Florentine Rost van Tonningen
Encyclopedia
Florentine Rost van Tonningen (born Florentine Sophie Heubel, 14 November 1914, Amsterdam
- 24 March 2007, Waasmunster
) was the wife of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
, 2nd leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
(NSB) and President of the National Bank
during the German occupation (1941–1945). Because she continued to support and propagate the ideals of National Socialism after World War II
and the death of her husband, she became known in the Netherlands as the "Black Widow".
, where the family stood in high regard. When the young Princess Juliana paid a visit to Hilversum, Wim and Florrie were asked to play a game of tennis with the princess. In the 1930s, Florrie and Wim Heubel became active in the Nationale Jeugdstorm, the youth organisation of the NSB designed after the Hitlerjugend. She studied biology at the University of Utrecht, showing a special interest in ethology
.
In connection with her studies, Heubel stayed for some time in Berlin
during the summer of 1936. She was impressed by Adolf Hitler
and the "camaraderie, discipline and commitment" of the National Socialist movement. A year later she made a trip with Wim to the Dutch East Indies
, where her eldest brother Dolf worked as agricultural engineer. When she came back to the Netherlands, she left the NSB because she thought that the party was not adhering closely enough to eugenics ideals and that party leader Anton Mussert
did not share her concerns. In 1939, her brother introduced her to Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
, who already was an important and influential man in the NSB. During the German invasion of the Netherlands
on May 10, 1940, Heubel was in Berlin.
, the German SS-Reichsführer, had approved their genealogy, following which their wedding became the first SS marriage. The Rost van Tonningen family would have three sons with the unusual names of Grimbert (1941), Ebbe (1943), and Herre (1945). Her children would openly distance themselves from their mother's political views in the 1980s. The youngest son was born April 28, 1945, on Terschelling
on the day her brother Wim Heubel fell in battle fighting with SS forces near Elst
. She soon fled via Cuxhaven to Goslar
in Germany, where her parents, who owned local property, were also staying. Her husband Meinoud was captured and imprisoned on May 8 by Canadian invasion forces.
Immediately after the war, Meinoud Rost van Tonningen died in the Scheveningen prison while awaiting trial. He allegedly jumped over the balustrade of a staircase. Rost van Tonningen-Heubel always contended that her husband had been murdered and that this was supported by testimony from fellow prisoners. The motive would have been that her husband, as President of De Nederlandsche Bank
, knew too much about illegal money transactions by prominent people. The former RIOD (National Institute of War Documentation) employee, A. J. van der Leeuw, supported her version during the television show Het zwarte schaap (The Black Sheep) and suggested that her husband may have been driven to commit suicide in prison.
In her book, In Search Of My Wedding Ring, Rost van Tonningen-Heubel accused Prince Bernhard of bearing the main responsibility for her husband's death, as he had been head of the Domestic Forces, claiming that her private archive contained evidence of this. Her enormous archive is only accessible through her private secretary and archivist, F. J. A. M. van der Helm, who assisted her from 1980 by storing and managing the archive.
family.
In 1952, she moved from the Hague
to Villa "Ben Trovato" in Velp
. She considered the villa's name a sign "from above", as "rovato" would correspond to ROst VAn TOnningen. By now she had a private company making heating equipment. In 1968, she appeared in a documentary portrait of Anton Adriaan Mussert
by director Paul Verhoeven, the first time she made a nationwide public appearance. Several times she was convicted of distributing Nazi literature and organizing National Socialists meetings. The widow's home was repeatedly searched by the police, always without result, and was more than once targeted by arsonists. "House searches, broken windows and arson often took place", she writes in her book, In Search Of My Wedding Ring.
, historian David Irving
, Arthur Axmann, Gudrun Himmler (daughter of Heinrich Himmler), Ilse Pröhl (widow of Rudolf Hess
), Gertrud and Arthur Seyss-Inquart
, Erich Priebke
, Miguel Serrano
, Matt Koehl
, commander of The New Order
, Thies Christophersen
, Leon Degrelle
, Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe-Biesterfeld
, Paula Hitler
, Richard Edmonds
, Hanns Albin Rauter
, Franz von Papen
, Hjalmar Schacht
, Ernst Zündel
, General Otto Ernst Remer
, Manfred Roeder
, Colin Jordan
, Udo Walendy
, Horst Mahler
, Alfred Vierling
, members of the Vlaams Blok
and many others. From 1990 she had extensive contact with the journalist Willem Oltmans
.
from the Dutch state, as her husband had once been an MP. This caused much commotion when it became known in 1986. After a hearing in the Lower House, she retained this pension. In 2000, the "Black Widow" appeared in the VARA
television show The Black Sheep. In that broadcast, the 85-year-old widow defended herself so fiercely that the broadcaster considered dropping the broadcast. She planned to move from her villa to an apartment in nearby Arnhem
, but legal objections prevented her from doing so. Shortly afterwards, she sought asylum in Belgium
, claiming that her life had become impossible in the Netherlands. Until her death, she defended the ideas of National Socialism.
