Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam

German Jewish emigrants detained in The Netherlands (1940)

The Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (German: literally "Central bureau for Jewish immigration") was an Amsterdam-based office of the German occupation that organised the deportation of Jewish people from to Germany and Poland from 1941 to 1943.

The Dutch Zentralstelle was founded on the orders of Reinhard Heydrich by request from Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Its founding was never officially proclaimed; the Zentralstelle didn't have its own stationery until August 1941. Jacques Presser wrote that the office:

…would serve as a model for the solution of the Jewish question (die Finallösung der Judenfrage) in all European states under German rule. In addition to the Zentralstelle in Amsterdam, there were already institutions of the same name in Vienna and Prague.

The Zentralstelle was assigned three tasks:

1. The registration of all Jews;
2. The monitoring of Jewish life;
3. The central control of emigration.

Soon after its founding, leadership of the Zentralstelle was given to Willy Lages by Wilhelm Harster, Chief of the Security Police and the SD. Lages's lieutenant was Ferdinand aus der Fünten. Lages replaced Hellmuth Reinhard, who was asked to leave after quarrelling with members of the Jewish Council and with his superior. The Zentralstelle only began to engage in large-scale activities after the issuance of the "Order regarding the appearance of Jews in public" by Hanns Albin Rauter on 15 september 1941. On 3 February 1942, the directive of the Zentralstelle was changed to:

1. The control of Jewish life (issue of orders to the Jewish Council, Jewish organizations, training, welfare, work deployment, and weekly newspaper)
2. The implementation of the order regarding the appearance of Jews in public (detailed determination of location and time restrictions, monitoring of labeling, admission to public institutions and events, and moving permits)
3. The preparation for the Final Solution (smuggling through the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, resettlement operations, Westerbork camp, and preparation of the resettlement)

With this assignment, the Zentralstelle became the most important device in the Holocaust in the Netherlands. Although affiliated with the Aussenstelle of the Security Police and SD located on Euterpestraat, its offices were located in the school opposite on Adama van Scheltemaplein.

The implementation of German measures against the Jewish population in Amsterdam was assigned to the Jewish Affairs Office on 1 June 1942, which remained active until 8 May 1943, when the majority of the Jews had already been deported.

During his trial after the war, Aus der Fünten stated that he eight to ten German soldiers, about twelve German civilians, and 60–80 Dutch civilians reported to him. All worked at the office.Template:Appendix