Victims and Survivors: The Nazi Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands 1940-1945

How did it happen that the Netherlands, with its long tradition of religious tolerance, was as dangerous a place for Jews during World War II as notoriously anti-Semitic Poland or Lithuania? A much higher percentage of Dutch Jews were killed in the Holocaust than Jews in either France or Belgium, other western European nations occupied by the Germans, or even in fascist Italy. English historian Moore proposes some intriguing explanations: unlike France and Belgium, the Netherlands were administered by civilian German occupiers, giving the SS a freer hand; Holland's vertical social organization left the Jews accepted but isolated; and Dutch Jews, many of whom were working-class, were poorer than other western-European Jews. Only a few of the wealthiest Dutch Jews survived the war. The most painfully ironic reason may be that the Dutch Jews were betrayed by their fellow citizens' law abiding natures. It was inconceivable to Dutch bureaucrats--and most citizens--to disobey the law, even if that law resulted in the death of their neighbors. Less deferential by nature, the French and the Italians sometimes ignored the Nazi regulations, just as they ignored most government pronouncements. Moore presents these fascinating arguments in a dry academic style, so the book is not riveting reading, but its painstaking research makes it a valuable addition to the huge Holocaust oeuvre. (Oct.)