National Socialist Movement (Netherlands)

2025-11-01T04:17:48Z

2603:8000:2F00:F1EC:3875:194:886C:5D40: /* Second World War (1940–1945) */

{{More citations needed|date=December 2023}}{{Short description|Dutch Nazi movement and political party}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox political party
| name = National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
| native_name = Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland
| logo = [[File:Logo of National Socialist Movement.svg|120px]]
| logo_size =
| colorcode = black
| leader = [[Anton Mussert]]
| founder = [[Anton Mussert]] [[Cornelis van Geelkerken]]
| youth_wing = ''[[Nationale Jeugdstorm]]''
| student_wing = ''Nederlandsche Nationaal-Socialistische Studentenfederatie'' ''Nationaal Socialistisch Studentenfront''
| wing1_title = Paramilitary wing
| wing1 = ''[[Weerbaarheidsafdeling]]''
| wing2_title = [[Dutch East Indies|East Indies]] branch
| wing2 = [[National Socialist Movement in the Dutch East Indies]]
| foundation = 14 December 1931 ({{age in years and days|1931|12|14}})
| banned = 6 May 1945 ({{age in years and days|1945|05|06}})
| headquarters = [[Utrecht]], [[Netherlands]]
| membership_year = 1944
| membership = 101,314
| position = [[Far-right politics|Far-right]]
| ideology = [[Nazism]] [[Fascism]] [[Ethnic nationalism|Dutch nationalism]] [[Greater Netherlands|Dutch irredentism]] [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Collaborationism]]
| international =
| country = the Netherlands
| newspaper = [[Volk en Vaderland]]
| predecessor =
| colors = {{Color box|#D31212|border=darkgray}} [[Red]] {{Color box|#141414|border=darkgray}} [[Black]]
| flag = Flag of National Socialist Movement.svg
}}
The '''National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands''' ({{langx|nl|Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland}}, {{IPA|nl|nɑ(t)ɕoːˌnaːlsoːɕaːˈlɪstisə bəˈʋeːɣɪŋ ɪn ˈneːdərlɑnt|pron}}; '''NSB''') was a Dutch [[fascist]] and later [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[political organisation]] that eventually became a [[political party]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Rietbergen |first=P. J. A. N. |title=A Short History of the Netherlands: From Prehistory to the Present Day |publisher=Bekking |year=2000 |isbn=90-6109-440-2 |edition=4th |location=Amersfoort |pages=141 |oclc=52849131}}</ref> As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s. Under German occupation, it remained the only legal party in the Netherlands during most of the [[Netherlands in World War II|Second World War]].

== History ==
=== Early years (1931–1936) ===
The NSB was founded in [[Utrecht]] in 1931 during a period when several [[nationalist]], fascist and Nazi parties were founded. The founders were [[Anton Mussert]], who became the party's leader, and [[Cornelis van Geelkerken]]. The party based its program on Italian fascism and German Nazism: however, unlike the latter, before 1936 the party was not [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] and even had Jewish members.

In 1933, after a year of building an organization, the party organized its first public meeting, a ''[[Landtag|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.

In the provincial elections of 1935, the party gained almost eight percent of the votes<ref name=":02" /> and two seats in the [[Senate of the Netherlands|Senate]]. This was achieved against the background of the economic hardship of the [[Great Depression]], which increased the party's stature until 1937.<ref name=":02" /> 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 revolution but a democratic and legal take over of the country. By 1936, the party was holding annual mass meetings near [[Lunteren]] in Gelderland and, in 1938, it built the [[Muur van Mussert]] there, a wall which was supposed to be one element in a set of buildings and monuments inspired by the [[Nazi party rally grounds]] in [[Nuremberg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cult.tpo.nl/2015/12/03/mini-docu-de-muur-van-mussert/|title=Mini-docu: De Muur van Mussert|last=Paternotte|first=Bas|date=3 December 2015|publisher=ThePostOnline|language=nl|access-date=6 June 2016|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510095133/http://cult.tpo.nl/2015/12/03/mini-docu-de-muur-van-mussert/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Nazi influence (1936–1940) ===
In 1936, under the influence of [[Meinoud Rost van Tonningen]], the party became more radical and openly antisemitic. Rost van Tonningen began to question Mussert's leadership, with the support of the German [[Nazi Party]], increasing divisions within the party. This [[Radicalization|radicalisation]] led to decreased support for the party and a strong [[anti-fascism|anti-fascist]] reaction of the political parties, trade unions and churches. In the [[Dutch general election, 1937|1937 general elections]], the party gained only four percent of the votes and four seats in the [[House of Representatives of the Netherlands|House of Representatives]], although it increased its representation in the [[Senate of the Netherlands|Senate]] to five seats. After 1937, the party's stature diminished and many members left.<ref name=":02" />

