The Overseas Adventures of Steven and Annie Berger August 13th through December 22nd, 2018: 12/19: Amsterdam's Gripping Dutch Resistance Museum & Gassan Diamonds

About three months ago I returned from being away on vacation with a friend in New Zealand and Australia for 3.5 weeks. In case you also want to follow that really fun trip Down Under, here's a link to the newest blog: www.bergersadventures7.blogspot.com

Earlier in the day Steven and I had spent a chunk of time at the heartbreaking yet also uplifting Anne Frank House so it seemed appropriate to go on to the Dutch Theater which was also the National Holocaust Memorial and then the Dutch Resistance Museum. In 1942 and 1943, the Dutch Theater building was used as a deportation center for about 70,000 Jewish men, women and children who were sent by train from here to the Westerbork transit camp elsewhere in the Netherlands and from there to concentration camps. The theater, built in 1892 as a center of relaxation and entertainment in the heart of the old Jewish quarter, became a place of grief and anguish.

When we entered the building, we were asked to pause and remember those Dutch Jews who died and that the story of the building never be forgotten. The wall was covered with 6,700 family names paying tribute to to the 104,000 or 107,000 (depending on the sources) Jews deported and killed by the Nazis. It was appalling to think that just 5,000 Jews returned. The visual reminder was hard to forget.

From the memorial we went to the Dutch Resistance Museum whose focus was on the dilemmas the Dutch people were confronted with during the occupation.

The exhibition began with an introduction to life in the Netherlands in the 1930s. Democracy was threatened in Europe with the rise of Fascism in Italy, Communism in the Soviet Union, and Falangism in Spain. Each major group - Catholics, Protestants, Socialists and Liberals - had its own newspaper but, despite the difference in all of them, the news all pointed in the same direction: a major European was was on the horizon.

In 1940, German troops begin a major offensive to overrun Europe. On May 10th, they invaded the Netherlands which had declared neutral. After just four days of fighting, the major city of Rotterdam was demolished, and, when the Germans threatened that other cities would follow, the Netherlands surrendered. Queen Wilhelmina, the rest of the royal family and the Dutch government went into exile in England.

There appeared to be no stopping the advance of Nazi Germany as the French surrendered in June, 1940, leaving Great Britain alone in the struggle. Many Dutch believed they should reconcile with the situation.

Images showed how life went on immediately after the occupation. Of course, the bucolic photos only showed one part of life during that time. The Germans thought they'd win the Dutch over to Germanic ideals if they didn't make conditions too horrific.

Life soon returned to 'normal' after the occupation: businesses, places of entertainment, and public transportation went on as they did in the past. Adaptation to the new situation seemed easy except for blackout regulations that required everyone to cover up their windows to prevent Allied pilots from orienting themselves easily at night. The Nazis, though, abolished democracy, Parliament was dissolved, an Austrian came to govern the Netherlands with a small occupying force, and Dutch officials had to carry out German laws.

The Germans tried to encourage fraternization between the occupiers and the Dutch people. One example was the establishment of Winter Help, a charity that collected money for needy Dutch people. By rejecting Winter Help, the Dutch were able to express their anti-German sentiments.

In 1937, the Dutch government had stipulated that civil servants had to stay on as long as it was in the interest of the the people. The quandary they faced once the country was occupied by Germany was when was staying on no longer in the interest of the people?The Germans made clear that any Dutch government official who resigned because of concerns about the Nazi occupation were replaced by Nazi sympathizers to the Dutch Nazi Party or NSB. This was a dilemma especially for people in positions of authority, such as mayors - should they adapt or collaborate? Eventually, more than 30 percent of mayors did resign or were removed.

K.J. Frederiks, the Secretary-General of Home Affairs, decided to stay on when realizing, "If I step down, the highest positions in the Interior Ministry will be taken over by NSB members. The result will be the conscription of young Dutch men into the German armed forces."

Prepared to cooperate: A new political organization, the Netherlands Union or Unie, was founded in 1940 with the three leaders' aim to preserve Dutch culture and with the intention to cooperate with the Germans. As their goal was to keep the NSB from gaining power, their membership grew to over 800,000 in just a few months, which made it the largest party the Netherlands had ever had. However, many Unie followers only joined because of their aversion to the NSB.

The Unie leaders didn't agree on the extent to which the party should cooperate with the Germans, and, more importantly, the Unie didn't provide the Germans with the support they'd expected. The result, not surprisingly, was the party was banned in December of 1941.

Not for publication: Right from the first days of the occupation, the Germans decided what could and couldn't be written in the Dutch newspapers so they could influence public opinion. The few papers that failed to comply were shut down.

Only pro-German news was allowed to be broadcast but the Dutch people received news from the BBC and London Radio Orange, the station of the Dutch government in London. The militant speeches by Queen Wilhelmina were very popular. Almost no one paid attention to the ban on these stations.

A public strike: When members of the NSB in Amsterdam began getting aggressive toward the Jews in early 1941, young Jewish and non-Jewish men formed commando groups to defend themselves which resulted in fighting. After a NSB member was killed and a German patrol was sprayed with ammonia gas, the Nazis seized these incidents to carry out the first round-ups. At the end of February, 425 Jewish men were rounded up, beaten and taken away.

Many Amsterdam residents were shocked and the Dutch Communist Party called for a protest strike a few days later. The strike caught on and spread to outlying towns. The Germans, taken by surprise, abandoned their formerly friendly attitude, and reacted by shooting some strikers. Three death sentences were carried out in March.

Registration and dismissal: The first anti-Jewish regulations seemed rather harmless. When in October, 1940, all civil servants were required to fill in an ancestry form, indicating their religion plus that of their parents and grandparents. Though everyone knew the purpose was to register Jewish civil servants, there was still massive compliance. A month later, however, the Jewish civil servants were let go.

In January of 1941, all Jews were required to report for registration. Almost everyone obeyed as the thought was what could possibly happen if they refused and why shouldn't people be open about their origins? Of course, with 20/20 hindsight, we know that the registration made it far easier for the Germans to later carry out steps against the Jews. These first measures seemed pretty mild for the traditionally obedient Dutch people.

A few lucky Jews were able to emigrate to Palestine.

Gradually the Dutch Jews were separated from the rest of the population with public facilities closed to Jews, and separate Jewish schools opened. By the end of April, 1942, all Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David and mass deportations began when Jews were required to report for 'employment in Germany.'

Many ignored the call-ups despite the severe threats. Anyone who wanted to escape deportation had to go into hiding but the penalties were severe if found. Of the 25,000 Jews in hiding, one-third were arrested and killed after being betrayed as the Frank family had also been. A total of 78 percent of the Jewish population was slaughtered.

Resistance from the pulpit: Even before the war, Dutch churches condemned National Socialism or the Nazis. During the occupation, they repeatedly sent letters to the Austrian government official in charge to protest the persecution of the Jews and against other German measures.

Church protests were also read aloud from the pulpit and many clergymen urged their congregants to help those in hiding. The churches wielded so much authority in the Netherlands that the occupiers behaved with great caution. Some churches were used as storage depots for the resistance.

About twenty streets with Jewish names were changed in August of 1942 while others were made specifically Jewish streets.

The letter 'J' for Jewish was added to identity cards in early 1943.

V for Victory: The Germans, with their overwhelming amount of propaganda material, tried to influence the Dutch population. While movie newsreels, pamphlets, brochures and colored posters were intended to reinforce the inevitability of National Socialism, Allied planes dropped pamphlets that challenged German propaganda. The letter 'V' became a symbol for victory but the Germans adopted the V in their own campaigns because the "Germans were victorious on all fronts." But the Dutch populace vandalized the posters with the 'V' becoming 'W' for Queen Wilhelmina or "v" for Verliest (loses) or Verzuipt (drowns)!

Most of the Dutch population only became actively involved in the Resistance movement after their non-Jewish countrymen were deported to forced labor camps.

Strikes: On April 29th, 1943, a completely unexpected announcement was made that 300,000 former Dutch soldiers who had been released after the Netherlands surrendered in the first days of the war, would be transported to Germany who needed the extra labor. As a result, spontaneous strikes broke out, including from some dairy farmers who refused to deliver milk.

The occupiers responded with force and 80 strikers were executed, and their names printed on posters as a deterrent. Shots were fired at groups of strikers with 95 more killed and 400 seriously wounded. On May 3rd, most of the strikers returned to work. The April and May strikes marked a turning point with all of the Netherlands experiencing the German terror. Support for the resistance increased drastically.

"The limits of compliance and of passive expectation have been reached." Before 1943, very few Dutch people were involved in the Dutch resistance movement. By the end of the war, there were about 45,000 Dutch people active in the resistance movement but that didn't take into account those who took in refugees, etc. Resistance activity in the southern town of Boxtel was led from Cafe Royale with top leadership meeting there and organizations helping airmen operated from there.

There was a forced labor effort for all Dutch men over 18 to work in Germany beginning in 1943.

Hiding the persecuted: The high population density - the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world - made hiding people difficult. However, as the occupation continued, the number of people in hiding grew to more than 300,000 by 1944. The first large group had been the Jews in 1942, followed later by young men who refused to go to work in Germany, soldiers or former resistance fighters. Many people in the resistance movement were also living in hiding.

People were understandably terrified to take people into their homes. We listened to people's voices explaining why they couldn't hide people, saying what others were doing was wonderful. 'But my life is just as dangerous and I don't think I can help." I can't begin to grasp how tough it would be to do what so many courageous Dutch people did.

In addition, people in hiding needed food, of course, and therefore ration coupons as well as forged identity papers and money. Many

small groups were formed to help people in hiding. In 1943, the National Organization for Aid to Those in Hiding or LO was set up with a vast network of regions and districts.

In 1941 and 1942, the first attempts were made to forge identity cards with the person's name bleached out and the 'J' for Jew removed with a pen knife and pasted over. Techniques were improved slowly such that the underground Central Office for Identity Cards, founded by an Amsterdam sculptor in 1942, evolved into the country's largest forging organization.

Illegal newspapers that published news about the course of the war were important for public morale. They challenged German propaganda, encouraged people to resist, and, in the last year of the war, printed many articles about the future of the Netherlands after the war. A total of 1,300 different illegal newspapers were published and all political and religious groups had their own newspaper.

Some were only local editions that were typed and stenciled in people's living rooms and distributed within the neighborhood. Most of the large, national illegal newspapers were printed on presses and had a large network of people at their disposal who gathered the news and organized distribution.

As the war slogged on, the armed Dutch Resistance became more violent, murdering both German occupiers and Dutch collaborators. Of the almost 20,000 Dutch that were arrested because of their work with the Resistance, 2,000 were executed. Others were sent to detention centers or to concentration camps either in the Netherlands or in German camps in Poland. The conditions were so brutal that more than 500 Dutch resistance fighters didn't survive their imprisonment.

This chess game was made in prison and was passed to the next prisoner by the person delivering a meal. As the game 'progressed' with just one move a day, participating prisoners needed plenty of patience.

I can barely comprehend how truly desperate prisoners must have been to write notes in blood and with a straw.

Beginning in September of 1944, Allied troops began capturing those parts of the Netherlands still under occupation, with heavy fighting and much damage inflicted. The Dutch began celebrating but too soon as the Nazis refused to give up and punished the country by eliminating food rations. That resulted in the Hunger Winter from 1944 to 1945 during which 20,000 people died and others only survived by eating tulip bulbs.

In the spring of 1945, the Allies had liberated the entire country. Approximately 120,000 Dutch collaborators were imprisoned with their trials continuing for several years. In the end, just 34 Dutch people were executed including NSB leader Mussert.

Though hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, victims of persecution and forced laborers returned to the Netherlands, there were very few repatriation facilities set up to receive them. There was also scant understanding for the traumatic experiences of Jewish survivors. Many members of the Resistance became disappointed with post-war politics and interest in the war dwindled as the 1940s drew to a close and the ravaged Netherlands focused on reconstruction.

Thought it was emotionally draining to visit both the Anne Frank House and the Dutch Resistance Museum, let alone in the same day, our visits to each were critical for getting a clearer understanding about such a horrific period in the history of the Netherlands and of Europe as a whole.

A block away in Wertheim Park was the thought provoking Auschwitz Memorial that was inspired by a victim's poem that referred to the broken sky of his world.

The Monument of Mirrors commemorated the millions of victims of racial hatred. It was also a place to remember, mourn, and reflect, as well as a warning to all future generations throughout the world.

We'd planned to enter the nearby Jewish Historical Museum which would tell us the story of the Netherlands' Jews through the centuries but it was closed that day as it had no electricity.

We had a little bit of time left and needed something way lighter than the Anne Frank House and the Dutch Resistance Museum so walked to the Gassan Diamond Factory that was founded by Samuel Gassan, the son of a former diamond factory worker who opened his own diamond factory in 1945 when he was just 35.

We were able to join a free tour and watched the technician shape the diamonds and polish the stones. The guide told us about how diamonds were divided by the four 'Cs' of color, clarity, cut and color although most women knew that already! The combination of all four factors determine the price and value, she said. Pink Australian diamonds were the rarer diamonds and the brilliant cut was the most common type of cut.

When the diamond industry collapsed in the 1920s and 1930s, the supply of rough diamonds began to dry up and the worldwide Depression meant people had less money to spend on expensive diamonds. During that period, although it was still used to cut diamonds, the building was also home to all types of other small businesses including fabric merchants and a slipper factory.

The guide then took us into a showroom where we all gathered around while she displayed a number of diamonds and told us the different characteristics of each and its price!

This one was a one carat brilliant white diamond and would sell for 7, 313 euros!

The many diamonds she'd just shown us looked so, so puny on her pad! If you want to see them better, just click on the photo although I'm not sure that will make much of a difference.

No doubt the security in her private showroom was top of the line but I was surprised how seemingly nonchalant she appeared to be with about a dozen of us hovering around her and, as you can see, a huge display of gems and jewelry.

The Boas brothers put this diamond-cutting company into operation in 1879. With 357 grinders, it was the largest cutting company of its time in Europe. As Jews dominated the diamond industry, it wasn't surprising that a synagogue was located on the inner grounds. There were dozens of diamond factories in Amsterdam at that time. Gassan Diamonds has continued the traditional purpose of the building since 1989.

As much as we were charmed by Amsterdam's canals, gorgeous historic homes, houseboats, etc in our whirlwind visit to Amsterdam the previous two days, the city looked positively spectacular at night. These last views of Amsterdam would have to suffice until we had a few more hours to explore the city two days' hence before we flew home after traveling for the last 4.5 months.