
Many Jews were forced into restricted ghetto areas in July 1941, and after May 1942, all Jews had to wear the yellow star. But the Germans reacted brutally, and were able to break up most organized resistance. At first, the Dutch population resisted the anti-Jewish measures enacted by the Germans. The rich became poor and the middle class was reduced to subsistence levels. Beginning in October 1940, they liquidated Jewish businesses and banned Jews from most professions. When the Germans invaded, they immediately embarked upon steps to separate the Jews from the rest of the population.

The Jews of the Netherlands were well-integrated into the general population and they were active in all aspects of the country's social, cultural and economic life. Abraham's father was a high school teacher in the small city of Leeuwarden, in northern Holland. Eva was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.Ībraham, the son of Hartog and Rosette Beem, was a five year-old schoolboy when the Germans invaded Holland in May 1940.

