page_title: Rescue of Jews by Catholics during the Holocaust
section_title: Netherlands
hierarchical_section_title: Rescue of Jews by Catholics during the Holocaust / Catholic networks / Netherlands
caption_attribution_description: English: The so-called "passport" photo taken in the doorway of the Cologne Carmel. A passport picture that Edith Stein (1891–1942) had to have taken for her passport (ca. December 1938-1939) before moving to Echt, Netherlands. Edith Stein, a German Jewish philosopher, converted to the Roman Catholic Church, became a Discalced Carmelite nun and took the religious name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. On 7 August 1942, she was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and killed in a mass gas chamber.Español: La llamada foto del "pasaporte", tomada en la puerta del carmelo de Colonia. Se trata de una fotografía que Edith Stein (1891–1942) debió haberse sacado para su pasaporte (ca. diciembre de 1938-1939) antes de viajar a Echt, Países Bajos. Edith Stein, una filósofa germano judía convertida al catolicismo, profesó como carmelita descalza bajo el nombre de Teresa Benedicta de la Cruz. El 7 de agosto de 1942, fue deportada al campo de concentración de Auschwitz y ejecutada dos días después en una cámara de gas.
context_page_description: During the Holocaust, the Catholic Church played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the Nazis. Members of the Church, through lobbying of Axis officials, provision of false documents, and the hiding of people in monasteries, convents, schools, among families and the institutions of the Vatican itself, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews. The Israeli diplomat and historian Pinchas Lapide estimated the figure at between 700,000 and 860,000, although the figure is contested.
  The Catholic Church itself faced persecution in Hitler's Germany, and institutional German Catholic resistance to Nazism centered largely on defending the Church's own rights and institutions. Broader resistance tended to be fragmented and led by individual effort in Germany, but in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews. Aiding Jews met with severe penalty and many rescuers and would-be rescuers were killed including St Maximilian Kolbe, Giuseppe Girotti and Bernhard Lichtenberg who were sent to the concentration camps.
context_section_description: During the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands, when Jewish deportations began, many were hidden in Catholic areas. Parish priests created networks for hiding Jews and close knit country parishes were able to hide Jews without being informed upon by neighbours, as occurred in the cities. Gilbert wrote, "as in every country under German occupation, so in Holland, local priests played a major part in rescuing Jews".Archbishop De Jong played a major role in the resistance against the Nazis. He kept address info on hidden Jewish children in the vaults of his palace. Also, the RC church protested regularly against the persecution of Jews in Holland. That sometimes led to persecution of converted Jews, such as sister Edith Stein.  In the province of Limburg, 88 priest were deported and killed - more than from the Dutch other provinces together.
  Some priests were killed during their arrests, such as father Harry Koopmans in Den Bosch.
  Relatively, the Dutch received the most recognitions per capita from Yad Vashem for saving Jews  compared to all other occupied countries, namely some 5,900 on a total of 26,000 (the Poles received more with 6,200).
caption: Edith Stein (ca. 1938-1939)
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