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 four percent of the votes.

=== Second World War (1940–1945) ===
[[File:WWII Dutch NSB cap.jpg|thumb|Dutch WWII NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) cap]]
After the [[Second World War]] broke out, the NSB sympathized with the Germans and advocated [[Neutral country|strict neutrality]] for the Netherlands. In May 1940, 800 NSB members and sympathizers were put in custody by the Dutch government,<ref>Jong 1956, p73.</ref> after the German invasion. Supporters of the party in the [[Dutch East Indies]] were also interned at that time, and when a Japanese invasion of the colony began some of these were deported to [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Surinam]] and interned in the [[Jodensavanne internment camp]]. Soon after the [[Battle of the Netherlands|Dutch defeat]] on 14 May 1940, the imprisoned European NSB members in the Netherlands were set free by German troops. In June 1940, Mussert delivered a speech in [[Lunteren]] in which he called for the Netherlands to embrace the Germans and renounce the [[Dutch Monarchy]], which had fled to [[London]].

In 1940 the [[Netherlands in World War II|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 Nazi [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]] was in charge of an occupation government. He chose to work with the remaining establishment as he realised that the NSB lacked popular support and talented candidates for more important functions.

Mussert had in total five 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 as Rost van Tonningen and other more pro-German members gained influence. Unlike Mussert, Rost van Tonningen was in favour of incorporation of the Netherlands into a Greater Germanic Reich. Beginning in the summer of 1943, many male members of the NSB were organized in the [[34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland|Landwacht]], which helped the government control the population.

On 4 September 1944, the Allied forces conquered [[Antwerp]] and the NSB expected the fall of the Netherlands to come soon. On 5 September, most of the NSB's leadership and many members fled to Germany and the party's organization fell apart, on what is known as ''Dolle Dinsdag'' (Mad Tuesday). Mussert himself spent the winter of 1944–45 at the estate of Bellinckhof, near Almelo. In these final months of the war the movement fractured further and further, and Mussert ordered measures against leaders who behaved 'dishonorably' in September 1944. In the beginning of 1945 he terminated the memberships of Rost van Tonningen and Van Geelkerken. However, at that time Musserts power was severely weakened by the war events and the fracturing of the NSB.

=== Dissolution (1945) ===
[[File:WWII Dutch NSB armband.jpg|thumb|WWII Dutch NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) armband]]
After the [[German Instrument of Surrender|German surrender on 6 May 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.

There were no attempts to continue the organization illegally. Former members were shunned and sometimes imprisoned. After that, they and their children remained stigmatized for a long time in society. The senior party leadership was arrested and faced charges: [[Anton Mussert|Mussert]] was executed on 7 May 1946, [[Cornelis van Geelkerken|Van Geelkerken]] was imprisoned, and Rost van Tonningen committed suicide while awaiting trial.

==Ideology and issues==
{{Nazism sidebar}}
The NSB started out as a [[Classical Fascism|classical fascist]] party, which based itself on the principles of [[Führerprinzip|leadership]].<ref name=":02" /> 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 ([[pillarization|pillars]]) that had characterized Dutch society. The party was [[Anti-parliamentarianism|anti-parliamentary]] and [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]]. Its program, which was otherwise modeled on the program of the German [[Nazi Party]], initially did not contain the antisemitic and [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racist ideology]] of the Nazi Party.<ref name=":02" /> After 1936, under the influence of [[Meinoud Rost van Tonningen]], the party became more oriented towards the Nazi Party and took on its [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and [[Racism|racist]] ideas. It also began to sympathize with the aggressive [[foreign policy]] of Italy and Germany.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFcJZHow9pEC&pg=PA420|title=The Nazi Party 1919-1945: A Complete History|first=Dietrich|last=Orlow|pages=420–422|publisher=[[Enigma Books]]|location=New York|year=2010|isbn=978-0-9824911-9-5|access-date=2013-08-05}}</ref>

