Women’s weekly Libelle writes about poor German soldiers far from home only two weeks after the German invasion: “Month after month on, the road, far from the fatherland, far from their wives and children. These are men who are serving their fatherland with devotion, men we ought to respect”.
The commander of the German forces in Falkenhausen writes: “The attitude of the population was flawless and surprisingly obliging. There is no sign of hatred or inner rejection”.
Obedience and passivity is the tone among the Dutch. They also display their admiration and express their desire to be part of the new order and the Great German Reich.
Dutch men and women were guilty of treachery, arrested, imprisoned, guarded, deported, and robbed their compatriots of their possessions and money.
Eichman, who was responsible for the transportation of Jews throughout the Nazi Reich, reports: In the Netherlands, transportation is like a well-oiled machine and a joy to behold.
Rauter, the highest German police chief in the Netherlands, observes: The Dutch police are doing an excellent job, arresting hundreds of Jews day and night. The only problem to arise on occasion is the theft of Jewish property by police staff.
Of all the occupied territories, the number of people who volunteer for and ultimately join the SS is the greatest in the Netherlands.
Based in the Swedish embassy in Berlin (the Dutch embassy had been closed down), the Dutch attaché appointed to serve Dutch interests in Germany attached more importance to golf appointments and his own personal status than to attending to the welfare of Dutch citizens in Germany who had been condemned to death.
More Dutch people died in German military service than Dutch soldiers in the defence of the Netherlands against the Germans.
