The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 (126 page)

15. Höss,
Kommandant in Auschwitz
, p. 188. The order was brought to Höss by Paul Blobel, the former head of
Sonderkommando 4a
of
Einsatzgruppe C,
who in the meantime had been put in charge of
Aktion
1005, the elimination of all traces of the murder operations, mainly by opening the mass graves and burning the bodies. See Shmuel Spector, “Aktion 1005—Effacing the Murder of Millions,”
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
5, no. 2 (1990), p. 159.

16. Höss,
Kommandant in Auschwitz
, p. 210.

17. Bob Moore,
Victims and Survivors: The Nazi Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1940–1945
(London, 1997), pp. 92–93.

18. Quoted in Peter Longerich and Dieter Pohl, eds.,
Die Ermordung der europäischen Juden: Eine umfassende Dokumentation des Holocaust 1941–1945
(Munich, 1989), p. 258.

19. Guus Meershoek, “The Amsterdam Police and the Persecution of the Jews,” in
Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies
, ed. David Cesarani (New York, 2004), vol. 3, p. 547.

20. Gerhard Hirschfeld,
Nazi Rule and Dutch Collaboration: The Netherlands under German Occupation, 1940–1945
(Oxford, 1988), p. 175.

21. Mussert’s party was more strongly represented in the police than in any other Dutch agency. Ibid., pp. 175ff.

22. Ibid., p. 178.

23. Johannes Houwink ten Cate, “Der Befehlshaber der Sipo und des SD in den besetzten niederländischen Gebieten und die Deportation der Juden 1942–1943,” in
Die Bürokratie der Okkupation: Strukturen der Herrschaft und Verwaltung im besetzten Europa
, ed. Wolfgang Benz, Johannes Houwink ten Cate, and Gerhard Otto,
Nationalsozialistische Besatzungspolitik in Europa 1939–1945
(Berlin, 1998), vol. 4, p. 202.

24. Ibid., pp. 206ff.

25. Louis de Jong,
The Netherlands and Nazi Germany
(Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 12.

26. Ibid., p. 13.

27. Quoted in J. Presser,
Ashes in the Wind: The Destruction of Dutch Jewry
(Detroit, 1988), p. 167.

28. Moore,
Victims and Survivors
, p. 96.

29. Etty Hillesum,
An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941–1943
(New York, 1983), p. 147.

30. Ibid., pp. 152–53.

31. Ibid., p. 166.

32. Ibid., p. 167.

33. Anne Frank,
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition
, ed. Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler (New York, 1995), pp. 18ff. and 21.

34. Presser,
Ashes in the Wind
, pp. 152–53.

35. Ibid., pp. 154–55. Presser’s sharp criticism of the council has itself been forcefully attacked. In regard to the August event for example, Presser does not mention that De Wolff, a student of his, saved Presser’s wife from deportation on this occasion. About this and other aspects of Presser’s account see Henriette Boas, “The Persecution and Destruction of Dutch Jewry, 1940–1945,”
Yad Vashem Studies
6 (1967). The highly emotional feuding about the behavior of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam and even more specifically about its two leaders Cohen and Assher (particularly Cohen) has been going on since the end of the war. See, for example, the attack on Cohen’s main detractors De Jong, Isaak Kisch, and Presser and the favorable interpretation of his stewardship in Piet H. Schrijvers, “Truth Is the Daughter of Time: Prof. David Cohen as Seen by Himself and by Others.” In Chaja Brasz and Yosef Kaplan, eds.
Dutch Jews as Perceived by Themselves and by Others
(Leiden, 2001, pp. 355ff).

36. Ibid., pp. 40–41.

37. Ibid., p. 41.

38. Benjamin Leo Wessels,
Ben’s Story: Holocaust Letters with Selections from the Dutch Underground Press
, ed. Kees W. Bolle (Carbondale, IL, 2001), p. 43. The stealing and mistreatment by the Wehrmacht unit stationed in Oostvoorne is confirmed in other letters.

39. Most of the details mentioned here are quoted from Louis de Jong, “The Netherlands and Auschwitz,”
Yad Vashem Studies
7 (1968), pp. 39ff.

40. Ibid., pp. 47–48.

41. Ibid., p. 50.

42. Bob Moore,
Victims and Survivors: The Nazi Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands, 1940–1945
(London, 1997), p. 128.

43. Ingrid Krüger-Bulcke and Hans Georg Lehmann, eds.,
Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik
,
1918–1945
(Göttingen, 1975), vol. 4, p. 328.

44. If Cohen knew of these clandestine activities and approved them, his role appears in a different light; the testimonies on this issue are contradictory.

