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As
Reich Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands,
Seyss-Inquart was ruthless in applying terrorism
to suppress all opposition to the German
occupation, a program which he described as "annihilating"
his opponents. In collaboration with the local
Higher SS and Police Leaders he was involved in
the shooting of hostages for offenses against
the occupation authorities and sending to
concentration camps all suspected opponents of
occupation policies including priests and
educators. Many of the Dutch police were forced
to participate in those programs by threats of
reprisal against their families. Dutch courts
were also forced to participate in this program,
but when they indicated their reluctance to give
sentences of imprisonment because so many
prisoners were in fact killed, a greater
emphasis was placed on the use of summary police
courts.
Seyss-Inquart
carried out the economic administration of the
Netherlands without regard for rules of the
Hague Convention' which he described as
obsolete. Instead, a policy was adopted for the
maximum utilization of economic potential of the
Netherlands, and executed with small regard for
its effect on the inhabitants. There was
widespread pillage of public and private
property which was given color of legality by
Seyss-Inquart's regulations, and assisted by
manipulations of the financial institutions of
the Netherlands under his control.
As
Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands,
Seyss-Inquart immediately began sending forced
laborers to Germany. Until 1942 labor service in
Germany was theoretically voluntary, but was
actually coerced by strong economic and
governmental pressure. In 1942 Seyss-Inquart
formally decreed compulsory labor service, and
utilized the services of the Security Police and
SD to prevent evasion of his order. During the
occupation over 500,000 people were sent from
the Netherlands to the Reich as laborers and
only a very small proportion were actually
volunteers.
.
One of Seyss-Inquart's
first steps as Reich Commissioner of the
Netherlands was to put into effect a series of
laws imposing economic discriminations against
the Jews. This was followed by decrees requiring
their registration, decrees compelling them to
reside in ghettos and to wear the Star of David,
sporadic arrests and detention in concentration
camps, and finally, at the suggestion of
Heydrich, the mass deportation of almost 120,000
of Holland's 140 000 Jews to Auschwitz and the "final
solution". Seyss-Inquart admits knowing
that they were going to Auschwitz, but claims
that he heard from people who had been to
Auschwitz that the Jews were comparatively well
off there, and that he thought that they were
being held there for resettlement after the war.
In light of the evidence and on account of his
official position it is impossible to believe
this claim.
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