Episode Five:
Jews Out, Gentiles In
"In September of 1941, under Nazi occupation, anti-Semitism in football became the country’s official policy. The Reichskommissariat issued a sweeping new order stating that Jews were no longer allowed to participate in any sporting activities, anywhere in The Netherlands. ... All clubs, including Ajax, must rid themselves of all Jews, in order to continue operating."
Richard Dombi
Eddy Hamel was not the only highly influential Jewish football coach in the Netherlands in the 1930's. Between 1935 and 1939, Richard Kohn, an Austrian Jew better known as Richard Dombi, coached the first team of Feyenoord, leading the Rotterdam club to its greatest sporting achievements up to that point in time. Dombi survived the war, and went on to coach at several other prestigious clubs, including Hertha BSC, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Read more:
The The Jewish history of Feyenoord (Sportgeschiedenis)
Richard Dombi was Feyenoord's miracle doctor (Sportgeschiedenis)
Source: Regional Archives Dordrecht
Making the Case for Anti-Jewish Measures
An article from Joseph Göbbels, Hitler's Chief Propagandist, outlining the case for Jewish exclusion and eradication. The article was published not long after the Reichskommissariat order banning Jews from sport, and appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including here, in the Delftsche Courant.
Under the heading "The Jews are to blame," Göbbels writes that the Jews were responsible for the war, and did not deserve sympathy or even to be treated as human. Item 4 states that "If someone wears the Star of David, he is identified as an enemy of the people" which is highly ironic, considering the Nazis had already compelled all Dutch Jews to wear the Star. The statement concludes by urging non-Jewish complicity: "No one has the right to act on his own authority, but everyone has the duty to respect the measures of the state against the Jews."
Source: Delfer
Sign Banning Jews from Sporting Facility
Signs posted at sporting facilities after the Reichscommisariat order:
On the basis of the Regulation of the Reich Commissioner dated September 15, 1941, entering these sports fields is FORBIDDEN TO JEWS.
Source: Het Joods Cultureel Centrum
Emous Family Relocation Order
The official notification from the City of Zandvoort conveying the occupation authority's final decision to evict the Emous family from their home, originally set for 30 November but then deferred to 31 December 1942. Their home was bulldozed to make way for defensive fortifications against an Allied invasion.
Below is the evacuation order from the occupation government, granting the Emous family the right to occupy Rijnstraat 145 - II, the former home of the recently deported Hamel family.
Source: Ria Emous. All rights reserved. Do not download or re-distribute without permission.
Eddy Hamel's Arrest Report
Eddy Hamel was arrested on 27 October 1942 by officers Meyer and Nap of the Jewish Affairs division of the Amsterdam Police Department and taken to police headquarters on Valkenburgerstraat. The official report, written in German, states that Hamel was caught “in public without a Jewish star.” It also says that Hamel was born on 21 October 1902, and is Jewish. It lists his profession as sports coach, as stated on his ID card, and his address as Rijnstraat 145-II. It also states that Hamel claimed American citizenship at the time of his arrest, saying he was born in New York. However, the report lists his nationality as “Niederländischer,” German for Dutch.
A note added two days later states that “The Jew E. Hamel was transferred to the SD on 29 October 1942”. The SD is the Nazi Party intelligence service, a division of the infamous SS, which maintained its own detention facility in the basement of the same police building.
Source: City Archives Amsterdam