Dutch resistance

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Members of the Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne in Eindhoven during Operation Market Garden, September 1944

Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300'000 people in hiding, tended to by some 60'000 illegal landlords and caretakers [1]. It developed relatively slowly, but also its counterintelligence, domestic sabotage, and communications networks provided key support to Allied forces beginning in 1944 and continuing until the Netherlands was fully liberated.

Contents

[edit] Prelude

Prior to the German invasion, the Netherlands had adhered to a policy of strict neutrality. The Dutch had not engaged in war with any European nation since 1830.[2] During World War I, the Dutch were not invaded by Germany and anti-German sentiment was not as strong after that war as it was in other European countries. The German invasion therefore came as a great shock to the Dutch people.[3] Despite strict neutrality, even going so far as shooting down British as well as German warplanes over Holland, the country's ships were severely attacked by the German after September 1, 1939, the Beginning of WW2. Especially the sinking of the passenger liner SS Simon Bolivar in November 1939, with 397 dead, shocked the nation. It was not the only vessel. Holland called up its conscipts.

[edit] German invasion

Main article: Battle of the Netherlands

On 10 May 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands without a declaration of war. The day before, small groups of German troops in Dutch uniforms had entered the country. Many of them were wearing Dutch helmets, some made of cardboard as there were not enough originals. Although the Dutch army was inferior in nearly every way, the Germans lost over 500 planes in the attack, a loss they would never replenish, and the first large scale paratroop-attack in history failed - the Dutch managed to recapture the three airfields near the Hague.

After four days later it looked as if the Dutch had stopped the German advance. Hitler, who had expected the occupation to be completed in two days, ordered Rotterdam to be annihilated — leading to the Rotterdam Blitz on 14 May which destroyed much of the city center and killed over 1000 — followed by every other Dutch city if the Dutch refused to surrender. The Dutch, who had quickly lost the bulk of their air force, realized they could not stop the German bombers and surrendered.[4]

Nevertheless, while the Dutch envoy who had just signed the ceasefire agreement with the Germans was on his way back, German bombers roared overhead, and Rotterdam was indeed bombed.[5] The Dutch soldiers who died defending their country, together with at least 800 civilians who perished in the flames of Rotterdam, were the first victims of Nazi occupation which was to last five years.

[edit] Initial German policy

The Nazis, who considered the Dutch to be fellow Aryans, were less repressive in the Netherlands than in other occupied countries, at least at first. Their main goals were: nazification of the populace, creation of a large scale aerial attack and defense system, integration of the Dutch economy in the German economy. As Rotterdam already was Germany's main port, it remained so and collaboration with the enemy was widespread, stimulated by the flight of the government minister who had instructed the secretaries-general to carry on as if nothing happened. The open terrain and dense population - densest in Europe - made it difficult to start conceal illegal activities, such as the maquis in France, who had ample hiding place. Furthermore, the country was surrounded by German-controlled territory on all sides, offering no escape routes. At the very first German attempt to round up Jews in February 1941, this led to the first general strike against the Germans in Europe. If the Germans discovered people were involved in the resistance, they were often immediately sentenced to death. It was the social democrats, Catholics, and communists who started the resistance movement.[6]

The Nazis deported the Jews to concentration camps, rationed food, and withheld food stamps as a punishment. They also forced adult males between 18 and 45 to work in German factories or on public work projects. In 1944 trains were diverted to Germany, known as "the great train robberies", and people were selected to stay in Germany as forced laborers. They were selected as "able to work or not". Males over the age of 14 were selected as "able to work" and females over the age of 15. Over the next five years, as conditions became increasingly harsh and difficult, resistance became better organized and more forceful.[7]

In the Netherlands, the Germans managed to exterminate a relatively large proportion of the Jews.[8] The main reason was that before the war, the Dutch authorities had required citizens to register their religion so that church taxes could be distributed among the various religious organizations. In addition, the country was occupied by the oppressive SS rather than the Wehrmacht as in the other Western European countries, as well as the fact that the occupying forces were generally under the command of Austrians who were keen to show that they were good Germans by implementing anti-Semitic policy.[9]. The Dutch public transport organization and the police collaborated to a large extent in the transport of the Jews.

[edit] Activities

Plaque honouring the Dutch resistance fighters executed by the Germans at Sachsenhausen.

