On September 23, 1943, the head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Müller, introduced guidelines regarding the treatment of Jews who held foreign nationality and forwarded them to all Gestapo headquarters and to the commander of Sipo-SD (BdS— Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst) in the Netherlands, Wilhelm Harster. According to the instructions, it had been decided in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry that Jews holding citizenship of any of ten countries including Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Turkey could be deported. Müller added that this measure was being implemented subsequent to “Operation Repatriation” (Heimschaffungsaktion), the window of opportunity in which Nazi Germany allowed these countries to repatriate their Jewish nationals to spare them from deportation. Müller also noted that for “external political reasons” (aus außenpolitischen Gründen) these Jews could not be deported to “the East” at the present time. Instead, Jewish males aged 15 and above would be sent to Buchenwald, and women and children to Ravensbrück. He added that while there was no need to fill out a special detention application (Schutzhaftantrag), the camp commander should be advised that said detention was one of the “deportation measures” (Abschiebungsmaßnahmen). On Tuesday, February 1, 1944, two separate transports left Westerbork on a single passenger train, one destined for Bergen-Belsen with 908 deportees aboard, and the other to Buchenwald carrying 27 persons. The latter were Hungarian Jewish men who had been living in the Netherlands since before the war. Most of them had been interned in Westerbork since September 17, 1942 and were included in the transport at the last moment. They left the transit camp without their wives and children who were deported to Ravensbrück four days later. On January 23, 1944, Hanns Albin Rauter, Higher SS- and Police-leader (HSSPF, Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer) in the Netherlands,issued an order to Alfred Konrad Gemmeker, commander of Westerbork to deport these Hungarian Jews to Buchenwald. In this document Rauter wrote that subsequent to the completion of “Operation Repatriation” for Hungarian Jews on May 13, 1943, Müller’s instructions could now be implemented. However, he gave his own interpretation of the provision that there was no need to fill out a special application for their detention, claiming that these Jews were not to be considered prisoners (Strafjuden)....