It was February 19, 1941 when the black-shirted Dutch version of Hitler’s S.S. (called the WA, the military branch of the N.S.B., the Dutch Nazi party) had decided to “put up a show of strength” in Amsterdam. They marched through the city, beating up Jews and non-Jews who were hostile towards them. Amsterdamers fought back and Dutch Nazi named Koot was killed and several were wounded.
Later that same night the WA attacked the Jewish quarter where the Knokploegen -- combat groups -- made up of mostly poor Jewish laborers and artisans, were waiting for them. The militant welcome forced the Dutch Nazis to retreat.
Germans order formation of Jewish Council
In response to militant resistance to the Dutch WA, the Germans called a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish organizations. They were ordered to set up a Jewish Council ( the Joodse Raad) and announce a German order demanding that all Jews hand in any weapon that they owned.
The Dutch WA continued marching – now in the residential southern quarters of the city where the wealthier Jews lived. These Jews has also set up defense groups similar to those of their proletarian brothers in the center of the city. Dutchmen began attacking the homes of prominent Nazis, while around 2,200 Amsterdam shipyard workers went on strike.
German reprisals to resistance
In reprisal to the continued attacks and demonstrations, the Germans arrested 430 Jewish men between 18 and 35 years old and sent them to the Mauthausen concentration camp. The arrests of these Jews sparked a massive strike. Two non-Jewish municipal workers went around Amsterdam to stir up support among the working class. On February 24, 1941, 250 municipal workers, mostly communists, assembled to hear “passionate condemnation of the arrests of the Jews.” The strike was proclaimed for the next day.
Dutch workers strike in solidarity with Jews
The Nazis threatened Abraham Asscher, the co-president of the Joodse Raad along with David Cohen, with the arrest of 300 additional Jews if the strike did not cease immediately. Asscher appealed to his industrialist acquaintances that they should attempt forcing their employees to end the strike.
The strike of February 25-26, 1941, was an important historical occurrence during the Holocaust: this was the only time that a general strike was called due to the persecution of Jews. The potential existed at the time to create a mass resistance movement in Holland and to promote Dutch solidarity with their Jewish countrymen. But Asscher’s begging industrialists to stop their workers from striking in order to “prevent a disaster for the Jews” helped squash any mass Dutch movement of this kind. In his letter of resignation from the Joodse Raad, I. Kisch wrote that among his reasons for leaving the Council was their “appearance as a strike-breaker of such a Dutch and philo-Semitic movement as the February strike.”
Joodse Raad isolates the Dutch Jews
The Dutch Jews, who had full and equal rights since 1796, were being isolated by the accommodating behavior of the Joodse Raad, who were supposed to be “representing” them. The first order of business of the Council was to demand that Jewish action group members turn in their weapons. Not a single gun was brought in to the authorities. This demonstrated to the proletarian elements of Dutch society – who fought in or supported the actions of the Knokploegen – that the upper class members of the Joodse Raad were willing to do the bidding of the Germans. This furthered the isolation of Dutch Jewry.
The Germans had registered the entire Jewish population of the Netherlands. The statistics included 160,820 registrants: 140,552 of them Jews, 14,549 “half-Jews” and 5,719 “quarter-Jews.”
The publication of Het Joodse Weekblad (The Jewish Weekly), the official organ of the Joodse Raad, further isolated Dutch Jewry. The newspaper was a tool of the Germans for the sole purpose of publishing announcements and threats to the Jewish community without having to employ the daily general Dutch press.
The Joodse Raad published whatever the Germans told them to, further isolating the Dutch Jews. Travel was forbidden unless it was for an “urgent reason” and a permit was issued by the Council for “less than four days.” Otherwise all travel by Jews was “entirely forbidden.”
With the aid of the Jewish Council, the Germans forbade travel and could find Dutch Jews whenever they wished. There was no opportunity of escape into the greater Dutch world. By using Het Joodse Weekblad, the Dutch public at large was prevented from knowing what was happening to their Jewish fellow citizens. How could they then appreciate the grave situation that existed for Dutch Jewry and attempt to assist or help them?
Jewish-Nazi collaboration
The Jewish Council did not hesitate to enforce the most odious of the German commands, including the distribution of the yellow badges with the word, “Jood” (Jew) upon them “with such speed and efficiency that it aroused the admiration of the Germans.” The Joodse Raad assisted in implementing the deportation order of Spring 1942 without question. Council members assisted in the selections, withheld information from the public about deportations, and fought to obtain special privileges for a “small circle of notables.”
The Jewish Council constantly admonished Jews to comply with German orders, no matter how horrible and humiliating they may be. The Council worked only to save their own people: those of a similar class, education and economic background. They remained at the helm during the deportations to save the “most valuable elite” for the "future interest" of the Jewish community. The working class Jews, the proletariat, were the first to be shipped off to the death camps.
What evidence do we have that Cohen and Asscher collaborated with the Germans? Documents show that the Nazis gave the two men substantial privileges in order to make them feel secure when performing their jobs. There is evidence that Cohen and Asscher “reacted positively” when offered such privileges. The two men, their families, and other individuals they “deemed important” were sent to the “good” concentration camps and all of them survived the war. This arrangement has no parallel in German-Jewish relations during the entire Holocaust period.
Sources:
Helen Fein. Accounting For Genocide. National Responses and Jewish Victimization During the Holocaust. New York and London, 1979.
Joseph Michman. “The Controversial Stand of the Joodse Raad in the Netherlands.” Yad Vashem Studies X. Jerusalem, 1974.
Joseph Michman. “The Controversy Surrounding the Jewish Council of Amsterdam.” Patterns of Jewish Leadership in Nazi Europe 1933-1945. Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1979.
Jacob Presser. “The Judenrat in the Netherlands.” Imposed Jewish Governing Bodies Under Nazi Rule: YIVO Colloquium. New York 1972.
Eric Brothers - Eric Brothers' forthcoming book,The Berlin Ghetto, will be published by The History Press in the U.K. in 2012.
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