500 Jews responded to the German appeal and registered for departure to Camp Westerbork. They waited hours for the special train to transport them from Muiderpoort Station in Amsterdam to Westerbork.
Of the 7,000 Jews who had to report to the Polderweg in Amsterdam that day for deportation to Westerbork, only 500 appeared that day, much to the irritation of the Germans.
After many of the 7,000 Jews ignored the call, a raid took place the next day. The Nazi police cordoned off the Jewish quarter in the center of town. The Nazis searched all homes looking for those who had not complied.
A month later, the Dutch police evacuated the Jewish quarter in the center, and they made the Jewish community relocate to the eastern and southern parts of Amsterdam. On June 20, 1943, another major raid took place, which the Nazis planned in complete secrecy. The Jewish residents were startled by the noise of loudspeaker trucks instructing them to gather at Daniel Willinkplein, Sarphatipark, or Olympiaplein.
The Westerbork administration had their employees working to register 5542 Jews at Amsterdamse Polderweg in Oost. They had the Jews take the tram to the Muiderpoort station and forced them to board the train to Camp Westerbork. In the following weeks, the Nazis deported Jews again, this time from Westerbork to extermination camps.
The normality of the photo above makes it quite disturbing. On Sunday morning, June 20, 1943, the Nazis s held large raids in Amsterdam East and South. Early in the morning, hundreds of Nazi police officers, members of the Voluntary Relief Police, and a few dozen men from the Jewish Ordedienst(order service) from Westerbork assisted in the raid. They ordered the Jews to gather, pack, and bag in nearby places. The photo above was taken secretly by the people in a house on the Uiterwaardenstraat—two empty cups of tea stand on the windowsill. In front of the door on the corner of Lekstraat and Kinderdijkstraat, Jews are gathered with their luggage. Two neighbors across the street also hang out of the window to watch the events.
After this raid, almost all Jews from Amsterdam disappeared. Only the members of the Jewish Council and their families are still in the city. But not for long. During the raid on September 29, 1943, they, too, were arrested and taken to Camp Westerbork together with the last remaining Jews. The Germans declare Amsterdam Judenfrei—“Jew-free.”
Sources
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/artikel/nsb-fotografen-leggen-jodenvervolging-vast
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/artikel/de-razzia-van-20-juni-1943-het-verhaal-achter-de-foto
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