Rapport ‘Ontrechting en rechtsherstel’ (Rotterdam) -
On 5 June 2020, the report Ontrechting & rechtsherstel. Het Rotterdamse gemeentebeleid inzake ontrechting en rechtsherstel van Joodse oorlogsslachtoffers 1940-1955 was presented to Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. The report was drawn up at the request of the City of Rotterdam by NIOD researchers Dr Hinke Piersma and Marleen van den Berg MA.
In 2018, the City Council of Rotterdam invited NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies to investigate its administrative policy regarding Jewish war victims.
The questions underlying the study were:
- to what extent did the City present municipal charges or bills that in retrospect can be considered unfair?
- were the rights to Jewish property that had been bought or exploited by the municipality restored after 1945?
The report is a factual reconstruction of Rotterdam's municipal policy on de deprivation and restoration of the rights of Jewish victims during and after the Second World War. The report does not address the consequences that could be drawn from its findings. This task rests with the municipal authorities.
Summary of Deprivation and Restoration of Rights. Rotterdam’s municipal policy on the deprivation and restoration of the rights of Jewish war victims 1940-1945
A summary of the report ‘Deprivation & Restoration of Rights' is available here.
The report in its entirety can be accessed here.
Researchers
Hinke Piersma is a senior researcher at NIOD. The focus of her research is on robbery, restitution, and the restoration of rights, the stories of the perpetrators, and the persecution of the Jews. Recent publications: Outstanding accounts. The Municipality of Amsterdam and the consequences of the deprivation and restitution of rights, 1940-1950 (De gemeente Amsterdam en de gevolgen van roof en rechtsherstel, 1940-1950, with Jeroen Kemperman, 2015), Sisters (Zussen, 2017) and At Their Own Authority. Police resistance in wartime (Op eigen gezag. Politieverzet in oorlogstijd, 2019).
Marleen van den Berg is a PhD researcher at NIOD. She is working on a dissertation on the history of Jewish Rotterdam 1940-1945, a project funded by the City of Rotterdam, the University of Amsterdam, and NIOD.
Focus group
The researchers discussed the project with a dedicated Social Focus Group chaired by Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. Other members of the focus group were Mr F. van Gelderen (secretary of Loods 24), L. Hertzberger (chairman of the Liberal Jewish Congregation Rotterdam), C. den Hoedt (chairman of the Dutch Jewish Congregation Rotterdam), R. Naftaniël (vice-chairman of the Central Jewish Council in the Netherlands), W. Velthuizen (former director of the Rotterdam Tax Authorities) and Ms J. Steenhuis (city archivist of Rotterdam, and secretary of the focus group).
