The Holocaust in the Netherlands

Monument at Westerbork: Each stone represents one person who was detained at Westerbork prior to being murdered in a Nazi camp

The Holocaust in the Netherlands was organized by Nazi Germany in occupied Netherlands as part of the Holocaust across Europe during the Second World War. The Nazi occupation in 1940 immediately began disrupting the norms of Dutch society, separating Dutch Jews in multiple ways from the general Dutch population. The Nazis used existing Dutch civil administration as well as the Dutch Jewish Council "as an invaluable means to their end".^[1]

Some 75% of the Dutch-Jewish population was killed in the Holocaust, an unusually high percentage compared to other occupied countries in western Europe.^[2]^[3]^[4] There is debate among scholars about the extent to which the Dutch public was aware of the Holocaust. Postwar Netherlands has grappled with constructing the historical memory of the Holocaust and created monuments memorialising this chapter of Dutch history. The Dutch National Holocaust Museum opened in March 2024.^[5]

^ Romijn, Peter, "The Experience of the Jews in the Netherlands during the German Occupation" in Dutch Jewry: Its History and Secular Culture, 1500-200. Leiden: Brill 2002, 269
^ JCH Blom (July 1989). "The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands: A Comparative Western European Perspective" (PDF). European History Quarterly. 19 (3): 333–351. doi:10.1177/026569148901900302. hdl:20.500.11755/1ab16853-ae62-4a30-a677-0e0d31c6f9f5. S2CID 143977907..
^ For more recent publications, see: Pim Griffioen and Ron Zeller, "Comparison of the Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, France and Belgium, 1940–1945: Similarities, Differences, Causes", in: Peter Romijn et al., The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1940–1945. New Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press/Vossius Pers/NIOD, 2012, 55–91. Pim Griffioen and Ron Zeller, "Anti-Jewish Policy and Organization of the Deportations in France and the Netherlands, 1940–1944: A Comparative Study", Holocaust and Genocide Studies 20 (3), Winter 2006, 437–473.
^ Tammes, Peter (1 July 2017). "Surviving the Holocaust: Socio-demographic Differences Among Amsterdam Jews". European Journal of Population. 33 (3): 293–318. doi:10.1007/s10680-016-9403-3. ISSN 0168-6577. PMC 5493707. PMID 28725097.
^ [1] National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam accessed 9 March 2024

[1] Romijn, Peter, "The Experience of the Jews in the Netherlands during the German Occupation" in Dutch Jewry: Its History and Secular Culture, 1500-200. Leiden: Brill 2002, 269

[jblo-2] JCH Blom (July 1989). "The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands: A Comparative Western European Perspective" (PDF). European History Quarterly. 19 (3): 333–351. doi:10.1177/026569148901900302. hdl:20.500.11755/1ab16853-ae62-4a30-a677-0e0d31c6f9f5. S2CID 143977907..

[3] For more recent publications, see: Pim Griffioen and Ron Zeller, "Comparison of the Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, France and Belgium, 1940–1945: Similarities, Differences, Causes", in: Peter Romijn et al., The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1940–1945. New Perspectives. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press/Vossius Pers/NIOD, 2012, 55–91. Pim Griffioen and Ron Zeller, "Anti-Jewish Policy and Organization of the Deportations in France and the Netherlands, 1940–1944: A Comparative Study", Holocaust and Genocide Studies 20 (3), Winter 2006, 437–473.

[4] Tammes, Peter (1 July 2017). "Surviving the Holocaust: Socio-demographic Differences Among Amsterdam Jews". European Journal of Population. 33 (3): 293–318. doi:10.1007/s10680-016-9403-3. ISSN 0168-6577. PMC 5493707. PMID 28725097.

[5] [1] National Holocaust Museum, Amsterdam accessed 9 March 2024

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