Antisemitism in the Netherlands

[Text: A gentile and member of the Dutch Underground, Jan describes early signs of antisemitism in the Netherlands.] 

Jan Verkerk: There were signs put up for the parks, they were not allowed to enter the parks, not allowed to make use of the streetcar, not ... what else? They were not ... all the public services, they had no access to them. They were fired from their jobs. I had a job with the public works department. At one time, the head of the administration came in and said:

“Hey Pete, are you a Jew?”

“No, I'm not a Jew.”

“Hank, are you a Jew?”

“No.”

I was one of the last people he asked. And so, I had some time to think. It was so unexpected. And for that reason, you just answered the question. And, as I had just a minute to think, I thought, what is it ... I said, “I don’t know, I have to investigate my family.” What do you call it?  

Interviewer: Heritage?  

Jan Verkerk: Heritage. Yes. And he knew that I was taking him for a ride. But he accepted it. “Okay,” he said, “that better not take too long.” And then a week later, he came and said, “Now Jan, the director wants to get this out, he has to submit this to the German officials. Now don’t fiddle-faddle around, are you a Jew or not?” I said, “No, I’m not.” [Indiscernible]

Then a few months later, all Jews are fired. Oh, oh, is that? You know, we had not visualized what the consequences would be. Then we were all sorry that we had answered that question, so yeah, and not refused to answer, for example. And that was the case with everybody. Those measures, well, we didn’t expect evil. Oh, that was very innocent. You know, we should have known better. But, at that time, we didn’t know any better yet. We didn’t expect evil from the authorities. No, no.