National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
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The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (in Dutch: Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland, NSB) was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. The NSB was rather successful during the 1930s and the only legal party in The Netherlands during most of the Second World War.
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[edit] Party History
[edit] 1931-1940
The NSB was founded in Utrecht in 1931 during a period when several nationalist, fascist and national socialist parties were founded. Founders were Anton Mussert, who became the party's leader, and Cornelis van Geelkerken. The party based its program on Italian fascism and German National Socialism, unlike the latter before 1936 the party was not anti-semitic and even had Jewish members.
In 1933, after a year of building an organization, the party organized its first public meeting, a Landdag 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% of the votes and two seats in the Eerste Kamer. On the background of the party's success was the Great Depression. Mussert's image as a reliable politician and his pragmatism which allowed him to unite the different types of fascism also contributed to the party's success, as did the party's strong organization and its political strategy, which was not oriented towards violent revolution but a democratic legal take over of the party. In 1936, under influence of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen the party became openly anti-semitic. Rost van Tonningen began to question Musserts leadership with support of the German NSDAP, raising internal divisions within the party. This led to decreased support for the party and a strong anti-fascist reaction of the political parties, trade unions and churches. In the 1937 general elections the party gained only 4% of the votes and 4 seats in the Tweede Kamer, it expanded its seats in the Eerste Kamer to five. In parliament the NSB MPs showed little respect for the 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% of the votes.
[edit] 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,[1] after the German invasion. Soon after the Dutch defeat on 14 May 1940, they were set free by German troops. In June 1940, Mussert held a speech in Lunteren in which he called for the Netherlands to embrace the Germans and renounce the House of Orange, 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 was in charge of an occupation government. Mussert had several meetings with Adolf Hitler 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, 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 a few were convicted, including Mussert, who was executed on May 7, 1946.
There were no attempts to continue the organization illegally.
[edit] Name
The party was called National Socialist Movement in The Netherlands. National Socialism is an obvious reference to the German NSDAP. With the word Movement it sought to separate itself from conventional parties and the partisan strife that had characterized pillarization. Using the phrase "in The Netherlands" referred to the fact that the NSB was the Dutch wing of the international fascist movement.
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[edit] Ideology & Issues
The NSB started out as a classical fascist party, which based itself on the principles of leadership. It wanted a healthy nation with a strong government, order and solidarity. 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 NSDAP lacked reference to anti-semitic or racist ideology of the NSDAP. After 1936, under influence of Rost van Tonningen, the party became more oriented towards the NSDAP 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, corporatism, 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 in a Greater Netherlands. This state would not be a part of, but only an independent loyal ally to Germany.
[edit] 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. It also began using titles like 'Leider' for Mussert (Leader; similar to Führer), 'Kameraad' for men (comrade) and 'Kameraadske' (a newly invented word) for women (comradess)... One party slogan was "Mussert or Moscow", evoking the Fascist defense against supposed Communist subversion. [2]. Although the Party later adopted the Nazi red and black colors and the swastika symbol, the original NSB flag used orange, white and blue, the (17th century) Dutch tricolors. A blue wolfsangel (a hooked symbol of a wolf trap) on a white disc was set against an orange field [3].
[edit] Leadership & Support
In this table the election results of the NSB in Tweede Kamer and Eerste Kamer is represented, as well as 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 Dutch parliament, called Tweede Kamer (TK), then had 100 members.
| Year | TK | EK | PS | Fractievoorzitter | Lijsttrekker | Membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | 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 | 4 | 5 | 44 | Anton Mussert | 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 Eerste Kamer.
[edit] Muncipal and Provincial Government
Before 1940 the NSB held seats in provincial and municipal legislatives, 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.
In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 1935 and 1939 per province. It shows the areas where the NSB is strong, namely in South Holland, North Holland and Gelderland. The NSB is the strongest in Drenthe and Limburg. In 1935, she became the second party in Limburg. The party is weaker in Friesland, North Brabant and Zeeland.
In 1939, in the eve of the Second World War, the party lost nearly half of its provincial seats
| Province | Result 1935 (seats) | Result 1939 (seats) |
|---|---|---|
| Drenthe | 4 | 3 |
| Friesland | 1 | 0 |
| Gelderland | 5 | 2 |
| Groningen | 4 | 2 |
| Limburg | 5 | 2 |
| North Brabant | 2 | 1 |
| North Holland | 7 | 4 |
| Overijssel | 3 | 2 |
| Utrecht | 4 | 1 |
| Zeeland | 2 | 1 |
| South Holland | 7 | 3 |
[edit] Electorate
The NSB drew its main support from the middle 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 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 and Limburg.
[edit] Organization
[edit] Organizational structure
The party was organized with Mussert serving as party chair and political leader. Yearly the party organized a Landdag, where Mussert held a political speech.
[edit] 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 of the NSDAP. 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 (Dutch SS) from its own ranks. 50,000 Dutch people joined it.
[edit] Relationships to other parties
The NSB was methodically isolated by other parties. Before The war the socialist SDAP and NVV coordinated counter-demonstration and propaganda with a separate organization 'Freedom, Labour and Bread'.
[edit] International Comparison
In the period 1931-1936 the NSB was a fascist party, more comparable to Mussolini's National Fascist Party than Hitler's NSDAP. After 1936, the party became more national-socialist.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] General references
- Jong, Loe de (1956). German Fifth Column In the Second World War. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
[edit] External links
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