Hollandia-Kattenburg specialized in waterproof raincoats made of a rubber-coated fabric. Before and even after World War II, Hollandia-Kattenburg was among the largest and most advanced garment factories in Europe.
Economic exemptions
In 1940 Hollandia-Kattenburg had 740 employees, including many Jews. To avoid having to report the operation to the Nazi occupation forces (which could lead to expropriation), the Jewish directors resigned in November 1940 and were replaced by non-Jewish managers. Nonetheless, the company was assigned to a Verwalter. Because Hollandia-Kattenburg received a great many manufacturing commissions from the German Wehrmacht, the Hollandia-Kattenburg staff had the status of Rüstungsjuden, who had provisional exemptions from deportation. Their exemptions covered their spouses and children as well.
The abundance of economic exemptions deeply irritated Rauter, especially in the autumn of 1942, when the number of Jews deported fell short of the quota imposed from Berlin. In October he managed to cast so much suspicion on the Rüstungsjuden at Hollandia-Kattenburg that they were arrested despite their exemption and deported with their families.
A so-called sabotage group
The suspicion was based on the following course of events. On 17 October 1942 Sally Dormits was arrested. He was the Jewish leader of the Nederlandse Volksmilitie, a resistance group with communist sympathies. In his cell he committed suicide to avoid betraying anyone. At his home, however, the police found lists of names and addresses of members of the resistance movement and promptly arrested everyone on the list. Martha Korthagen, a non-Jewish girl, appeared in Sally Dormits’s notebook as well. She had worked briefly at Hollandia-Kattenburg, until she was dismissed from her job in May 1941. Martha Korthagen was also arrested. While under interrogation at the Scheveningen penitentiary, she mentioned that a large group of Jewish workers at Hollandia-Kattenburg was involved in communist acts of sabotage. Whether she was threatened during the interrogation or was instructed what to say remains a mystery.
On 11 November 1942 Grüne Polizei vans pulled up in front of the Hollandia-Kattenburg factory. The Jewish staff was separated from the non-Jewish staff. The non-Jews were sent home, while the Jews were transported in these vans to the SD headquarters, where Martha Korthagen (concealed from her former co-workers) pointed out the men and women supposedly involved in the acts of sabotage. She identified 130 of the over 360 Jewish employees as saboteurs. The others were sent straight to Westerbork. The 130 ‘saboteurs’ were transferred to the Scheveningen penitentiary.
Scheveningen - Westerbork - Auschwitz
At the penitentiary the 130 ‘saboteurs’ were tortured so badly that some confessed. On 25 November the majority was transferred to Westerbork, where they were assigned to the barracks for criminals. All family members of the Jewish employees had been arrested by then and brought to Westerbork as well. Five Hollandia-Kattenburg staff members were ultimately tried in a Nazi court. Two were executed, while the other three were sent to Westerbork and subsequently to Auschwitz and various forced labour camps. Among all the Hollandia-Kattenburg employees and their families who were deported (over 820 people altogether), only eight survived the camps.
Although all Hollandia-Kattenburg employees had laid down their work during the February strike, and several had communist sympathies, Hollandia-Kattenburg staff members are highly unlikely to have been part of a sabotage group. None of them appeared on the lists of Sally Dormits, and none went into hiding when Dormits was arrested. Martha Korthagen’s reasons for her accusations remain a mystery. After the war, she was convicted by the Special Court.
Memorials
The names of all the victims from the Hollandia-Kattenburg factory appear on a commemorative plaque that was initially affixed in the factory hall but has since been transferred to a monument on the IJ square in Amsterdam North. Each year a memorial service is held there on 11 November.
A photograph of each of the victims appears in the Boek der Tranen at the Jewish Historical Museum. The photographs have been scanned and appear in the Digital Monument with permission from the 11 November Comité Hollandia-Kattenburg.
Recommended reading:
Annemieke van Bockxmeer, 'De ramp bij Hollandia-Kattenburg', in: Het Parool 7 november 1992, 21-22.
L. de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Deel VI eerste helft juli '42-mei '43 ('s-Gravenhage 1975), 284-285.
Interview with the daughter of an employee who was killed: www.oorlogsgetuigen.nl