. She was 92. A week later, she was buried in Rheden
. As early as 1996, she had bought a gravesite and a headstone with her name, date of birth and the inscription, "The truth makes free". The site is controversial, and local residents fear that the grave could become an attraction for what they consider right wing extremists.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
- 24 March 2007, Waasmunster
Waasmunster
Waasmunster is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium. The municipality only comprises the town of Waasmunster proper. On January 1, 2010 Waasmunster had a total population of 10,412. The total area is 31.93 km² which gives a population density of 323...
) was the wife of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen was a Dutch politician of the National Socialist Movement . During World War II and the German occupation of the Netherlands, he collaborated extensively with the German occupation forces.-Early life:Rost van Tonningen was born in the Dutch East Indies...
, 2nd leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s...
(NSB) and President of the National Bank
De Nederlandsche Bank
De Nederlandsche Bank is the central bank of the Netherlands. It is part of the European System of Central Banks .-History:...
during the German occupation (1941–1945). Because she continued to support and propagate the ideals of National Socialism after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the death of her husband, she became known in the Netherlands as the "Black Widow".
Youth
Florentine Heubel was the youngest daughter of Gustav Adolph Heubel, banker at the firm Jan Kol & Co. and the aristocrat Cornelie van Haren Noman. There were three more children in the family, daughter Annie (born in 1906) and sons Dolf (1904) and Wim (1910). Florrie Heubel grew up in HilversumHilversum
is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...
, where the family stood in high regard. When the young Princess Juliana paid a visit to Hilversum, Wim and Florrie were asked to play a game of tennis with the princess. In the 1930s, Florrie and Wim Heubel became active in the Nationale Jeugdstorm, the youth organisation of the NSB designed after the Hitlerjugend. She studied biology at the University of Utrecht, showing a special interest in ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
.
In connection with her studies, Heubel stayed for some time in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
during the summer of 1936. She was impressed by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the "camaraderie, discipline and commitment" of the National Socialist movement. A year later she made a trip with Wim to the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, where her eldest brother Dolf worked as agricultural engineer. When she came back to the Netherlands, she left the NSB because she thought that the party was not adhering closely enough to eugenics ideals and that party leader Anton Mussert
Anton Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and its de jure leader. As such, he was the most prominent national socialist in the Netherlands before and during the Second World War...
did not share her concerns. In 1939, her brother introduced her to Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen was a Dutch politician of the National Socialist Movement . During World War II and the German occupation of the Netherlands, he collaborated extensively with the German occupation forces.-Early life:Rost van Tonningen was born in the Dutch East Indies...
, who already was an important and influential man in the NSB. During the German invasion of the Netherlands
Battle of the Netherlands
The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...
on May 10, 1940, Heubel was in Berlin.
Marriage
On December 21, 1940, the day of the Winter Solstice, Heubel married Meinoud Rost van Tonningen. Upon request, Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, the German SS-Reichsführer, had approved their genealogy, following which their wedding became the first SS marriage. The Rost van Tonningen family would have three sons with the unusual names of Grimbert (1941), Ebbe (1943), and Herre (1945). Her children would openly distance themselves from their mother's political views in the 1980s. The youngest son was born April 28, 1945, on Terschelling
Terschelling
Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands.Waddenislanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms and barns are built with masts...
on the day her brother Wim Heubel fell in battle fighting with SS forces near Elst
Elst
Elst is the name of a number of towns:*Elst; a village and former municipality, now part of Overbetuwe, in Gelderland*Elst; a village in the municipality of Rhenen, in the province of Utrecht*Elst; a village in the municipality of Maasdonk, in North Brabant...
. She soon fled via Cuxhaven to Goslar
Goslar
Goslar is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-Geography:Goslar is situated at the...
in Germany, where her parents, who owned local property, were also staying. Her husband Meinoud was captured and imprisoned on May 8 by Canadian invasion forces.
