The Committee for Jewish Refugees (Dutch: Comité voor Joodsche Vluchtelingen) (CJR) was a Dutch charitable organization that operated from 1933 to 1941. At first, it managed the thousands of Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Nazi regime in Germany. These refugees were crossing the border from Germany into the Netherlands. The committee largely decided which of the refugees could remain in the Netherlands. The others generally returned to Germany. For the refugees permitted to stay, it provided support in several ways. These included direct financial aid and assistance with employment and with further emigration.
Then, in 1938 Germany annexed Austria and the Sudetenland regions of Czechoslovakia. Many refugees then came from those regions as well. On the night of 9 November 1938, there were violent programs against Jews across the German Reich, and the imprisonment of thousands of Jews without charges. This led to a further increase in the number of Jews streaming across the border seeking refuge and further emigration. Ultimately, the committee had become "one of the most powerful organizations in Dutch Jewry in the 1930s."Esh and Michman encyclopedia entry cited in the Sources.
World War II started in September 1939. The Netherlands were invaded and occupied by Germany in May 1940. The committee continued its work until Germany closed it in March 1941. One of the committee's main goals had been to help Jewish refugees emigrate. About 22,000 refugees had left the continent of Europe with the committee's help. These refugees thus escaped murder in The Holocaust.Wasserstein, p. 246. "Were it not for the work of Gertrude and her colleagues, the great majority of these 22,0000 or so German, Austrian, and Dutch Jews would probably have perished at the hands of the Nazis." Germany occupied the Netherlands until 1945. About 100,000 Jews from the Netherlands were deported and killed during the German occupation.
Establishment
The Committee for Jewish Refugees (CJV) in Amsterdam was established in April 1933, and disbanded in 1941. It was an offshoot of the (Dutch: Comité voor Bijzondere Joodsche Belangen - CBJB), which was founded in 1933 by Abraham Asscher and David Cohen. The committees were a response to the tide of refugees who were entering the Netherlands from neighboring Germany in 1933. The National Socialist (Nazi) party had taken power there early in the year. Their regime had promptly instituted laws and measures that discriminated specifically against Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews and others began to flee Germany.
The CJV was charged with direct services to the early refugees. André Herzberger was the first chairman of the committee. He was soon succeeded by Dr. David Cohen, who held the position until the CJV was dissolved in 1941.David Cohen (1882–1967) was a prominent professor of ancient history at the University of Amsterdam as well as a passionate Zionist and a leader in the Jewish community of Amsterdam. He was the chairman of the CJV for nearly eight years until it was closed by the officials of the German military occupation. In 1941 he (and also Asscher) accepted membership in the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, which worked with the German occupation officials. In 1943, he was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp near Prague, but survived. After World War II, he and Asscher were accused of collaboration in the massive deportations (and ultimate murder) of Jews from the Netherlands. See Esh and Michman's encyclopedia article in the Sources section. Until 1939 the committee was located at 'Gravenhekje 7 in Amsterdam. It selected some refugees for assistance with housing, expenses, and employment as well as with further emigration beyond the European continent. Other refugees were denied assistance. Most of them had to return to Germany. The premise of the committee was that its work would be in accordance with the Dutch government's refugee policies. In addition, the committee did not receive financial support from the Dutch government, but instead paid for its work through the charitable contributions of private Dutch citizens and of several international organizations.Michman, pp. 208–211.Moore, p. 29.
The Amsterdam Committee was the most prominent of many Committees for Jewish Refugees in the Netherlands. Particularly active provincial committees included those in Rotterdam, The Hague, and Enschede. The abbreviation CJV is generally applied to the Amsterdam Committee, which managed work permits, entry visas and identity passes. The CJV also represented the provincial committees to the Dutch government and to the other organizations that supported the refugees both in the Netherlands and abroad. The provincial committees reported to the central committee in Amsterdam about the situation of refugees in the provinces and provided accounting for their local contributions and their expenses to the Amsterdam committee. Some of the provincial committees were able to contribute financially to the central committee, whereas others received additional support from the central committee beyond what they could raise locally.Michman, p. 214. "At the beginning of 1939, there were altogether sixty-nine Jewish refugee committees."Moore, pp. 28–29. "The CBJB acted as the representative body for all the provincial relief committees which had been set up by other Jewish communities, most notably in Rotterdam, The Hague and Enschede."
