オランダ政府、第２次大戦中のユダヤ人迫害めぐり初の謝罪

【ハーグＡＦＰ＝時事】オランダのマルク・ルッテ首相は26日、戦時下のユダヤ人迫害について政府として初めて謝罪した。（写真はオランダ首都アムステルダムで、アウシュビッツ強制収容所の犠牲者追悼碑に献花するマルク・ルッテ首相＜左＞）
　ナチス・ドイツのアウシュビッツ・ビルケナウ強制収容所の解放から２７日で７５年となるのを前に、オランダ首都アムステルダムでホロコースト（ユダヤ人大量虐殺）犠牲者の追悼行事が行われ、ルッテ氏は「最後の生存者たちが存命の今、私はきょう政府の名において当時の当局者らの行いについて謝罪する」と演説した。
　第２次世界大戦前のオランダには約１４万人のユダヤ人が暮らしていたが、戦争を生き延びたのはわずか３万８０００人ほどだった。
　政府の公式謝罪をめぐる問題は、ルッテ氏が同じく首相だった２０１２年にも提起されたが、戦中の政治の行動に関する情報が不十分で、謝罪に対する「十分に幅広い賛同」もないとしていた。
　１９９５年には同国のベアトリックス女王が、オランダ人は戦中にユダヤ人を十分助けたと発言していた。
　ルッテ氏は２６日の演説で、「われわれの政府機関は正義と安全の守護者として行動しなかった。あまりにも多くの公務員が占領者の命令を実行した」「（ユダヤ人の）リストを作成し、その排除がもたらした悲惨な結果は、これまで適切に評価されてこなかった」と語った。
　さらに「（政府の対応は）概して足りず遅すぎた。保護も援助も、認識も不十分だった」と指摘し、「アウシュビッツから７５年たった今も、反ユダヤ主義はわれわれの中に存在する。まさにこれこそが、われわれが起きたことを全面的に認め、声を大にして言う理由だ」と述べた。
　両親ときょうだいを強制収容所で亡くした男性（８２）は、公共テレビ局ＮＯＳに「戦中にすべてを失った」と語り、謝罪を受け入れるが「７５年も待たなければならなかったのは残念だ」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/01/28-12:34）

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday made the Netherlands' first government apology for the war-time persecution of Jews.
Now the last survivors are still with us, I apologise today in the name of the government for what the authorities did at that time, Rutte said.
He was giving an address in Amsterdam in memory of victims of the Holocaust on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Only 38,000 of the 140,000 Jews who lived in the Netherlands survived World War II, but no government apology had been offered for the role the authorities played.
The question of an apology was raised in 2012 when Rutte was also prime minister. He said then that not enough information was available about government action during the war and there was not broad enough support for an official apology.
In 1995, Queen Beatrix said in a speech to the Israeli parliament that the Dutch had done enough to help their Jewish compatriots during the war.
In 2000, then prime minister Wim Kok apologised for the icy welcome Nazi camp survivors received on their return to the Netherlands, which the Nazis occupied from 1940-1945.
- 'A pity we had to wait' -
On Sunday, Rutte went further saying: Our government institutions did not act as guardians of justice and security. Too many civil servants carried out the orders of the occupiers.
The bitter consequences of the drawing up of registers (of Jews) and of the expulsions have not been adequately recognised, nor recognised in time, Rutte added.
On the whole, it was too little too late. Too little protection. Too little help. Too little recognition.
Seventy-five years after Auschwitz, anti-Semitism is still amongst us. That's exactly why we fully recognise what happened and say it out loud, Rutte said.
A number of Holocaust survivors were present at the ceremony to hear Rutte's apology.
I lost everything during the war, said Zoni Weisz, in comments to Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Weisz, who was a child during the war, lost his parents, brother and sisters, all of whom perished in the Nazi death camps.
They cannot have died in vain, said the 82-year-old. In this respect, it is important that apologies be made. And for myself, I accepted them.
A pity we had to wait 75 years, he added.
Holocaust survivors will gather in Auschwitz on Monday to mark 75 years since Soviet troops liberated the camp, while world leaders held a sombre remembrance ceremony in Jerusalem last Thursday.
More than 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau.