The Ethics Of The Dutch

April 28, 2012 at 11:14 pm · Filed under Anti-Semitism, Aunt Agatha, Europe, Netherlands

Wrong choice, eh?

THE HAGUE – Dutch Nazis who died in World War II will be commemorated this year alongside their victims, at the national memorial ceremony in Amsterdam.

The homage is to be paid in a poem written by the 15-year-old relative of a Dutch SS soldier who died on Germany’s Eastern Front.

The boy’s poem, “Wrong Choice,” speaks of his great uncle, who “sought to escape poverty and dreamed of a better life,” but “chose the wrong army and wrong ideology.” He “needs to be remembered too,” on May 4, Dutch Memorial Day, the poem states.

The boy who wrote the poem is scheduled to publicly read it on Dutch Memorial Day at the Dam Square during a ceremony attended by the Dutch army’s top brass, war veterans and members of the royal family of the Netherlands.

Representatives of the Dutch Jewish community said they would not attend the ceremony unless the national memorial committee, Nationaal Comite 4 en 5 mei, scraps the poem.

“It is wholly inappropriate to compare the consequences of a wrong choice with the death of partisans, Jews and other victims of the Nazi regime,” said Ronny Naftaniel, director of the Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel. “According to the same logic, Adolf Eichmann could also be commemorated as victim one day.”

- Aggie

3 Comments »

  1. Bloodthirsty Liberal said,

    April 29, 2012 @ 6:42 am

    I used to know an old guy whose family were members of the Dutch resistance. I wonder how this will stand with them—those who are left?

    But then I looked up the Dutch resistance, thinking it had been the model for the rest of Europe, and found that my notions were somewhat preconceived.

    Key point:

    Some 75% of the Dutch-Jewish population perished, an unusually high percentage compared with other occupied countries in western Europe. Factors that influenced the great number of people who perished were the fact that the Netherlands was not under a military regime, because the queen had fled to England, leaving the whole governmental apparatus intact.

    Another explanation is that vast majority of the nation accommodated itself to circumstances: “In their preparations for the extermination of the Jews living in The Netherlands, the Germans could count on the assistance of the greater part of the Dutch administrative infrastructure. The occupiers had to employ only a relatively limited number of their own. Dutch policemen rounded up the families to be sent to their deaths in Eastern Europe. Trains of the Dutch railways staffed by Dutch employees transported the Jews to camps in The Netherlands which were transit points to Auschwitz, Sobibor, and other death camps.” With respect to Dutch collaboration, Eichmann quoted as saying ‘The transports run so smoothly that it is a pleasure to see.’”

    When Adolf Eichmann admires your efficiency in the extermination of the Jews, you have a problem.

  2. Bloodthirsty Liberal said,

    April 29, 2012 @ 7:50 am

    I believe that I read somewhere that the Jewish population of Holland was the least lucky during the war – a greater percentage of them died than in any other country. But hey, you can freely use drugs there!

    - Aggie

  3. Saul Levy said,

    April 29, 2012 @ 11:57 am

    Why not commemorate Hitler as a victim?

    Liberalism is a mental disorder!

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