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NETHERLANDS

Holland's extreme right parties suffered a major defeat in the March 1998 local elections, gaining only two seats. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in 1997 rose in comparison with the previous year. Most were manifested in threats and abusive behavior. Many more incidents were reported in the workplace than in previous years. An important watershed in the struggle against Holocaust denial in 1997 was the Supreme Court's confirmation of the May 1996 conviction by a lower court of the Belgian Holocaust denier Siegfried Verbeke.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

An estimated 30,000 Jews live in the Netherlands today out of some 15.5 million inhabitants. The great majority live in the Amsterdam area. There are two other major communities in the environs of the Hague and in Rotterdam. Dutch Jewry is represented by three councils, based on affiliation: the Netherlands Israelitish Kergenootcha, the Verbond van Liberal Religieuze Joden and the Portugees-Israelitisch Kergenootschap. The community publishes a weekly, Nieuw Israelitisch Weeklblad.

EXTREMIST ORGANIZATIONS AND HATE GROUPS

Extreme Right Political Parties Holland's extreme right parties were practically wiped off the political map when they gained only two seats in the March 1998 local elections: one seat went to the Centrum Democrates (CD) in Schiedam (near Rotterdam) and one to the Dutch Bloc in Utrecht. The CD lost 76 of the 77 seats it won in the 1994 elections. These seats were not always occupied and some of the seats were lost when members switched parties or started their own faction. The Centrum Party (CP'86) contested the election unsuccessfully, after gaining nine seats in 1994. CP'86, whose motto is "One people, one fatherland," is considered the most radical party of the extreme right. A study conducted by Willem Poppe of the Institute for Criminology, Utrecht University, showed that most support for CP'86 came from young people who regularly went to rave-ups. The hard core wore bomber jackets emblazoned with Dutch flags, screamed slogans such as "White Power" and gave the Hitler salute. According to CP'86 official sources, the party was planning to set up a branch in Belgium. Other small ultra-right parties that failed to win seats in the election were the Netherlands Bloc, and the Dutch People's Party, led by Joop Glimmerveen, which ran under the name List Glimmerveen.. In 1997 a new extreme right party appeared in the Netherlands -- the People's Nationalist Party of the Netherlands (VNN). This party resulted from the split which occurred the previous year within CP'86. The party, which is led by chairman Willem Jan Beaux and deputy chairman Marc de Boer, seeks unification between the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). The VNN first came to public notice when in October twenty members forced their way into a tent site for unprocessed asylum seekers. They shouted slogans such as "Illegals out" and nailed leaflets to trees urging illegal immigrants to leave the Netherlands. The VNN participated in the municipal elections in six municipalities. Meetings and Rallies of the Extreme Right As in previous years, the most important event for the extreme right was the commemoration of Hitler's unsuccessful coup d'?tat on November 9, 1923, which also coincides with the anniversary of Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938). A closed meeting was organized, in order to avoid clashes with the police, but the media were invited. Practically all Holland's leading neo-Nazis were present, among them, Jan Teijn and Martin Freling, the CP'86 local council members from Rotterdam, Joop Glimmerveen. Constant Kusters from Arnhem and Eite Homan from Groningen, as well as some German neo-Nazis. The speeches of Glimmerveen and Kusters were regularly interrupted with cries of "Sieg Heil." Visitors also gave the Hitler salute and some wore swastika armbands. Similarly, Dutch neo-Nazis commemorated the tenth anniversary of the death of the Nazi leader Rudolph Hess on August 17. CP'86 leaders Stewart Mordaunt and Freling attended a ceremony in Denmark. Freling called Hess "the greatest man in history," while Mordaunt warned that "blacks will try to destroy us." In Alphen aan den Rijn and Woubrugge (two small towns in the province of South Holland) leaflets were found with a picture of Hess.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

