Het Parool

van illegale nieuwsbrief tot modern dagbladbedrijf

Plot

A history of "Het Parool", a major Dutch underground newspaper, and its precursor, the "Nieuwsbrief" of Pieter 't Hoen. The "Nieuwsbrief" appeared from 25 July 1940 on a small scale; in February 1941 it became "Het Parool" and was published by a large group and distributed throughout the Netherlands. Three of the six editors were Jewish: Maurits Kann (1894-1942) was deported to Sachsenhausen; Hans Warendorf (1902), a lawyer active in international trade and finance, escaped to England in May 1943; Jaap Nunez Vaz (1907) was deported to Sobibor in March 1943. The paper published many articles against German anti-Jewish measures. It criticized the institution of the Jewish Council, and supported the February 1941 strike in Amsterdam. In September 1941 it wrote about the death of Jews deported to Mauthausen. In July 1942 it warned against the deportation of the Jews and called for resistance. In September 1943 it published a lengthy article on the systematic murder of Jews in Auschwitz. In comparison to other Dutch illegal newspapers, "Het Parool" gave the most attention to the persecution of the Jews and to the role of the Jewish Council.