Call-up and Authorities
Amsterdam, The start of the war
23 april 1942
That was our naïve mistake but an crime of the Dutch authorities that made themselves into servants of the German authorities.
The German occupation force didn’t possess sufficient means or manpower of their own to track down contraventions and to be able to exercise strict controls on the behavior of citizens. The Germans tried to get the authorities and in particular the police on their side; in short, to subjugate them to theirs own purpose. This succeeded extremely well and in this way the Dutch police became a great danger for numerous Jews.