45. See Debórah Dwork,
Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe
(New Haven, 1991), pp. 45ff.

46. The number one thousand is mentioned in Werner Warmbrunn, “Netherlands,” in Laqueur and Baumel, eds.,
Holocaust Encyclopedia
, p. 440.

47. See in particular Bob Moore, “The Dutch Churches, Christians and the Rescue of Jews in the Netherlands,” in
Dutch Jews
, ed. Chaya Brasz and Yosef Kaplan (Leiden, 2001), pp. 277ff; see also Bert Jan Flim, “Opportunities for the Jews to Hide from the Nazis, 1942–45,” in ibid., pp. 289ff. Louis de Jong has estimated the number of Dutch families that hid Jews at one stage or another at approximately 25,000 (De Jong,
The Netherlands and Nazi Germany
, p. 21).

48. Quoted in Presser,
The Destruction
, p. 182.

49. Ibid., p. 183 (emphasis in original).

50. Ibid., p. 184 (emphasis in original).

51. Ibid.

52. Ibid., p. 183.

53. On the function of Vught, see in particular J. W. Griffioen and R. Zeller, “A Comparative Analysis of the Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands and Belgium During the Second World War” (Amsterdam, 1998), p. 11.

54. For these statistics see Gerhard Hirschfeld, “Niederlande,” in Wolfgang Benz, ed.,
Dimension des Völkermords: Die Zahl der jüdischen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus
(Munich, 1991), p. 151.

55. Biélinky,
Journal
, pp. 232–33.

56. Robert Gildea,
Marianne in Chains: Everyday Life in the French Heartland under the German Occupation
(New York, 2003), pp. 259–60.

57. André Kaspi,
Les Juifs pendant l’occupation
(Paris, 1991), p. 222.

58. Renée Poznanski,
Être juif en France pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale
(Paris, 1994), p. 385.

59. On July 15, Biélinky noted in his diary: “It appears that Jews and Jewesses aged eighteen to forty-five are going to be arrested and sent to forced labor in Germany.” Jacques Biélinky,
Journal, 1940–1942: Un journaliste juif à Paris sous l’Occupation
, ed. Renée Poznanski (Paris, 1992), p. 233.

60. Kaspi,
Les Juifs pendant l’occupation
, p. 224.

61. Quoted in ibid., p. 226–27.

62. Poznanski,
Être juif
, p. 385.

63. Ibid., 386.

64. Ibid., p. 386.

65. Michael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton,
Vichy et les juifs
(Paris, 1990), p. 258.

66. Ibid., p. 260.

67. Ibid., pp. 260–61.

68. Biélinky,
Journal
, p. 236.

69. Michael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton,
Vichy et les juifs,
p. 255.

70. Serge Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz: Le rôle de Vichy dans la solution finale de la question juive en France
, 2 vols. (Paris, 1983–85), vol. 1, p. 328.

71. Ibid., p. 330.

72. Georges Wellers,
De Drancy à Auschwitz
(Paris, 1946), pp. 55ff.

73. Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz
, vol. 1, p. 355.

74. Richard I. Cohen,
The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust
(Bloomington, 1987), p. 79.

75. Raymond-Raoul Lambert,
Carnet d’un témoin: 1940–1943
, ed. Richard I. Cohen (Paris, 1985), p. 180.

76. Ibid., p. 178.

77. Simon Schwarzfuchs,
Aux prises avec Vichy: Histoire politique des Juifs de France, 1940–1944
(Paris, 1998), pp. 253–56. For the text of a draft of July 28, see Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz,
vol. 1, p. 295.

78. Cohen, Richard I.
The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust
(Bloomington, 1987), pp. 80ff and 122ff.

79. Schwarzfuchs,
Aux Prises avec Vichy;
see also Richard I. Cohen, “Le Consistoire et L’UGIF—La Situation Trouble des Juifs Français Face à Vichy,”
Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah: Le monde juif
169 (2000), pp. 33ff.

80. Serge Klarsfeld,
Les transferts de juifs du camp de Rivesaltes et de la région de Montpellier vers le camp de Drancy en vue de leur déportation 10 août 1942–6 août 1944
(Paris, 1993), p. 31–32.

81. For some of the préfets’ reports about reactions in their districts, see Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz
, vol. 1, pp. 305ff.

82. Renée Poznanski, “Jews and non-Jews in France During World War II: A Daily Life Perspective,” in
Lessons and Legacies V: The Holocaust and Justice
, ed. Ronald M. Smelser (Evanston, IL, 2002), p. 306.

83. Ibid.

84. Kaspi,
Les Juifs pendant l’occupation
, pp. 306–7. The main Catholic periodical of the Free French in London,
Volontaires pour la cité chrétienne,
hardly mentioned the persecution and extermination of the Jews at all. See Renée Bédarida,
Les Catholiques dans la guerre, 1939–1945: Entre Vichy et la Résistance
(Paris, 1998), p. 176.

