What was the Dutch resistance?
Q: What was the Dutch resistance?
A: The Dutch resistance was a movement of Dutch people who fought against the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.
Q: Did the resistance use violence?
A: Mostly not. They fought the Nazis in many different ways, mostly without using violence.
Q: What did the resistance do to help people?
A: The resistance helped to hide 300,000 people in the autumn of 1944.
Q: When did the Dutch resistance develop?
A: The Dutch resistance developed slowly. In 1941, Dutch people organized a strike, called the February strike, to protest against the Nazis deporting over 400 Jews. This encouraged the resistance.
Q: What were some of the groups that formed within the Dutch resistance?
A: The Dutch communists set up a system of cells (small groups of resistance members). Some other very amateur groups also formed, like De Geuzen, set up by Bernard IJzerdraat. Some military groups started, such as the Ordedienst ('order service').
Q: What did the resistance do to help the Allied forces?
A: Dutch resistance groups gathered counterintelligence (information about the Nazis), committed sabotage, and formed communications networks. This helped the Allied forces, beginning in 1944 and continuing until the Netherlands was liberated.
Q: How many Dutch Jews were killed during the Holocaust?
A: About 75% (105,000 out of 140,000) of Dutch Jews were killed in the Holocaust, most of them murdered in Nazi death camps.
