Watching Neighbors
Neighbors Sit and Watch as Jewish Citizens are Deported.
By Carli Weldon
During the Holocaust, Jewish citizens were often deported to various concentration camps as non-Jewish citizens sat safely in the comfort of their own homes. Some neighbors were willing to help, while others did nothing.
Most recently, on June 20, 1943, in Amsterdam, Jewish citizens assembled for transport to the Westerbrok transit camp. This transit camp is a way station to the Auschwitz concentration camp killing center. The reason that these citizens were being transported was simply because of their Jewish race.
The Nazi regime, in 1941, implemented the “Final Solution” to systemically murder the European Jew. One way in which they went about this mass murder was through the use of deportation. Using trains or making them travel by foot, German officials removed Jews from their home to Eastern Europe.
As the Germans were conducting these deportations and implications of mass murders, the non-Jewish neighbors had the choice to help or watch.
It has been documented that during the latest deportation from Amsterdam to Westerbork that neighborhood boys and onlookers simply watched the Jews awaiting deportation from their windows and the streets. This image can be seen in the left hand column.
When asked, “In one word – what do you see in this picture,” anonymous viewers answered with: “death,” “indifference,” and even “loneliness.”
A related instance shows a Dutch police officer standing and overseeing a group of Jews being deported from the Netherlands.
While the Netherlands was under direct German occupation, does this still excuse the lack of aide provided by the neighbors?
Questions of morale are posed all along this tragic time in history. As citizens, it is our duty to help one another, but to what extent? Do we comply with the laws or do we fight back? These are the pressing questions that are in the minds of us all.