Practical demands of the NSB were: abolition of [[universal suffrage|individual voting rights]], [[corporatism]], a duty to work and serve in the army, limits on the [[freedom of the press]], laws against [[strike (action)|strikes]]. It demanded a unification of the Netherlands with [[Flanders]] and [[French Flanders]] in a [[Greater Netherlands]], which would also control a large colonial empire consisting of [[Belgian Congo]], the [[Dutch East Indies]] and perhaps [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kroener|first1=Bernhard R.|last2=Müller|first2=Rolf-Dieter|last3=Umbreit|first3=Hans|title=Germany and the Second World War:Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of power. Wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources 1939-1941|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2000|page=390|isbn=0-19-822887-2}}</ref> This state would not be a part of Germany, but only an independent loyal ally to Germany.

The NSB was against the current [[Politics of the Netherlands|political structure of the Netherlands]] and [[parliamentary democracy]] itself.<ref name=":02" />

== Organization ==
=== Structure ===
The party was organized with [[Anton Mussert|Mussert]] serving as [[Partijvoorzitter|party chair]] and political leader. From September 1940 until its dissolution, Carolus Josephus Huygen served as Secretary General of the party. Yearly the party organized a ''[[Landdag]]'', where Mussert gave a political speech.

=== Rituals and symbols ===
[[File:Prinsenvlag.svg|thumb|The NSB originally used the Prince's Flag.]]
[[File:Flag of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands alternate.svg|thumb|NSB wolfsangel flag.]]
[[File:Wappen NSB 1931-1936.svg|thumb|Wolfsangel symbol of the Wappen NSB.]]
The NSB copied elements of the [[Italian fascism|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 [[Duce]] or [[Führer]]), ''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.<ref>"Mussert, Anton" in ''Current Biography 1941'', p621.</ref> Although the Party later adopted the Nazi red and black colors and the [[swastika]] symbol, the original NSB flag used the [[Prince's Flag]]. A blue ''[[wolfsangel]]'' (a hooked symbol of a wolf trap) on a white disc was set against an orange field.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/nl%7Dnsb.html | title=NSB (The Netherlands)|website=www.fotw.info }}</ref>

=== Party membership ===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:left; margin:1em; margin-left:0"
|+ Ontwikkeling ledental NSB
! scope="row" | 1 January 1933
| style="text-align:right;width:30%;" |900
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1934
| style="text-align:right" |21,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1935
| style="text-align:right" |33,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1936
| style="text-align:right" |52,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1937
| style="text-align:right" |48,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1938
| style="text-align:right" |39,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1939
| style="text-align:right" |37,000
|-
! scope="row" | 1 January 1940
| style="text-align:right" |32.000
|-
! scope="row" | March 1940
| style="text-align:right" |33,342
|-
! scope="row" | 31 October 1941
| style="text-align:right" |90,788
|-
! scope="row" | 31 March 1943
| style="text-align:right" |99,353
|-
! scope="row" | 30 September 1943
| style="text-align:right" |101,314
|}
Historians [[Lou de Jong]] and A.A. de Jonge have characterized NSB members as socially isolated opportunists who were motivated to join the NSB through a mix of [[opportunism]], [[idealism]] and [[Social connection|social connections]].<ref>Josje Damsma, and Erik Schumacher, "De strijd om Amsterdam," ''[[BMGN|Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden]]'' (2009) 124#3, pp 329-348</ref>

