Leaders of Dutch Jewry have expressed shock over a recent
communal study disclosing the following unprecedented
statistics:
Most of the members of their community are partners to
intermarriage. Since various members of the community are
opposed to awarding Holocaust reparations to intermarried
couples and their offspring, a study was conducted to verify
the numbers involved.
According to the reparations agreement, which was
unsuccessfully challenged in the Dutch court by a group of
Holocaust survivors, assimilated families are to be included
among the recipients of reparation. The recently published
demographic study indicates that of 35 thousand people
eligible for reparations, 2300 have intermarried and have
produced 27,000 offspring.
The Dutch government, banks, insurance companies and stock
markets are due to pay more than 225 million British pounds
as compensation. More than 191 million British pounds will
be distributed equally among those who, as the agreement
stipulates, "were persecuted or robbed," and their
offspring.
The Dutch Parliament has approved a proposal by the Jewish
umbrella organization, C.G.O., which will also grant every
Holocaust survivor "who has least one completely Jewish
parent" a share of the funds. These funds, earmarked for
Holocaust survivors who have died since the war, will be
distributed to their offspring. C.G.O had estimated that
these allocation criteria would result in the inclusion of
approximately 10% of Dutch Jews who have intermarried, or to
their offspring. However, it has become clear that the
situation is far worse.
The community had opposed conducting any demographic study
since World War Two, claiming that during the war, such
statistics enabled the handing over of most of Holland's
Jews to the Nazis, facilitating their expulsion and death.
In light of the argument over allocation of the compensation
payments however, the C.G.O. arranged for the study which
was conducted by a well-known Dutch institute.
The study indicated that there are 45,000 Jews in Holland,
among them 9000 who come from Israel and other countries.
Only half of Holland's 36,000 native-born Jews define
themselves as Jews. 60% of the Jews are intermarried. Only
47% have two Jewish parents. An additional 24% have Jewish
mothers.
The organization spokesman estimates that at this rate, only
a few thousand Jews will remain in Holland within the next
few generations.