On 25 February 1941, the Communist Party of the Netherlands called for a general strike, the February strike, in response to the first Nazi raid on Amsterdam's Jewish population. A street in the centre of Amsterdam would be cordoned off and the Jewish people would be taken away to Germany. Many citizens of Amsterdam, regardless of their political affiliation, joined in a mass protest against the deportation of Jewish Dutch citizens. Even though eventually the strike was put down, as German troops fired on unarmed crowds, from that day on the opposition to the German occupation intensified. Apart from the general strike in occupied Luxembourg in 1942, the strike was unique in the history of Nazi-occupied Europe, although it was quickly suppressed. The Dutch striked three more times against the Germans: the doctors strike in 1942, the April–May strike in 1943 and the railway strike in 1944. No other country showed such overt refusal to cooperate with the occupiers.

The February strike was also unusual for the Dutch resistance, which was more covert. Resistance in the Netherlands initially took the form of small-scale, decentralized cells engaged in independent activities. Some small groups had absolutely no links with others. They produced forged ration cards and counterfeit money, collected intelligence, published underground papers such as De Waarheid, Trouw, Vrij Nederland, and Het Parool, sabotaged phone lines and railways, produced maps, and distributed food and goods.

One of the riskiest activities was hiding and sheltering refugees and enemies of the Nazi regime, Jewish families like the family of Anne Frank, underground operatives, draft-age Dutch, and others. Collectively these people were known as onderduikers ("people in hiding" or literally: "under-divers"). Later in the war this system of hiding people was also used to protect downed Allied airmen. Corrie ten Boom and her family are among those who successfully hid several Jews and resistance workers from the Nazis.[10]. The total amounted to over 300.000 people per September 1944, tended to by some 60.000 landlords and carers.

In February 1943, two operatives of a Dutch resistance cell called CS-6 (for their address, 6 Corelli Street, in Amsterdam) rang the doorbell of a 70-year-old Dutch collaborator, retired Lieutenant-General Hendrik A. Seyffardt, in The Hague. After he answered and identified himself, they shot him twice in the abdomen. He died a day later. This assassination of a lower-level official triggered a cruel reprisal from SS General Hanns Albin Rauter, the killing of 50 Dutch hostages and a series of raids on Dutch universities.[11] By accident the Dutch resistance attacked Rauter's car on 6 March 1945, which in turn led to the killings at De Woeste Hoeve, where 116 men were rounded up and executed at the site of the ambush and another 147 Gestapo prisoners executed elsewhere.[12] A similar war crime happened on 1–2 October 1944, in the village of Putten, where over 600 men were deported to camps to be killed in retaliation for resistance activity.[13]

[edit] England-farers

About 2000 Dutch managed to escape to England, and offered themselves to their queen Wilhelmina for any duty against the Germans. They are called the 'Engelandvaarders' (England-farers, of those who travel to England). Two major figures are noteworhty: Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who performed spy duties with some successful visits to Holland masterminded by Peter Tazelaar. His life was made into a movie: 'Soldaat van Oranje' ('Soldier of Orange') and Bob or Bram van der Stok, who became squadron leader of the Dutch 322-RAF squadron. He is the most decorated soldier in Dutch history. Van der Stok was one of only three surviving and successful escapees from Stalag Luft III ('the Great Escape').

[edit] Radio

A major role in keeping the Dutch resistance alive was played by the BBC and 'Radio Oranje', Radio Orange, the broadcasting service of the Dutch government in exile. Listening to both (and any other foreign, non-Nazi) programs was forbidden, and after about a year the Germans decided to confiscate all Dutch radio receivers. About half of all sets were taken, the rest went underground.

[edit] Press

The Dutch managed to set up a remarkable large illegal press, the led to some 1100 titles - some never growing out of hand-copied stage, but some others managing to grow into print runs of tens of thousands - and still existing today, such as Trouw (faith), Het Parool (the cathword) or Vrij Nederland (Free Netherlands), that in September 2010 just celebrated its 70th anniversary, with a current print-run of 45,000, almost the same number as its maximum during the war.

[edit] Organization

Already on 15 May 1940, (the day after the Dutch capitulation,) the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) held a meeting in order to organize their underground existence and resistance against the German occupiers. It was the first resistance organisation in the Netherlands. As a result, some 2000 communists would lose their lives in torture rooms, concentration camps or by a firing squad. On the same day, Bernardus IJzerdraat distributed leaflets protesting the German occupation and called on the public to resist the Germans.[14] This was the first public act of resistance. IJzerdraat started to build an illegal resistance organisation called De Geuzen (named after a group who rebelled against the Spanish occupation in the 16th century).[15]

A few months after the invasion, a number of Revolutionary Socialist Worker's Party (RSAP) members including Henk Sneevliet formed the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg Front. Its entire leadership was caught and executed in April 1942. The CPN and the RSAP were the only pre-war organisations that went underground and protested against the antisemitic action taken by the German occupier.

