ANPHet camped at Auschwitz in Poland
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 09:30
Jewish Amsterdammers who returned from the death camps after the Second World War were followed by the security services for years. The Domestic Security Service (BVD), the predecessor of the AIVD, saw the Jews as extremists and a potential danger to democracy. This is evident from research by Het Paroolwhich examined BVD archives.
Many Holocaust survivors were spied on by the agency until the 1980s. According to the newspaper, the BVD reported on many Holocaust commemorations. It was noted, among other things, who was present.
The Dutch Auschwitz Committee, founded in 1956, was also closely monitored. The interest group for the survivors of the extermination camps was labeled as an extremist organization by the BVD.
Followed
The security service spied on board members and followed the committee everywhere, including on memorial trips to concentration camps. In addition, there was an informant on the committee who reported everything that happened within the organization to the security service.
Het Parool’s investigation also shows that the military police spied on Holocaust survivors. As soon as the Jews passed through customs at Schiphol, the military police passed on travel details, stating ‘a list of persons who participated in the commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp’. The Secret Service then made notes for the individual files.
No one from the generation of the committee’s founders is still alive. Some of their children do. In the newspaper, Jacques Grishaver, current chairman of the committee, calls the reports scandalous. “What is extremist about a bunch of old Jews who came out of the camp? Those people did a good job by drawing attention to the victims.”
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The AIVD does not want to respond to questions from Het Parool about why the BVD followed the Dutch Auschwitz Committee for decades. The service does point out that the BVD conducted research into communism during the Cold War and that “possible investigation into persons” by the committee “can be seen in that light”.
In a letter from 1964, seen by the newspaper, it appears that the BVD thought that the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) played a role in the Auschwitz Committee. The communist party itself was also spied on by the BVD. The security service saw the Dutch Auschwitz Committee as a communist front organization.
2023-12-23 08:30:24
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