The government left the financial support for those who were allowed to enter the Netherlands to private individuals. Various Jewish and non-Jewish committees were established to gather money to support the Jewish refugees. These committees also helped Jews to apply for residence permits and passage visas to other places. Between 1939 and 1940, approximately six million Dutch guilders were collected for Jewish refugees. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 and the Kristallnacht in November that year, the influx of refugees increased even more. On 3 December 1938 a national collection was held, which yielded almost half a million Dutch guilders. The government realised it had to do something and allowed a couple of thousand Jews to enter the country. Under the pressure of public opinion, this number was increased to seven thousand. In the beginning of the occupation there were 20,000 legal and an unknown number of illegal Jewish refugees in the Netherlands.
Artists from Germany