Tag Archives: Dutch Nazis

Using the Death of a Dutch Nazi for Political Gain

The Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA; “Resilience Department”) was the paramilitary arm of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB), the fascist political party that collaborated with the Nazi ocdupiers of the Netherlands during World War II. The organization, roughly equivalent to the German SA, was founded in 1932 by Anton Mussert, co-founder of the NSB in 1931 and its leader until the end of the war. Members wore and marched in black uniforms and were thus called “blackshirts”. In 1933 the Dutch government banned the wearing of uniforms (by civilians), and the WA was disbanded in 1935 in order to forestall the Dutch government’s banning it. In 1940, after the German invasion, the WA became openly active again and more ruthless than before. They specialized in violent attacks, particularly on the Dutch Jewish population.

The WA magazine called The Black Soldier

On Saturday afternoon, 7 September 1940, about 200 members of the National Youth Storm, accompanied by a number of WA men, marched through The Hague. A cyclist, intentionally or unintentionally, collided with a girl from the Youth Storm and was then beaten up by the gunmen. The public got involved, after which passing German soldiers also came to the aid of the WA soldiers. Police officers from The Hague fired warning shots to restore order. A number of WA’ers were hit by bullets. It is not unlikely that it was fired by the German military. One of the WA officers was 28-year-old Petrus Nicolaas (Peter) Ton (seen in the picture above), who was shot in the head and died later that evening.

For the NSB there was no doubt: Ton had been murdered. The young WA was considered a martyr. Thousands of NSB members from all over the country were present at his funeral on 11 September at Nieuw Eykenduinen cemetery, and the entire leadership of the movement, led by Mussert, and the general commander of WA, Mr A.J. without.

Mussert used the murder of Peter Ton to demand that the Nazi occupiers finally intervene in the system of justice and police.

He got his way: Hanns Albin Rauter (supreme boss of the SS and the police in the Netherlands) immediately fired the Hague police chief N.G. van der Mei. The police officers involved in the incident had Rauter arrested. Arthur Seyss-Inquart (the German ‘Reich Commissioner’ and Hitler’s deputy in the Netherlands) and Rauter took the opportunity to centralize the leadership of the Dutch police. Two attorney generals were also fired.

It could not be established from the Dutch side whether a police bullet from The Hague actually caused Ton’s death because the autopsy on the remains was only performed by the Germans. It is possible that Ton was hit by a stray German bullet. His death brought the NSB into great excitement: Ton was the first NSB member to die ‘in office’ and for his National Socialist ideals. In the NSB jargon of the time, Ton was the first ‘blood sacrifice of the Movement’. The WA company to which Ton had belonged was given its name as a reminder. While waiting for the NSB mausoleum to be built on the Goudsberg in Lunteren, Ton was buried in The Hague. His funeral ceremony became a manifestation of the NSB, in which many thousands of comrades and comrades were present from all over the country.

sources

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Peter-Ton/03/0004

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=Peter%20Ton&rows=1&page=1

Nederlandse Landwacht— Dutch Collaborators

In general, I have some level, albeit low, of sympathy for those who chose to collaborate with the Nazi regime in the Netherlands because maybe they felt it was the only way to survive.

However, I have no sympathy for the Nederlandse Landwacht. They were in it for their own greed and hungered for power. Their aim was to terrorize Dutch citizens, including their neighbours, and to protect members of the Dutch Nazi party, the NSB. None of these men had to join and never forced to do so. They joined because they wanted to join.

The Nederlandse Landwacht was a Dutch paramilitary organization founded by the Nazi occupiers in the Netherlands on 12 November 1943. It should not be confused with the military volunteer corps ‘Landwacht Nederland’, which was established in March 1943 and renamed Landstorm Nederland in October and that became part of the Waffen-SS.

The Landwacht was first seen on the street in March 1944. The Landwacht mostly was made up of Dutch National Socialist Movement (NSB) members equipped with shotguns. The populace nicknamed them the “Jan-Hagel,” Dutch slang for a rabble but also related to the Dutch word for a shotgun (hagelgeweer). The Landwacht was mainly used to guard buildings, check identity cards, and carry out arrests, house searches, and raids. They did not wear a uniform initially but were identified by a red bracelet.

In one case of bullying by the Landwacht on 13 June 1944, the ‘heroes of the Landwacht’ took food from successful HBS students in Apeldoorn. Reinier Hardonk wrote in his diary, “Young people, who had passed the Christian HBS, went out per Jan Enjoyment. They had collected some butter, eggs, sugar, etc. as presents for the teachers. They were along the way by Heroes of The Land Guard and were arrested. The food was taken and the boys were taken to Arnhem as prisoners. What a heroic act!”

The Landwacht was feared and hated by the population, among other things because during the Hongerwinter, the Dutch famine in the winter of 1944–45, the Landwacht confiscated food parcels from Dutch civilians. Many thousands of Dutch people had travelled hundreds of kilometres to obtain bread or some potatoes. On 27 March 1945, the illegal Het Parool newspaper devoted an article to the Landwacht’s many arrests and executions. Het Parool voiced its opinion saying, “…Landwachters should be shot after the war.”