The number of reported anti-Semitic incidents in 1997 rose in comparison with the previous year. It is noteworthy that the number of incidents at the workplace also increased. Violence, Vandalism, Threats and Abuse Anti-Semitism was manifested mainly in threats and abusive behavior. However, there were also a number of cases of vandalism at memorial sites and Jewish institutions. The text "Never again Auschwitz" at the Auschwitz memorial in Amsterdam was rendered illegible, while, for the second time in three years, on the night of May 4 (May 5 is the Dutch remembrance day for World War II) the war monument in Vught was defaced with eight swastikas, an upside down crucifix and an unfinished text relating to the Klu Klux Klan. Threats and abuse either by mail or phone were received by both Jewish organizations and individuals. The Jewish National Fund of Amsterdam, for example, which regularly places ads in newspapers, was sent a number of these ads daubed with anti-Semitic remarks. The Internet site of this organization was also infiltrated with extremely anti-Semitic remarks, including allusions to the gas chambers. A fax sent to the Jewish weekly Nieuw Israelitische Weekblad claimed that by exploiting the guilt complex of non-Jews, Jews have obtained over 65 billion dollars in aid from Germany. One example of the many cases of abusive behavior toward Jewish individuals was the message left on the answering machine of an elderly Jewish woman: "Dirty Jew. Hitler forgot a few." She also received an anonymous letter daubed with swastikas. In addition, anti-discrimination registration centers as well as the Commission on Equal Treatment (a government commission which fights discrimination) received complaints about anti-Semitic insults. An anti-Semitic remark made by Cardinal Simonis on a TV program of the Evangelic Broadcasting Corporation (a public broadcasting network) evoked outrage in the Netherlands. Simonis spoke of the "little Jew who comes to Jesus and has to choose between eternal life and a thousand guilders and chooses the money." In a letter to the Jewish community newspaper, he offered his apologies, denying that he had meant to denigrate the Jews. Propaganda and Holocaust Denial Several anti-Semitic brochures and pamphlets were disseminated during the year in various places in the Netherlands. Some were distributed anonymously and others by well-known anti-Semites. In Kootwijkerbroek (a small town in the middle of the Netherlands), P. Van der Meer and W. Oostrum published a brochure full of anti-Semitic allegations against the Jewish people and Israel. F.G. Meulemans from Amsterdam distributed pamphlets containing details of a worldwide conspiracy theory which made Jews responsible for society's ills. The anti-discrimination center in Maastricht received racist and anti-Semitic pamphlets including a registration form for the neo-Nazi organization NSDAP/AO, as well as other pamphlets including one with the symbol of "White Power" and the text "How the Jews invented Hollywood, " together with Nazi symbols. In the southern regional daily De Gelderlander an article appeared with the headline "Jew Cash," which shocked many readers. The paper printed a lengthy apology. The phrase "Jew cash" also appeared in a seamen's paper. In spite of many letters of protest, the editors refused to dissociate themselves from these words. Christian allegations against the Jewish people continued to be distributed by Holocaust denier Lucas Goeree in the province of Drenthe. A typical example was: "Jesus says to the Jews, you cannot hear my word. Your father is the devil and you want to satisfy his desires." There were few reports of Holocaust denial, probably due to strict enforcement of the law against such acts. Consequently, Holocaust denial on the Internet is disseminated via foreign websites. Over the last few years the main distributor of material denying the Holocaust in the Netherlands was Siegfried Verbeke, head of the Antwerp-based Foundation for Free Historical Research. (VHO). However, in 1997 he curtailed his activities in the country due to legal proceedings against him (see below). There was only one complaint of Holocaust denial in 1997, concerning the tract "Jewish Losses and Missing Persons during World War II," sent by the VHO to a journalist working for the largest circulation daily De Telegraaf. Another distributor of Holocaust denial is the widow of Rost van Tonningen, a former leader of the NSB (Dutch National Socialists). On several occasions, Nazi propaganda has been seized from her house, including Holocaust denial brochures such as Die Auschwitz-l?ge, written by her friend, the deceased Nazi Thies Christophersen. The judicial authorities and the mayor of Velp say they will act if van Tonningen proceeds with a planned exhibition of Nazi symbols.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

Demonstrations and meetings to commemorate World War II were held once again in 1997, the most important taking place on May 4 and 5 (Dutch Liberation Day). There was also an Auschwitz commemoration ceremony at the end of January. The fact that Mein Kampf is being offered for sale in second-hand bookshops, book fairs and book retailers was raised in the parliament. Members of parliament claimed that the book was relatively easy to obtain and estimated that about half of the purchasers were supporters of the extreme right. Justice Minister W. Sorgdrager stated that, in principle, Mein Kampf should not be sold and that the police must report such cases. However, certain editions were permitted for sale provided the publisher distanced himself from the contents in the foreword. As in many European countries, the media devoted considerable attention to the subjects of Nazi gold and the Swiss bank deposits of Holocaust victims. In the Netherlands, too, insurance companies and banks were faced with demands to pay out life insurance and deposits. The Dutch government has revived its claim for the return of Dutch gold looted by the Nazis. At the end of 1997, the government decided to hand over to the Jewish community fl 20 million, the equivalent of looted deposits remaining in the Allied countries. A further fl 20 million was granted to people living in Eastern Europe.