=== Support and electorate ===
The NSB drew its main support from the [[middle class]]: [[civil servants]], [[Farmer|farmers]], [[business people]] and [[Soldier|soldiers]] supported the party. Most of these people were not part of the strong [[pillarization|pillarized]] organisations surrounding the socialist unions, and the [[Protestant]] and [[Catholic Church|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]], [[Gelderland]] and the towns of [[Limburg (Netherlands)|Limburg]] at the border with [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. The synod of the [[Reformed Churches in the Netherlands]] declared membership of the NSB irreconcilable with membership in their church denomination in 1936<ref>Hans van de Wal, ''Een aanvechtbare en onzekere situatie'', Uitgeverij Verloren, 2006, 37.</ref> and reaffirmed this in 1941.<ref>J. J. van Bolhuis, ''Onderdrukking en verzet: Nederland in oorlogstijd'', volume 2, Van Loghum Slaterus, 1981, 452.</ref> The [[Catholic Church in the Netherlands|Catholic Church]] warned against the party's ideology in 1936 and banned support for the NSB in 1936 on pain of exclusion from the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]].<ref>Herman Selderhuis, ''Handboek Nederlandse kerkgeschiedenis''.</ref> A mandement from the Roman Catholic bishops declared in 1941 membership of the NSB illicit to a high degree.<ref>Tini Visser, ''Jaren van verduistering'', AUP.</ref>

=== Associated organisations ===
The NSB was surrounded by several party organizations. It published a weekly newspaper, ''[[Volk en Vaderland]]'' ("People and Fatherland"). Between 1931 and 1935 the party had its own paramilitary organization, the black uniformed ''[[Weerbaarheidsafdeling]]'' (WA), similar to the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' of the Nazi Party. It was refounded in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2021622/detail_no_jsp_action_detail_imid_78393.html|title=De WA (Weerbaarheidsafdeling) van de NSB|work=[[Europeana]]|language=nl|access-date=8 September 2014}}</ref> It also founded its own youth organization, ''[[Nationale Jeugdstorm]]'' (Youthstorm); a farmers' organization; and a daily newspaper, ''Het Nationale Dagblad'' (The National Daily).

In 1940 the NSB formed the [[Nederlandsche SS]] (Dutch SS), which had up to 7,000 members.

The party also had a [[National Socialist Movement in the Dutch East Indies|branch in the East Indies]], which enjoyed some modest popularity among the mixed Dutch-Indonesian [[Indo people|Indo]] population, but began to rapidly decline after the NSB started to adopt more [[racialist]] and [[Blood and soil|''blut und boden'']] views, and was banned on 10 May 1940, in reaction to the European NSB entering into collaboration.

The term "NSB'er" has become synonymous with traitor in the Netherlands, and is used as an insult, especially in the context of ratting somebody out to authorities.

A grim joke after [[World War II]], made by [[Dutch resistance|Dutch Resistance]] fighters, is that former NSB members insisted that their acronym actually stood for "Niet So [zo] Bedoeld" or "I didn't mean it like that" as they attempted to downplay their treachery.

<gallery>
NSBUtrecht1941.jpg|NSB Meeting (Utrecht 1941)
NSB1941.jpg|NSB Meeting (The Hague 1941)
NSBHouZeeDenHaag1941.jpg|HouZee (The Hague 1941)
</gallery>

=== Relationships with other parties ===
The NSB was methodically isolated by other parties. Before the war the socialist [[Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)|Social Democratic Workers' Party]] and ''[[Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen]]'' (Dutch Association of Trade Unions) coordinated counter-demonstrations and propaganda with a separate organization 'Freedom, Labour and Bread'. The NSB lobbied with the German occupiers to have other political organisations outlawed. Although the Germans had no problem with banning the socialists, communists and Christian-democrats, it was considerably harder for the NSB to convince them to get rid of their fascist rivals. Eventually, the Germans forbade these too and urged members to join the NSB, as these parties were considered too small. The most important rival for the NSB was the [[Nederlandsche Unie]], an organisation founded in 1940, which wanted to rebuild Dutch society within the cadre of the changed balance of power. Although their point of view was later considered collaborationist, many Dutch joined the movement as an alternative to the NSB, which it soon outgrew. The end for the Nederlandsche Unie came when they refused to support the German invasion of the Soviet-Union. Hence, as of 1941 to 1945, the NSB was the only permitted political party in the Netherlands.

