Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema publicly apologizes for the city’s active complicity in the Holocaust, acknowledging that local authorities aided Nazi efforts during World War II.
In a solemn address on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema on Thursday extended an official apology on behalf of the city for its involvement in the wartime persecution of Jews, declaring that local authorities “let its Jewish residents down terribly” during the Nazi occupation, The Associated Press reported.
Speaking at a memorial held at the Hollandsche Schouwburg — a former theater that was infamously used as a deportation hub during the Holocaust — Halsema acknowledged the direct participation of Amsterdam’s municipal employees in the deportation and eventual murder of thousands of Jewish residents.
“The Amsterdam government, when it came down to it, was not heroic, not determined and not merciful. And it let its Jewish residents down terribly,” said Halsema. “On behalf of the city government, I offer my apologies for this.”
At the onset of World War II, approximately 80,000 Jews called Amsterdam home. By the war’s end, only about 20,000 had survived. Among the victims was Anne Frank, whose diary became a global symbol of the Holocaust. She perished in a concentration camp.
Halsema detailed the municipality’s role in facilitating Nazi policies, stating that local departments collaborated with German authorities, from registering Jewish citizens to marking residences — all steps that ultimately enabled systematic deportation.
“Services were prepared to help enact one after the other anti-Jewish measure,” she said, according to AP. “Step by step, the municipal machine became part of the machinery of evil.”
Halsema’s remarks follow earlier acknowledgements by national institutions. Former Prime Minister Mark Rutte publicly apologized in 2020 for the wartime failures of the Dutch government. The national railway also expressed regret in 2005 for its role in transporting Jews to Nazi camps, subsequently announcing reparations.
The Dutch Protestant Church similarly admitted its failings in 2020, acknowledging it did not act decisively to protect Jewish citizens during the war.
Halsema’s apology also comes on the heels of a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents, including an assault on Israeli soccer fans six months ago that led to the arrest of more than 60 individuals. The mayor described the violence as “an eruption of antisemitism.”
