Something relating to the history of the Holocaust Research Paper

Something relating to the history of the Holocaust - Research Paper Example The contrary will be shown. It will be shown that they had a class system. They had classified the types of citizens as early as 1936. The infrastructure had been created and the fascilities were built before the Germans even entered Dutch soil enabling the Germans to come in and murder over 100 000 people in less than 3 years. Three stages will be examined is this essay. From 1936-1939, when the national decree dictated who was a dutch citizen and the creation of refugee centers. From 1939 to 1940, when Westerbrok was voted into Parliament as a center for the "legal refugees". To conclude with the capitulation of the Netherlands government within 5 days in 1940 and the consequences it had on the Shoah. Please note that in the sources there is much conflicting information due to the age of the survivors and the difference in translations and countries methods of notations.. 1936-139 The Jewish population of Amsterdam represented approximately 10% of the population. The attitude was r ather avant garde, agnostic, assimilated and had benefited greatly from the WWI attitude of being a neutral state.(Hillesum 1999) There was a sense of safty of being Dutch before being Jewish. The general consensus was accepting the census as a natural govermental process. Upon registering in 1936, Jews were told that as citizens they would be protected. (Vanderwerff 2010)The atmosphere as explained by Etty Hillesum, in her Letters of Westerbork, was that she had no desire for organised religion. Life was absurd. God was helpless (12/07/1942) She was born into an agnostic family. Before 1941, she was lost in the different intellectual circles of Amsterdam. She had failed her exam to get into law school. She studied Slavic studies and then went on to tutor. This is an insight into the Jewish population of Amsterdam. The intellectual assimilation would eventually be the demise of the Jews of Amsterdam. The felt themeselves more protected and superior over the German Jews who were ofte n poorer and less educated then the Dutch Jews. They had jobs and lived in proper housing. They were not touched by the refugee housing or economic situation. As in other European nations, they considered themselves citizens of the nation of their birth. In 1936, by Royal Decree it was voted that a national census would require new identity cards in order to define who were Dutch citizens. Religion was required on the last line of the card. (Vanderwerff 2010) In 1939, Refugees were forced to register. Legal Refugee Jews (Stateless) were defined by having been born in a country that no longer existed because of World War I and having been born in Poland. Illegal Refugee Jews were those who came into the Netherlands without any visas. Illegal refugees were sent back to Germany. (Vanderwerff 2010) In World War I, The Netherlands had remained a neutral State. It was common knowledge that the Netherlands was a state that had had an open door policy. Because of the depression, lack of job s and overall anti-semitism, German Jews and Stateless Jews were considered secondary citizen to Dutch citizens. The geo-political economic situation of Europe has changed the map. Dutch citizens were given precedents over refugees in employment and housing. What had been refugee homes all over the country since 1936 had become internment camps in