Author Description

Opposes Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel's views, in her book "Het geval Calmeyer" (2008), in which she states that Calmeyer, a German lawyer, actively persecuted the Dutch Jews, saving only a few, like van Galen herself. Frijtag makes unproven statements about Calmeyer, such as "he did not want to become involved as he preferred a pleasant quiet life". The NIOD (Dutch Institute of War Documentation) archives notes that ca. 3,000 Dutch Jews were saved by Calmeyer between 1940-1945. The issue of proof is a hard one as Calmeyer could only make notes related to his official task as the person in charge of the subsection Innere Verwaltung in the civil government; it was he who determined who was a pure Aryan. His wife's grandmother was Jewish, and he was known as a very left-thinking advocate. Calmeyer determined that "Mischlinge" should not be considered as Jews. He "proved" that even if a grandparent had been a member of a synagogue it was not proof that their offspring were Jews. He recognized many doubtful papers from Dutch Jews as valid, thus exempting them from deportations. Calmeyer claimed that persons in mixed marriages should not be persecuted; this decision alone saved ca. 3,500 people. His argument that Portuguese Jews were only 1/32 part Jewish, thus not "pure", was accepted by the Germans.