Immediately after the war, Meinoud Rost van Tonningen died in the Scheveningen prison while awaiting trial. He allegedly jumped over the balustrade of a staircase. Rost van Tonningen-Heubel always contended that her husband had been murdered and that this was supported by testimony from fellow prisoners. The motive would have been that her husband, as President of De Nederlandsche Bank
De Nederlandsche Bank
De Nederlandsche Bank is the central bank of the Netherlands. It is part of the European System of Central Banks .-History:...
, knew too much about illegal money transactions by prominent people. The former RIOD (National Institute of War Documentation) employee, A. J. van der Leeuw, supported her version during the television show Het zwarte schaap (The Black Sheep) and suggested that her husband may have been driven to commit suicide in prison.
In her book, In Search Of My Wedding Ring, Rost van Tonningen-Heubel accused Prince Bernhard of bearing the main responsibility for her husband's death, as he had been head of the Domestic Forces, claiming that her private archive contained evidence of this. Her enormous archive is only accessible through her private secretary and archivist, F. J. A. M. van der Helm, who assisted her from 1980 by storing and managing the archive.
Post-war period
After the death of her husband, Rost van Tonningen-Heubel remained active in several far-right movements. Initially, she was placed under state supervision, like many former National Socialists. Her supervisor, Clerk of the Senate Anton Leo de Block, put her three sons under the guardianship of her brother-in-law Nico Rost van Tonningen, who was in the service of Queen Juliana. Her son Grimbert would later leave his mother and move in with the Fentener van VlissingenPaul Fentener van Vlissingen
Paul Fentener van Vlissingen was a Dutch businessman and philanthropist. Ranked as the richest man in Scotland in 2005, he contributed to the development of game reserves in Africa and bought Letterewe estate in Scotland, where he pledged the right to roam, years ahead of the rest of the...
family.
In 1952, she moved from the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
to Villa "Ben Trovato" in Velp
Velp
Velp may also refer to either:* Velp, Gelderland - a town in the Netherlands part of Rheden* Velp, North Brabant - a town in the Netherlands part of Grave * The Velp or Velpe, a tributuary of the River Demer, in the Flemish Region of Belgium...
. She considered the villa's name a sign "from above", as "rovato" would correspond to ROst VAn TOnningen. By now she had a private company making heating equipment. In 1968, she appeared in a documentary portrait of Anton Adriaan Mussert
Anton Mussert
Anton Adriaan Mussert was one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and its de jure leader. As such, he was the most prominent national socialist in the Netherlands before and during the Second World War...
by director Paul Verhoeven, the first time she made a nationwide public appearance. Several times she was convicted of distributing Nazi literature and organizing National Socialists meetings. The widow's home was repeatedly searched by the police, always without result, and was more than once targeted by arsonists. "House searches, broken windows and arson often took place", she writes in her book, In Search Of My Wedding Ring.
Acquaintances, Friends and Allies
She maintained lifelong contacts with many prominent ex-National Socialists and National Socialist sympathizers, such as the French professor Robert FaurissonRobert Faurisson
Robert Faurisson is a French academic who is a Holocaust denier. Faurisson generated much controversy with a number of articles, published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, as well as various letters he has sent to French newspapers , which deny various aspects of the Holocaust,...
, historian David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, Arthur Axmann, Gudrun Himmler (daughter of Heinrich Himmler), Ilse Pröhl (widow of Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
), Gertrud and Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart was a Chancellor of Austria, lawyer and later Nazi official in pre-Anschluss Austria, the Third Reich and for wartime Germany in Poland and the Netherlands...
, Erich Priebke
Erich Priebke
Erich Priebke is a former Hauptsturmführer in the Waffen SS. In 1996 he was convicted of war crimes in Italy, for participating in the massacre at the Ardeatine caves in Rome, on March 24, 1944...
, Miguel Serrano
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Serrano was a Chilean diplomat, explorer and author of poetry, books on spiritual questing and Esoteric Nazism...
, Matt Koehl
Matt Koehl
Matt Koehl is the leader of a self-defined religious organization called the New Order. As deputy commander, in August 1967 Koehl succeeded the assassinated George Lincoln Rockwell as 'Commander' of the National Socialist White People's Party...
, commander of The New Order
New Order (National Socialist)
New Order, a successor organization to the original American Nazi Party, is now a self-styled National Socialist religious group which promotes Esoteric Nazism as an alternative faith for "Aryans" ....
