National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
Encyclopedia
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch
Politics of the Netherlands
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...

 fascist and later national socialist
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s. It remained the only legal party in the Netherlands during most of the Second World War
The Netherlands in World War II
The history of the Netherlands from 1939 to 1945 covers the events in the Netherlands that took place under the German occupation that started on May 10, 1940 with the Battle of the Netherlands. The Netherlands hoped to stay neutral when World War II broke out in 1939 but this failed to happen when...

.

1931-1940

The NSB was founded in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

 in 1931 during a period when several nationalist, fascist and national socialist] parties were founded. The founders were 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...

, who became the party's leader, and Cornelis van Geelkerken
Cornelis van Geelkerken
Cornelis van Geelkerken was co-founder of the Dutch National Socialist Movement.Cornelis van Geelkerken was born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Belgium. In the 1920s he gravitated toward extreme nationalism. Proposing an authoritarian, anti-democratic movement to Anton Mussert they formed the...

. The party based its program on Italian fascism and German national socialism, however unlike the latter before 1936 the party was not anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

 and even had Jewish members.

In 1933, after a year of building an organization, the party organized its first public meeting, a Landdag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

in Utrecht which was attended by 600 party militants. Here the party presented itself. After that the party's support began to grow. In the same year the government forbade civil servants to be members of the NSB.

In the provincial elections of 1935 the party gained 8 percent of the votes and two seats in the Senate. This result was achieved against the background of the economic hardship of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. Mussert's image as a reliable politician and his pragmatism allowed him to unite the different types of fascism and contributed to the party's success. This was bolstered by the party's strong organization and its political strategy, which was not oriented towards violent revolution but a democratic legal take over of the country. In 1936, under influence of 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...

 the party became openly anti-semitic. Rost van Tonningen began to question Mussert's leadership with support of the German Nazi Party, raising internal divisions within the party. This led to decreased support for the party and a strong anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...

 reaction of the political parties, trade unions and churches. In the 1937 general elections
Dutch general election, 1937
A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on May 26, 1937.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...

 the party gained only 4 percent of the votes and four seats in the House of Representatives, however it increased its representation in the Senate to five. In parliament the NSB MPs showed little respect for parliamentary procedures and rules. Many NSB MPs were called to order by the chairman of parliament for physical and verbal violence. In the provincial election of 1939 the party also gained 4 percent of the votes.

1940-1945

After the Second World War broke out, the NSB sympathized with the Germans and advocated strict neutrality for the Netherlands. In May 1940], 800 NSB members and sympathizers were put in custody by the Dutch government, after the German invasion. Soon after the Dutch defeat
Battle of the Netherlands
The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...

 on 14 May 1940, they were set free by German troops. In June 1940, Mussert held a speech in Lunteren
Lunteren
Lunteren is a place in Gelderland Province, Netherlands. It has a railway station and the train travels between Amersfoort and Ede.It is known also because of three Conference Centres in the vicinity, like Het Bosgoed, which hosting especially academic conferences and De Werelt Congress Hotel.It...

 in which he called for the Netherlands to embrace the Germans and renounce the Dutch Monarchy, which had fled to London.

In 1940 the German occupation government had outlawed all socialist and communist parties; in 1941 it forbade all parties, except for the NSB. The NSB openly collaborated with the occupation forces. Its membership grew to about 100,000. The NSB played an important role in lower government and civil service; every new mayor appointed by the German occupation government was a member of the NSB. On the national level, Mussert had expected he would be made leader of an independent Dutch state allied to Germany; in reality, however, the Austrian national socialist Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart was a Chancellor of Austria, lawyer and later Nazi official in pre-Anschluss Austria, the Third Reich and for wartime Germany in Poland and the Netherlands...

 was in charge of an occupation government. Mussert had several meetings with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 in which he pleaded for an independent Netherlands, but he was unsuccessful. Although Seyss-Inquart had proposed that Mussert should be made prime minister of the Netherlands
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands. He is the de facto head of government of the Netherlands and coordinates the policy of the government...

