The Evil of Herman Heukels

Not every evil act was committed by a weapon or by sending people to the gas chamber. Some evil acts were much more subtle.

Herman Heukels was a photographer and a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi party, Hermans’ weapon was a camera. He took pictures of several raids. His most famous pictures are probably those he took in Amsterdam, on the Olympia Square on June 20,1943, of Jews awaiting deportation. His photographs were published in Storm, the newspaper for the Dutch SS.

It was evil because he knew these people were going to be deported to camps like Westerbork and eventually Auschwitz and Sobibor. He knew that most of these people would be murdered. He took pictures of families who would be dead only a few weeks or a few months later.

The people he took photographed were clearly distressed. Their houses or apartments were just taken away from them—all they had left were a few suitcases. They didn’t know what their future would hold for them but they knew it wasn’t good.

Herman did not take these photos for them to pick them up after he had developed them. Herman posted them in a vile newspaper so that its readers could gloat.

Herman Heukels‘ passport had expired a day after he had taken the photos on Olympia Square on 21 June 1943. He then applied for a foreign passport—I can only presume a German one.

Heukel was arrested after the war and committed suicide on 26 April 1947 while in prison.

Sources

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/thema/Herman%20Heukels

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3 Comments

  1. historiebuff says:

    Good Riddance. He knew the evil he had done.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Phil Strawn says:

    And we thought that evil could never happen again. Good reporting.

    Like

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