Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer (Assen

Assen

Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...

, 30 November 1910 - near Raalte

Raalte

Raalte is a municipality and city in the heart of the region of Salland in the Dutch province of Overijssel.-Population centres:The municipality consists of the following towns and villages.-Transportation:* Railway stations: Heino, Raalte...

, 22 February 1945) was a Dutch National Socialist politician and a member of the NSB

National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands

The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s...

.

Early years

He was born in Assen

Assen

Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...

 on 30 November 1910 as Johannes Hendrik Veldmeijer. In 1915, his family's name was changed to Feldmeijer. He used only his middle name, making him Henk Feldmeijer. He graduated from high school in 1928 with top grades in every subject, and started studying mathematics and physics. He interrupted his education to perform national service in 1931. During this period he met a leader of the recently established Stormtroopers of the National Socialist Movement (NSB

National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands

The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s...

). He was inspired by the ideas of this movement to become member number 479 in 1932. As one of the first 1,000 members, he had direct access to the movement's leader Anton Mussert

Anton Mussert

Anton Adriaan Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and its de jure leader. As such, he was the most prominent national socialist in the Netherlands before and during the Second World War...

. He made many speeches in and around Groningen about the need of a strong leader (Mussert) and against democracy. His speaking talents were quickly recognized, and he got a paid position in the propaganda department. He made many journeys to Nazi Germany, during which he had meetings with SS members; he also visited Scandinavia and Mussolini's Italy. After failing his exams in 1935, he broke off his education and became a full-time employee of the NSB stationed in Utrecht. Because of his membership in the NSB he was fired as a reserve-officer of the army in 1935.

Ideological development

Feldmeijer belonged to the volkisch group in the NSB, just like Meinoud Rost van Tonningen

Meinoud Rost van Tonningen

Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen was a Dutch politician of the National Socialist Movement . During World War II and the German occupation of the Netherlands, he collaborated extensively with the German occupation forces.-Early life:Rost van Tonningen was born in the Dutch East Indies...

. This group tried to cultivate the Germanic part of Dutch history, and promoted a racist and anti-semitic view. Feldmeijer had many secret contacts in German SS circles, of which his NSB superiors were not aware. The Volkisch group in the NSB caused a radicalisation of the party's viewpoints. They idealised the lives of the Germanic forefathers of the Dutch people, and the proponents of these theories performed much research on these ideas.

In 1937, Feldmeijer became an important member of the organisation Der Vaderen Erfdeel (Heritage of our forefathers), renamed Volksche Werkgemeenschap (Volkisch working community) in 1940; This group performed the research for the Volkisch group in the NSB. The Dutch people had to learn to realise that their culture was a Germanic culture; an important step in the direction of the SS way of thinking. Feldmeijer was strongly attracted to the SS ideology, but had to keep his ties with this organisation a secret as the NSB did not fully appreciate this.

In the autumn of 1937, he was forced to leave the headquarters of the NSB in Utrecht because of a conflict with the NSB leader Anton Mussert, and was made the district leader of Salland

Salland

Salland is a historical dominion in the west and north of the present Dutch province of Overijssel. It is probably named after the Salian Franks, who are thought to originate from Salland...

. In August 1939 Rost van Tonningen appointed him as commander of the Mussert guards. Feldmeijer based the organisation of this paramilitary group of several hundred men on the SS organisation in Germany. In 1939 he made several trips to Berlin to advise the Germans on the Dutch language transmissions of Radio-Bremen. On 3 May 1940 the Dutch government imprisoned him in Fort Ooltgensplaat, where he shared a cell with Rost van Tonningen. He was later transported to France via Belgium, and on 30 May 1940 he was liberated by German troops in Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

. On 2 June 1940 Feldmeijer and Rost van Tonningen arrived back in Den Haag. That same night Rost van Tonningen was invited to a meeting with Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

 and Artur Seyss-Inquart to discuss the nazification of the Netherlands and the establishment of a Dutch SS. A few days later, Rost van Tonningen introduced Feldmeijer to Hanns Albin Rauter

Hanns Albin Rauter

Johann Baptist Albin Rauter was a high-ranking Austrian Nazi war criminal. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading security and police officer there during the period of 1940-1945...

, the German head of the Dutch occupied territories police, who was impressed with the vigour and charisma of the young Dutchman.

Dutch SS

Feldmeijer was tasked with establishing and commanding the Nederlandsche SS

Nederlandsche SS

The Nederlandsche SS was formed on September 11, 1940. On November 1, 1942 the name was changed to Germaansche SS in Nederland . The Nederlandsche SS in total counted circa 7,000 members and was primarily a political formation. In addition it served as a reservoir for the Waffen-SS...

. Mussert had opposed the creation of the SS in the Netherlands, but German pressure had made him agree to its establishment. De Nederlandsche SS had a maximum membership of 4,000 on 1 November 1942. It always had a double standard, as it was seen as part of the NSB and at the same time part of the German SS. In theory, it was under the leadership of Anton Mussert but in reality Feldmeijer reported to Himmler and his representative in the Netherlands, Hanns Albin Rauter. Feldmeijer stimulated his members to contribute actively to the German war effort: he himself served at the front twice: April-May 1941 as a gunner in the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler in Yugoslavia and Greece, and June 1942 - March 1943 as Flak commander in SS-Division Wiking at the Eastern Front in Southern Russia. In March 1943 he was promoted to Standartenführer

Standartenführer

Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...

 in the Allgemeine SS

Allgemeine SS

The Allgemeine SS was the most numerous branch of the Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany. It was managed by the SS-Hauptamt...

 and in March 1944, after completion of an officer training course, he was promoted to Hauptsturmführer in the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

. He was decorated with the Iron Cross

Iron Cross

The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....

 2nd Class, the Sturmabzeichen and the Verwundetenabzeichen in black.

Conflicts within the NSB

Feldmeijer had many conflicts with other members of the NSB because of his strong dedication to the SS. The SS wanted a complete integration of the Netherlands in the Greater German Reich. On the other hand Mussert wanted a German League of Nations, with Germany as a leading member of a European union of states. The German occupation authorities saw in Feldmeijer a willing tool to keep Mussert's ambitions in check. The conflict between the SS and the NSB came to a boil in May 1943, and while Feldmeijer and Mussert made a public appearance together to show their good relations, in practice all ties between the NSB and the German SS were severed.

War crimes and the end

Feldmeijer supported the retaliatory measures taken against the resistance actions against NSB members. He was a member of the Sonderkommando-Feldmeijer between September 1943 and September 1944, and executed at least 20 people for resistance activities in an operation named Silbertanne Aktion

Operation Silbertanne

Operation Silbertanne was the codename of a series of murders taking place between September 1943 and September 1944 during the German occupation of the Netherlands...

. In February 1945 he was appointed to command a battalion of the Landstorm Nederland.

While driving to his position at the front, his car was strafed by an Allied fighter plane and Feldmeijer was killed. He was buried in Haren

Haren

- Places :* Haren, Groningen, Netherlands* Haren, North Brabant, Netherlands* Haren, Belgium, Brussels, Belgium* Haren, Germany, Lower Saxony, Germany...

several days later. Himmler sent Rauter a telegram after hearing of the death of Feldmeijer:

I am very sad over the death of Feldmeijer. Please convey my condolences to his wife. Feldmeijer was the future of Holland in my eyes. Don't bother to offer my condolences to mr. Mussert, as he never knew what kind of man he had in Feldmeijer

Sources