Quotes of the Day

The Dutch have a proud history of resisting the Nazi persecution of the Jews, encapsulated in the Anne Frank story — that of a little Jewish girl hidden from the Nazis by a Dutch family for almost two years. After World War II, "the Dutch saw themselves as heroes," says Ronny Nafthaniel of the Center for Information and Documentation for Israel in the Hague. But a series of books and articles over the past two years has begun to revise that view. With a new strain of anti-Semitism and racism on the rise in the Netherlands, some in the Dutch intelligentsia are beginning to take a closer look at the value system of what has been considered the most tolerant country in Europe.

An early blow was struck by an article published by Dutch historian Jan Herman Brinks in 2000, reminding the Dutch that crown prince Bernhard used to be seen often with Hitler and the Nazi leadership before the war. Brinks pointed out that a large part of the Dutch élite saw the Nazis as the best defense against Russian Communism, and welcomed the occupation — a small Dutch concentration camp was being prepared for Jews even before the Nazis occupied the country.

Another reality check was offered by the author Evelien Gans, in his book Those Little Differences , which profiled the persecution before and after the occupation of Jewish Socialists. The book won the Dutch Literary Society award last May.

But the book that has caused the greatest stir is Price on Their Heads, ("Kopgeld" in Dutch), by the Amsterdam historian and journalist Ad van Liempt. It tells the story of how a squad of Dutch bounty hunters searched out Dutch Jews in hiding and sent them to the Nazi concentration camps. Van Liempt describes a band of 54 middle-aged men who made their living by selling Jews to the Nazis. About 8,000 to 9,000 people — three times more than previous estimates — were turned in for cash. The existence of the band could explain why more Jews, as a proportion of the population, were killed in Holland than in any other country in Europe: a total of 108,000.

The Dutch Department, as the Nazis called this merciless band, was also known as the Colonne Henneicke, after its leader, Wim Henneicke. He had been making a fortune looting Jewish property until he saw a better opportunity when the Nazis began offering cash for Jewish prisoners. (Henneicke is the only real name used in the book; pseudonyms are used for all the other historical characters, in order to protect the children of the collaborators.)

Van Liempt sees his work as part of the overall reevaluation of Dutch character. "There is a longstanding strain of xenophobia in Dutch culture, and we are seeing it reappear in a different form today," van Liempt told TIME in an interview. "Dutch people have been terribly shocked by the book, but it is important that the Anne Frank image be balanced by the reality of what happened during the war. When the Dutch read about how the squad of bounty hunters tortured people to find out where Jews were hiding, they will have a different view," van Liempt adds.

• ANDREW ROSENBAUM
• The Dutch reexamine shameful aspects of their WWII experience