In the occupied Netherlands it was almost impossible to escape the terror and forced deportations. As early as February 1941, there were general strikes across the country in protest after the first deportations of Dutch Jews. However, open protests were soon impossible, and the behaviour of Dutch people regarding the fate of their Jewish neighbours ranged from active collaboration to active resistance against the occupying forces, and against the deportation of Jews to concentration and extermination camps.

According to official figures, 528 Jews lived in Nijmegen in 1941, and there too people went into hiding to avoid deportation. Often they were helped by non-jewish Dutch people, who found them safe addresses, supplied them with food, or supported them in other ways. This was highly dangerous for everyone involved, because the concentration camps awaited both the Jews and those who helped them. Many in the occupied Netherlands faced the same fate as Anne Frank, but their stories, like that of Rose Jakobs, are not so well-known.