Members of the Landwacht generally wore the black NSB party uniforms: black shirts, black trousers or riding breeches, black leather motorcycle or riding boots, and a black leather belt with a matching carrying strap. Depending on the weather, a black tunic or black overcoat could be worn. Though the Landwacht were poorly armed, black pistol holsters were sometimes carried.

The Landwacht were so cruel that sometimes the Germans had to intervene. For example, the Ugchel diarist Willem van Houtum writes on April 8, 1944, “German soldiers beat Landwachters from the platform in Deventer. They checked the citizens there for clandestine goods. They threw everything on the ground. For example, bottles of milk and precious eggs were smashed. Another member wants to ride the bus for free in Epe. This is only allowed for members of the German Wehrmacht. After many words, the conductor calls the head office in Apeldoorn and this in turn calls the Ortskommandant. Apeldoorn was met by two sturdy mechanics. They take him to the Ortskommandant. He suddenly wants to pay at that moment, but that is no longer the point. The mechanics literally grab him by the collar and bring the criminal to the intended address. After some scolding The Ortskommandant notices that the Landwachter is carrying a revolver under his coat, which is why he is handed over to the SD, who put him in jail. The villains eventually end up in jail. According to rumours, there are already more Landwachters in prison than can be checked.”

At the end of August 1944, the Winterswijk Landwacht got a hold of a farmer’s daughter, the mayor of Wisch and Terborg describes, “At farmer Rougoor, they tied a cloth over Leyda’s eyes, they would count to ten; if she did not say where the Jews were, she would be shot. When she said nothing, they shot into the ground, but the girl persisted. Shame on those bastards. The cross of merit to Leyda!”

During the famine winter, the Landwacht became deeply hated for confiscating food so laboriously gathered by civilians during food scavenges.

Eventually, only three members received the death penalty after the war, Gerard Rollema, Gerrit Sanner and Dirk Eijkelboom.

sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/ae665e24-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/ab5e7fca-199b-7824-2bf2-582eaa4bd559?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=27%20augustus&rows=1&page=38
https://books.google.ie/books?id=3KHbuxsxjtIC&dq=Landwacht++uniforms&pg=PA139&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Landwacht%20%20uniforms&f=false

https://www.gld.nl/nieuws/2147922/hoe-de-beruchte-landwacht-nsbers-moest-beschermen

The Evil of Herman Heukels.

Not every evil act was committed by a weapon or by sending people to the gas chamber. Some evil acts were much more subtle.

Herman Heukels was a photographer and a member of the NSB, the Dutch Nazi party, Herman’s weapon was a camera. He took pictures of several raids. His most famous pictures are probably those he took in Amsterdam, on the Olympia Square on June 20,1943, of Jews awaiting deportation . His photographs were published in “Storm” the newspaper for the Dutch SS.

It was evil because he knew these people were going to be deported to camps like Westerbork and eventually so Auschwitz and Sobibor. He knew that most of these people would be murdered. He took pictures of families who would be dead only a few weeks or few months later.

The people he took pictures of were clearly distressed. Their houses or apartments were just taken away from them, all they had left were a few suitcases. They didn’t know what the future would hold for them. But they knew it wasn’t good.

Herman did not take these pictures for them to pick them up after he had developed them. Herman posted them in a vile newspaper so that its readers could gloat.

Herman Heukels passport had expired a day after he took the pictures on the Olympia Square, it expired on June 21,1943. He then applied for a foreign passport, I can only presume a German passport.

He was arrested after the war and committed suicide on April 26,1947,while in prison.

sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=Herman%20Heukels&rows=1&page=1

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/thema/Herman%20Heukels

Happy Birthday Anne Frank

Dear Anne, today you would have turned 93, but we all know the history why that didn’t happen.

Some of that history is written in the diary you received on your 13th birthday, June 12 1942.So many people have read that diary, your private thoughts laid bare for the world to see. But I am sure you would not have minded that because aside it being a diary, it is also a historical record. You made sure of that because you could see and hear what was happening around you. You also heeded the call of the exiled Dutch government for people to record as much as they could.

What some people don’t realize if the Nazis would not have got to power, your diary would have looked so much different, it wouldn’t even have been written in Dutch but German, Because if the Nazis had not got to power your parents would not have had to move. Your German diary would have told a different story. The story about a different kind of anxiety. The anxiety of a regular teenage girl. Her first dance, her first kiss and perhaps even of the first time having sex with a boyfriend. The anxiety of seeing each other naked for the first time, and maybe how you blushed the first time he touched your breasts and you touched his penis. Who knows, what would be in that diary? I am not saying this to be disrespectful, far from it, like any other girl you deserved that level of intimacy but you were denied it. But your German diary would have been just that, a diary, only for you to read.

People call you an author. But you weren’t you were just a girl who had the endure something no girl should have to endure.

And like any other girl you had friends.

Lucia “Lucie” van Dijk , a Christian friend from the Montessori school. Lucie’s mother was an adamant member of the NSB,the Dutch Nazi party, until the end of the war, but Lucie’s disillusioned father left the party in 1942. You were shocked when the van Dijks became party members, but your dad ,Otto, patiently explained to her that they could still be good people even if they had distasteful politics.

