Friedrich Weinreb (18 November 1910 – 19 October 1988) was a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Hassidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
economist and
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
author.
Weinreb grew up in
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, to which his family had moved in 1916, and became notorious for selling a fictitious escape route for
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
from the occupied Netherlands in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
[WEINREB, FRIEDRICH](_blank)
in the Jewish Virtual Library
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
When his scheme fell apart in 1944, he left his home in Scheveningen and went into hiding in
Ede. He was imprisoned for 3½ years after the war for
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
as well as
collaboration
Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
with the
German occupier. In his memoirs, published in 1969 he maintained that his plans were to give Jews hope for survival and that he had assumed that the liberation of the Netherlands would take place before his customers were deported. The debate about his guilt or innocence—called the “Weinreb affair”—was very heated in the Netherlands in the 1970s, involving noted writers like
Renate Rubinstein and
Willem Frederik Hermans
Willem Frederik Hermans (1 September 1921 – 27 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, ...
. In an attempt to end this debate, the government asked the
Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (Netherlands Institute for War Documentation) to investigate the matter. In 1976 the institute issued a report (of which a part already was leaked to the press in 1973), which determined that his memoirs were "a collection of lies and fantasies," and that his collaboration had caused 70 deaths.
Although his activities did contribute to some Jews' survival, most Jews who fell for Weinreb's swindle were deported and killed.
In 1957 and 1968 Weinreb was convicted for posing as a medical doctor and for sexual offenses. To avoid imprisonment, Weinreb left the Netherlands in 1968, after which he emigrated to Switzerland.
Even after his death in 1988 the discussion about Weinreb in the Netherlands has not come to an end. In a Dutch biography by Regina Grüter published in 1997, ''Een fantast schrijft geschiedenis'', Weinreb was depicted as a sufferer from
Pseudologia fantastica
Pathological lying, also known as ''mythomania'' and ''pseudologia fantastica'', is a chronic behavior in which the person habitually or compulsively lies. These lies often serve no obvious purpose other than to paint oneself as a hero or victi ...
.
Book Reviews
Romijn, P., 1999. R. Grüter, Een fantast schrijft geschiedenis. De affaires rond Friedrich Weinreb.'' BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review'', 114(3), pp.463–466.
Bibliography
Weinreb's writings entail more than 50 titles. The following list offers only a selection.
* ''Schöpfung im Wort. Die Struktur der Bibel in jüdischer Überlieferung''. ()
* ''Buchstaben des Lebens. Erzählt nach jüdischer Überlieferung''. ()
* ''Zahl, Zeichen, Wort. Das symbolische Universum der Bibelsprache''. ()
* ''Das jüdische Passahmahl und was dabei von der Erlösung erzählt wird''. ()
* ''Die Astrologie in der jüdischen Mystik''. ()
* ''Kabbala im Traumleben des Menschen''. ()
* ''Innenwelt des Wortes im Neuen Testament. Eine Deutung aus den Quellen des Judentums''. ()
* ''Die langen Schatten des Krieges'' (Autobiografie, 1989, 3 Bände). ()
References
External links
*
* http://www.weinreb-stiftung.org/
* http://www.arjeh.de/weinreb/
*
Academie voor de Hebreeuwse Bijbel en de Hebreeuwse taal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinreb, Friedrich
Hasidic Judaism
Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Writers from The Hague
Dutch Jews
Polish emigrants to the Netherlands
1910 births
1988 deaths
Dutch collaborators with Nazi Germany
Jewish collaborators with Nazi Germany