Netherlands in World War II
In 1934 the Government of the Netherlands requested that the use of the adjective "Dutch" would be discontinued as it caused too much confusion with "Deutsch" (German in German). In 1935, the Dutch National Socialist Movement (N.S.B.) and the Dutch Communist Party gained 44 seats in the election for the provincial councils and in September, the engagement of Princess Juliana with Prince Bernhard was duly noted as was the World Jamboree of Boy Scouts in 1937, where 800 Boy Scouts from the United States attended.
Following a three day period of great tension, the German Government declared war on the Netherlands and the subsequent military operations against this country began at about 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, May 10, 1940. The first obvious activity was by air. Germany invaded the Netherlands and four days later the Dutch armed forces surrendered. A cursory glance at such a short campaign would suggest that Dutch defensive preparations were inadequate.
The Netherlands had no real reason to fear Germany until Hitler came to power. Beginning in 1933, however, many potentially threatening events occurred which eventually caused the Dutch to realize that their country was in danger. During the mid-1930s the Dutch Army suffered from serious personnel and equipment shortages and was not organized to mobilize quickly.
Stretching along 3,000 miles of water from Malaya almost to the subcontinent of Australia, the Netherlands East Indies are the treasure house of Asia - home of rich oil deposits, tin, and other strategic materials we, and our enemies, need. From the beginning of their dream of conquering the land and peoples of Asia, the Japanese recognized the vital importance of the Indies to their so-called New Order in the Far East. One of Japan's leading statesmen, Toshio Shiratori, said bluntly that these islands were "A matter of life and death to Japan economically and strategically." The pattern of conquest, planned by the Japanese war lords, therefore, was thorough. There were fewer than 75,000 troops to defend the N.E.I.'s more than 3,000 islands. Most of these soldiers were Indonesians trained by the Dutch.
The Netherlands and its people had always been hospitable to the Jews, from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain down through the dark days of World War II. Despite some efforts by Dutch quislings during the Nazi occupation, the Dutch have never been tainted by anti-Semitism. The Dutch people are remembered for attempting to hinder the efforts of the Nazis to exterminate their own Jewish nationals and the thousands who had taken refuge in that little country in the hope that they would be saved from the German death camps. During the war, the Nazis rounded up the Jewish population before deporting them to camps in the East. Over 75% of the Netherlands' 140,000 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis.
Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who had to go into hiding to avoid the Nazis. Together with seven others she hid in the secret annex on the Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam. After almost 2 years in hiding they were discovered and deported to concentration camps. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was the only one of the eight people to survive. After her death Anne became world famous because of the diary she wrote while in hiding.
Unlike resistance movements in many other countries occupied by Germany, the Dutch underground was largely nonpolitical in character. The German occupation modi?ed most of the incompatibilities which prior to 1940 divided the Dutch people into many small, sharply de?ned groups. As a result German administration has been faced with wide- spread and determined opposition from all elements of the Dutch population. In France, the “Resistance” was considered synonymous with a progressive, if not a revolutionary, political outlook. In the Netherlands, however, all political groupings have joined in opposing the occupying force under leadership which has remained largely in the hands of the substantial and conservative Dutch elements which held the reins of authority in peace time.
The Dutch resistance movement also has been primarily nonmilitary in character. No large underground paramilitary formation developed. This is probably due to the scarcity of arms and ammunition, to the uncoordinated activities of the three principal armed groups, and to German counter-measures. The underground has concerned itself chie?y with obstructing German administration, obtaining military, political, and economic intelligence, and caring for the so-called onderduikers (undergrounders) and their families. The onderduz'kers, estimated to number 300,000 or more, are those persons who for a variety of reasons, particularly to avoid labor deportation, have been obliged to conceal their identity or whereabouts from German and quisling authorities.
During most of the occupation period, contact between the resistance and the Dutch Government-in-exile has been poor. This has been partly due to the attitude and shortcomings of the Government and partly to the substantially independent outlook of the resistance itself. There are four principal organizations in the Dutch underground: the Landelijlce Organisatie (L.O.), the Orde Dienst (O.D.) , the Raad van Verzet (R.V.V.) and the Nationaal Comite (N.C.). In addition, the resistance comprised some prewar political parties and many small local groups. Both appear to have played important roles (former party leaders have been especially active in sponsoring the underground press), but in general they carried on their resistance activities through the medium of one or more of the four principal resistance organizations.
On September 4, 1944, Dutch prime minister-in-exile Pieter Gerbrandy broadcast the news that Breda had been liberated. ‘The hour of freedom has struck,’ he proclaimed from London. People lined the streets to welcome their liberators who surely wouldn’t be long and all over the country celebratory parties were held. The news also reached the members of the NSB, the Dutch political party that collaborated with the Germans: some 60,000 of the 100,000 NSB’ers are said to have fled to Germany. But at the time, the Allies had not even crossed the border. Planning for the Netherlands was based on the so-called collapse theory which assumed that German forces would all surrender at one time and that accordingly a complete civil administration for the entire country would be available. As it turned out, only a part of the country, and that a relatively small and politically unimportant part, was liberated initially.
Largely dependent on dikes and canals, Holland was a sort of manmade machine that must run as a unit or not at all. Much of the soil is poor and will produce little without fertilizer. The fertilizer cannot be brought in unless the water in the canals is at the right level. The water levels cannot be controlled unless the canal locks and sluices are in operation ; and these in turn are dependent on the mining and transport of coal and on the production and flow of electricity. A large population depended on the operation of this intricate network of machinery.
On September 12, American troops liberated the province of Zuid-Limburg. The Allies, wanting to strike at the German industrial heartland of the Rühr, subsequently mounted Operation Market Garden, the biggest airborne attack ever attempted (Sept 17 – Sept 25, 1944). After that the liberation of the rest of the Netherlands would soon follow. But the Germans put up a much tougher fight than expected, not only at Arnhem but in many other places in the Netherlands. The official capitulation of the German Armed Forces in Holland came at 0800 hours 5 May 1945.
So-called ‘Moffenhoeren’ (Kraut whores), women who had been in a relationship with a German, were publicly humiliated by having their heads shaved in the street, behavior in some cases condoned by the authorities to ‘relieve the tension surrounding collaboration’.
The Netherlands Government was well aware of the fact that the unhappy conditions, notably with regard to food, clothing, shelter, fuel and medical supplies, which lasted for many weeks after the withdrawal of the Germans in the liberated area - conditions far worse than those obtaining during the German occupation - were at least partly due to other urgent demands made upon SHAEF in connection with the immediate prosecution of the war, and in so far, attributable to military necessity. Nevertheless, they cannot help but feel that, especially if the Netherlands Government had been placed in a position 'to provide the population of the liberated provinces with certain additional supplies for their own account, more could have been done to relieve the distress of these people.
Since 1973, under the Netherlands Act on Benefits for Victims of Persecution, 1940–1945 (Dutch acronym, WUV), the Dutch government has made payments to victims of German and Japanese persecution during World War II.
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