Dutch Resistance - Initial German Policy

Initial German Policy

The Nazis, who considered the Dutch to be fellow Aryans, were less repressive in the Netherlands than in other occupied countries, at least at first. Their main goals were the Nazification of the populace, the creation of a large scale aerial attack and defense system, and the integration of the Dutch economy in the German economy. As Rotterdam already was Germany's main port, it remained so and collaboration with the enemy was widespread, stimulated by the flight of all the government ministers who had instructed their secretaries-general to carry on as if nothing happened. The open terrain and dense population, the densest in Europe, made it difficult to conceal illegal activities unlike, for example, the Maquis in France, who had ample hiding places. Furthermore, the country was surrounded by German-controlled territory on all sides, offering few escape routes. The complete coast was forbidden territory for all Dutch.

The very first German round-up of Jews in February 1941 led to the first general strike against the Germans in Europe (and indeed one of only two such throughout occupied Europe).

If the Germans discovered people were involved in the resistance, they were often immediately jailed. It was the social democrats, Catholics, and communists who started the resistance movement. Membership of an armed or military organized group could lead to prolonged stays in concentration camps, and after mid-1944, to immediate death (as a result of Hitler's orders to shoot resistance members on sight, the Niedermachungsbefehl). Also the increasing attacks on Dutch fascists and on Germans led to large scale reprisals, often involving 10s or even 100s of randomly chosen people, who were executed, or deported after which they died, what happened to most adult males in the village of Putten in one go, some 600.

The Nazis deported the Jews to concentration and extermination camps, rationed food, and withheld food stamps as a punishment. They started large scale fortifications along the coast and constructed some 30 airfields, paying with money they claimed from the national bank at a rate of 100 million guilders a month (the so-calles 'costs of the occupation'). They also forced adult males between 18 and 45 to work in German factories or on public work projects. In 1944 most trains were diverted to Germany, known as 'the great train robberies', and in total some 550,000 Dutch were selected to be sent to Germany as forced laborers. Males over the age of 14 were deemed 'able to work' and females over the age of 15. Over the next five years, as conditions became increasingly harsh and difficult, resistance became better organized and more forceful. The resistance managed to kill high-ranking Dutch officials, such as general Seyffardt.

In the Netherlands, the Germans managed to exterminate a relatively large proportion of the Jews. The main reason was that before the war, the Dutch authorities had required citizens to register their religion so that church taxes could be distributed among the various religious organizations. Furthermore, shortly after the Nazis took over the government, they demanded all Dutch public servants fill out an "Aryan Attestation" in which they were asked to state in detail their religious and ethnic ancestry. Klempner writes, "Though there was some protest, not just from the government employees, but from several churches and universities, in the end, all but twenty of the two hundred forthy thousand Dutch civil servants dutifully signed and returned the form." In addition, the country was occupied by the oppressive SS rather than the Wehrmacht as in the other Western European countries, as well as the fact that the occupying forces were generally under the command of Austrians who were keen to show that they were good Germans by implementing anti-Semitic policy. The Dutch public transport organization and the police collaborated to a large extent in the transport of the Jews.