Five Brothers and a War

German Strategy Regarding Holland

The problem with conquering armies is that at some point of expansion, it becomes impossible to subject the conquered population without having them acquiesce. It is inevitably true that the conqueror cannot muster enough soldiers to suppress the resistance that necessarily arises. The Germans knew this and had several strategies to deal with this. First, they determined that some nations were kindred spirits, and needed to be persuaded to join in the Third Reich, while others needed to be forced into submission. Hitler initially regarded the Dutch as a kindred spirit, with languages that were closely related, and even more importantly, with the classic Dutch looks of blond hair and blue eyes, they were considered to be Aryan. Hitler felt that unlike the Poles or the French, the Dutch should be nudged to become Nazis, not forced. Hitler viewed Holland not as a nation, but as a province of Germany. In his vocabulary, Holland was “Westland,” as an annexed portion of the German state. This was contrary to Mussert’s idea, which was to create a new nation called “Dietsland,” which would comprise the Dutch-speaking Belgium, mostly the Flemish and bi-lingual Brussels, in addition to Holland. Mussert made his case to Hitler directly, but Hitler gave it no weight, as it did not fit with Hitler’s view of the German state. The net effect was that the NSB was, in Hitler’s mind, a vehicle that could be used to achieve his ends, rather than a viable option for the governance of Holland. The person who would be given the job of running Holland for Hitler was Arthur Seyß Inquart, who reported directly to Hitler. Seyß-Inquart was given the title Reichskommissar (“Commissioner of the Empire” or in modern parlance, “Governor”). He was the absolute ruler of Holland. Mussert, on the other hand, was given what amounted to a pat on the head, and was made the “Leader of the Dutch People”—a title that meant nothing in practical terms. Seyß-Inquart was a confidant of Hitler, having just served him well in the takeover of Austria, first as the Minister of the Interior, and then ever so briefly as Chancellor. Seyß Inquart was expected to slowly shift the Dutch population into Nazism, and thereby into subjugation of the Third Reich. However Seyß-Inquart was always staunchly anti-Semitic, as his kinder thoughts did not extend to Dutch Jews. Bit by bit, the Dutch needed to be integrated into Germany, until there was no distinction between the two cultures. Seyß-Inquart began by taking the view that the Dutch could be won over, and intended to use the NSB rival political party the Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij (NSNAP) (“National Socialist Netherlands’ Workers Party”) to achieve its ends. The NSDAP took the view that Holland should immediately be assimilated into Germany, which was useful, however not practical as the party had almost no popular support in Holland. Ultimately, the NSDAP was outlawed, and its members joined the only legal party, the NSB. As time went on, Seyß-Inquart grew in his knowledge that the NSB was not very useful either, as it was despised among the Dutch. By the final year of the war, he had no illusion that the Dutch had even a slight interest in become more German. His patience had worn out, and his tactics in governing the Dutch became increasingly harsh.

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Five Brothers and a War

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