9
9
0
On December 12, 1945, the Special Court of Justice convicted Dutch Nazi leader Anton Mussert to death. From the article:
"Mussert, Anton - TracesOfWar.com
The young Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was born on 11th May 1894 in Werkendam of the marriage between headteacher Johannes Leonardus Mussert and his wife Frederika Witlam. Anton was the fourth child in the Mussert family. Eventually, five children would grow up in the Mussert household: sons Jo, Max and Anton and daughters Leni and Coby. Through his profession as a headteacher, Johannes Mussert and his family belonged to the elite of their village. Johannes Mussert was a man of distinction who had two sides to his personality. For the outside world he seemed to be an endearing man who was always there to help children who had trouble learning. Within his family he showed a completely different side and would not shy away from using corporal punishment to establish his authority. He did, however, pay sufficient attention to his family. His wife Frederika was rather a different sort of person. She was a snob who exploited her privileged position. These opposing personalities led the marriage into heated arguments which were fought in public and sometimes even in the classroom.
Their son Jo joined the army and quickly climbed to the rank of officer. The later activities of his brother, Anton, would prove problematic during the Battle of the Netherlands. When the young Anton started primary school, his brother’s position in society gave him prestige. Their older brother Max had followed in the footsteps of his father and had become a teacher. Their older sister Leni was studying to become a teacher.
At primary school, Anton was a loner. He was short in stature and became the victim of bullying by the local youth. He was an average pupil who was most interested in the history of the Netherlands, an interest that would remain with him until his death. After primary school, Mussert attended secondary school in Gorinchem. Here, he was also certainly not an outstanding student. His achievements were satisfactory but that was all. He remained the smallest in the class, a disadvantage that Anton compensated for with an athletic and well-built body. In 1912, he received his diploma. Inspired by his brother Jo, Anton wanted to become a naval officer but was rejected due to his height. His youth had made him ambitious, a trait that would be useful later in his career.
When his father Johannes was fired in 1912 after 33 years of trusted service, it caused big changes in the Mussert family. Following the advice of his father, Anton went to study at the Technical College in Delft. The family moved with him on 25th October 1912 to reduce his study costs. The house was located on the ground floor of 15 Kanaalweg. At the Technical College, Anton developed into a hardworking student with perfectionist tendencies. He was considered a serious student who did not become involved in the usual student parties. He remained just as reclusive as before. The only contact he had was with a fellow student, Willem Schermerhorn, who incidentally became the first prime minister after the war. The young Musset did not drink or smoke, he concentrated on his education.
On 8th January 1913, Anton’s father died suddenly. Anton was considerably affected by this and his education was to suffer. He was taken under the wing of Technical College assistant, Ploeg, and slowly climbed out of his melancholy. Mussert finished the year with excellent grades.
Mussert the military man
At the beginning of the First World War, Anton Mussert voluntarily signed up with the Dutch army. When he entered the barracks in Amsterdam, they did not know what to do with the short young man they were presented with. After being inspected, the 20-year-old Anton became a soldier within the artillery. After his very first exercise he was transferred to Schoonoord for corporal training. In the autumn of 1914 he earned his stripes. Shortly after, he was struck by kidney disease and released from service in 1915. After his illness, he went back to the Technical College in Delft to finish his education.
During his illness he was cared for by his aunt, Maria Witlam, who was 18 years older. The two fell in love. In spite of protests from the rest of the family and a fall out with his mother, they decided to marry. According to the law it was illegal for people as closely related as this to marry without an exemption from the Queen. They asked for an exemption and it was granted by Queen Wilhelmina. After receiving this approval, they married on 19th September 1917. They moved into a house in The Hague on the Rijswijkseweg.
During the course of his education, he befriended a Jewish student, Josephus Jitta who would later become a housemate of Mussert and his wife. The same Anton Mussert would later join the national socialists who sought to destroy the Jewish population. Anton Mussert graduated and received his diploma in civil engineering on 5th July 1918.
The road to political leadership
After receiving his diploma with honours, he began working for the Rijkswaterstaat, responsible for the creation and maintenance of waterworks as an engineer in a temporary position. Sent to work on the construction of locks, he found himself working with the Jewish student, Josephus Jitta. In the summer of 1919 Anton Mussert was already a third ranking engineer and had achieved a permanent position. After 1st May 1920, Mussert started working for the Provinciale Waterstaat (an organisation for water management on a provincial level) in Utrecht. He became an excellent engineer and several of his plans were implemented.
Initially, Mussert was an unknown member of the Liberal Freedom League (or Liberale Vrijheidsbond). Only after 1925 did he enter the political foreground at a protest against a proposed treaty with Belgium concerning waterworks. On 3rd April 1925 the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek and his Belgian colleague, Paul Hymans, signed an agreement for a proposed treaty to improve the shipping connections between Antwerp and the Moerdijk. Another part of this treaty was the expansion of Belgian interests in the river Schelde. In the Netherlands there were protests against this. Mussert became the secretary for the National Committee of Action against the proposed treaty under the chairmanship of the director of the Dutch Bank, Johannes Luden. A provincial court clerk, Cees van Geelkerken was also in the committee. Mussert was spurred into action by the idea that the Dutch treaty was only accepted out of fear for the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles. Mussert thought that the treaty was most supportive of French interests and saw the plans as part of growing French imperialism. The National Committee of Action was so successful that the treaty was overruled by the Senate in February 1927 and the minister who was responsible for the treaty, Van Karnebeek, resigned. This successful result gave Mussert the conviction that he was a brilliant organiser. His contribution to this movement gave him valuable connections with people in positions of authority.
Via his membership of the National Union, Mussert evolved from being a liberal to a fascist. Cornelis van Geelkerken, in particular, had a large influence on the next steps of Mussert’s life. Mussert became a member of the Dietsche Bond, an organisation that hoped for the creation of a Greater Netherlands that would include Flemish Belgium. Part of his efforts for this cause was supporting Flemish activism in Belgium. He also joined the National Union of Sir Robert Frédéric Groeninx van Zoelen and Frederik Carel Gerretson. Over the years his interest in fascism increased.
On 1st November 1927, Anton Mussert was promoted to head engineer. At the age of 33 he was the youngest head engineer in the country. Under Mussert’s leadership the roadworks plan for Utrecht was improved, completed and executed. However, the bureaucratic hindrances that he bumped up against gave him an aversion to Dutch democracy. Convinced that automobile traffic was the future, Mussert was an advocate for the construction of highways. In 1931, he published his first work on this subject: ‘Ruim Baan voor de toekomst’ (‘Pave the way for the future’). His ideas for the development of a network of roads, situated on viaducts, would be discovered by a new audience in the 1970s. Mussert made valuable contributions in other areas, such as designing waterways. Mussert was able to influence national policy several times with his plans, without yet having any direct political influence.
Mussert the politician
However, Mussert must have realised relatively quickly that he could have an influence on the political field. He was already toying with the idea of starting a political party in 1930. The foundation for this idea lay within his experience during the fight against the Belgian treaty. Mr. J. Zaaijer, a man he had worked with on this campaign, had recognised his political potential. (Later, the very same Mr. Zaaijer would demand the death penalty for Mussert and supervise his execution.)
However, these experiences were not the direct cause of his political activities. Everyone who was in contact with Mussert at the time recalled that he did not exploit these issues for political gain. Even his Jewish friend, Josephus Jitta, who had little reason to speak positively of him after the Holocaust, was convinced of this fact.
The reasons for Mussert’s political engagement can be found in the bureaucratic difficulties that he experienced with various authorities when trying to carry out his engineering plans. It took two years of thought and planning for Mussert to execute his plans for a political movement. In 1929 Mussert was concerned that the Netherlands was in great political and economic danger. He had no trust in the existing political parties’ ability to avert this disaster. He saw the threat of the "red plague" that was rising in Moscow. These uncertainties formed the basis for the political movement that he would establish and lead. He had no interest in setting up a political party. This would be a societal movement that would show the existing parties that things could no longer remain in the same.
On 14th December 1931, Mussert and Van Geelkerken set up the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (NSB, National Socialist Movement). How did this come about? Van Geelkerken had set up an organisation under the name of "De Bezem" (The Broom) together with Mrs. C. van der Voort van Zijp, after the fiasco of the Oranje-Nationalisten (Orange Nationalists). The movement failed to expand. Both were looking for a person who could function as a Dutch Mussolini, a man who could begin a mass movement. Both of them knew that Mussert was a good organiser and began to wonder if Anton Mussert was the man they were looking for. Mussert’s confidence in his ability to perform this task was growing.
Mussert became the political leader of the National Socialist Movement that was more based on Italian fascism than German Nazi fascism. Mussert admired Italian leader, Benito Mussolini. Although the NSB implemented a great deal of the German Nazi party’s agenda, the racist and anti-Semitic aspects were left aside. Anton Mussert, in choosing the name National Socialist and transferring aspects of the NSDAP to his party, had not been influenced by the content or background of national socialism in Germany. At this time he didn’t know exactly what national socialism was about. He had never read Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" (and he never would) and he did not share Hitler’s anti-Semitism at this point. Mussert wanted to avoid the term fascism since other fascist parties at the time had bad reputations. He had been inspired by the success of the NSDAP in the German elections. Of the twenty points in the NSB’s political manifesto, he had transferred sixteen from the NSDAP. Important sections such as eugenics and the Führer principle were not included. In Mussert’s opinion, these ideas did not suit the Dutch people. The four Dutch points of action were: connections with colonies overseas, a strong state authority (a fascist influence), the struggle for a Greater Netherlands including Flanders and, although not directly named, strong defence.
On Monday 14th December 1931, in a small hall in the building of a Christian Youth organisation in Utrecht, the movement was unveiled. Of the twelve people present, four people registered as the first members of the NSB, Mussert and Cornelis van Geelkerken aside.
Before World War Two
Political success with peaks and valleys
The construction of the NSB was tackled enthusiastically. Through investing in gatherings, Mussert, Van der Voort van Zijp and Van Geelkerken tried to spread the ideas of the movement. Their tactic was to encourage members of the gatherings to spread the word. However, this plan failed. The administrator who was selected by Mussert himself, threw the movement into chaos through financial and organisational failures. This fiasco revealed a weak point of Mussert’s, his poor judgement of people. This was a shortcoming that would later cause him trouble in his attitude towards Adolf Hitler.
Interviews with Mussert in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and with Van Geelkerken in the Algemeen Handelsblad in 1932 resulted in an increase of interest in the movement. The number of gatherings also increased. During these gatherings, Mussert revealed himself to be a good speaker who knew how to communicate his message, though he lacked the flair of a talented orator. However, a disadvantage was that from the beginning, members who were against the NSB also joined in the debate. This often resulted in verbal conflict and on a few occasions, physical conflict.
As a consequence, in the autumn of 1932, the ‘Defence department’ (Weerafdeling, WA) was set up. Inspired by Mussolini’s blackshirts and Hitler’s SA, the WA was given a uniform and placed prominently at NSB gatherings. The WA was given a military structure with Mussert referred to as ‘Leader’, comparable to ‘Il Duce’ for Mussolini and ‘Der Führer’ for Hitler. In this period, Mussert required all members to refer to him as ‘Leader’. He institutionalised his position by including it in the charter for the establishment of the National Socialist Movement in The Netherlands in November 1932. Article 3 states that the government consisted of Mussert under the title of ‘General Leader’ with absolute power. Cornelis van Geelkerken was named the ‘General Secretary’ in the charter.
Initially the NSB grew strongly in a short period of time, from 1000 members in 1933 to 52,000 in 1936. The movement became militarised in this period. During a national gathering of members, known as a "Landdag", on 7 January 1933 in Utrecht, uniformed members of the WA made their first appearance. The NSB also released its party newsletter on this day, Volk en Vaderland (People and Fatherland). The first repressive measures against members of the NSB were taken by the Dutch government. On 30 January 1933, the Dutch government banned officers from joining the WA. In March followed a ban on military groups joining fascist organisations, such as the NSB. Moreover, NSB members were banned from joining the militia.
During the elections for the House of Representatives in 1933, Mussert decided, rightly so, that his movement was too small to aim to win seats in parliament. On 1st May 1933, the NSB moved into its first head office at 35, Oude Gracht in Utrecht. The growth of the movement meant that this location quickly became too small and in November 1933 the NSB moved again to another office at 354, Oude Gracht. The movement had around 20,000 members at this point. The growth was evident during the second Landdag on 7th October 1933. 6,000 people took part, 10 times as many as at the first Landdag in Utrecht.
In April 1935, the party took part in the provincial elections for the first time and received 7.94% of the votes. Mussert gained visibility through his trip to the Dutch East Indies. The growth of the fascist party had much to do with the personality of Mussert who, due to his reputation as a famous and reliable engineer, knew how to radiate a certain trustworthiness.
However, there were also setbacks. On May 1st 1934, Anton Mussert was fired from his job because being a member of a fascist party whilst working as a civil servant was now forbidden. A first consequence of this ban was a fall in membership by 5%, since many civil servants preferred to give up their membership than their jobs. On the other hand, the NSB was able to increase membership through the lack of ideology that Mussert displayed. This appealed to other right-wing movements that could thrive within the NSB. In spite of the damage to the outside reputation of the NSB, caused by people such as Meinout Rost van Tonningen and Johannes Hendrikus Feldmeijer, Mussert’s position inside the NSB camp was unaffected. On 3rd July 1934, Mussert visited the Italian fascist leader, Benito Mussolini. The meeting had a deep influence on Mussert.
The Landdag, which was organised on 20th March 1935, acted as a rehearsal for the elections. The gathering attracted 16,000 visitors. The election results for the Senate in April 1935 left the NSB with two seats. Through the growth, the existing office became too small again so the NSB moved into a new location at 35 Maliebaan in Utrecht.
After 1936 support for the NSB decreased suddenly. The cause was the position that the NSB took with regards to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. In October 1935 Mussert had openly chosen Mussolini’s side in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. From this point onwards Mussert never publicly contested the military activities of Hitler or Mussolini. In March 1936, Mussert sided with Germany in the demilitarisation of the Rhineland. On 16th November 1936, Anton Mussert and Adolf Hitler met for the first time. The relationship between the NSB and Nazi Germany became stronger and the fascist heritage was exchanged for Nazi ideology. This was evident from a pamphlet written by Mussert, ‘The sources of Dutch national socialism’, that appeared in October 1937. In the pamphlet, Mussert embraced eugenics and attacked the Jewish people for the first time.
NSB publications became more and more anti-Semitic. In September 1938, Jewish people were banned from joining the NSB. Between January 1936 and May 1940, NSB membership fell from 52,000 to 30,000. Votes reduced from 4.22% in the House of Representatives election in May 1937 to 3.89% in the elections for the States-Provincial in April 1939. However, the NSB’s focus on Germany only grew. In 1938, Mussert described the annexation of Austria by the German Reich as the ‘liberation of the Austrians’ and he publicly chose the German side in the issue of Czechoslovakia. Even the invasion of Poland was supported and seen as Germany correcting the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles."
"Mussert, Anton - TracesOfWar.com
The young Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was born on 11th May 1894 in Werkendam of the marriage between headteacher Johannes Leonardus Mussert and his wife Frederika Witlam. Anton was the fourth child in the Mussert family. Eventually, five children would grow up in the Mussert household: sons Jo, Max and Anton and daughters Leni and Coby. Through his profession as a headteacher, Johannes Mussert and his family belonged to the elite of their village. Johannes Mussert was a man of distinction who had two sides to his personality. For the outside world he seemed to be an endearing man who was always there to help children who had trouble learning. Within his family he showed a completely different side and would not shy away from using corporal punishment to establish his authority. He did, however, pay sufficient attention to his family. His wife Frederika was rather a different sort of person. She was a snob who exploited her privileged position. These opposing personalities led the marriage into heated arguments which were fought in public and sometimes even in the classroom.
Their son Jo joined the army and quickly climbed to the rank of officer. The later activities of his brother, Anton, would prove problematic during the Battle of the Netherlands. When the young Anton started primary school, his brother’s position in society gave him prestige. Their older brother Max had followed in the footsteps of his father and had become a teacher. Their older sister Leni was studying to become a teacher.
At primary school, Anton was a loner. He was short in stature and became the victim of bullying by the local youth. He was an average pupil who was most interested in the history of the Netherlands, an interest that would remain with him until his death. After primary school, Mussert attended secondary school in Gorinchem. Here, he was also certainly not an outstanding student. His achievements were satisfactory but that was all. He remained the smallest in the class, a disadvantage that Anton compensated for with an athletic and well-built body. In 1912, he received his diploma. Inspired by his brother Jo, Anton wanted to become a naval officer but was rejected due to his height. His youth had made him ambitious, a trait that would be useful later in his career.
When his father Johannes was fired in 1912 after 33 years of trusted service, it caused big changes in the Mussert family. Following the advice of his father, Anton went to study at the Technical College in Delft. The family moved with him on 25th October 1912 to reduce his study costs. The house was located on the ground floor of 15 Kanaalweg. At the Technical College, Anton developed into a hardworking student with perfectionist tendencies. He was considered a serious student who did not become involved in the usual student parties. He remained just as reclusive as before. The only contact he had was with a fellow student, Willem Schermerhorn, who incidentally became the first prime minister after the war. The young Musset did not drink or smoke, he concentrated on his education.
