Table Of ContentM
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Manfred Gerstenfeld has done a masterful job of describing the more than sixty-year f In the last years of the twentieth century,
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cycle that began with the Nazis’ destruction of Dutch Jewry, and then continued e the many shortcomings of the postwar
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with the woefully inadequate immediate postwar efforts by the Dutch government G Dutch Holocaust restitution became a
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ma at restitution of property, insurance claims, and other attempts to compensate Dutch er major issue in the Dutch public debate.
el Fish Hthoel obcealautsetd s ubruvt igveonrse raanldly f saumcicleiesss foufl vDicutticmhs e. fTfhorist, biono tkh ed elaaslst myeaairnsl yo,f h tohwe etvweern, twieitthh sten Tofh teh ien tSewrnisast iboannakllsy r peugabrlidciinzged d foarimluarnest
Joht : caenndt userty a a pnods ietaivrely e xpaamrtp olef othf eh otwwe gnotyv-efrinrsmt ecnetnst cuarny, trtoy troe cptrifoyv itdhee bpealastt edde, faicltihenoucigehs feld bparonmk patcecdo iunnvtess tfirgoamti otnhse e wlseawr hpeerreio ads
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yri imperfect, justice, and to try to rectify in some small way the pain of their citizens well, including in the Netherlands.
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Co stemming from wartime in general and the Shoah in particular. Ju Judging the A further stimulus came when many
d index cards of the Dutch looting bank
Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury; g
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is chairman of from the foreword in LIRO, listing the stolen possessions of
the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem g individual Jews, were found abandoned
Center for Public Affairs. He has been th Ne th e rl an ds: in an Amsterdam attic.
an international business strategist This book deals with the restitution of Jewish property that was looted during World e Reports of the commissions of inquiry
for forty years. His background is in War II. Jews who returned after the war were often made less than welcome. The N revealed information about monies that
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chemistry, economics, environmental postwar restitution process was felt to be cold, bureaucratic, hostile, and humiliating. t had belonged to murdered Jews and
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studies, and Jewish studies. This process ended in the 1950s. In 1997, however, bank records were accidentally e The Renewed Holocaust were in the possession of the Dutch
Ginetresrtneantfieoldn aisl ab ufosrinmeesrs d ciorencstuorlt iann acny dthisact owveerree dse tth uapt lteod d teoa al rweintehw theids dseecboanted. rTehseti btuotoiokn d. iIstc aulsssoe sc othneta vinasr iionutes rcvoimewmsi twteitehs rlan Restitution Process, 1997-2000 gboavnekrsn,m aenntd, inesxucrhaannceg ec obmrpoakneiress.,
the three ministers who were most involved. In the end the matter was settled and d Negotiations between these parties
whose other shareholders included s
four of the world’s largest banks. He apologies were made. Manfred Gerstenfeld has given a clear exposé of the various : and representatives of the Jewish
T
negotiations and written an important book that will always make very painful h community led to sizable restitution
has worked in twenty countries and e
his clients have included the boards reading for a Dutch public. R payments. American intervention forced
e Manfred Gerstenfeld the Amsterdam Stock Exchange —
of several of the world’s largest Frits Bolkestein, former Dutch Minister of Defense; former EU Commissioner n
e which had been a major collaborator
multinational corporations, as well as
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with the German occupiers — to pay
governments. He has also been a board e Foreword by Stuart E. Eizenstat
member of several public companies This is oral history at its best. As a timely, well-documented, factual reconstruction d tens of times more restitution than it
including a large investment firm. and in-depth analysis of the Dutch Holocaust restitution process, this revealing Ho was initially willing to.
book is essential reading for everybody interested in the Holocaust-era restitution lo
This book first gives the historical
Gerstenfeld has authored fifteen books c
campaign of the 1990s. a
and edited five. Books of his have been u background of the wartime persecution
s
published in seven languages, including Johannes Houwink ten Cate, Professor for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, t of the Dutch Jews, their chilly reception
the Italian bestseller Revaluing Italy. University of Amsterdam Re Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs in the Netherlands after the war, and the
His recent book, The Decay: Jews in a st Institute for Global Jewish Affairs highly problematic postwar restitution
Rudderless Netherlands, has sparked a itu process.
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major public debate in the country and io The book then focuses on the reports of
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has had an international impact as well. P the various commissions of inquiry in
Gerstenfeld has also published articles ro the late 1990s, the development of the
in leading newspapers and journals in ce negotiations, the reactions in the Jewish
s
various countries on political, economic, s community and Dutch society, as well
,
environmental, religious, and historical 1 as the emotional impact of the findings
subjects. 99 on commission members, negotiators,
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and journalists involved.
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0 The Epilogue describes developments
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0 over the past decade since the
negotiations were concluded.
