Dutch PM sorry for country's role in Holocaust

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has apologised on behalf of his country's government for its failure to protect Jews during World War Two.

Mr Rutte said that while some Dutch officials resisted during the Nazi occupation, too many simply did as they were told.

It was the first such apology to be offered by a Dutch prime minister.

About 102,000 of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust came from the Netherlands.

Mr Rutte made the remarks at a Holocaust remembrance event in Amsterdam, ahead of the 75th anniversary on Monday of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

"With the last remaining survivors among us, I apologise on behalf of the government for the actions of the government at the time," he said.

"I do so, realising that no word can describe something as enormous and awful as the Holocaust."