Prime Minister Mark Rota, speaking at the Holocaust memorial ceremony • "The Dutch government failed in its role as guardian of justice and security in the war" • The Jewish community welcomed

• Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) embraces Dutch Auschwitz Commission Jacques Grishabar during the Holocaust memorial ceremony in Amsterdam // Photo: EPA

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized to the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors on Sunday for the conduct of the Dutch government during World War II. The Jewish community in the Netherlands and abroad received the apology, which was said at a memorial ceremony in Amsterdam, calling it a "historic apology".

Speaking at the ceremony, Rota said: "I apologize on behalf of the Dutch government for conducting the government at the time. I apologize now, with the last survivors still living among us. The Dutch government has failed in its role as the guardian of justice and security in the war. Too many officials did what they were asked to do without thinking."

"How could this have happened, how did the German killing machine operate under all eyes?" Asked Rota, answering: "Because many turned over Jews for a monetary reward, and many, many more," looked to the other side "when they saw how Jews were deported to destruction and their homes and property were stolen. There were others, too, but not enough. It was too little. "Too little help. Too little recognition," Rota said.

Prime Minister Rota delivered the remarks today at a memorial to Auschwitz's murderers at Wertheim Park in Amsterdam. Tomorrow, January 27 will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russian army. The concentration and extermination camp, in which over a million people were killed in World War II, became a universal symbol of Nazi mass destruction.

Rota speaking at a ceremony in Amsterdam // Photo: EPA

Of the 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands during the Holocaust, 102,000 were murdered by the Nazis and their allies, a relatively high percentage, which many believe is due to the effectiveness of the Dutch government and civilians in helping the Nazi occupier in hunting Jews.

In the Jewish community in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Rotte's apology was described as "historic." Anemik Gringold, curator of the Amsterdam Jewish Quarter, says that this is the first time that the Dutch Prime Minister recognizes that the Dutch government mechanism partly ignored the mass deportation of (mostly) Jews during the German occupation. "The process of recognizing the Netherlands' responsibility for the Holocaust began in 1996, when the then-Queen Beatrix said in a speech in the Knesset that the Netherlands failed to safeguard Jews during the years of Nazi occupation," Greenold told NOS.

Greenold said the apology is also on behalf of the Dutch government in exile in London. "We know that in December 1942, the government received credible reports of what was happening in occupied Poland. The government, like the rest of the Allies, set other priorities," Gringold said.

The director of the Jewish Historical Museum, Emil Schreiber, was on his way to Poland this morning to attend the memorial service in Auschwitz. When he arrived in Krakow he heard about Rota's apology. "It meets the greatest wish of the Jewish community in the Netherlands for generations. It is a great tribute to Dutch Jews," Schreiber told NOS television.

It should be noted that as early as 2012, the PVV party led by Geert Wilders demanded an apology for the passive attitude of the Dutch government during the persecution of the Jews. Wilders himself expressed satisfaction with Rota's official apology today. "We've been asking for this historical justice for a long time, and it's better late than never," Wilders said. "The apology comes in good timing, at a time when, unfortunately, anti-Semitism around the world has only grown."