Response to Geert Mak's Amsterdam

Before reading this I knew that Amsterdam was invaded by Germany, but I didn't really know the full extent to which it shaped Amsterdam's future culture. The in depth analysis of the non-Jewish Amsterdam citizens during the German occupation brought to mind a quote that was posted on the wall of my high school English teacher. Ellie Wiesel, who was a holocaust survivor said:

"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference"

For some reason that quote has always stuck with me, and after reading this, I think it applies directly to the Dutch people of Amsterdam that turned their heads the other way as hundreds of thousands of their fellow Amsterdammers were being exterminated. Even worse, is the part about the Dutch police being the driving force that rounded up the Jewish people and did much of the work for Germany. The statistic that really struck me is that there were never more than 60 German Soldiers in Amsterdam at any given time, and yet they were able to organize a mass genocide. It wasn't just the Dutch police either; the train engineer told himself that he was just driving a train for transportation, and completely ignored the fact that he was transporting people to their deaths. Germany did a lot of damage with their hate, but it was the indifference of the Dutch people that allowed the genocide to reach its massive proportions.

I also found it interesting how their actions during the war created a moral panic that was prevalent for decades. How did this moral panic translate into Amsterdam's current culture? I also wonder, how would Amsterdam be different today if they were able to maintain their neutrality in World War II?