, he was only given the honorary title 'Leader of the Dutch People', and he was allowed to build a marginal State Secretariat, but he was given little or no actual power. His influence in the party waned at the expense of Rost van Tonningen and other more pro-German members. Beginning in the summer of 1943, many male members of the NSB were organized in the Landwacht, which helped the government control the population.

On September 4, 1944 the Allied forces conquered Antwerp and the NSB expected the fall of the Netherlands to come soon. On September 5, most of the NSB's leadership fled to Germany and the party's organization fell apart, on what is known as Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday).

After the German signing of surrender on May 6, 1945, the NSB was outlawed. Mussert was arrested the following day. Many of the members of the NSB were arrested, but only a few were convicted. Mussert was executed on May 7, 1946.

There were no attempts to continue the organization illegally.

Ideology and issues

The NSB started out as a classical fascist party, which based itself on the principles of leadership
Führerprinzip
The Führerprinzip , German for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich...

. It wanted a fascist state with a compliant government, fascist order and state control. It put the "national interest" above the individual interest and the interest of social groups, (pillars) that had characterized Dutch society. The party was anti-parliamentary and authoritarian. Its program which was modeled on the program of the Nazi Party lacked reference to anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

 or racist ideology
Racial policy of Nazi Germany
The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the "Aryan race", and based on a specific racist doctrine which claimed scientific legitimacy...

 of the Nazi Party. After 1936, under the influence of 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...

, the party became more oriented towards the Nazi Party and took over its anti-semitic and racist ideas. It also began to sympathize with the aggressive foreign policy of Italy and Germany.

Practical demands of the NSB were: abolition of individual voting rights
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

, corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...

, a duty to work and serve in the army, limits on the freedom of the press, laws against strikes. It demanded a reunification of the Netherlands with Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 and French Flanders
French Flanders
French Flanders is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France. The region today lies in the modern-day region of Nord-Pas de Calais, the department of Nord, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the Belgian border.-Geography:French...

 in a Greater Netherlands, which would also control a large colonial empire consisting of Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...

, Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

 and perhaps South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

. This state would not be a part of Germany, but only an independent loyal ally to Germany.

Rituals and symbols

The NSB copied elements of the Italian Fascists and German Nazis. Like Mussolini's Fascists, the NSB uniforms included black shirts, and the Party adopted the Fascist salute. Since 1933 it used the salute "Hou Zee!", which, Anton Mussert said, connoted courage and referred to the glorious maritime history of the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

. It also began using titles like Leider for Mussert (Leader; similar to Duce
Duce
Duce is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word dux, and cognate with duke. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as Il Duce of the movement and became a reference to the dictator position of Head of Government and Duce of Fascism of Italy was established...

 or Führer
Führer
Führer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...

), Kameraad for men (comrade) and Kameraadske ('comradess', a neologism) for women. One party slogan was "Mussert or Moscow", evoking the Fascist defense against supposed Communist subversion. Although the Party later adopted the Nazi red and black colors and the swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...

 symbol, the original NSB flag used orange, white and blue, the (17th century) Dutch tricolors. A blue wolfsangel
Wolfsangel
The Wolfsangel is a symbol. It is also known as the Wolf's Hook or Doppelhaken. The upright variant is also known as "thunderbolt" and the horizontal variant as "werewolf"....

(a hooked symbol of a wolf trap) on a white disc was set against an orange field.

Leadership and support

This table shows the results of the NSB in elections to the House of Representatives (lower house), the Senate, the States-Provincial, and the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter, is the chair of the parliamentary party and the lijsttrekker is the party's top candidate in the general election, these posts are normally taken by the party's leader. The membership of NSB is also represented. The House of Representatives then had 100 members.
Year HoR S SP
States-Provincial
The States'-Provincial is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the Provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance...

Fractievoorzitter Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker
Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...

Membership
1933
Dutch general election, 1933
A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on April 26, 1933.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...

