Link to full video and paper is here . It includes at the bottom of the page the report as well as the remarks from the granddaughter. I highly recommend that you read both.
The Dutch publisher has pulled the book, but HarperCollins has not. ( see here and here)
Prof. Bart Wallet of the University of Amsterdam presented
an overview before the group took questions from the audience. After the
questions, the granddaughter of Arnold van den Bergh, Mirjam de Gorter
spoke. Some important issues and charges
she covered include – the charge that both Sulivan and the Cold Case
misrepresented what she said and that she never agreed with their conclusions,
her rejection of the book’s conclusion, suggests that the interviews as
reported in the book were manipulated, the original email from the team simply
said they were doing research on Jews in hiding, and that she brought to the team’s attention
books that her grandfather attention which they dismissed. Ruben Vis followed, commenting on the impact
of the book on the Jewish community as well as making a connection to antisemitism.
By the
end of the presentation, news had broken about the Dutch publisher stopping the
printing of the book.
The
refutation runs around 68 pages and is divided into chapters, which are written
by a different group member or members.
The first chapter, “Arnold van den Bergh: A Profile” was written by
Prof. Dr. Bart Wallet of the University of Amsterdam. Wallet’s chapter is a belief biography of
Van den Bergh up until his joining of the Jewish Council. Wallet notes that Van den Bergh helped family
members, finding evidence of his help in thirteen cases for his extended family, a “high number” (11)
according to Wallet. Additionally,
Wallet contends that the Vanden Bergh,
his wife, and his twin daughters found their hiding place because his niece
(11). Wallet also notes that the family
tried to flee to the UK (11) and that Van den Bergh was able to transfer some
of his assets aboard (11).
The next
chapter is “The Excise Duties of the notary Arnold van den Bergh” by Dr. Raymond
Schütz, who has done work on Dutch notaries during WWII as well as working for
archives. Schütz challenges the Cold
Case Team’s views as Van den Bergh as an art dealer who had connections to the
Nazis [Wallat in the previous chapter notes that many people said Van den Bergh
had a “hatred of Germans” (11)].
Additionally, it is noted that the money Van den Bergh earned for the
Goudstikker sale was the norm for the work (21).
Chapter
three is entitled, “Van den Bergh and the Calmeyer procedure” by Dr. Petra van
den Boomgard whose Ph.D. research concerned the Calmeyer issues. She notes that Van den Bergh was registered
as a full Jew (23). More importantly
that 2,650 Jews were able to escape using the registration act, in part because
of the Calmeyer procedure because it
cast doubts on whether or not a person was Jewish (23). Of the 4670 who applied for the certificate,
¾ survived the war (23). Dr. van den
Boomgard notes that until later in the war the department usually supported the
claims and that the review of status primary depended on having a good lawyer
as opposed to connection to the Nazis (24).
A rejection of an application usually resulted in the applicant going
into hiding (26).
Chapter
four, written by Dr. Bart van der Boom of Leiden University and Dr. Laurien
Vastenhaut of NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies in
Amsterdam, details Van den Bergh and the Jewish Council. They
point out that Van den Bergh was not a founding member, powerful member, or
high ranking member of the Jewish Council, noting that his position on the
council was not one with contact with Germans or with weekly meetings
(31-32). They assert that the number of
Jewish Council members that Rosemary Sullivan gives in the book (17, 500) is
incorrect. They believe that she meant
employees, and note that the number would include family members of council
officials. More importantly, they also
note that the deportation lists did not come from the Jewish Council but the
Central Office for Jewish Immigration (33).
Perhaps
the most damning chapter is Chapter 5 “Van den Bergh and the Betrayal” by van
der Boom and Vastenhaut as well. The
chapter focuses, in part, on the question of the note, pointing that the note
in question, the one accusing van Bergh doesn’t prove the existence of the
lists and that the note’s wording indicates lack of knowledge of the system of German
persecution. They also point out the
investigation by Natasha Gerson that shows a misreading of Otto Frank’s
appointment book, ruling the CCT claim that an entry was about visiting a
prison. They also point out that the mail from Westbrook went directly to the
addresses. In other words, this chapter
shoots down the main evidence from the book. (Honesty, this chapter you should read for yourself).
Chapter
6 by Aaldrick Hermans, a history teacher who does research about Jews in hiding offers an analysis of whether or not Van den Bergh was in
hiding. Additionally, it notes that the
daughter who was arrested was not imprisoned in the place that CCT sites, but
instead in Rotterdam. More importantly,
it covers proof that Van den Bergh and his wife were in hiding in 1944.
The
final chapter by Bart Wallet notes that Van den Bergh was not ostracized by the
Jewish community, noting that he work on getting redress for the Jewish
population.
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