Under Nazi Noses

Résumé du livre

This is the first, text-only, print edition of a translation and annotation of a Dutch biography of Walraven van Hall by Erik Schaap. It describes the evolution of the Dutch Resistance from the perspective of a Dutch banker in Zaandam who became the leader ("Prime Minister") of the Resistance. He financed, first, the terminated salaries and pensions of Dutch seamen overseas who did not return to the Netherlands after the Occupation began in May 1940. Then he financed people in hiding, including those called up for the "Work Assignment" (forced labor in Germany) and Jewish refugees. Finally, he financed about 30,000 railway workers on strike. He did this by counterfeiting Treasury bills, inserting the counterfeit bills in the State Bank's vaults, and selling the genuine T bills. The whole story is told in detail. Walraven van Hall was caught and executed for some other Nazi law he had broken. At war's end, no one in the Occupation had figured out that their State Bank had been the victim of an ongoing heist. Van Hall raised altogether about $1 billion in 2024 U.S. dollars. Nowhere else has the full story been told in English.