According to CIA historian Stewart Bentley, by the middle of 1944, there were four major resistance organizations in the country, completely independent of each other:

In addition to these groups, the NSF ("Nationale Steun Fonds", or National Support Fund) financial organization received money from the exiled government to fund operations of the LO and KP. It also set up large-scale scams involving the national bank and the tax service, that were never discovered. The principal figure of the NSF was the banker Walraven van Hall, whose activities were discovered by chance by the Nazis, and who was shot at age 39[16]. Through Van Hall's work, the Dutch resistance never was short of money. Van Hall is considered the most important Dutch illegal worker by national war-historian dr L. de Jong, and he finally got his monument in Amsterdam in September 2010.

[edit] Churches

The Dutch Catholic and reformed churches both (the latter in all its several forms) were agreed on their total but cautious denial of Nazism and the occupation. Both cooperated with many illegal organizations and made funds available to save for instance Jewish children. Many priests and ministers were arrested and deported, some died, such as father Titus Brandsma, a professor of philosophy and an early outspoken critic of Nazism, who eventually succumbed to illness in Dachau. Monseigneur De Jong, archbishop of Utrecht, was a steadfast leader of the Catholic community and a clear but wise opponent of the German occupiers. The Catholic stance on protection of converted Jews for instance - among others the holy Edith Stein, a philosopher who then was also a nun in a Dutch convent - led to special prosecution of those Jews, sister Stein being deported. After the war, German documents showed that the Germans feared the role of the churches, especially when Catholics and Protestants worked together.

[edit] After Normandy

Dutch women who had sexual relations with German soldiers, await their fate after being arrested by the Dutch resistance. Their heads will be shaved and they will be marched through the streets of Grave.

With the Normandy invasion in June 1944, the Dutch civilian population was put under increasing pressure by Allied infiltration and the need for intelligence regarding the German military defensive buildup, the instability of German positions, and active fighting.

Portions of the country were liberated as part of the Allied Drive to the Siegfried Line. The Allied paratrooper disaster of Operation Market Garden liberated Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but the attempt to secure bridges and transport lines around Arnhem in mid-September failed, partly because British forces refused to accept intelligence offered by the Dutch resistance regarding German strength of forces; unfortunately they were right in believing that the sources had been compromised. The Battle of the Scheldt, aimed at opening the Belgian port of Antwerp, liberated the south-west Netherlands the following month.

While the south was liberated, Amsterdam and the rest of the north remained under Nazi control until their official surrender on 6 May 1945. For these eight months Allied forces held off, fearing huge civilian losses, and hoping for a rapid collapse of the German government. When the Dutch government-in-exile asked for a national railway strike as a resistance measure, the Nazis stopped food transports to the western Netherlands, and this set the stage for the "Hunger winter", the Dutch famine of 1944.

Some 374 Dutch resistance fighters are buried in the Field of Honor in the Dunes around Bloemendaal. In total, some 2000 Dutch resistance members were killed by the Germans. Their names are written down in a memorial ledger kept in the Dutch parliament. Since 2010 it is also online: www.erelijst.nl ('Honour's roll').

[edit] Figures in the Dutch resistance

See also: Dutch Resistance members

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dr L. de Jong: Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog
  2. ^ See Ten days campaign
  3. ^ A Forgotten Chapter, Holland Under the Third Reich, Lecture by Anthony Anderson at The University of Southern California on October 17, 1995. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  4. ^ The Netherlands and the beginning of World War II from Marketgarden.com. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  5. ^ Rotterdam from War over Holland. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  6. ^ The Dutch Resistance and the OSS — Central Intelligence Agency
  7. ^ Resistance from Holocaust and Resistance in World War II Netherlands. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  8. ^ Genocide from Holocaust and Resistance in World War II Netherlands. Retrieved 11 April 2008
  9. ^ The Netherlands from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  10. ^ Corrie ten Boom from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  11. ^ The 'SILBERTANNE' murders from Niederlanders in de Waffen-SS. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  12. ^ The Hins' World War II Collection - Memorial Woeste Hoeve. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  13. ^ Brute force hit small Dutch town fifty years ago, from GoDutch.com, first published October 23, 1994. Retrieved 11 April 2008
  14. ^ Resistance in Western Europe, p. 145, ed. Bob Moore, Oxford : Berg, 2000, ISBN 1859732798.
  15. ^ Bernardus IJzerdraat from Erepeloton Waalsdorp (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  16. ^ Biografie van Hall, Walraven van from Website Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  17. ^ Werner Warmbrunn, "The Dutch under German occupation, 1940-1945", Stanford University Press, 1963, pg. 229, [1]

[edit] External links

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