A Typewritten Sheet by Dutch Underground Activists of Group 2000, Containing a Hymn of Gratitude for the Victory in World War II. From the estate of Nazi hunter Tuvia Friedman, who wrote in the margins: “A hymn of praise printed by the Dutch underground Group 2000 in honor of the victory in the war.” Dutch. Materials produced by the Dutch underground Group 2000 are extremely rare, as for many years after the war, the group’s activities remained shrouded in secrecy (see below).
Title of the second song on the page: “Joyful Homeland”
“Blessed is the land that God protects,
When the enemy surrounds it with murder and fire,
And when people think, ‘He is about to conquer it, ‘
Then upon him himself shall come the downfall.
The Guardian of Israel does not sleep,
He helps His scattered people,
Who were persecuted and dispersed,
Against the wrath of the wicked enemy,
God still acts for good,
For the enemy must ultimately flee and fall.
We must remember God, the eternal God,
Who has brought us this wondrous victory,
What a miracle is the mighty power of the Lord!
O Lord, O Lord, how great is Your strength!”
The Dutch underground group Group 2000 (Groep 2000) was a significant resistance network operating in the Amsterdam region during World War II, saving thousands of Jews and other persecuted individuals under Nazi occupation. The group was founded in 1940 and led throughout the war by Jacoba van Tongeren. Group 2000 specialized in forging documents, primarily identity cards and ration coupons, providing Jews and resistance fighters with new identities that enabled them to go into hiding. They also organized extensive hiding networks in Dutch family homes and smuggled Jewish children to safe locations in rural areas. The group provided ration cards for approximately 4,500 people in hiding. The group operated under deep secrecy, consisting of more than 140 members, who, along with the thousands they hid, remained completely undiscovered throughout the war—and even afterward. They used advanced camouflage methods, including a four-digit code system personally devised by Jacoba van Tongeren. One of Group 2000’s most remarkable achievements was its cooperation with other resistance organizations, which provided access to food supplies and escape routes beyond the country’s borders. The group worked under extreme risk, as capture meant torture and death. They focused on rescuing Jews fleeing deportation, individuals resisting Nazi rule and Jewish persecution, and men avoiding forced labor in Germany. To find new hiding places each month, the group collaborated with the Dutch Reformed Church and the Freemasons. Thanks to its secret coding system, none of the group’s members or the 4,500 people it hid were ever discovered. In March 1945, the Germans raided the group’s headquarters, finding thousands of encoded names and addresses. However, they failed to decipher the code, ensuring the safety of the resistance fighters and those in hiding. Group 2000 was unique in that it included not only native Dutch members but also Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria, who brought valuable knowledge and experience from previous persecution.
For many years after the war, “Group 2000” remained almost entirely unknown, and items used by the group are among the rarest resistance artifacts. Several factors contributed to this obscurity. Firstly, the group’s members were identified by a secret numerical code rather than their real names, making their recognition extremely difficult over time. Secondly, Holocaust historians primarily focused on armed resistance fighters who actively fought against the German occupiers, rather than on groups that specialized in hiding people. Additionally, the group’s leader, Jacoba van Tongeren, never publicized her wartime activities, either during or after the war, aside from a factual report she submitted to the Queen of the Netherlands at the war’s end. Shortly before her death in 1967, she wrote a detailed and personal account of her wartime memories, but this report remained undiscovered until 2013, when her cousin, Paul van Tongeren, found it. He later authored the book “Jacoba van Tongeren en de onbekende verzetshelden van Groep 2000” (“Jacoba van Tongeren and the Unknown Resistance Heroes of Group 2000”), which brought the first public revelations about the group’s existence and its work. The efforts of Group 2000 contributed to the rescue of hundreds of people, and many of its members were later recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem.
Tuvia Friedman [1922-2011] – Survivor of the Schöklun Camp, Devoted His Life to Capturing Nazi War Criminals, Founder and Director of the Institute for Documentation. His Role in the Capture of Eichmann Was Significant. Acting on his own initiative, Friedman began placing advertisements in foreign newspapers, offering a $10,000 reward for information on Eichmann’s whereabouts. As a result, he was flooded with letters from numerous countries. In October 1959, one particularly credible letter arrived, claiming that Eichmann was living near Buenos Aires, Argentina—this was the first lead confirming Eichmann’s location. On May 23, 1960, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced in the Knesset that Eichmann had been captured and brought to Israel. Two days later, Friedman handed over a file to the Israeli police, containing 400 pages of material on Eichmann, which he had meticulously compiled over nearly 15 years. Additionally, Friedman worked to abolish the statute of limitations in German law for Nazi crimes. His struggle succeeded in 1979, when the Bundestag decided to eliminate the statute of limitations on crimes of murder and genocide.
[1] Mounted sheet attached to plain paper. 18×32 cm. Light stains. Very good condition.
