Combating Antisemitism in the Netherlands: Group Apology as an Intervention?

Abstract

The Netherlands’ history with antisemitism is complex. Active collaboration with the Nazis during the Holocaust and mistreatment of Jewish survivors after the war are issues the country still struggles to confront. Recently, official apologies have been offered for this painful past. One aim of group apologies is to promote intergroup reconciliation. However, little is known about how such apologies are received by the broader population in a country and how it may affect the public’s attitudes toward the victim group. One possible outcome of a group apology is a more positive view and reduced stereotyping of the victim group among the general public. This study (N = 471) experimentally tested this idea in the context of an apology for the Dutch collaboration with the Nazis during the Holocaust. It was predicted that the apology would reduce antisemitic stereotypes by increasing perceptions that Jewish Dutch people are part of the Dutch ingroup and by reducing conflation of Jewish Dutch people with Israel and Israeli policy. Additionally, relations between antisemitic stereotypes, apology-related measures, social dominance orientation (SDO), and political ideology were explored. Findings showed that, although the means differed in the expected direction, these effects were not statistically significant, thus the hypotheses could not be confirmed. Results further showed that people higher on SDO and right-wing ideology endorsed antisemitic stereotypes more strongly, and people who endorsed antisemitic stereotypes more strongly were less in favor of apology, reparations, and Holocaust commemoration. These results are discussed in light of policy recommendations regarding intervention strategies to combat antisemitism.