How One German Officer Saved Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jews from the Holocaust

Amid the unfathomable horrors of the Holocaust, there were still remarkable stories of rescue and survival. We may never understand why such a catastrophe befell our people — but even within the darkness, we can sometimes glimpse the hand of Divine Providence.

One of the most fascinating stories of rescue is that of the Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam.

Two Jewish Communities in Amsterdam

When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, they began by counting and registering the Jews, preparing for their extermination.

The most famous Jew who hid in Amsterdam was Anne Frank, ​who was betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. Her diary later became one of the most recognized testimonies of Holocaust suffering.

At that time, Amsterdam had two Jewish communities:

• The large Ashkenazi community, numbering about 120,000 Jews, many of whom were refugees from Eastern Europe who had fled pogroms in Poland and sought safety in the more tolerant Netherlands (a Protestant country with a reputation for freedom).

• The smaller Sephardic community, descendants of Jews who had fled the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition and settled in Amsterdam centuries earlier, numbering around 4,300 members.

A Wehrmacht Officer’s Unexpected Act of Courage

When the Nazis took over Holland, they appointed a Wehrmacht officer named Hans Georg Calmeyer to supervise Jewish affairs. Calmeyer was no saint — but Divine Providence planted in his mind an idea that would save thousands.

He collected birth and ancestry records from Amsterdam’s Sephardic community and forged or “edited” them to make it appear as if all Sephardic Jews were pure Christians with no Jewish lineage. He then sent this fabricated dossier to Berlin for review, while at the same time delaying their deportation to the death camps.

Sadly, Calmeyer did not intervene on behalf of the Ashkenazi Jews of Amsterdam, who were deported to extermination camps. He was not a moral hero in every sense, but his act nonetheless became a lifeline for many.

A Bureaucratic Miracle

Calmeyer’s plan for the Sephardic Jews partially succeeded. The fake file he sent to Berlin caused such confusion and delay among Nazi officials that the order for deportation was postponed.

While the Nazis in Berlin debated the matter, thousands of Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jews managed to flee beyond Nazi-occupied territory.

When the official response finally came back — more than a year later, declaring that the Sephardic Jews should indeed be sent to extermination, it was too late. Most had already escaped.

Thanks to Calmeyer’s deception, nearly 4,000 Jews were saved. For this act, Hans Georg Calmeyer was later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

A reminder that even in humanity’s darkest hour, compassion, courage, and Divine Providence could still shine through.