The SD used the building as an office and jail. Its eager employees had a reputation for their brutal interrogation methods and the utter randomness with which they operated.

Resistance fighters, as well as many others, were humiliated, beaten and tortured in the Scholtenhuis. The stately building was hated and feared. It was a place best to avoid – the gateway to hell. The situation deteriorated in the last year of the war, becoming more dreadful and violent. Members of the SD who had previously wreaked havoc in the south of the Netherlands joined forces with the staff of the Scholtenhuis. Amsterdam policemen who had already outdone themselves arresting Jews also made their way north. People were shot at random. Murder was the order of the day.