The Nazi Bid to Exterminate Gay People

"We must exterminate these people (homosexuals) root and branch... We can't permit such danger to the country; the homosexual must be entirely eliminated."

With these chilling words, the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, set out the Nazi master plan for the sexual cleansing of the Aryan race.

Jews had settled in Zutphen as early as the 1330s. Most likely, they had been attracted to the town because of its role at the time as an important commercial center. The persecution of Jews following the plague epidemic of 1348-1349 put an end to Jewish settlement in Zutphen. Except for the brief presence of a single Jewish doctor who resided in Zutphen from 1567 until 1569, there is no mention of Jews having lived in the town until 1796; although Jewish vendors had been permitted to sell their wares at local annual fairs.

Persoonlijke vluchtverhalen van Joodse vluchtelingen en de kille waarheid van ambtelijke circulaires vertellen een pijnlijke geschiedenis van het Nederlandse vluchtelingenbeleid in de jaren ’30.