National Socialist Movement
The Nationaal-Socialistische Bewegungsing in Nederland (NSB) was an initially fascist and later a National Socialist party in the Netherlands from 1931 to 1945 . The NSB had little success. Although the NSB increased its membership significantly between 1933 and 1935, the party achieved its greatest success in the elections to the provincial states with 7.9% of the vote. Two years later, in the Dutch parliamentary elections, this percentage had almost halved (4.2%) and the NSB had already passed its zenith. After the occupation of the Netherlands by the Wehrmacht ( western campaign in 1940 ), the NSB was the only permitted party.
Party history
1931-1940
The National Socialist Movement (NSB) was founded on December 14, 1931 by Anton Adriaan Mussert and Cornelis van Geelkerken in Utrecht . The party program was largely taken over from the German NSDAP , but the NSB initially differed from Hitler's ideology in important areas . Like Mussolini , Mussert rejected Hitler's racism and anti-Semitism . Furthermore, Mussert planned a Greater Dutch Empire, which was contrary to Hitler's later plans after the creation of a Greater Germanic Empire . Dark-skinned and Jews were allowed to become members of the NSB. The NSB achieved a quick rise. In 1933 it had only 1,000 members, in 1936 there were already 52,000. In the elections of the Provinciale Staten in April 1935, the NSB achieved 7.94% of the vote and won two of the 25 seats to be awarded in the election of the First Chamber of the States General in July 1935.
Mussert's role as unfortunately (“ leader / leader ”) of the party was controversial. Due to Hitler's success, the party became more friendly towards German, and Mussert continued to drive in the direction of Hitler's anti-Semitism. The internal party split between the pro -German, völkisch ( people's ) members under the leadership of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen and the supporters around Mussert ( Staatschen ) led to the weakening of the party, which in the elections to the Provinciale Staten on April 19, 1939 only 3 .89% reached. As a result, Mussert moved closer and closer to Hitler, which should alienate the Dutch even further from the NSB.
1940-1945
After the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 Mussert forbade his followers each active support of the invaders. On June 22, 1940, at an event in Lunteren , he declared that the NSB had to fill the power vacuum and that all Dutch people should stand behind the NSB because this could guarantee the country's independence. Hitler thought little of the NSB and even less of Mussert. However, Mussert was of some use to the occupying power, as his insistence on a certain independence combined with the collaboration of the NSB had brought an influx of 100,000 members. However, Hitler no longer intended to maintain the independence of the Netherlands in the later course of the war. Rather, the Netherlands and the Flemish part of Belgium should be included in the “Greater Germanic area”.
On September 11, 1940, the Dutch SS emerged within the NSB as part of the so-called Germanic SS within the German SS, into which the members of the NSB were advised to join. Around 50,000 Dutch responded to this call.
After the dissolution of the bourgeois parties in the middle of 1941 and the ban on the Dutch Union in December 1941, the NSB became the only authorized party on December 13, 1941. Arthur Seyss-Inquart's idea of making Mussert Prime Minister failed because of Hitler's veto . Instead, he was named "Leader of the Dutch People" and allowed to form a State Secretariat. Mussert did not have any real political power. Rather, the NSB lost popularity among the population due to the intensification of the occupation climate and was driven into complete isolation. The radicals within the NSB around the leader of the Nederlandsche SS Henk Feldmeijer even formed their own militias from September 1943, which fully collaborated with the Germans and fought the resistance . When the Allied troops reached the Netherlands in September 1944, many members left for the German Reich . Mussert was arrested on May 7, 1945 in The Hague and brought to trial on November 27, 1945. The prosecution called for the death penalty on behalf of the Queen , which was also pronounced on December 12, 1945. The Appeals Chamber upheld the verdict on March 20, 1946. On May 7, 1946, Mussert was executed.