On 8th January 1913, Anton’s father died suddenly. Anton was considerably affected by this and his education was to suffer. He was taken under the wing of Technical College assistant, Ploeg, and slowly climbed out of his melancholy. Mussert finished the year with excellent grades.
Mussert the military man
At the beginning of the First World War, Anton Mussert voluntarily signed up with the Dutch army. When he entered the barracks in Amsterdam, they did not know what to do with the short young man they were presented with. After being inspected, the 20-year-old Anton became a soldier within the artillery. After his very first exercise he was transferred to Schoonoord for corporal training. In the autumn of 1914 he earned his stripes. Shortly after, he was struck by kidney disease and released from service in 1915. After his illness, he went back to the Technical College in Delft to finish his education.
During his illness he was cared for by his aunt, Maria Witlam, who was 18 years older. The two fell in love. In spite of protests from the rest of the family and a fall out with his mother, they decided to marry. According to the law it was illegal for people as closely related as this to marry without an exemption from the Queen. They asked for an exemption and it was granted by Queen Wilhelmina. After receiving this approval, they married on 19th September 1917. They moved into a house in The Hague on the Rijswijkseweg.
During the course of his education, he befriended a Jewish student, Josephus Jitta who would later become a housemate of Mussert and his wife. The same Anton Mussert would later join the national socialists who sought to destroy the Jewish population. Anton Mussert graduated and received his diploma in civil engineering on 5th July 1918.
The road to political leadership
After receiving his diploma with honours, he began working for the Rijkswaterstaat, responsible for the creation and maintenance of waterworks as an engineer in a temporary position. Sent to work on the construction of locks, he found himself working with the Jewish student, Josephus Jitta. In the summer of 1919 Anton Mussert was already a third ranking engineer and had achieved a permanent position. After 1st May 1920, Mussert started working for the Provinciale Waterstaat (an organisation for water management on a provincial level) in Utrecht. He became an excellent engineer and several of his plans were implemented.
Initially, Mussert was an unknown member of the Liberal Freedom League (or Liberale Vrijheidsbond). Only after 1925 did he enter the political foreground at a protest against a proposed treaty with Belgium concerning waterworks. On 3rd April 1925 the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek and his Belgian colleague, Paul Hymans, signed an agreement for a proposed treaty to improve the shipping connections between Antwerp and the Moerdijk. Another part of this treaty was the expansion of Belgian interests in the river Schelde. In the Netherlands there were protests against this. Mussert became the secretary for the National Committee of Action against the proposed treaty under the chairmanship of the director of the Dutch Bank, Johannes Luden. A provincial court clerk, Cees van Geelkerken was also in the committee. Mussert was spurred into action by the idea that the Dutch treaty was only accepted out of fear for the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles. Mussert thought that the treaty was most supportive of French interests and saw the plans as part of growing French imperialism. The National Committee of Action was so successful that the treaty was overruled by the Senate in February 1927 and the minister who was responsible for the treaty, Van Karnebeek, resigned. This successful result gave Mussert the conviction that he was a brilliant organiser. His contribution to this movement gave him valuable connections with people in positions of authority.
Via his membership of the National Union, Mussert evolved from being a liberal to a fascist. Cornelis van Geelkerken, in particular, had a large influence on the next steps of Mussert’s life. Mussert became a member of the Dietsche Bond, an organisation that hoped for the creation of a Greater Netherlands that would include Flemish Belgium. Part of his efforts for this cause was supporting Flemish activism in Belgium. He also joined the National Union of Sir Robert Frédéric Groeninx van Zoelen and Frederik Carel Gerretson. Over the years his interest in fascism increased.
On 1st November 1927, Anton Mussert was promoted to head engineer. At the age of 33 he was the youngest head engineer in the country. Under Mussert’s leadership the roadworks plan for Utrecht was improved, completed and executed. However, the bureaucratic hindrances that he bumped up against gave him an aversion to Dutch democracy. Convinced that automobile traffic was the future, Mussert was an advocate for the construction of highways. In 1931, he published his first work on this subject: ‘Ruim Baan voor de toekomst’ (‘Pave the way for the future’). His ideas for the development of a network of roads, situated on viaducts, would be discovered by a new audience in the 1970s. Mussert made valuable contributions in other areas, such as designing waterways. Mussert was able to influence national policy several times with his plans, without yet having any direct political influence.
Mussert the politician
However, Mussert must have realised relatively quickly that he could have an influence on the political field. He was already toying with the idea of starting a political party in 1930. The foundation for this idea lay within his experience during the fight against the Belgian treaty. Mr. J. Zaaijer, a man he had worked with on this campaign, had recognised his political potential. (Later, the very same Mr. Zaaijer would demand the death penalty for Mussert and supervise his execution.)
However, these experiences were not the direct cause of his political activities. Everyone who was in contact with Mussert at the time recalled that he did not exploit these issues for political gain. Even his Jewish friend, Josephus Jitta, who had little reason to speak positively of him after the Holocaust, was convinced of this fact.
The reasons for Mussert’s political engagement can be found in the bureaucratic difficulties that he experienced with various authorities when trying to carry out his engineering plans. It took two years of thought and planning for Mussert to execute his plans for a political movement. In 1929 Mussert was concerned that the Netherlands was in great political and economic danger. He had no trust in the existing political parties’ ability to avert this disaster. He saw the threat of the "red plague" that was rising in Moscow. These uncertainties formed the basis for the political movement that he would establish and lead. He had no interest in setting up a political party. This would be a societal movement that would show the existing parties that things could no longer remain in the same.
On 14th December 1931, Mussert and Van Geelkerken set up the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (NSB, National Socialist Movement). How did this come about? Van Geelkerken had set up an organisation under the name of "De Bezem" (The Broom) together with Mrs. C. van der Voort van Zijp, after the fiasco of the Oranje-Nationalisten (Orange Nationalists). The movement failed to expand. Both were looking for a person who could function as a Dutch Mussolini, a man who could begin a mass movement. Both of them knew that Mussert was a good organiser and began to wonder if Anton Mussert was the man they were looking for. Mussert’s confidence in his ability to perform this task was growing.
Mussert became the political leader of the National Socialist Movement that was more based on Italian fascism than German Nazi fascism. Mussert admired Italian leader, Benito Mussolini. Although the NSB implemented a great deal of the German Nazi party’s agenda, the racist and anti-Semitic aspects were left aside. Anton Mussert, in choosing the name National Socialist and transferring aspects of the NSDAP to his party, had not been influenced by the content or background of national socialism in Germany. At this time he didn’t know exactly what national socialism was about. He had never read Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" (and he never would) and he did not share Hitler’s anti-Semitism at this point. Mussert wanted to avoid the term fascism since other fascist parties at the time had bad reputations. He had been inspired by the success of the NSDAP in the German elections. Of the twenty points in the NSB’s political manifesto, he had transferred sixteen from the NSDAP. Important sections such as eugenics and the Führer principle were not included. In Mussert’s opinion, these ideas did not suit the Dutch people. The four Dutch points of action were: connections with colonies overseas, a strong state authority (a fascist influence), the struggle for a Greater Netherlands including Flanders and, although not directly named, strong defence.
On Monday 14th December 1931, in a small hall in the building of a Christian Youth organisation in Utrecht, the movement was unveiled. Of the twelve people present, four people registered as the first members of the NSB, Mussert and Cornelis van Geelkerken aside.
Before World War Two
Political success with peaks and valleys
The construction of the NSB was tackled enthusiastically. Through investing in gatherings, Mussert, Van der Voort van Zijp and Van Geelkerken tried to spread the ideas of the movement. Their tactic was to encourage members of the gatherings to spread the word. However, this plan failed. The administrator who was selected by Mussert himself, threw the movement into chaos through financial and organisational failures. This fiasco revealed a weak point of Mussert’s, his poor judgement of people. This was a shortcoming that would later cause him trouble in his attitude towards Adolf Hitler.
Interviews with Mussert in the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and with Van Geelkerken in the Algemeen Handelsblad in 1932 resulted in an increase of interest in the movement. The number of gatherings also increased. During these gatherings, Mussert revealed himself to be a good speaker who knew how to communicate his message, though he lacked the flair of a talented orator. However, a disadvantage was that from the beginning, members who were against the NSB also joined in the debate. This often resulted in verbal conflict and on a few occasions, physical conflict.
