Worse Than Nazis: Jewish Collaborator Who Hunted Jews for the SS

On 10 May 1940, German forces invaded the Netherlands, beginning an occupation that would transform the lives of the country’s Jewish population. As restrictions intensified and systematic deportations began in 1942, thousands went into hiding, relying on false identities, secret addresses and resistance networks. But German security services and their Dutch collaborators increasingly used informants to penetrate this hidden world. This documentary tells the extraordinary and troubling story of Rosalie Roozendaal, a young Jewish woman from Amsterdam whose experience of occupation would take her from hiding to collaboration and eventually to the Dutch resistance. In 1943, nineteen-year-old Rosalie was discovered after seeking refuge at an address connected to Ans van Dijk, a Jewish informant working with the authorities. Dutch police detective Gerrit Mozer threatened Rosalie with deportation and coerced her into becoming an informant. Posing as a member of the Jewish underground, she gained the confidence of people in hiding and helped reveal their locations. By October 1943, she had been involved in the betrayal of at least six people, and prosecutors would later hold her responsible for more. Yet Rosalie’s story did not end there. In January 1944, she escaped from the network and went into hiding near Nijmegen. Deeply distressed, she confessed what she had done to the family sheltering her and later assisted the Dutch resistance, reportedly at considerable personal risk. After the war, Rosalie faced a Dutch court, where prosecutors weighed her collaboration against her age, coercion and subsequent resistance activities. Her case reveals the morally complex choices created by persecution, fear and survival under occupation. Join World History channel and get access to benefits: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKy_pNKZBX4KcCct8505HA/join Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of the World History ch