Survivors Testimonies of the Holocaust/Survivors - Testimonies of the Holocaust - Disc 2.iso/mac/Media/06Index.cct/00232_Field_Netherlands, Jewish Culture in.txt

Text File | 1999-02-24 | 2KB | 7 lines

Before the war, the Netherlands was a vibrant cultural center.  The 140,000 Jews who lived there at the time of German occupation were among the most assimilated and culturally active in Europe.  Writers, visual artists, theatrical artists, and musicians created and worked together without regard to their religious background.

After the German Army invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, fear and panic gradually subsided and some semblance of normalcy returned to the country.  Jewish and non-Jewish cultural activities continued as before, in many cases with new enthusiasm.  Creativity became a means of psychological escape and a form of resistance as German suppression of Dutch cultural life increased.

As the German occupation authorities gradually isolated the Jews, the Hollandsche Schouwberg theater in Amsterdam, where Silvia performed, became a center for Jewish cultural activity.  The theater drew much of its talent from German and Austrian musicians, artists, actors, and directors who had found refuge in the Netherlands before the German occupation.  When Jews were banned from cafés in Amsterdam, a coffee shop was added to the theater.  It became a last refuge where Jewish artists and audiences alike could publicly socialize in a creative, social environment.

In June 1942, the Germans turned the Hollandsche Schouwberg theater into a deportation center, and closed all other Jewish institutions in the Netherlands.  Like Silvia and many other Dutch Jews, Jewish culture was forced underground.