Five Brothers and a War

Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (NSB)

The NSB ( Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging , or the “National Socialistic Movement”) was founded in Utrecht in 1931 by Anton Mussert and Cornelis van Geelkerken. Principally, the NSB sought what other fascists sought, namely strong nationalistic leadership that was devoid of a monarchy.

Anton Mussert was born on May 11, 1894 in Werkendam, Noord Brabant. He was brought up in the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1912 he received his diploma from the state higher secondary school in Gorinchem. During World War I, he volunteered for service, despite the fact that Holland was neutral, and therefore no one saw action. Yet, like Hitler, Mussert became a corporal in the artillery. He became afflicted with kidney disease, and left the military to resume his engineering studies at the Technische Universiteit Delft (Technical University Delft) . In 1917, he married the woman who nursed him back to health during his illness—his mother’s sister, who was eighteen years his senior. Dutch law prohibited this, unless the monarch granted an exception, which Koningin Wilhelmina did. As an interesting, if disturbing side note, he later had an affair with his niece, who was 18 years his junior. Upon the completion of his studies in 1918, he graduated from Delft with honors in civil engineering. Mussert became politically active when he established a National Committee in 1925 that campaigned against the Belgian Treaty. This treaty dealt with the connection between Antwerp and the Rhein, which would diminish the port of Rotterdam in favor of Antwerp. In 1931 Mussert founded the NSB, which came in fifth after the Dutch elections in 1935. The NSB was initially not in favor of the German racial doctrine and even had Jewish members in its party. This changed when the war broke out and Mussert was forced for political expediency to defend Nazi Germany in framing himself as the representative of the Dutch people. Mussert wanted to create a "Greater Netherlands” that was part of the German Empire. Hitler appointed him to a meaningless position, as leader of the Dutch people and then got him to swear the oath of allegiance to Hitler.

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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