De razzia van Rotterdam. 10-11 november 1944 - KNAW

SUMMARY 2 6 3
conditions in western Holland during the last winter of the occupation. The question
whether conditions in Rotterdam had been made more difficult or less so as a result
of the arrest of so many men could only be answered by comparative research, for
example with conditions in Amsterdam, or in some other town where no large-scale
razzia had been held. This point has not been investigated in detail. For this reason
conditions in Rotterdam after the razzia have only been described in as far as the
social and psychological situation immediately after the razzia was concerned.
Attention was also paid to the ways in which the families left behind were assisted
and to the attempts made to bring men back to Rotterdam.
Finally the author had to investigate how the men of Rotterdam were used by
the Germans in their war economy. They had been transported to so many different
places that a detailed description of their experiences in Germany and the eastern
part of Holland would have entailed a special program of research. On the basis of
data available he confined himself to a general survey in Chapter XI.
In a report written after the razzia by the German official Liese, Generalbevoll-
machtigte für den totalen Arbeitseinsatz (General deputy for total War labour Economy),
it was stated that about 54.000 men were taken prisoner as a result of the
razzia. It was not known whether this figure was reliable. After the completion of
the research program all data which might throw light on the number of people
deported, were made available tot the Mathematisch Centrum (Centre for Mathema-
tical Research), Amsterdam. The number of deportees was estimated by this Centre
at 52.000.
SOURCES
When Mr. Sijes started his researches only very few data appeared to be available
at the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation. In order to obtain a
preliminary picture, it was decided with the assistance of the Rotterdam press, to ask
the townspeople of Rotterdam to describe by letter their experiences at the time of the
razzia and afterwards. Ninety letters, five diaries, and five extended reports were
received. This material although valuable was clearly not sufficiënt. In order to
supplement it contact was made with both the authors of the letters, diaries and
reports and with other people. Considerable use was made of personal interviews.
This was the only method by which sufficiënt material could be collected to form a
general picture. There were, however, other considerations which decided the author
to make principal use of interviews.
The letters and diaries had shown that in general the deportees had paid little
attention to the behaviour of other people during the razzia or to the question as to
what extent they had been influenced by it.
Letters could not be expected to contain data of a social-psychological nature.
This lack could only be remedied by means of interviews. Interviews were arranged
with people from alle classes of the population who had been or who had not been