Dutch SS
The Dutch SS ( Dutch Nederlandsche SS ) was officially founded on September 11, 1940 by Anton Mussert . Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer , who distinguished himself through great fanaticism, was appointed commandant . Formally, the Dutch SS was a subdivision of the Dutch National Socialists NSB , in reality it formed the Dutch part of the “Greater Germanic” SS and was thus largely beyond the control of the party. Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler expressly subordinated Feldmeijer to his leadership, the formation of the Dutch SS should be done with the help and according to the guidelines of the German occupying power.
The ideological competition with the NSB soon became apparent, in contrast to the moderate fascism of Mussert's style, the Dutch SS took a more radical position and served the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Hanns Albin Rauter and Himmler as an instrument to test the influence of the SS in the To expand the Netherlands significantly. However, this was not to be equated with the fact that the Dutch SS was very popular among the population. The creation of a new, additional form of membership, with which the Dutch can become “supporting members” but remain inactive apart from material and financial support, did nothing to change this. At the end of August 1944 there were almost 4,000 such supporting members and roughly the same number of active members in the Dutch SS. However, with their help a far greater number of Dutch could be won over to other parts of the SS and to the military in general; so by 1945 it was possible to recruit 22,000 to 25,000 new members for the Waffen SS .
Out of consideration for Mussert, whose role was considered extremely important for the formation of a volunteer legion for the operation against the Soviet Union , parts of the Dutch SS were initially not sworn in on Adolf Hitler , which was planned for July 1941 . Mussert's position was, however , significantly weakened by the fact that Germany was unwilling to stand up for NSB members in the occupied Dutch East Indies out of diplomatic consideration for Japan . So he had to give in on the question of the swearing-in, which was brought up again by Rauter and Feldmeijer. This was carried out by him in the presence of Himmler on May 17, 1942 on around 600 members of the Dutch SS, the following month the latter was renamed "Germanic SS in the Netherlands" and placed under Rauter.
With the Dolle Dinsdag on September 5, 1944, organized fascism in the Netherlands and thus, by and large, the possibilities of the NSB to act, ended, parts of the country remained occupied until the Wehrmacht surrendered on May 5, 1945. Feldmeijer died in February 1945 in an Allied raid on his company car.
literature
- Gerhard Hirschfeld : Foreign rule and collaboration - The Netherlands under German occupation 1940–1945. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1984 (= studies on contemporary history; 25), ISBN 3-421-06192-0 .
- Konrad Kwiet : Reichskommissariat Netherlands. Attempt and failure of a new National Socialist order. Deutsch Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1968 (= series of quarterly books for contemporary history; 17). Without ISBN.
Web links
- Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland : Feldmeijer, Johannes Hendrik (1910–1945). (Dutch)
- Dutch in the Waffen SS (Dutch)