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Occupation
The May 1940 invasion ended the Netherlands neutrality in World War II. Over the next two years, the Nazi’s worked with the existing Dutch Bureaucracy to gain control of the administrative system. Rather than leaving the Dutch government independent and setting up a military occupation, the Nazi’s plan for the Netherlands involved implementing a civil occupation. Leaders appointed by the Germans to head the civil administration in the Netherlands were all Nazis with a strong ideological history. Hitler’s representative, Austro-Nazi Arthur Seyss Inquart quickly took command of the Dutch administrative system as the Reichskommissar for the occupied Dutch territories. Hanns Albin Rauter was appointed the Higher SS and Police Chief. Rauter reported directly to Heinrich Himmler. One of Rauter’s first initiatives involved consolidating the Dutch police under the Nazi controlled ministry of Justice. Rauter positioned the SS and the Police to have full authority over the entire Jewish population of the occupied Netherlands. This gave the SS and the Police the ability to persecute Jews in the Netherlands, and eventually implement the final solution. Rauter had not only the Dutch Police, but 4,700 German Police Personnel at his disposal. After the Nazi’s took control of the Dutch government, there were reportedly 128 cases of Jewish death by choice.

Registration
In November of 1941, the Germans forced all Jewish officials and public servants to register with the Dutch Authorities. Subsequently, over 2,500 Jews lost their public positions. Only the forced removal of Dutch Jews from secondary and higher education incited a response from the public. On January 10th, 1941, Inquart mandated the registration of Jewish citizens. This decree included Jewish citizens with one Jewish grandparent. Citizens identified as Jewish had their identification cards marked with a black J. Carried always, these identification cards were a useful tool for the perpetrator to distinguish who was Jewish. Furthermore, these identification cards were nearly impossible to forge. The birth, death, and marriage records of Jews in the Netherlands were marked to differentiate them from the non-Jewish citizenry. By 1942, Jews wore a yellow star on their clothing, which only made them more visible to their perpetrators.

The geography of the Netherlands made it impossible for Jews to flee. The country of Holland is less than 20,000 square miles of flatlands. During the civil occupation, it is estimated that 25,000 Jews in the Netherlands went into hiding. Of these 25,000, a third were caught and deported. Of those who survived, 4,000 were little children. Some were betrayed by friends, or strangers who agreed to hide them under false pretenses. Others were caught by the police.

Deportations
When Austro Nazi’s Inquart and Rauter gained power over the Dutch administration, there were 140,000 Jews in the country. As many as 80,000 Dutch Jews lived in Amsterdam alone. It is estimated that 24,000 of the Jews in the Netherlands were refugees. The residency status of Jews in the Netherlands was irrelevant to Inquart and Rauter. Inquart stated “The Jews for us, are not Dutchmen. They are those enemies with whom we can come neither to an armistice nor to a peace.” Rauter sent progress letters to Himmler, and states that "In all of Holland some 120,000 Jews are being readied for departure." These "departures" that Rauter spoke of were the deportations of Dutch Jews to concentration and extermination camps.

Breakdown of Deportations from 1940-1945
From 1941-1942, 1,700 Jews were sent to Mauthausen from Amsterdam, and 100 Jews were deported to Buchenwold, Dachau, Neuengamme (and later Auschwitz). From 1940-141, an estimated 100 Jews were sent from German prisons to different concentration camps, then to Auschwitz. Over 2,000 Jews were taken from occupied France and Belgium to Auschwitz. 100 lived. From July 15th 1942 to February 23rd, 1943 an estimated 42,915 Jews were deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz. Only 85 survived. From August 20th to December 8th,1942, 3,540 Jews were taken to different forced labor camps. Of these, there were 181 survivors. 34, 313 Jews were deported to Sobibor from March 2nd to July 20th, 1943. A mere 19 survived. From August 24th,1943 to September 3rd, 1944, 11,985 Jews were deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz. Of this deportation, 588 lived. From November 15th, 1943, to June 3rd, 1944, 1,645 Jews were sent from Vught to Auschwitz. There were198 survivors. From 1943-1944, 4,870 Jews were sent from Amsterdam and Westerbork to Theresienstadt. Of the almost 5,000 Jews sent to Theresiendadt, 1,950 survived. In October 1943, 150 Jews were sent from Westerbork to Buchenwold and Ravensbrück. In 1944, 3,751 Jews were deported from Westerbork to Bergen Belsen. This transport had the highest rate of survival, with 2,050 Jews surviving.

107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands and German prisons to concentration camps, then Auschwitz. Of these 107,000, only 5,200 survived. There were 102,000 Jews that fell victim to the Nazi’s. Some were Native Dutch, and others were refugees who attempted to seek asylum in the Netherlands.

Etty Hillesum
One of these victims was Esther, or Etty, Hillesum. Etty began to keep a diary when she was 27 years old. Her diary chronicles her dreams of becoming a writer, her spiritual and sexual growth, and her realization of the grim fate the Jews faced. Along with her diary Etty also wrote letters from Westerbork camp. Partially published while she was alive in Dutch resistance newspapers, and partially published posthumously, these letters detail the conditions at Westerbork, and the transport of Jews to extermination camps. On July 10th, 1943, Etty wrote a letter from Westerbork that discussed her parents inevitable transport. "“Ten thousand have passed through this place, the clothed and the naked, the old and the young, the sick and the healthy – and I am left to live and work and stay cheerful. It will be my parents’ turn to leave soon, if by some miracle not this week then certainly one of the next. And I must learn to accept this as well.”-Etty Hillesum"

Etty’s fate was the same as her parents, and over 100,000 other Jews who were deported from the Netherlands to transport camps, then extermination camps. Etty perished at Auschwitz on or around November, 30th 1943. Her friend from Westerbork, Jopie, provided Etty’s friends with a written account of Etty’s mood upon her deportation from Westerbork. Jopie wrote that Etty was buoyant, humorous, and kind, “every inch” of the Etty that they knew so well.