Books by the Same Author
Revaluing Italy, with Lorenzo Necci (Italian), 1992
Environment and Confusion: An Introduction to a Messy Subject, 1993
Israel’s New Future: Interviews, 1994
The State as a Business: Do-It-Yourself Political Forecasting (Italian), 1994
Judaism, Environmentalism and the Environment, 1998
The Environment in the Jewish Tradition: A Sustainable World (Hebrew), 2002
Europe’s Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today’s Anti-Semitism,
2003
American Jewry’s Challenge: Conversations Confronting the 21st Century,
2004
Israel and Europe: An Expanding Abyss? 2005
European-Israeli Relations: Between Confusion and Change? 2006
The Abuse of Holocaust Memory: Distortions and Responses, 2009
Anti-Semitism in Norway (Norwegian), 2010
American Jewry’s Comfort Level: Present and Future, with Steven Bayme, 2010
The Decay: Jews in a Rudderless Netherlands (Dutch), 2010
Books Edited
The New Clothes of European Anti-Semitism, with Shmuel Trigano (French),
2004
Academics against Israel and the Jews, 2007
Israel at the Polls 2006, with Shmuel Sandler and Jonathan Rynhold, 2008
Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews,
2008
Israel at the Polls 2009, with Shmuel Sandler and Hillel Frisch, 2010
Monograph
The Autumn 2005 Riots in France: Their Possible Impact on Israel and the Jews,
2006
JUDGING THE NETHERLANDS
THE RENEWED HOLOCAUST
RESTITUTION PROCESS, 1997–2000
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Institute for Global Jewish Affairs
The research and publication of this book was made possible in part by contri-
butions of Kamer III of Stichting Marorgelden Overheid (SMO) and Stichting
Collectieve Maror-gelden Israel (SCMI).
This research project and publication of it has been supported by a grant from the
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Copyright © 2011 by Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA)
and Manfred Gerstenfeld
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system—except for brief quotations in
critical articles or reviews—without written permission from the JCPA, 13 Tel
Hai Street, Jerusalem, 92107, Israel. Tel: +972 2 561 9281, Fax: + 972 2 561
9112. E-mail: [email protected], www.jcpa.org
ISBN: 978-965-218-097-1
Set in New Times New Roman by Judith Sternberg, Jerusalem
Printed at Hauser — Coop. Printing Press Ltd
Cover design by Rami & Jacky
Dedicated to the memory of Isaac Lipschits (1930–2008), the
biographer of my late father, Dr. Rafael Gerstenfeld. Prof.
Lipschits conveyed to me many initial insights into the new
Dutch restitution process of the late 1990s.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 9
Foreword by Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat 11
Introduction 15
Chapter One: The Abandonment of Dutch Jewry 21
Chapter Two: The Postwar Years 29
Chapter Three: International Restitution at the End of the Twentieth Century 42
Chapter Four: Toward the Second Round of Dutch Restitution 54
Chapter Five: The Kordes Commission Reports 64
Chapter Six: The Scholten Commission Reports 73
Chapter Seven: Developments during the Van Kemenade Commission
Investigations 90
Chapter Eight: The Van Kemenade Commission Report 107
Chapter Nine: Debates in the Van Kemenade Commission 123
Chapter Ten: Negotiations with the Insurers 136
Chapter Eleven: Negotiations with the Government 146
Chapter Twelve: The Debate during and after the Negotiations with the
Government 160
Chapter Thirteen: A Major Defeat for the Banks and the Stock Exchange 170
Chapter Fourteen: Conclusion 183
Epilogue 192
Appendix: Interviews with Former Ministers 199
Index 211
Acknowledgments
Thanks are due to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs for publishing this
book, and appreciation is expressed to the Claims Conference, Kamer III of
Stichting Marorgelden Overheid (SMO), and Stichting Collectieve Maror-gelden
Israel (SCMI) for their financial assistance.
Many people have provided insights for the book, either in writing or
orally, for which I am very grateful. Their remarks have frequently been quoted.
Memories of events on occasions differ to a significant extent between participants.
Sometimes contradictory versions have been included in this volume.
I want to thank in particular Barend Elburg for his many comments. Joop
Sanders, who has extensive archives from the period discussed in this book,
has been very helpful. I wish to thank Karin Dekker and the late Peter Lamboo
of the Dutch Finance Ministry for their help in accessing part of the ministry’s
archives.
At the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs I want to express my gratitude to
the director-general, Chaya Herskovic, as well as to Edna Weinstock-Gabay who
was responsible for the production of this book.
Many thanks are due to Wendy Cohen-Wierda whose assistance in many
ways was indispensable. I am grateful to Fredelle Ben Avi, who typed many
drafts before this book could be published.
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