Sale of Jewish houses earned millions in WWII

20 November 2008

AMSTERDAM – New research reveals that Dutch estate agents earned millions of guilders during World War II from the sale of houses belonging to deported Jews.

Eric Slot, writing in the history magazine Historisch Nieuwsblad, says the estate agents sold more than 20,000 Jewish properties seized by the Germans. He also writes that many buyers used the purchases to legalise money earned from collaboration with the occupying German forces.

When the war ended and the original Jewish owners, or their surviving relatives, returned to the Netherlands, they experienced great difficulty in reclaiming their property.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]