Employees
The committee had more than a hundred paid and volunteer staff. The composition varied greatly, since the staff was largely recruited from the ranks of the refugees, and they would succeed in emigrating or return to Germany. Everyday affairs of the CJV were managed by Raphael Henri Eitje and Gertrude van Tijn-Cohn. Eitje was from the Hachnosas Ourechim, an organization that provided help and shelter in Amsterdam to Jewish refugees. An obituary and remembrance of Dr. Levitt (1950–2016) was posted by her colleagues at the Wiener Library; see Many cities had Hachnosas Ourechim or Hachnosas Orchim organizations that sheltered Jewish immigrants and refugees; see also van Tijn was from the Jewish Women's Organization (Dutch: Joodse Vrouwen Organisatie). A summary of the short biographical note: van Tijn was born Gertrude Francisca Cohn in Braunschweig, Germany. She studied social work with Alice Salomon in Berlin. She moved to England in 1910, and then to the Netherlands in 1915 after the onset of World War I. In 1919 she married a Dutch engineer Jan van Tijn. They had one daughter and one son. From 1925 until 1932 they lived in South Africa, and then returned to Holland. She began work with refugees in 1933, and became head of the Emigration Department with the Committee for Jewish Refugees. She was also the secretary for Werkdorp in Wieringen. She and her husband divorced in the 1930s. At the outset of World War II, her children left the Netherlands. van Tijn remained in Holland and chose not to go into hiding because of her work assisting refugees. In September 1943 she was sent to the transport camp at Westerbork and then to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In July 1944 she was among those Jews exchanged from Bergen-Belsen for Germans in Palestine.Bernard Wasserstein (see sources) published a biography of van Tijn in Dutch in 2013, and in English (The Ambiguity of Virtue) in 2014; see "Sources". Cohen focused in particular on his work for the CBJB, which meant that he brought refugee interests to the attention of the Dutch Government and contacts with other Jewish organizations. He also represented the Dutch Refugee Council at international meetings of refugee organizations.
Eitje was instructed to maintain contact with the Dutch authorities. He led the department responsible for passes and work permits. van Tijn was responsible for the initial reception of refugees, i.e. the intake interviews and registration, housing and food distribution. Then she was responsible for managing the finances, she headed the department for emigration and professional training and became the contact person for foreign aid organizations. She made reviews of the work done by the refugee committee and suggested annual and monthly reports together.Wasserstein, pp. 21–22.
Two other key employees within the CJV were Marianne van Stedum, who was involved in social work,Tijn, part 2, p. 6.Marianne van Stedum was born 15 June 1885, and was murdered at Auschwitz 17 September 1943. See , , and and J. de Miranda who looked after the general affairs.
After the Kristallnacht pogroms in Germany and Austria on 9–10 November 1938, there was a great increase in the number of refugees coming to the Netherlands. Dr. Erich Rosenberg, who had been working privately to facilitate the emigration of Jews away from Germany, Born's recollections about Rosenberg's departure weren't accurate; Rosenberg left the Netherlands about a year after the German invasion. joined the CJV as Head of the Welfare Department at this time. He shared daily management of the CJV's work with Gertrude van Tijn.Tijn, pp. 16–17. Like van Tijn, during the German invasion of May 1940 he declined the opportunity to leave the Netherlands.Rosenberg had arranged for his mother and the family of one of his brothers (likely Siegfried Rosenberg) to leave on the SS Bodegraven in May 1940, but chose not to leave himself. See Tijn, Part 2, p. 42. He and van Tijn continued their work with the CJV through its dissolution in March 1941.In August 1941 both Rosenberg and van Tijn were offered exit visas. At this time the CJV had been closed, although their work with refugees had continued in private and in conjunction with the Jewish Council. van Tijn persuaded Rosenberg to leave while she remained. See Tijn, Part 2, p. 42.Erich Rosenberg (1896–1971) was born in Berlin, Germany. He received a doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 1922; his thesis advisor was Franz Oppenheimer. He had moved to the Netherlands by 1933. In August 1941 Rosenberg left the Netherlands for Spain and Cuba, ultimately landing in the United States in 1943. See
Tasks and departments of the Committee The events in Germany and the measures taken by the Dutch government had influence on the work of the Committee for Jewish Refugees. The emphasis increasingly shifted from providing for its own maintenance to managing the increasingly large flows of refugees and promoting emigration. Some reorganization was needed to meet the new demands made to the organization. Although the departments sometimes changed, the tasks performed by the committee remained broadly similar.The present article was originally a translation of the Dutch Wikipedia article. That article is an adaptation (with permission) of the following:
Selection All refugees from Germany were registered upon arrival. Refugees who would be financially independent while in the Netherlands were generally able to stay. For the others, only some were selected to receive assistance from the CJV; "economic" refugees were denied assistance and generally had to return to Germany. These policies were developed in concert with the Dutch government, which was unwilling to provide financial support to the refugees and expected such support to come primarily from the CJV. There were several motivations. By wielding strict criteria for admission, the CJV could give greater help to those that were eligible for support. Strict policies were also seen as deterring flight from Germany to the Netherlands, which could have overwhelmed the resources of the CJV. According to historian Dan Michman, an average of 60% of the refugees were turned away during the first years. Sometimes the number of refugees turned back was as high as 90%.Michman, pp. 224–227.
Welfare Department For selected refugees, the Welfare Department assisted with shelter, food, clothing and, if necessary, medical assistance.Moore, pp. 32–39.
Reconstructive help