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WW2 | Dutch-Paris Escape Route Mini-Symposium, Nov. 10

My cousin and friend Charles Boissevain, nicknamed "Charles Leidschendam" to distinguish him from other Charles Boissevains, wrote to me recently about a mini-symposium in Amsterdam on Nov. 10.

It will be conducted in English and will discuss the Dutch-Paris escape route during the Nazi Occupation of Holland, which started with the invasion on May 10, 1940 and lasted until 1945. Charles says:

The past few years I have spent quite a lot of time trying to convince the Yad Vashem authority in Jerusalem to award the Yad Vashem honor to Jean Michel Caubo, a Dutchman living in the war in Paris. The Dutch-Paris Line helped some 800 Jewish persons, some 200 Dutch "Engeland-vaarders" [Dutchmen trying to escape by sea, including two of my cousins Gi and Janka Boissevain] and some 200 allied airplane soldiers to escape. Via Paris to Switzerland, Spain, the UK. Caubo received them at the train in Paris and helped them escape. He did so until he was arrested in 1944 and evenrtually killed. His activities are recognised and honored by France, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. Time and again my friend Maarten Eliasar, the organiser of the symposium Nov. 10, and I have sent requests to the Yad Vashem Authority to give Caubo the Yad Vashem award. They have so far refused to do so. Of course I will go to this mini-symposium.

I have written about Caubo before–here and here. The symposium – which will be (reminder) conducted in English – will launch the publication of the Dutch translation of the book "Ordinary Heroes: The Dutch-Paris Escape Line 1942-1945" under the title Gewone Helden – De Dutch-Paris ontsnappingslijn 1942-1945 by Megan Koreman PhD, published by Uitgeverij Boom. Here is the program and other details:

ORDINARY HEROES: THE MAKING OF DUTCH-PARIS ("Gewone Helden")

Program, Nov. 10, 14.00 (doors open 13.30) Mini-symposium with the participation of Megan Koreman, historian and author of the book; Hans Blom, former director of NIOD; Ad van Liempt, author, journalist and tv-producer; Onno Sinke, historian and advisor at Arq Psychotrauma Expert Groep; and Max van Weezel, political scientist, journalist and radio anchor. The symposium will be followed by the presentation of the first copies of Gewone Helden and a reception.
Venue: Hilton Amsterdam, Apollolaan 138, 1077 BG Amsterdam.
Registration: Because places are limited, the symposium organizers ask you to register as soon as possible but definitely before October 20, 2016, by clicking on the following link: http://dutchparisblog.com/symposium-registration/. You will be led to a web page on the Dutch-Paris Blog where you can register. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please forward this email with the request to register as soon as possible.
Other Publicity:TV-broadcast ‘Andere Tijden’, Nov. 5, Dutch public network NPO2, approx. 21.10 hours: Dutch public broadcaster VPRO-NTR will feature Dutch-Paris in the episode ‘Ontsnappingsroute in de oorlog (Escape route during the war)’ in their renowned history series ‘Andere Tijden (Different Times)’.
Lodging: The Hilton Amsterdam offers a room rate for the symposium of €219 based on single occupancy (€239 double occupancy). This price includes breakfast and Wi-Fi but does not include 5% city tax and is based on availability. Reservations can be made through the booking link . If you intend to come and want to stay at the Amsterdam Hilton, make reservations a.s.a.p.
Sponsors: The invitation comes on behalf of Megan Koreman, the Weidner Foundation and Uitgeverij Boom from Maarten Eliasar, Van Eeghenstraat 137, 1071 GA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. symposium@dutchparis.com. The symposium is made possible by the support of Hilton Amsterdam and other sponsors.

WW2 | Mar. 6, 1945–Dutch Kill SS Gen. Rauter

Nazi Lt. Gen. Hans Rauter, convicted
 of war crimes and executed in 1949.

Young members of the Dutch Resistance, attempting to hijack an SS truck in Apeldoorn, Holland, on this day shot the Nazi SS Leader in Holland.

However, Johann Baptist Albin (Hanns) Rauter (1895-1949), a high-ranking Austrian, was not killed, and he exacted a steep price in his reprisal for his injury and humiliation.

He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during 1940-1945, reporting directly to Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler, although nominally under  the Nazi governor of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, also Austrian.

Rauter was riding in the ambushed truck, filled with food destined for the nearby Luftwaffe base. The previous "Hunger Winter" left much of occupied Holland close to famine conditions. The Resistance workers were raiding the truck not because its passengers included the commander of the Dutch SS, but because it had food inside.

The Dutch Resistance was one of the fiercest of all the underground movements in Nazi-occupied Europe. It was composed of independently organized groups from all segments of Dutch society, ranging from conservative older bankers, housewives to young people motivated by ideology or revenge or patriotism. The Dutch Foreign Minister wrote after the war:

The Dutch never accepted the German contention that… the war was over. [T]heir acts of resistance and sabotage grew more audacious as time passed.” 

Reuter responded to every act of Resistance with savage and escalated brutality.  In 1941, during the General Strike in Amsterdam and nearby towns among Dutch workers to protest the round-up of almost 400 Dutch Jews, Rauter ordered the SS and Wehrmacht troops to open fire on the strikers, killing 11. The Jews, whom the strikers were trying to protect, were deported to Buchenwald and all were dead by the fall.

Dutch acts of resistance and sabotage included:

• hiding Allied soldiers and pilots who either parachuted or crash-landed within Dutch territory, 
• hiding Dutch Jews,  
• killing German troops and senior Dutch collaborators,
• raiding offices to obtain ration coupons or destroy identification records,
• raiding supply vehicles or depots to obtain food for starving Dutch families,
• printing and distributing underground newspapers.

Rauter's retaliation for the assault on his truck was to order the SS to round up and summarily execute 263 Dutchmen. Some were Resistance fighters already being held in prison.

After World War II Rauter was convicted in the Netherlands court in The Hague of crimes against humanity and was executed, after an unsuccessful appeal in Nuremberg, by a firing squad.