Overview

Razzia on Jewish men in Amsterdam

June 11, 1941 Amsterdam

On 11 June 1941, the Nazis arrested around 300 Jewish men in retaliation for two bomb attacks by the resistance. A building for German officers had been damaged during one of the bombings, and a soldier had been seriously injured in the attack on the Luftwaffe telephone exchange at Schiphol Airport.

Most of the Jewish men were taken from their homes by the Amsterdam police, who had received lists of addresses from the Sicherheitsdienst. If they were not at home, family members were arrested. The Nazis also arrested men in the streets and in pubs.

The prisoners, mostly young men, were deported to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Before long, their families were informed that they were 'dead' or had been 'shot on the run'. These messages made Mauthausen a notorious place. The Nazis threatened to take Jews there who broke their rules.