Final report Research Jewish citizens in Wassenaar: expropriation and restoration of rights
More than one hundred thousand Dutch Jews were deported by the Nazi regime during the occupation. Very few of them survived the horrors that took place during the Holocaust. Often even before deportation, their possessions were looted: from works of art, mortgages and securities portfolios to home contents, landed property and real estate. Most of the Jewish citizens of Wassenaar were deported. Their tenements were evicted, their home properties looted and their household effects confiscated.
'The Second World War still occupies many people in the Netherlands. How do we deal with this past of war, occupation, persecution of Jews, collaboration and resistance? That question still plays just as much of a role as it did in the period just after the liberation,' reads the report: 'Jewish citizens in Wassenaar: dispossession and restoration of rights'.
On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, the final report was presented by the research team consisting of Professor Dr. Wim van Meurs, Dr. Marieke Oprel and Drs. Charlotte Dommerholt of Radboud University Nijmegen in town hall De Paauw. This in the presence of family and relatives of Wassenaar Jewish inhabitants, (committee) members of the council, members of the municipal executive committee and the sounding board group. The first copy of the report was presented to Mayor Leendert de Lange. View the presentation.
Research in Wassenaar
During World War II, the German occupiers expropriated and sold the homes and other property of Jewish Dutch people throughout the Netherlands. This also took place in the municipality of Wassenaar. At the request of the college, in consultation with the council, an investigation was conducted into the actions of the Wassenaar municipality regarding expropriation of Jewish property in Wassenaar during the Second World War. It was also investigated whether legal reparations were made after the Second World War and postwar levies were claimed from Jewish owners or their heirs.
In addition, the researchers figured out how the municipality treated Jewish residents after their return and how the municipality accounted for their particular victimization.
Three main questions
Specifically, the study considered three main questions dealing with: disenfranchisement, restoration of justice and treatment.
The first question concerns the disenfranchisement of Jewish property owners by the German occupiers.
The second main question is about the restoration of justice after liberation.
The third question is about the Wassenaar municipality's treatment of Jewish residents. And how the municipality accounted for their particular victimization.
Conclusions on the expropriations
- A total of 39 properties were taken into administration by the German occupation forces. Of these, 24 were sold.
- A total of 13 agricultural lands were compulsorily registered. Of these, 5 were compulsorily sold.
- Wassenaar Municipality did not purchase Jewish properties during the war.
- However, it was decided in 1944 in consultation between the Commissioner for Non-Commercial Associations and Foundations and the NSB mayor to donate the Jewish cemetery in Wassenaar to the municipality. This did not go through because the Provincial Commissioner did not give his approval.
Conclusions on restoration of rights
- 24 properties that had gone into administration were sold. Legal restoration took place for 23 of these properties.
- For 2 sold pastures, the investigators could not establish legal recovery, but for the remaining 3 they could.
- In 1947, Wassenaar municipality purchased Raadhuislaan 4 (Huize Klim Op). During the war, the former Jewish rest home had been taken into administration but not sold. It had been rented by the occupying forces to the German Wehrmacht.
- After the war, in at least one case (huize Klim Op), the municipality of Wassenaar sent after levies of municipal taxes to Jewish citizens or their heirs. The archives still available do not provide a definitive answer as to whether or not this was general policy in Wassenaar.
Conclusions on treatment
- Mayor Van Wijnbergen signed German ordinances, but he did not agree with National Socialist ideas.
- NSB mayor De Blocq van Scheltinga was held responsible after the war for having several Jewish citizens from Wassenaar deported.
- Both the community and the newspapers paid little or no public attention to the persecution of Jews and the particular Jewish victimization after the war.
Apologies for heartless and cold-hearted actions of Wassenaar municipality
Thanks to the report, we have a better and more factual picture of this dark period in our recent -Wassenaar- history. In many cases, legal reparations were made at the time.
But the lack of empathy and compassion from the congregation, for those who survived the Holocaust is particularly painful to read. So our reaction now would be an entirely different one.
Therefore, out of moral and historical awareness, the College of Mayor and Aldermen apologized for the heartless and cold-hearted actions of the Wassenaar Municipality during but also in the years following the end of World War II.
The apologies were expressed by the mayor in the presence of family members of then Wassenaar Jewish residents, (committee) members of the Wassenaar City Council and the members of the sounding board group.
The college believes that the tragic events during and shortly after
World War II should never be forgotten and deserve our continued attention: now and in the future.
This report helps keep World War II stories alive and create awareness that we never want to experience the same events as World War II again.
We commemorate the victims by organizing various activities such as the Holocaust commemoration or the laying of Stolpersteine.
Furthermore, the municipality is closely involved in several commemorations such as the one on the Waalsdorpervlakte and the commemoration of the French commandos at The Battle of Wassenaar.
The municipality also organizes various activities around May 4 and 5. In addition, it has helped in the creation of the "Book of Honor Wassenaar Victims of the Second World War," which contains the names of all Wassenaar war victims known to us so far.
New generation
Today's dozens of similar research projects offer, according to the researchers, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set up a digital or itinerant exhibit. Such an exhibit would bring together the most telling material from different projects and communities. The college would like to contribute to this.
To also involve the new generation of Wassenaar youth in remembering these impactful stories, the development of a Wassenaar curriculum for secondary schools is being considered. In this way, we will continue to reflect on one of the darkest years in our history.
Also watch Mayor Leendert de Lange's speech: