Essay On Dutch Paradox

Although those conscripted into forced labor had to endure many hardships, those who beared the brunt of the trauma were the persecuted. Those who were monotonously hunted by the Nazis faced the most arduous challenges of any group during the war. For them, the occupation was not a slight alteration to daily life, it was a complete transformation of their very existence. The ultimate goal of nazification of the Netherlands couldn’t be completed without the total extermination of the gypsies, homosexuals, Jews, and other groups considered undesirable or inferior. A nation built on tolerance and cooperation became a base of prejudice and ethnic cleansing seemingly overnight. Second only to Poland in Jewish mortality, the confliction between a history of tolerance without anti-Semitism and the historical reality of the holocaust became known as the “Dutch Paradox.” Efforts have been made to explain why this awful tragedy was able to occur; some point to latent anti-Semitism, the lack of strong leadership against the Nazis, and a dense population with an organized administration. All of these reasons proved to be true to some extent as well as others. The Dutch people anticipated that the war would be short and the hardships would be …show more content…
The war had a brutal impact on society, collaborators were targeted viscously, leading to accusations of over 150,00, 60,000 trials in court, 400 long prison sentences, and 40 executions. Even worse, some were lynched and citizens that fought for the SS were used to clear minefields; additionally, many Germans living in the Netherlands were deported. Investigations into activities during the war commenced only three days after liberation, the National Institute for War Documentation was created to research the Dutch occupation and holocaust and present information to the