0 0 0 extra-parliamentary no elections 900
1934 0 0 0 extra-parliamentary no elections 21000
1935 0 2 44 Max de Marchant et d'Ansembourg** no elections 33000
1936 0 2 44 Max de Marchant et d'Ansembourg** no elections 52000
1937
Dutch general election, 1937
A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on May 26, 1937.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...

4 5 44 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...

Anton Mussert 48000
1938 4 5 44 Anton Mussert no elections 39000
1939 4 5 21 Anton Mussert no elections 37000
1940 4 5 21 Anton Mussert no elections 32000
1941 German Occupation 90788
1942 German Occupation unknown
1943 German Occupation 99353
1944 German Occupation 101314


** leader in the Senate

Municipal and provincial government

Before 1940 the NSB held seats in provincial
States-Provincial
The States'-Provincial is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the Provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance...

 and municipal legislatures, but did not cooperate in any governments. After 1940 these legislatives stopped functioning and the NSB's role in local and provincial legislatures expanded. All newly appointed mayors were member of the NSB.

The following figure shows the election results of the provincial elections of 1935 and 1939, per province. It shows the areas where the NSB was strong, namely in South Holland, North Holland and Gelderland. The NSB was the strongest in Drenthe and Limburg. In 1935, it became the second largest party in Limburg. The party was weaker in Friesland, North Brabant and Zeeland.

In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, the party lost nearly half of its provincial seats.
Province Result 1935 (seats) Result 1939 (seats)
Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...

4 3
Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

1 0
Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...

5 2
Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

4 2
Limburg
Limburg (Netherlands)
Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

5 2
North Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...

2 1
North Holland
North Holland
North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...

7 4
Overijssel
Overijssel
Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...

3 2
Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...

4 1
Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

2 1
South Holland
South Holland
South Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam.South Holland is one of the most densely populated and industrialised areas in the world...

7 3

Electorate

The NSB drew its main support from the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

: civil servants, farmers, business people and soldiers supported the party. Most of these people were not part of the strong pillarized organisations surrounding the socialist unions, and the Protestant and Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 Churches, instead they were often a loose member of the weaker liberal pillar, which was very diverse. The NSB party scored particularly well in Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...

, Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...

 and the towns of Limburg
Limburg (Netherlands)
Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

 at the border with Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

.

Party members

Number of NSB members
January 1, 1933 900
January 1, 1934 21.000
January 1, 1935 33.000
January 1, 1936 52.000
January 1, 1937 48.000
January 1, 1938 39.000
January 1, 1939 37.000
January 1, 1940 32.000
March 1940 33.342
October 31, 1941 90.788
March 31, 1943 99.353
September 30, 1943 101.314

Organizational structure

The party was organized with Mussert serving as party chair and political leader. Yearly the party organized a Landdag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

, where Mussert held a political speech.

Linked organisations

The NSB was surrounded by several party organizations. It published a weekly newspaper Volk en Vaderland (People & Fatherland). Between 1931 and 1935 the party had its own paramilitary organization, the black uniformed Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA), similar to the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

 of the Nazi Party. It was refounded in 1941. It also founded its own youth organization, 'Jeugdstorm' (Youthstorm), farmers' organization, daily newspaper, Het Nationale Dagblad (The National Daily).

In 1940 the NSB formed a 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...

 (Dutch SS) from its own ranks. 50,000 Dutch people joined it.

The term "NSB'er" has become synonymous with traitor in the Netherlands, and is used as an insult.

Relationships to other parties

The NSB was methodically isolated by other parties. Before the war the socialist Social Democratic Workers' Party
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)
The Social Democratic Workers' Party was a Dutch socialist political party and a predecessor of the social-democratic PvdA.-1893-1904:...

 and Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen
Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen
The Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen was a Dutch social-democratic trade union.-History:...

(Dutch Association of Trade Unions) coordinated counter-demonstrations and propaganda with a separate organization 'Freedom, Labour and Bread'.

External links

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