Mak's Amsterdam
The readings from the Geert Mak book Amsterdam are pretty interesting. A couple of things struck me. The first is this notion of pride or lack of pride that the Dutch have. Mak says, “The lack of pride of modern Amsterdammers goes further, however. It is not only a character trait, it is a social norm.” I’ve heard that there is some common Dutch proverb about how your head will get chopped off if you stick it above the crowd. These seem to go hand in hand. Don’t be proud or try to do anything to distinguish yourself or you will be punished for it. There are numerous examples of Dutch government employees and citizens doing what they’re told to do by the Germans and who “made the wheels of this gigantic death-machine go round” - people running the trains, identifying Jews, police officers arresting Jews. None of the civil servants resisted doing this work. When the Jews were dismissed from Universities, there were no demonstrations in Amsterdam.
And the second thing is that struck me is the systematic isolation of the Jews leading up WWII. The isolation started years and years before the Occupation. While there is some mention of Jewish integration with the workers’ movement, it sounds like the Jewish population was still really isolated and especially in the ghetto, Jews depended on each other for survival. This segregation made the pogroms easier for the Germans.
Questions?
How big a part did the notion of pride play in the lack of widespread Resistance in Amsterdam during WWII? Were there other ethnic communities isolated like the Jews? What was the source of this segregation and isolation and is it being repeated with the modern day Dutch immigrants from Suriname, Morocco, Turkey and other immigrant countries?
And the second thing is that struck me is the systematic isolation of the Jews leading up WWII. The isolation started years and years before the Occupation. While there is some mention of Jewish integration with the workers’ movement, it sounds like the Jewish population was still really isolated and especially in the ghetto, Jews depended on each other for survival. This segregation made the pogroms easier for the Germans.
Questions?
How big a part did the notion of pride play in the lack of widespread Resistance in Amsterdam during WWII? Were there other ethnic communities isolated like the Jews? What was the source of this segregation and isolation and is it being repeated with the modern day Dutch immigrants from Suriname, Morocco, Turkey and other immigrant countries?
