To Yad Vashem: there was no 'pogrom' in Amsterdam on 7 or 8 Nov.
This is an open letter to the official Israeli centre for documentation of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem calls the Amsterdam Maccabi-football-riots a 'pogrom' but is totally mistaken. "Yad Vashem (...) expresses its profound concern and solidarity with the victims of last night’s unprovoked attack on Jews (...) in Amsterdam. The distressing images from this pogrom serve as a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by antisemitism to our communities." https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/08-november-2024-07-53.html
Dear Yad Vashem,
with sadness I'm writing to you. It's about the Maccabi-riots in Amsterdam, that you and many others in Isreal have taken far, far too seriously. No 'Jews' were hunted in the streets, no 'Pogrom' has taken place. No-one was seriously injured, no-one died. Death is an obligatory ingredient of a 'pogrom' - please remember. Some Maccabi hooligans did what they came for: hooligaming. Some Dutch youths - the same. Remark: only Dutch male youths - no women, no-one over 25. SS-officer and Jew-hunter Julius Dettmann, who had Anne Frank arrested, was 50 at that time. So: how many 'Jews' or Israeli were assaulted? No-one gives a figure. How many were injured? No figure, no names, zero, not even now, a week later.
I took part in the official remembrance of the Kristallnacht in Amsterdam at the monument for the Jewish resistance on the correct date, Saturday the 9th, two days after the riots. I walked the mile from the train station to the monument for the Jewish resistance. Not one single indication or remains of riot or unrest - let alone 'pogrom'. The city was it's usual early Saturday-night self: easygoing, happy, full of promise for the night. At our remembrance, where I even spoke: nothing doing, just two police cars with bored policemen.
The mayor of Amsterdam has, regrettably, used the term 'pogrom' lightly, just once. But she has now said in a tv-interview that she will not repeat the word.
I'm in the business of fighting anti-semitism - I write colums, go to or organize demo's and remembrances - see f.i. here https://www.ad.nl/amersfoort/antifascist-arthur-flyert-in-amersfoort-doe...). Was at last year's Kristallnacht-remembrance in the large and old Portugese synagogue, dating from 1675 - those times when Jews were welcomed in Amsterdam, and have remained so, earning Amsterdam the Yiddsche nickname 'Mokum'. Yes, in 2023 there were policemen, but not everywhere, and all went extremely well. But this year when the Maccabi-fans showed up...
Please do not ever again confuse a football-riot with a pogrom and do not falsely accuse us, the Dutch, of tolerating that. The Dutch have striked three times against persecution of Jews - during the Nazi occupation. No other country did that. The Dutch have by very far the highest percentage of honours for saving Jews from Yad Vashem of all peoples. (Btw, I have been regularly offended and threatened by extreme rightists and in Nov. 2021 a person was condemned by the court for a death threat to me.)
And I can only despise and detest Netanyahu, an extreme and blood-thirsty opportunist of the worst kind. A disgrace to everything Israeli or Jewish.
So, Yad Vashem: please re-concentrate on history and do not judge us, the Dutch, without your usual proper research of months and months - that's way out of your league...
Arthur Graaff,
anti-fascist, coördinator of 'No Remembrance for Nazi's.
Nieuwswo2@yahoo.com