Black Tulip
Encyclopedia
Operation Black Tulip was a plan in 1945 by Dutch minister of Justice Kolfschoten to evict all Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The operation lasted from 1946 to 1948 and in the end 3,691 Germans (15% of German residents in the Netherlands) were deported.

Background

After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Netherlands was a country in ruins and the major pre-war trade lines with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 were severed. Because of the importance of trade with Germany, the proposed demand for compensation (25 billion Guilder
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries...

s—a tenfold of the actual damage) was dropped. But there was still a lot of resentment. Many people were arrested, most notably collaborator
Collaborator
Collaborator or collaborators may refer to:* Collaboration, working with others for a common goal* Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China, a 2005 history book by Timothy Brook...

 (NSB). The 25,000 people living in the Netherlands with German nationality (who often had Dutch wives and children) were branded as 'hostile subjects' (vijandelijke onderdanen). They were to be evicted in three groups in reverse order of entry. The first who had to leave were those who came after the start of the war (mostly factory workers), then those who came after 1932 (including political refugees, some of them Jews) and then the rest, many of whom were economic refugees from the 1920s.

During the war many of these Germans had been drafted into the German army or otherwise enlisted by the invaders against their will, and their children were sent to separate German schools. Quite often neighbours had not known that they were Germans. When they were to be evicted many neighbours filed protests, which could lead to their release. Another way the Germans could avoid eviction was to show that they were essential to the Dutch economy. If they were, any pro-Nazi sentiments they might have had might be overlooked. Also, it was decided not to evict those who emigrated to the Netherlands before the war and who had proven themselves good Dutch citizens. Those who had helped the Dutch resistance were unlikely to be deported.

Timeline

The operation started on 11 September 1946 in Amsterdam, where Germans and their families were taken from their homes in the middle of the night and given one hour to collect fifty kilogrammes of luggage. They were allowed to take one hundred Guilders. The rest of their possessions went to the state. They were taken to internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...

 camps near the German border, the biggest of which was Mariënbosch near Nijmegen.

The allied forces that occupied Western Germany
Western Germany
The geographic term Western Germany is used to describe a region in the west of Germany. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes, but does not have the borders of, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse...

didn't like this operation because other countries might follow suit and western Germany was in too bad a state to receive all these newcomers. The British troops in Germany reacted by evicting 100,000 Dutch citizens in Germany to the Netherlands.

The operation ended in 1948, and on 26 July 1951, the state of war with Germany officially ended, the Germans no longer being regarded as state enemies.

Literature

.

External links

the documentary Black Tulip.
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