Military history of the Netherlands during World War II Military history of the Netherlands during World War II The Netherlands entered World War II on May 10, 1940, when invading German forces quickly overran them. On December 7, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Netherlands government in exile also declared war on Japan. Operation Market Garden, which started in 1944, liberated the southern and eastern parts of the country, but full liberation did not come until the surrender of Germany on May 5, 1945. When World War II erupted in September 1939, most in the Netherlands believed that the country could remain neutral, as it had in
History of the Jews during World War II History of the Jews during World War II The history of the Jews during World War II is almost synonymous with the Jewish persecution and murder of unprecedented scale in modern times in political Europe inclusive of European North Africa (pro-Nazi Vichy-North Africa and Italian Libya). The massive scale of the Holocaust which happened during World War II heavily affected the Jewish nation and world public opinion, which only understood the dimensions of the Final Solution after the war. The genocide, known as "HaShoah" in Hebrew, aimed at the elimination of the Jewish people on the European continent. It was