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Court Cases and Legal Proceedings An important step in the fight against Holocaust denial was made on November 25, 1997, when the Supreme Court upheld the May 1996 verdict delivered by a Hague court in the case of Belgian Holocaust denier Siegfried Verbeke. The Hague court had fined Verbeke fl 5,000 and given him a six month suspended sentence. Thus, the Supreme Court laid down a legal precedent in the Netherlands for cases of deliberate denial or minimization of the Holocaust. The Supreme Court judgment is the final step in a process which began in 1992 when the Anne Frank Foundation, the National Bureau for the Struggle Against Racism and CIDI (Israel Information and Documentation Center) initiated legal proceedings against Verbeke (see previous reports). It should be noted, however, that the verdict in the Netherlands has not interrupted Verbeke's activities (see Belgium, Germany). In addition, several other racists and anti-Semites were prosecuted and convicted. On May 7, for example, a magistrate's court in Dordrecht fined the CD representative on the Dordrecht municipal council, Chiel Koning, fl 2,000 and gave him a two-week suspended jail sentence for distributing racist propaganda. In December, three leading activists, the CD leader in parliament, Hans Janmaat, and former CP'86 members Martin Freling and T. Mudde, were fined and received suspended jail sentences for deliberate incitement to discrimination during a demonstration held on February 24, 1996, in Zwolle. Another important verdict was given by a magistrate's court in Assen (capital of the northern province of Drenthe) in October. The court fined a football supporter for repeatedly yelling "Disgusting Jew" during a football match. A number of cases are still pending against Constant Kusters, including one for discriminatory views expressed in the August and December 1995 issues of JFN'94, News, which he edits. Questions in this connection were raised in the Lower House of parliament, and the justice minister admitted that the charge had been "inadequately dealt with." Public Activity The European Year Against Racism, 1997, attracted more public attention to the struggle than in previous years. The discussion was highlighted in October, when the Supreme Court convicted the CP'86 leadership on charges of membership in a criminal organization. The issue was debated both inside and outside political circles. Following the court verdict, the justice minister stated in parliament that she was investigating the possibility of banning certain political parties. She stated that extreme right violence against local politicians was on the increase. In addition to receiving threatening letters, council members and aldermen had suffered arson and physical and verbal abuse. The governing party, D'66, proposed a bill denying the right to be elected to public office to supporters of extreme right parties who were found guilty of acts of violence. A parliamentary discussion took place concerning the meeting of Dutch neo-Nazis to commemorate Kristallnacht, and the participation of members of the Dutch extreme right In Denmark in ceremonies marking the death of Rudolph Hess. The justice minister announced that the public prosecutor's office in Rotterdam had been asked to open an investigation into possible punishable offenses committed during the meeting in the Netherlands. In regard to the Danish meeting, the public prosecutor is awaiting steps by the Danish authorities before taking any further action. A report entitled Monitor Racism and the Extreme Right appeared for the first time in 1997, published by the Institute for Social Scientific Investigation of Leiden. The report outlines the development of the extreme right in the Netherlands, its method of operation, and governmental measures to prohibit its activities. Public anti-racist activities included the annual anti-racism demonstration on March 21, and a pop festival "Racism - Beat It." A pilot project launched in the Hague in the context of the European Year against Racism sought to award ten schools in this municipality the title of "School without racism." The project was the initiative of young people of the Hague in cooperation with CIDI in the Netherlands and CEJI (European Jewish Information Center), which introduced the World of Difference program, developed in the US by the Anti-Defamation League. At the end of December, a study day was held on Holocaust denial, organized by the Anne Frank Foundation, the Christian-Jewish consultative body and CIDI. The day was officially opened by Justice Minister Sorgdrager. Speakers dealt with various aspects of Holocaust denial and discussed whether a special clause prohibiting Holocaust denial should be included in legislation.