
After the flight of the queen and government, the government ministries directorsgeneral had the highest authority that remained of the original Dutch government.
Because they were in an inferior position vis--vis the German occupier, these officials,
who were experienced in administrative matters, did not represent a significant rival to
the German occupier. Consequently, they helped to place the administrative institutions
at the disposal of the occupier.2 This fact aided in the identification of Jews, their
isolation from Dutch society and ultimate deportation after their property had been
looted. By August 1941, all the Jews were required to register with the authorities. Of the
160,000 that did so, 140,000 were deemed full-fledged Jews in accordance with the Nazi
racial laws.
In their preparations for the extermination of Dutch Jewry, the Germans could count on
the help of the majority of Hollands administrative infrastructure. The occupiers required
very little manpower of their own. It was the Dutch police that rounded up the families
designated for transport to their deaths in Eastern Europe. The trains of the Dutch Train
2

See Gerhard Hirschfeld, Bezetting en collaboratie. Haarlem: Becht, 1991.

Administration, staffed by Dutch employees, transported the Jews to the transit camps in
Holland, the first station on the way to Auschwitz, Sobibor and other death camps. Van
der Zee writes that when relating to the collaboration of the Dutch, Eichmann said, The
transports start out in such a smooth fashion its a delight to see.3

From: Netiv: January 2000, The attitude of the Dutch to the Jews during and
after the Holocaust Myth and reality, pp. 57-64, (Ariel Center for Policy
Research).

V. der Zee p.42.