NSB party congress
(Utrecht 1941)
NSB Party Congress
(The Hague 1941)
Party Congress
(The Hague 1941)
ideology
The NSB began as a fascist- corporatist party, similar to Mussolini's Italian National Fascist Party . She called for a strong government, a strict fight against crime and a strong sense of community. It placed national interests above the interests of the individual as well as verzuiling , a segmentation of society according to social milieus. The party was strongly anti- parliamentary and authoritarian . Although its political program was largely based on the party program of the NSDAP, its anti-Semitic and ethnic elements were dispensed with. After 1936, with the increasing influence of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen , there was a development towards National Socialist racial ideology . The party also increasingly sympathized with the foreign policy of Italy and Germany .
The central demands of the NSB were: abolition of universal suffrage , corporatism, introduction of general conscription , restriction of the freedom of the press and a legal ban on strikes . The Netherlands would by no means become part of the German Reich, but rather an independent and loyal ally.
electorate
The NSB received its greatest influx from the middle class : civil servants, farmers, business people and soldiers supported the party and its goals. Most of these people did not belong to any of the great Verzuiling social groups . They were rather loose and willing supporters of the weaker general "pillar". The party achieved its best election results in Drenthe and Limburg . Winterswijk was one of the strongholds .
organization
organization structure
Mussert was chairman and political "leader" of the party. From 1936 to 1940 the NSB organized a Landdag at which Mussert gave a political speech.
Party organizations
The NSB had a number of sub-organizations. The weekly newspaper Volk en Vaderland was published by the party’s own publishing house . Between 1931 and 1935 and from 1941 to 1944 there was also a paramilitary association, the Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA) , comparable to the storm department of the NSDAP. There was also the youth organization Jeugdstorm (“ youth storm ”), a farmers' association and, with Het Nationale Dagblad, their own daily newspaper.
In 1933 the party salute Hou zee! (analogous to " Heil Hitler ") and new forms of address introduced: Unfortunately for the party leader Mussert, camera wheel for men and the neologism camera wheel for women. The party colors were black and red.
On September 11, 1940, the Dutch SS was founded as Division XI of the NSB. It came more and more under the influence of the German Reich Security Main Office and was involved in the extermination of the Dutch Jews and the guarding of the Dutch concentration camps.
Relationship with other parties
The NSB was completely shunned by all other parties , apart from small parties like the Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij and the Algemeene Nederlandsche Fascisten Bond .
Before the start of the war, the Social Democratic Labor Party and the Social Democratic Trade Union Association organized counter-demonstrations and propaganda under the umbrella organization “Freedom, Work and Bread”.
literature
- Dietrich Orlow: A Difficult Relationship of Unequal Relatives. The Dutch NSB and Nazi Germany, 1933-1940. In: European History Quarterly. Vol. 29, No. 3 (1999), pp. 349-380.
- Chris van der Heijden: The NSB - a completely normal political party? A plea for historical correctness beyond political correctness. In: perpetrators and taboo. Limits of tolerance in the German and Dutch debates on history. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8375-0346-3 , pp. 25–32.
- Konrad Kwiet: On the history of the Mussert movement. Quarterly issues for contemporary history, 1970 issue 2, PDF.
See also
Web links
- Anton Adriaan Mussert (1894–1946) - Nazi “leader” of the Netherlands
- Recordings by the "NSB Filmdienst"
Individual evidence
- ^ Friso Wielenga: The Netherlands. Politics and political culture in the 20th century, Waxmann Verlag, 2008, p. 131. Quotation: "To explain the ultimately poor success of the NSB in the Netherlands, the columnar political-social system must also be mentioned (.. .) "( Online link, in German )
- ^ Friso Wielenga: The Netherlands. Politics and political culture in the 20th century, Waxmann Verlag, 2008, p. 130. Quote: "The advance of the NSB began in 1933. In January of this year the party had around 1,000 members, at the end of 1933 the number had risen to around 20,000 and in April 1935 it was a good 36,000. Shortly afterwards, the party achieved its greatest electoral success, winning 7.9% of the vote in the elections to the provincial states in 1935. Two years later, in the elections to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, this percentage was almost dropped by half (4.2%) and the NSB had already passed its zenith. " ( Online link, in German )
- ^ Raul Hilberg : The annihilation of the European Jews. Fischer Taschenbuch 1982, Volume 2, ISBN 3-596-24417-X , pp. 598 ff.