After the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, a number of Jews with Austrian and German passports were interned on the Dutch West Indian island of Bonaire. They were interned at: three school buildings in Bonaire from May to October 1940; and the camp Playa Pariba in Bonaire from October 1940 to February 1947.

The internment camp on Bonaire, which housed up to 461 persons, did not diferentiate between Nazis and German Jews, and housed them together under the auspices of the local Dutch Police. Many of these Jews had fled from Germany and Austria.

The circumstances in the camp were very difficult. Provision of food was not regulated and at first a priest had to deliver bread. Men and women were separated by barbed wire, and children did not receive any education.

In September 1942 the notables Maduro and Cohen Henriquez filed a petition to Queen Wilhelmina. They asked for an exchange of their sons George and Ernest, who were in a dangerous position in Holland, for Germans internees on Bonaire. The government did not agree. Two exchange-projects in 1943 failed as well.