Occupied City

WWII, Nazis, the fate of my people are of and have always been of intense interest to me. Films depicting the war from all angles have intrigued and peaked my attention for decades.

Having lived in Amsterdam for 13 years, on the so-called Gold Coast where many Jews were banished, I had to see this film. What a disappointment. I waited for the punchline which never came. It was just a long boring mental monologue of names, dates, family, and jobs of individuals in Amsterdam who were murdered. We saw where they lived but nothing else. Feeling and emotion were not part of this film.

Juxtaposed against 2021 how the lockdown was the first time since WWII in Dutch history where people were confined was a poor comparison to the Holocaust and felt disingenuous and insulting. No one was "murdered" for staying indoors or not wearing a mask. Health crises and pandemics have been scourging humans forever but to compare it with the Holocaust was just fantastical.