At the beginning of the 'twisted road to Auschwitz', the plan arose to have Jews emigrate to Palestine. This possibility was put into practice on a small scale for a limited group of chosen ones. On 1 November 1942, the Jewish Council announced that those who met the following requirements could report in writing:
- persons who were in possession of a certificate for emigration to Palestine before the outbreak of the war.
- minor children whose parents lived in Palestine.
- parents who had children in Palestine and who were also in possession of a certificate or a promise of a certificate.
Others did not have to report and…. in order not to mislead people, we would like to point out that this is only a provisional registration, which in no way means that emigration to Palestine will also take place.
On 28 November 1942, these categories were expanded to include women with husbands already in Palestine and non-minor children of parents living in Palestine. The Jewish Council checked the report and sent telegrams to Palestine (Jewish Agency) via the Amsterdam branch of the Dutch Red Cross to request information. The role of the Red Cross as an intermediary was indispensable. After all, Palestine was a British protectorate and direct communication with enemy territory was impossible.
The Jewish Agency checked whether persons appeared on the list of Palestine veterans (hence the name V(eterans) list). After checking, a message was returned via Geneva to the Amsterdam Red Cross department129, which in turn informed the Jewish Council (Emigration Department). Part of the impact of these activities of the Amsterdam Red Cross can be found in the Westerbor Archives.
The emigration department examined the application. Once the data had been verified, a confirmation was sent to the applicant, signed by Mrs. Van Tijn or her secretary Dr. Curt Albersheim. The 'Albersheim Declaration' (a medical statement on the basis of which one could demonstrate that one was physically suitable for pioneer work) was manually noted on the Jewish Council Card of the person concerned. The back of the work card often contains the manual note RK (Red Cross), which probably indicates that a Red Cross letter has been received.
Source: Publication “Presumably on transport” by Raymund Schütz, updated version of June 2011, section 3.3.2 Emigration, The Palestine Certificate and the Albersheim Declaration on pages 44 and 45 and the book “Ondergang" volume 2, 4th edition May 1963, pages 43 and 44 ff. by Dr. J. Presser.