De Gil

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De Gil ( The Outcry ) was a satirical newspaper published by the Active Propaganda Department of the Main Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Department during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II . It appeared fortnightly and had its editorial office in The Hague . From De Gil only fourteen editions appeared, wrote the Dutch, however, due to the special nature of the newspaper press history.

history

The first edition of De Gil appeared on January 15, 1944. The first editor-in-chief was Louis Thijssen, who previously worked in the same capacity at the newspaper De Residentiebode and had spent a few weeks in prison in 1941 because of a satirical report. However, after the third edition he was replaced by Willem van den Hout , who was active in the Nationaal Front in 1940/41 . The editorial staff designed De Gil as if it were an illegal underground newspaper , when in reality it was a propaganda tool of the occupying power. After joining Van den Hout, he made sure that the propaganda was more subtle compared to the previous editions.

In the newspaper, Germans and members of the Dutch National Socialists NSB were targeted in articles and by means of caricatures, even officially forbidden topics such as the Allied radio stations and jazz were dealt with. The expansion of the content to include reviews of jazz records and artist portraits of this music genre goes back to Van der Hout, who otherwise made the newspaper look more American. Other articles dealt in a satirical, “objective” way with the Dutch government-in-exile in London , the royal family who also fled there, the illegal press, the Jews , Bolshevism , the expected landings of the Allies and other topics.

The last edition of September 15th is of particular importance, because it introduced the term Dolle Dinsdag (foolish Tuesday). This relates to the rumor spreading at the beginning of September that, in view of the rapid advance of the Allies, the rapid and complete liberation of the Netherlands would begin on September 5th (a Tuesday). As a result, many NSB members fled, but it quickly became apparent that the Allies had not yet reached the Netherlands in the following days and that full liberation would be a long time coming. The heading “De Gil continues to appear - even after the liberation!” Of another article also refers to this situation. The Dolle Dinsdag then came into use, and ironically, on the day this issue appeared, Maastricht, the first Dutch city, was liberated. In the same issue, the press guard Max Blokzijl was kidnapped , who was alleged to have panicked and tried to break away in the face of the approaching Allies.

The circulation of De Gil fluctuated between 100,000 and 200,000 copies, so the newspaper could be seen as a success. The main reason for this success was that with this paper the Dutch got a change from the uniform and dry local legal press and the equally humorless illegal press. This was not the only satire launched by the German side; the main department had already had some editions of a Vrij Nederland parody printed in mid-1942 ; the difference between this and the real illegal Vrij Nederland was indicated by a question mark after the title. Vrij Nederland jokingly replied that from now on it would appear with an exclamation mark.

De Gil was one of the attempts by the German occupation forces to use subtle methods to influence the Dutch population, but as with other attempts in the press and on the radio, a large readership or audience was not to be equated with successful influence. After the newspaper was closed, the satirical activity continued for a while on the radio as a Gil club.

See also

literature

  • René Vos: Niet voor publicatie. De legale Nederlandse pers tijdens de Duitse bezetting , Sijthoff, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 90-218-3752-8 , pp. 367-368 (Dissertation Leiden 1988. Dutch, with a German summary)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ René Vos: Niet voor publicatie. De legale Nederlandse pers tijdens de Duitse bezetting, Sijthoff, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 90-218-3752-8 , p. 367 states March 1944, the first edition in the digital archive of the Royal Library of the Netherlands begins on the date indicated.
  2. ^ Dolle Dinsdag - Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam