Het Joodsche Weekblad (The Jewish Weekly) as an Instrument of Persecution between 1940 and 1943 during the German Occupation of the Netherlands

This thesis examines the Joodsche Weekblad, the Jewish newspaper published in two versions during the German occupation of the Netherlands, functioning for part of that time as the organ of the Jewish Council. It is the first scholarly study to be devoted entirely to how the Joodsche Weekblad contributed to the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands and never loses sight of the relationships between the Jewish Council, Joachimsthal, and above all the fate of the Jewish people they sought to serve under oppressive circumstances. The research is driven by empirical means and archival sources. It first considers Jacques de Léon’s original version in the immediate aftermath of the Occupation with respect to German policy aims against Jews, and how this related to Dutch Jewish society and the press in general. It then examines the transfer of ownership to the publishing firm of Joachimsthal under the editorship of Abraham Asscher and David Cohen, co-chairmen of the Jewish Council. Thereafter, the conflicting debates concerning the subversive purposes to which it would be put by the German authorities and the Jewish Council, and the almost unknown role played by Joachimsthal, are debated. The narrative concludes by tracing how the Joodsche Weekblad fulfilled its invidious role as a German instrument of oppression and offers an additional tier of understanding about how the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands was conducted.