A company founded by Jews that operates department stores and supermarkets throughout Holland is refusing to comply with a government law that calls on all Dutch companies with more than 35 employees to register their foreign workers with the government.
KBB, which owns the De Bijenkorf department store chain and the Hema supermarket chain, says the government regulation is all too remindful of German measures enacted during World War II that required all people of Jewish origin to register with the authorities.
The Dutch government instituted the registration program in an effort to determine how many foreign nationals a firm employs and to find out whether companies are using fair hiring practices.
The government is specifically tracking the employment of people from Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, Vietnam, Somalia and the Caribbean.
KBB stands to lose millions of dollars in fines for refusing to comply with the regulation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
