Extract E – Holocaust Collaborator
This was the situation that faced John and Constant. It trapped them, but, after different lengths of time, they both broke away, Constant completely, John less so.
I have no evidence for this, but I wonder if Constant was relieved of his command of the SS “Storm” Rotterdam in October 1942 because his superiors thought he lacked ardour or stridency regarding the roundup of Jews? I pose this question based on what we know about the occupation authorities’ expectations of the German and Dutch police and about Constant’s involvement with the Rotterdam raids to round up Jews.
In March 1943, Constant made a courageous decision. He volunteered for the Russian front. The decision was remarkable because it meant leaving his wife, who was seven months pregnant, and their eighteen-month-old son, as well as putting himself in much greater danger than if he remained in Rotterdam. Although Constant may not have fully appreciated it at the time, the recent German defeat at Stalingrad in late January and early February was a watershed event. It shifted the war’s forward momentum to the Russians and their allies and ratcheted up the likelihood that German soldiers would be wounded or killed.
Constant addressed his decision in all five statements he made while imprisoned as a collaborator after the war. He was clearest in the fourth of these, on November 26, 1946: “I had to choose either to take part in the raids on Rotterdam or to serve at the front. I chose the latter because I did not agree with those raids.” (Chapter 13 – JOHN, CONSTANT, AND WIM: THE HOLOCAUST IN HOLLAND AND THE DUTCH RESISTANCE)
John would have agreed with Moore’s assertion that a Dutch policeman had “few logical choices if [he] was ordered to participate in actions against the Jews.” He wrote emphatically in his 1951 letter: “Know Henry, that whatever I did in the war, it was always a result of a position, into which I was forced, and that I have always tried to choose the least worse of the two!” I sense that this is an acknowledgement that circumstances sometimes trapped him in awful situations and, try as he “always” did, he could not always escape or even mitigate the appalling actions to which he was “forced” to be a part. But he did change his general circumstances when he joined the Schutzgruppe at the start of 1943. (Chapter 13)
Referring to the Final Solution, I remember [John] saying on one occasion, “They did not deserve to die.”
I didn’t think it possible at the time that he might have been a participant in the process that led to millions of murders. My innocence and ignorance, our bond and friendship, simply didn’t allow for that. But when I hear him repeat that short sentence in my memory now—“They did not deserve to die”—I hear regret, guilt, and shame underlying those words. (Chapter 13)
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Extract F – Supporter of the anti-Nazi Resistance
… Van Leeuwen was part of the tiny minority that not only recognized that things had changed fundamentally but joined the resistance in response. Van Leeuwen did this “soon after [the Dutch] had lost the war with the Germans.” As he “had the task to look after the people in hiding,” he obtained milk and butter from a farmer but found the prices “ridiculous.” At some point—whether in 1940 or 1941 is not known—he decided to have a few cows himself. According to his police statement of October 17, 1946, “The proceeds were almost entirely used to look after the people in hiding.” John and Constant’s brother, Wim, went to work for Van Leeuwen’s cattle business in early 1942. Wim subsequently became engaged to Van Leeuwen’s daughter, Dina, and married her in 1944. Included with Wim’s statement of October 23, 1946, is a witness statement from Hans Alexander Friedheim that says that Wim, on behalf of Van Leeuwen, “often brought food to my people in hiding at 6 Schutterweg in Hilversum.” …
John told me Barend van Leeuwen confided in him about his resistance work, and as a result, John got involved. If true, this may have occurred during the latter months of 1942 or in early 1943 because some notable work John claimed he did in support of Van Leeuwen was all at the time the underground was being organized throughout Holland. Although there were some early resistance groups, and Van Leeuwen opted in almost immediately, the Dutch resistance “did not develop into a full scale movement until mid 1943.” John claimed his underground work was going on constantly.
Is this one of John’s hollow boasts or is there something to it? On one hand, Van Leeuwen wrote two testimonial letters on John’s behalf after the war…. [Van Leeuwen] added in his earlier letter that “Petersen had knowledge the undersigned worked illegally and hid Jews in his home, and also helped other people.” On the other hand, while Van Leeuwen says John “had knowledge,” he does not indicate that John was actively involved or did anything to help, which John claims he did. This remains an important unresolved question. Although it is possible John deserves more credit than I can give him based on what is known, his record of false claims must work against him until we learn more, and it lends weight to his version of events. (Chapter 13 – JOHN, CONSTANT, AND WIM: THE HOLOCAUST IN HOLLAND AND THE DUTCH RESISTANCE)