The last Jews remaining in Amsterdam, including the members of the Jewish Council, which was the central Jewish body in occupied Holland has been deported by the Gestapo from the Westerbork concentration camp to an unknown destination, Premier Peter Gerbrandy of the Netherlands Government-in-Exile, announced today.
The expulsion of the last of the 65,000 Amsterdam Jews took place on September 29, the head of the Netherlands cabinet said in a broadcast. He emphasized that much as the Dutch nation suffers under German occupation, the Jews in Holland have suffered more.
“Although there are hardly any Jews left on Dutch soil, the Jewish section of our people will resume one day its place in the Netherlands,” he continued. “The curtain descended upon the Jewish drama when the last 5,000 of the still remaining Amsterdam Jews were forced three weeks ago to follow the path of their brethren to slavery escorted by torturers.”
“I am moved by the tragic fact that Jewish leaders were forced to help organize the expulsion of their brethren,” Premier Gerbrandy said. “The Jewish Council accepted the offer to assist Jews in their misfortune and it performed its task with love and devotion. But the oppressor used and misused even this Council. When victims for deportation were no longer available, the members of the Council suffered the same fate of all the Jews of Holland.”
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