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Netherlands
A total of 2,838 testimonies have content on the Netherlands—these were conducted in various languages (including 1,083 interviews in Dutch) and in several different locations (1,062 in the Netherlands).
A large number of testimonies talk about the prewar Jewish communities in Holland: some 1,439 Jewish survivors interviewed by the Shoah Foundation were born in the Netherlands, growing up in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and other locations.
After Hitler came to power in 1933, refugees from Germany and Austria fled to Holland, some making their way further on Kindertransports to the United Kingdom or immigrating to the United States.
After the German invasion of May 1940, the situation gradually became ever more perilous for Jews. The Dutch testimonies describe the imposition of anti-Jewish laws, such as the wearing of the yellow star; the role of the Joodse Raad (Jewish Council or Judenrat) and its leaders Abraham Asscher and David Cohen, among others; the formation of the Amsterdam ghetto and the use of the Hollandsche Schouwburg as a collection center; the deportations to the Westerbork and Vught (Herzogenbusch) concentration camps and, from there, to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. There are discussions of those who attempted to help Jews avoid deportation, such as Walter Süskind and Piet Meerburg.
The archive contains many interviews of survivors who successfully hid or assumed false identities. Another major topic is involvement in the Dutch underground, with content about the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachte as well as specific groups like Landelijke Knokploegen.
The testimonies give information on Dutch aid givers such as Leendert Overduin, Corrie Ten Boom, and Joop Westerweel, and of rescue efforts such as the so-called Philips Group.
Additionally, the archive contains 113 interviews with Rescuers and Aid Providers born in the Netherlands, including 79 in Dutch; 77 of these interviews were conducted in Holland.
Visual History Archive Curator |
Crispin Brooks



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