Anti-Jewish Measures in The Netherlands: Document Concerning Jews and Their Bicycles

Printed Title DE GEVOLMACHTIGDE VOOR DE REORGANISATIE VAN DE NEDERLANDSCHE POLITIE and two dashed lines in top left, two holes punched in left side, St. 77. in bottom right corner, black print, tan paper Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document from The Hague in 1942 from the department handling domestic affairs, requiring all Jews - Dutch and stateless - to deliver their bicycles to the German occupiers who would be confiscating them. This is merely one of many measures enacted slowly and methodically between 1940 and 1944 fragmenting Jewish life and cumulatively depriving Jews of their basic civil and human rights and their basic freedoms. Jews would be prohibited from even riding bicycles. Of course, the Dutch are known for their love of bicycles; for many it is their preferred means of transportation. However, the overarching intent of these measures was to restrict movement, to limit the ability to escape, and ultimately to facilitate eventual capture for deportation to extermination centers. Indeed, in July, in just a few weeks from this regulation, the first transports to Westerbork transit camp would commence.https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2407/thumbnail.jp