Rie “Ietje” Swillens was another good friend of yours all the way through Montessori school.

Nanette Blitz Konig who was born on April 6, 1929 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. just a few months older then you. A friend and a class mate . You were in the same class at the Jewish Lyceum.

Like your family ,the Blitz family was arrested and taken to the Westerbork transit camp and from there were deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It was Nannette that reunited you with your sister Margot, in Bergen Belsen. However Nanette survived the war and the Holocaust. She now lives in Brazil.

Then there was another Nanette ; Nanette van Praag Sigaar.

You were also in the same class at the Jewish Lyceum, in Amsterdam. You even wrote about her in your diary. You said “Nannie is a funny, tiny, clever girl. I like her. She is smart.” What you didn’t know is that Nannie was murdered in Auschwitz on November 5,1942, just a few months after you received your diary as a birthday gift.

Your 13th birthday gift is now a gift to us all. Not just a gift but also a stark reminder of what humans are capable of doing to other humans.

You would have been 92 today. Nowadays you may have been famous as one of the first people being vaccinated against the Covid 19 virus. But you were killed by a much worse virus, hate.

Happy Birthday Anne, or rather Van Harte Gefeliciteerd.

sources

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/569313/uit-het-dagboek-van-anne-frank

https://www.geni.com/people/Nanette-van-Praag-Sigaar/6000000047467779849

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5235152/bio

NSNAP-The Dutch Nazi Party& the traitor Riphagen.

nsnap

The NSNAP could be considered a NSDAP wannabe. However it would be foolish to trivialize their existence.

The Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij (National Socialist Dutch Workers Party were founded in 1931 by Ernst Herman van Rappard(seen below in an SS uniform)

Ernst

He was born in the Banyumas Regency, Central Java, Dutch East Indies.His educative years he spent in the Hague and later in the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands.He subsequently studied economics in Berlin and Munich and there became supportive of Nazism.

The NSNAP-advocated the incorporation of the Netherlands into the Third Reich.Unlike its bigger counterpart, the NSB, the NSNAP’s main focus was anti-Semitism Although the NSB soon followed with anti-Semitic policies.

nsnap brlrid

The party failed to make any headway in the Dutch political scene, at the 1937 election it only achieved 998 votes. Soon the party was split in 3 smaller parties ,none of them were successful.

The German invasion of the Netherlands didn’t benefit the NSNAP at all.

invasion

By December 14 all political partied with the exception of the NSB were banned in the Netherlands. van Rappard joined the Waffen SS and most of the remaining members joined the NSB.

One of these members would become one the nation’s most evil and devious*if not the most evil) collaborators.

Dries Riphagen was a Dutch criminal involved in prostitution and jewelry fraud.During the war, Riphagen continued his clandestine businesses by working with the Germans as an intermediary agent of the  Sicherheitsdienst (or SD), in Amsterdam.

Riphagen

He was very manipulative and would gain the trust of many Jews by promising them either a hiding place or escape abroad. In return they would have to handover their valuables, again he promised that he would only a small bit of the valuable as a sweetener for th SD, he would keep the majority safe for and return it to them after the war.

In fact he kept most of their belonging for himself and betray the whereabouts of the Jews to the SS. He betrayed hundreds of Jews and would also receive a reward for every Jew captured.

Riphagem was also responsible for recruiting Jews in helping find more Jews or infiltrate i the resistance network. He would blackmail the Jews,often young attractive Women, by threatening to send them and their families if they wouldn’t co-operate.

One of these women was Beje Wery.

Betje

Betje aka Bella Tuerlings ,agreed to work for the Devisenschutzkommando(part of the SD) as a so-called Vertrauens-Frau (V-Frau), or as a spy, in order to safe her mother who was Jewish and her Father who was half Jewish/ She had been arrested for not weaing a yellow star and spent a day in Westerbork, her Husband ,Frans Teurlings, managed to get her released. He died in 1943 in a car crash.  In 1944 she infiltrated in her late husband’s network who created fake ID’s and other documents and traded in black market bonds. She handed over several of the network  to her Riphagen, they were executed.

Riphagen was arrested after the war but he managed to escape , he ended up in Argentina where he became a oersonal friend to Juan and Evita Peron.

peron

Not only was he friend ,Riphagen also worked for Perón’s secret service as an instructor in anti-communist tactics.

After Peron was overthrown, Riphagen returned to Europe. The Dutch government were not aware of this. In 1988, they asked for Riphagen to be extradited from Argentina but he had died in 1973 in Switzerland from cancer.

Beje Wery was arrested after the war and sentenced for life, but she was released in the 1950’s . She died in 2006.

Ernst Herman van Rappard died of a brain hemorrhage in the central prison hospital in Vught, on January 11,1953.

In 2016 ,director Pieter Kuiper shot the movie “Riphagen: The Untouchable” about Dries Riphagen. Which is currently available on Netflix.

film

 

 

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Sources

Go2war2.nl

The rupturedduck

Wikipedia Netherlands