As a consequence, in the autumn of 1932, the ‘Defence department’ (Weerafdeling, WA) was set up. Inspired by Mussolini’s blackshirts and Hitler’s SA, the WA was given a uniform and placed prominently at NSB gatherings. The WA was given a military structure with Mussert referred to as ‘Leader’, comparable to ‘Il Duce’ for Mussolini and ‘Der Führer’ for Hitler. In this period, Mussert required all members to refer to him as ‘Leader’. He institutionalised his position by including it in the charter for the establishment of the National Socialist Movement in The Netherlands in November 1932. Article 3 states that the government consisted of Mussert under the title of ‘General Leader’ with absolute power. Cornelis van Geelkerken was named the ‘General Secretary’ in the charter.
Initially the NSB grew strongly in a short period of time, from 1000 members in 1933 to 52,000 in 1936. The movement became militarised in this period. During a national gathering of members, known as a "Landdag", on 7 January 1933 in Utrecht, uniformed members of the WA made their first appearance. The NSB also released its party newsletter on this day, Volk en Vaderland (People and Fatherland). The first repressive measures against members of the NSB were taken by the Dutch government. On 30 January 1933, the Dutch government banned officers from joining the WA. In March followed a ban on military groups joining fascist organisations, such as the NSB. Moreover, NSB members were banned from joining the militia.
During the elections for the House of Representatives in 1933, Mussert decided, rightly so, that his movement was too small to aim to win seats in parliament. On 1st May 1933, the NSB moved into its first head office at 35, Oude Gracht in Utrecht. The growth of the movement meant that this location quickly became too small and in November 1933 the NSB moved again to another office at 354, Oude Gracht. The movement had around 20,000 members at this point. The growth was evident during the second Landdag on 7th October 1933. 6,000 people took part, 10 times as many as at the first Landdag in Utrecht.
In April 1935, the party took part in the provincial elections for the first time and received 7.94% of the votes. Mussert gained visibility through his trip to the Dutch East Indies. The growth of the fascist party had much to do with the personality of Mussert who, due to his reputation as a famous and reliable engineer, knew how to radiate a certain trustworthiness.
However, there were also setbacks. On May 1st 1934, Anton Mussert was fired from his job because being a member of a fascist party whilst working as a civil servant was now forbidden. A first consequence of this ban was a fall in membership by 5%, since many civil servants preferred to give up their membership than their jobs. On the other hand, the NSB was able to increase membership through the lack of ideology that Mussert displayed. This appealed to other right-wing movements that could thrive within the NSB. In spite of the damage to the outside reputation of the NSB, caused by people such as Meinout Rost van Tonningen and Johannes Hendrikus Feldmeijer, Mussert’s position inside the NSB camp was unaffected. On 3rd July 1934, Mussert visited the Italian fascist leader, Benito Mussolini. The meeting had a deep influence on Mussert.
The Landdag, which was organised on 20th March 1935, acted as a rehearsal for the elections. The gathering attracted 16,000 visitors. The election results for the Senate in April 1935 left the NSB with two seats. Through the growth, the existing office became too small again so the NSB moved into a new location at 35 Maliebaan in Utrecht.
After 1936 support for the NSB decreased suddenly. The cause was the position that the NSB took with regards to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. In October 1935 Mussert had openly chosen Mussolini’s side in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. From this point onwards Mussert never publicly contested the military activities of Hitler or Mussolini. In March 1936, Mussert sided with Germany in the demilitarisation of the Rhineland. On 16th November 1936, Anton Mussert and Adolf Hitler met for the first time. The relationship between the NSB and Nazi Germany became stronger and the fascist heritage was exchanged for Nazi ideology. This was evident from a pamphlet written by Mussert, ‘The sources of Dutch national socialism’, that appeared in October 1937. In the pamphlet, Mussert embraced eugenics and attacked the Jewish people for the first time.
NSB publications became more and more anti-Semitic. In September 1938, Jewish people were banned from joining the NSB. Between January 1936 and May 1940, NSB membership fell from 52,000 to 30,000. Votes reduced from 4.22% in the House of Representatives election in May 1937 to 3.89% in the elections for the States-Provincial in April 1939. However, the NSB’s focus on Germany only grew. In 1938, Mussert described the annexation of Austria by the German Reich as the ‘liberation of the Austrians’ and he publicly chose the German side in the issue of Czechoslovakia. Even the invasion of Poland was supported and seen as Germany correcting the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles."
Mussert, Anton - TracesOfWar.com
Posted from tracesofwar.com
WWII World War Two
World History
Military History
Fascism
Death Penalty
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 4
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google