With time, more and more Anti-Jewish laws were introduced, and Jews were left with less and less freedom. They had to hand in their valuables, were no longer allowed to travel, and had to wear a yellow star. They were forced into Jewish work camps that were turned into transit camps in mid-1942. And then came the big waves of deportations to extermination camps.
From August 1942 on the German occupying powers used the Hollandsche Schouwburg as a deportation center, where Jews were held captive until they were deported to one of the Dutch camps. The Schouwburg was guarded by German and Dutch members of the SS and the NSB, but the daily organisation of affairs inside the building was handed over to the “Joodse Raad”, a Jewish committee set up by the Nazis. A Jewish man of German origin, named Walter Süskind, was appointed as manager of the Schouwburg.