From Spectral to Real Jews

Introduction: Dutch-language Literature and the HolocaustThe generic label "Dutch-language literature" is usually applied to the output of writers originating from the Netherlands and the northern part of Belgium (Flanders).Although both countries had a sizeable Jewish presence at the outset of Second World War -mostly concentrated in large metropolitan areas such as Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels -the different historical genesis of these communities exerted considerable impact on the way in which the Holocaust would be dealt with in literary production.The Jewish community in the Netherlands, to begin with, came into being already in the early modern period -including both Sephardic and Ashkenazi groups -and was largely integrated into Dutch society by the beginning of the twentieth century (both linguistically and culturally speaking).1The Jewish population in 1 It is estimated that some 100,000 Jews were living in the Netherlands around 1900 (a number that would rise to 140,000 right before the outbreak of Second World War).For an extensive overview of Jewish contributions to literary production in the Netherlands, see Daphne Meijer, Levi in de Lage Landen: 350

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