1 September 1941—Measures Against Dutch Jews

Like in Germany proper and other Nazi-occupied countries, the Holocaust wasn’t a sudden process but a gradual one.

On 1 September 1941, the Nazis introduced several measures against the Dutch Jews. On that day, the Nazis announced that from that moment on, Jewish students and teachers were no longer welcome at ordinary schools. They had to attend Jewish schools sometimes set up, especially for that purpose.

Announcements like the one below were published in local and national newspapers:
“Pursuant to the order given by the Reichskommissar for the occupied Netherlands area, as of 1 September 1941, pupils of educational institutions […] who are of Jewish blood or are regarded as such may only receive instruction from teachers who are also of Jewish blood or as such are considered.”

On 1 September 1941, the announcement was in the Dutch newspapers. For Jewish students and teachers, this means that they are not allowed to return to their school after the summer holidays. This applied to Catholic or Protestant students who, according to the Nazis, were also of Jewish descent. The education segregation was in line with numerous anti-Jewish measures introduced by the occupying forces since July 1940.

To make Jews easily recognizable on the street, all German Jews aged six and older had to wear a star on their clothing from 1 September 1941. In the Netherlands, the measure came into force on 3 May 1942. The so-called Star of David was a six-pointed star made of yellow cloth containing the word Jew. The Jews had to purchase the stars and it became a punishable offence for a Jew not to wear their star.

Translation of the above:
The Star of David
Attention is drawn to the fact that the Star of David must be worn on the left side at chest height.
The star should also be worn in courtyards, in front gardens and at house and street doors.

This wasn’t just a measure against the Jews but would have an impact because they would no longer have political representation. On 1 September 1941, Seyss-Inquart abolished the municipal and provincial councils. The Aldermen and deputies then became employees of mayors and provincial commissioners, respectively. The measure—based on the German Führerprinzip— prompted a large number of mayors to submit their resignations.

On 22 and 23 February 1941, Amsterdam was raided. 389 Jewish men were arrested and deported. Only two of them survived. Recent research shows that more than 100 men were gassed in Hartheim Castle. Mauthausen was recorded as an official place of death.

The 389 men were initially deported via Camp Schoorl to Buchenwald. Most of them subsequently moved to Mauthausen. Later investigation showed that at least 108, but probably 150 men, whose officially registered place of death was Mauthausen, were, in fact, gassed in Castle Hartheim. Lists of unnatural causes of death were kept in the Mauthausen camp administration. The Veränderungsbuch, the mutation book from Mauthausen, contains the names of the men who were murdered during secret actions in the gas chamber of Hartheim Castle. With the aid of this source, the actual death dates [of the majority of victims] were found—27 were murdered on 1 September 1941. One of them was Simon van Bever.

Simon was the son of Samson van Bever and Sientje Smeer. He was born in Amsterdam on 20 March 1913. His occupation was a wholesale buyer. He married Betje Zwarts in Amsterdam on 6 February 1935, a daughter of Abraham Zwarts and Sara Wertheijm. The couple had three children: Samson, Sara and Sientje; together with their mother, were murdered on 9 July 1943 in Sobibor. Simon was murdered in Mauthausen, or Castle Hartheim on 1 September 1941.

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