25,000 Dutch Jews Survive Despite Assistance of Underground, Many Lured to Death

About 25,000 Jews remain in Holland, according to the best information available here. Of these, about 9,000 were spared because they were married to non-Jews, while the others went into hiding. This means that about 100,000 Jews were exterminated.

The apparent contradiction between the large loss of life and the almost ananimous testimony concerning the assistance given Jews by the non-Jewish population, can be explained by the fact that the Germans succeeded in luring many Jews to their death by the creation of a “Jewish Council,” the members of which, the Nazi promised, would not be deported.

The council, at first, was entrusted with organizing Jewish life, including schools, theatres, hospitals and similar institutions. Soon, the organization was obliged to handle details connected with the doportation of thousands of Jews. At one the, 17,000 Jews were on the staff of the council, hoping that they would thus evade deportation. Eventually, however, when it was no longer useful to them, the Nazis disbanded the council and deported its membership.

Dr. Berthold Stokvis, a lecturer in experimental psychology at the University of leyden, is now making a study of the psychological effects upon Jews of the four paers of Nazi persecution. Dr. Stokvis, who was saved from deportation by the underground, confirmed that the Jews of Holland, unlike those of other countries, were not obliged to submit to the “circumcision test,” but persons married to non-Jews, who were, therefore, exempt from deportation, were compelled to submit to sterilization. this applied to women under 45 and all men unless they could produce medical evidence of sterility.