In a poignant speech, Amsterdam's Mayor Femke Halsema has issued a formal apology for the city's role in the Holocaust, marking a significant acknowledgment of historical complicity in the persecution of Jewish residents during World War II.
Amsterdam Mayor Shares Apology for Holocaust Collaboration
Amsterdam Mayor Shares Apology for Holocaust Collaboration
Femke Halsema addresses historical responsibility of city in Holocaust at memorial event.
Eighty years after the conclusion of World War II, Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema delivered a heartfelt apology on Thursday for the city’s involvement in the suffering of its Jewish community during the Holocaust. Speaking at a memorial event at the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a theater that served as a major deportation center for Jews, Halsema called the city’s past actions “a collective moral failure.”
The mayor expressed deep regret that Amsterdam's officials had failed to protect its Jewish citizens, stating, “Amsterdam's government was, when it mattered, not heroic, not determined and not merciful.” The city had a Jewish population of around 80,000 before the war, yet tragically over 60,000 were deported and killed.
Halsema emphasized that antisemitism was not an ideology imported by the Nazis but rather existed within Dutch society prior. She condemned the cooperation between city officials and the Nazis that facilitated the isolation and deportation of the Jewish populace. “Administrators and officials were not only cold and formalistic, but even willing to cooperate with the occupier,” she noted, highlighting the complicity that contributed to the dehumanization of a once-thriving Jewish community.
This apology serves as a critical reminder of the darker chapters in history, urging contemporary society to reflect on the past and strive for a future where such injustices are vehemently denounced.