85. The notes are published in Michèle Cointet,
L’Église Sous Vichy, 1940–1945: La rèpentance en question
(Paris, 1998), p. 224.

86. For part of the interpretation, see ibid. In part the reading of the notes is my own.

87. For the French original see Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz,
vol. 1, p. 280. See also Cointet,
L’Église Sous Vichy, 1940–1945
, p. 225. Cardinal Suhard was known for his support of Vichy’s policies even against the Jews. Thus he took disciplinary measures against two priests of his diocese who had counterfeited baptismal certificates to help Jews. See Bédarida,
Les Catholiques dans la guerre, 1939–1945: Entre Vichy et la Résistance
, p. 78.

88. Cointet,
L’Église Sous Vichy
, p. 266. For Valerio Valeri’s letter to Maglione, where the expression is used, see Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz
, vol. 1, p. 297

89. Schwarzfuchs,
Aux prises avec Vichy
, pp. 209–10.

90. About Chaillet’s assistance to Jews, see mainly Renée Bédarida,
Pierre Chaillet: Témoin de la résistance spirituelle
(Paris, 1988).

91. Translated in Saul Friedländer,
Pius XII and the Third Reich: A Documentation
(New York, 1966), p. 115.

92. Cointet,
L’Église Sous Vichy
, pp. 234ff. A few days after the reading of the letter, the deputy attorney general of Toulouse questioned Saliège. The prelate declared that the parties had “indecently misused his letter.” See the text of the interrogation in Eric Malo, “Le camp de Récébédou (Haute-Garonne),”
Le Monde Juif
153 (1995), pp. 97–98.

93. For the assistance offered by Christian rescuers in France see, among numerous studies, Asher Cohen,
Persécutions et sauvetages: Juifs et Français sous l’Occupation et sous Vichy
(Paris, 1993).

94. Ibid., p. 430.

95. Ingrid Krüger-Bulcke and Hans Georg Lehmann, eds.,
Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik, 1918–1945. Series E, 1941–1945
(Göttingen, 1974), vol. 3, p. 125.

96. On the Catholic response in Belgium see Mark Van Den Wijngaert, “The Belgian Catholics and the Jews During the German Occupation, 1940–1944,” in
Belgium and the Holocaust: Jews, Belgians, Germans
, ed. Dan Michman (Jerusalem, 1998), pp. 225ff.; see also Luc Dequeker, “Baptism and Conversion of Jews in Belgium,” in
Belgium and the Holocaust: Jews, Belgians, Germans
, ed. Dan Michman (Jerusalem, 1998), pp. 235ff.

97. Griffioen and Zeller, “A Comparative Analysis of the Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands and Belgium during the Second World War,” p. 21.

98. On this specific aspect see Rudi von Doorslaer, “Jewish Immigration and Communism in Belgium, 1925–1939,” in
Belgium and the Holocaust: Jews, Belgians, Germans
, ed. Dan Michman (Jerusalem, 1998), pp. 66n and 67ff.

99. Peter Longerich, ed.,
Akten der Partei-Kanzlei der NSDAP: Rekonstruktion eines verlorengegangenen Bestandes. Regesten.
, vol. 2, part 4 (Munich, 1992), abs. no. 43548.

100. Ibid.

101. Ibid., abs. no. 43518.

102. Nuremberg doc. L-61, U.S. Office of Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality and International Military Tribunal,
Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression
, 8 vols. (Washington, DC, 1946), vol. 7, pp. 816–17 (emphasis in original).

103. Wolf Gruner, “Die Fabrik-Aktion und die Ereignisse in der Berliner Rosenstrasse: Fakten und Fiktionen um den 27. Februar 1943,”
Jahrbuch fur Antisemitismusforschung
11 (2002), p. 146. See now Wolf Gruner,
Widerstand in der Rosenstrasse. Die Fabrik-Aktion und die Verfolgung der Mischehen 1943
(Frankfurt am Main, 2005).

104. Ibid., pp. 148–49.

105. Ibid., pp. 152–54.

106. Ibid., pp. 160–64.

107. Ibid., pp. 167ff.

108. H. G. Adler,
Der verwaltete Mensch: Studien zur Deportation der Juden aus Deutschland
(Tübingen, 1974).

109. Rivka Elkin, “The Survival of the Jewish Hospital in Berlin, 1938–1945,”
Leo Baeck Institute Year Book
38 (1993), pp. 167ff.

110. Ibid., p. 177.

111. Ibid.

112. Nuremberg doc. PS-1472, U.S. Office of Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality and International Military Tribunal,
Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression
, vol. 4, p. 49.