==Electoral performance==
=== House of Representatives ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Election
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Lead candidate
! scope="col" rowspan=2|List
! scope="col" colspan=2|Votes
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Seats
|-
! #
! %
|-
! scope="row" | [[1937 Dutch general election|1937]]
| align="left"| [[Anton Mussert]]
| align="left"| [[List of National Socialist Movement candidates in the 1937 Dutch general election|List]]
|171,137
|4.2
|{{Composition bar compact|4|100}}
|}

=== Senate ===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Election
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Lead candidate
! scope="col" rowspan=2|List
! scope="col" colspan=2|Votes
! scope="col" rowspan=2|Seats
|-
! #
! %
|-
! scope="row" | [[1935 Dutch Senate election|1935]]
| align="left" | [[Max de Marchant et d'Ansembourg]]
| align="left"| [[List of National Socialist Movement candidates in the 1935 Dutch Senate election|List]]
|
|
|{{Composition bar compact|2|50}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1937 Dutch Senate election|1937]]
| align="left" | Van Vessem
| align="left"| [[List of National Socialist Movement candidates in the 1937 Dutch Senate election|List]]
|
|
|{{Composition bar compact|4|50}}
|}

===Municipal and provincial councils===
Before 1940 the NSB held seats in [[States-Provincial|provincial]] and [[gemeenteraad|municipal legislatures]], but did not cooperate in any governments. After 1940 these legislatures stopped functioning and the NSB's role in local and provincial legislatures expanded. All newly appointed mayors were members of the NSB.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+ NSB seats in [[Provincial council (Netherlands)|provincial councils]].
! scope="col" | Province
! scope="col" | 1935
! scope="col" | 1939
|-
! scope="row" |[[Drenthe]]
|{{Composition bar compact|4|35}}
|{{Composition bar compact|3|35}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Friesland]]
|{{Composition bar compact|1|50}}
|{{Composition bar compact|0|50}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Gelderland]]
|{{Composition bar compact|5|62}}
|{{Composition bar compact|2|62}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Groningen (province)|Groningen]]
|{{Composition bar compact|4|45}}
|{{Composition bar compact|2|45}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Limburg (Netherlands)|Limburg]]
|{{Composition bar compact|5|45}}
|{{Composition bar compact|2|45}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[North Brabant]]
|{{Composition bar compact|2|64}}
|{{Composition bar compact|1|64}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[North Holland]]
|{{Composition bar compact|7|77}}
|{{Composition bar compact|4|77}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Overijssel]]
|{{Composition bar compact|3|47}}
|{{Composition bar compact|2|47}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]]
|{{Composition bar compact|4|41}}
|{{Composition bar compact|1|41}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Zeeland]]
|{{Composition bar compact|2|42}}
|{{Composition bar compact|1|42}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[South Holland]]
|{{Composition bar compact|7|82}}
|{{Composition bar compact|3|82}}
|}

==See also==
* [[Germanic-SS]] – the collective name given to [[Allgemeine-SS]] groups that were raised in Occupied Europe between 1939 and 1945.
*[[Quisling]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===General references===
*{{Cite book
|last=Jong
|first=Loe de
|author-link=Loe de Jong
|title=German Fifth Column in the Second World War
|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul
|year=1956}}

== Further reading ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Slaa|first1=Robin te|last2=Klijn|first2=Edwin|publisher=Boom|year=2009|isbn=978-90-8506-813-6|language=nl|title=De NSB: Deel 1: Ontstaan en opkomst van de Nationaal Socialistische Beweging, 1931-1935}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Slaa|first1=Robin te|last2=Klijn|first2=Edwin|publisher=Boom|year=2021|isbn=978-94-6105-838-6|language=nl|title=De NSB: Deel 2: Twee werelden botsen, 1936-1940}}

{{Navboxes
|title=Articles and topics related to National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
|state=collapsed
|list1=
{{Defunct political parties in the Netherlands}}
{{Dutch fascism}}
{{Fascism}}
{{Nazism}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands}}
[[Category:National Socialist Movement (Netherlands)]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

National Socialist Movement (Netherlands)