Nederlandsche Unie
The Nederlandsche Unie (sometimes also adapted to the newer Dutch spelling Nederlandse Unie ; in German Dutch Union ) was a political gathering movement in the Netherlands at the time of the Second World War . During the short period of its existence, up to 800,000 Dutch people were members of the Nederlandsche Unie, which was about a tenth of the population at the time. It represented the largest political movement in the history of the Netherlands .
Foundation and goals
The Nederlandsche Unie was founded on July 24, 1940, a few days after the Dutch surrender, by the lawyer Louis Einthoven and the two politicians Johannes Linthorst Homan and Jan de Quay . On the day it was founded, the three circulated a manifesto setting out the goals of the movement. It called on the Dutch to accept the new political reality and promoted cooperation with the German occupiers.
The background to this was the conviction of the three founders that the Dutch culture and way of life could only be preserved through collaboration with the Germans. Furthermore, they wanted to offer a more moderate alternative to the openly fascist NSB ( Nationaal-Socialistische Bewegungsing ) and prevent this from transferring all political power through the German leadership. The NSB and the Germans should not alone be able to determine the future of the Netherlands.
Attitude to the "Jewish Question"
From the beginning, the leadership of the Nederlandsche Unie took the position that a regulation on the status of Jews who immigrated to the Netherlands before and during the war was necessary. What kind of this regulation should be, however, remained unclear. However, native Dutch people of the Jewish faith were expressly accepted, who were not seen as a threat to Dutch culture by the university. Einthoven, de Quay and Linthorst Homan emphasized that these fellow citizens must be treated with tolerance and respect. It was therefore also possible for Jews to become members of the university. Nevertheless, the leadership was well aware of the importance attached to the Jewish question by the German occupiers. For example, the three founders asked Lodewijk Ernst Visser , the chairman of the Joodsche Coördinatie Commissie and an influential member of the Jewish community, to recommend that Dutch Jews withdraw from public office. Visser flatly refused this request. An active exclusion of Jewish members from the university did not take place at any time.
Organization and action
The Nederlandsche Unie was very well received by the population, with around 200,000 members within a week, and around 800,000 at the heyday of the movement. This enormous popularity, however, had less to do with the program and the goals of the movement itself than with the feeling of protesting against the National Socialist Movement (and thus indirectly against the German occupiers) by joining the Unie . In order to organize this high number of members, the division into dozen regional districts became necessary, which in turn were locally divided into district groups.
The general agenda of the Nederlandsche Unie included a stronger community spirit, “organic further development of society” and the duty to work for everyone. In addition, people committed to freedom of religion and freedom of belief. Despite the protest attitude of many members, the leadership of the Nederlandschen Unie basically stuck to a constructive cooperation with the Germans. For example, Unie made donations for the German People's Winter Relief Organization . This attitude led to criticism from the Dutch resistance , which saw its efforts undermined by the Nederlandsche Unie. Furthermore, the university was loyal to the exiled Dutch royal house of Orange , which led to tensions with the German administration. After the start of Operation Barbarossa , the German attack on the Soviet Union , the occupiers expected a pro-German mood in the political organizations they tolerated in the Netherlands, but this largely failed to materialize among the members of the Unie.
De Unie
The weekly De Unie was published by the Nederlandsche Unie as the official organ of the movement. The first edition appeared on August 24, 1940 with a circulation of 135,000 copies, while the tenth edition has already been printed 250,000 times. By the spring of 1941, the paper had a circulation of around 400,000 copies, of which 60,000 were sent directly to subscribers. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper was the journalist Geert Ruygers .
Prohibition
After the Nederlandsche Unie refused to express its official support for the German attack on the Soviet Union, its relationship with the German occupiers cooled noticeably. In addition, an article appeared in De Unie in July 1941 , in which the leadership clearly distanced itself from National Socialism and demanded the national sovereignty of the Netherlands. Only then is it possible for the Dutch people to participate in the “war against Bolshevism ”. The appearance of this article led to various reprisals on the part of the occupying powers: In addition to a ban on assemblies and a fine of 60,000 guilders , the distribution of De Unie was also prohibited. This was followed by a ban on all activities on August 31, 1941 and then the dissolution of the organization at the end of the year by Arthur Seyß-Inquart , the Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands .
After the dissolution of the movement, the founding trio were arrested and detained in the Sint-Michielsgestel internment camp . Here, the future Prime Minister de Quay stood out as a member of a group of men, the so-called Heeren Zeventien (in German: "Seventeen Gentlemen"), who were still in captivity planning the future of the Netherlands after the end of the war.
literature
- Wichert ten Have: De Nederlandse Unie. Adapting, vernieuwing en confrontatie in bezettingstijd 1940–1941 . 1st edition. Prometheus, Amsterdam 1999, ISBN 978-90-5333-875-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nederlandsche Unie. In: verzetsmuseum.org. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ a b Manifest Nederlandsche Unie - 1940. In: amstelveenweb.com. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Document VEJ 5/40 in: Western and Northern Europe 1940 - June 1942 . In: Katja Happe et al. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933 - 1945 . tape 5 . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-486-71861-4 , p. 171 .
- ↑ About Lodewijk Ernst Visser. In: joodsmonument.nl. April 7, 2016, accessed September 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Francia Slits-Swinkels: "Verzet" ontstaan uit de "Nederlandse Unie". (PDF) In: heemkundekringgemert.nl. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Nederlandse Unie. In: parlement.com. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Chris van der Heijden: Grijs verleden: Nederland en de Tweede Wereldoorlog . 10th edition. Contact, Amsterdam / Antwerp 2008, ISBN 978-90-254-3110-5 .
- ^ De Unie - Orgaan van de Nederlandsche Unie. In: beeldbankwo2.nl. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).
- ↑ Johannes Koll: Arthur Seyß-Inquart and the German occupation policy in the Netherlands (1940-1945) . 1st edition. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-205-79660-2 , p. 235-239 .
- ↑ Laura van Hasselt: Sint Michielsgestel. In: andersetijden.nl. Retrieved September 26, 2018 (Dutch).