Suppressed Composers in the Netherlands: Forbidden Music in the Second World War

German occupation during the Second World War destroyed the careers of many Dutch composers. Some of them fled or went into hiding; many were murdered. In the Netherlands alone, at least 35 composers were persecuted, and most were then forgotten. Among them were Jewish composers like Daniël Belinfante, Dick Kattenburg, Leo Smit and Rosy Wertheim, but there were also figures from abroad who had sought refuge in the Netherlands, like Hans Lachmann and Ferenc Weisz, as well as those who had to go into hiding or were incarcerated because of their resistance activities, like Jan van Gilse and Marius Flothuis. What music had these men and women composed in the Netherlands during the interbellum? What did the survivors write with the return of peace? And what damage to the fabric of Dutch musical history was done by the Nazi tyranny?