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

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

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

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276 SUMMARY<br />

attitude. As members of the anonymous mass of millions of forced labourers working<br />

in Germany, they took courage. Several of them escaped during transport, many<br />

others returned to <strong>Rotterdam</strong> from the places where they were employed. A questionnaire<br />

sent to about 750 deportees showed that before the German surrender nearly<br />

30 per cent of the victims of the <strong>razzia</strong> had been able to return to <strong>Rotterdam</strong> on their<br />

own initiative. In Germany and in eastern Holland approximately 400 deportees died.<br />

In the opinion of the author it is the percentage of escapees which ought in the<br />

first instance to act as a warning should one be tempted to generalize in judging the<br />

population of <strong>Rotterdam</strong>. Many people who were dominated by their fears on<br />

November <strong>10</strong> and <strong>11</strong>, later proved to be capable of developing remarkable courage<br />

and initiative. For this reason Mr. Sijes concludes by saying: “We would be grateful<br />

for this study to be regarded as a contribution towards a better understanding of the<br />

intricate relationship between the individual and the community in a modern<br />

society — a relationship analysed and demonstrated here in a study of one of<br />

the most striking calamities suffered by the Netherlands people in the second World<br />

War”.

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