, Thies Christophersen
Thies Christophersen
Thies Christophersen , a farmer by upbringing, was a prominent German Holocaust denier.-Christophersen and the "Auschwitz Lie":...
, Leon Degrelle
Léon Degrelle
Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle was a Walloon Belgian politician, who founded Rexism and later joined the Waffen SS which were front-line troops in the fight against the Soviet Union...
, Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Marie Adelheid of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a daughter of Prince Rudolf of Lippe-Biesterfeld and his wife Princess Luise of Ardeck....
, Paula Hitler
Paula Hitler
Paula Hitler was the younger sister of Adolf Hitler and the last child of Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl...
, Richard Edmonds
Richard Edmonds
Richard Edmonds is a seasoned politician of British nationalism. A former Deputy Chairman and National Organiser of the British National Party, Richard was also a long-term supporter of John Tyndall.-Biography:...
, Hanns Albin Rauter
Hanns Albin Rauter
Johann Baptist Albin Rauter was a high-ranking Austrian Nazi war criminal. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading security and police officer there during the period of 1940-1945...
, Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
, Hjalmar Schacht
Hjalmar Schacht
Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was a German economist, banker, liberal politician, and co-founder of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic...
, Ernst Zündel
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
, General Otto Ernst Remer
Otto Ernst Remer
Otto-Ernst Remer was a German Wehrmacht officer who played a decisive role in stopping the 1944 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler. During the war he was wounded nine times in combat...
, Manfred Roeder
Manfred Roeder
Manfred Roeder is a former lawyer and Wehrmacht soldier, and a prominent Holocaust denier.- Life :Roeder attended a National Political Institute of Education in Plön. After the Second World War he was for a time a member of Germany's CDU party...
, Colin Jordan
Colin Jordan
John Colin Campbell Jordan was a leading figure in postwar Neo-Nazism in Britain. In the far-right nationalist circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly 'Nazi' inclination in his open use of the styles and symbols of the Third Reich.Through organisations such as the National...
, Udo Walendy
Udo Walendy
Udo Walendy is a German Holocaust denier who also disputes Germany's guilt for the Second World War.- Life :...
, Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler is a former German lawyer and advocate of radical ideologies. He once was an extreme-left militant, a founding member of the Red Army Faction. Subsequently he became a Maoist and later shifted to the extreme-right. He was for a time a member of the National Democratic Party of Germany...
, Alfred Vierling
Alfred Vierling
Drs. Alfred Vierling is a Dutch politician, who was active in the '80s in the nationalist Centre Party for which he won 135.000 votes during the European elections in 1984 and Centre Democrats and who in the '90s co-founded the Dutch Block. In 1990 he was elected in the city council of Schiedam...
, members of the Vlaams Blok
Vlaams Blok
The Vlaams Blok was a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. From its creation in 1978, it was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement. Vlaams...
and many others. From 1990 she had extensive contact with the journalist Willem Oltmans
Willem Oltmans
Willem Leonard Oltmans was a Dutch investigative journalist and author who did not hesitate to pro-actively intervene in international politics....
.
Pension
Until her death in 2007, Rost van Tonningen-Heubel received a modest widow's pensionWidow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has satisfied the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and length of marriage.-United States:In the United...
from the Dutch state, as her husband had once been an MP. This caused much commotion when it became known in 1986. After a hearing in the Lower House, she retained this pension. In 2000, the "Black Widow" appeared in the VARA
VARA (broadcaster)
The Omroepvereniging VARA is a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system, founded in 1925 as the Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs...
television show The Black Sheep. In that broadcast, the 85-year-old widow defended herself so fiercely that the broadcaster considered dropping the broadcast. She planned to move from her villa to an apartment in nearby Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, but legal objections prevented her from doing so. Shortly afterwards, she sought asylum in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, claiming that her life had become impossible in the Netherlands. Until her death, she defended the ideas of National Socialism.
Death
Florentine Rost van Tonningen-Heubel died of old age on March 24, 2007, in her home in WaasmunsterWaasmunster
Waasmunster is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium. The municipality only comprises the town of Waasmunster proper. On January 1, 2010 Waasmunster had a total population of 10,412. The total area is 31.93 km² which gives a population density of 323...
. She was 92. A week later, she was buried in Rheden
Rheden
Rheden is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.- Population centres :*Velp *Dieren *Rheden *De Steeg *Ellecom *Spankeren *Laag Soeren -Transportation:...
. As early as 1996, she had bought a gravesite and a headstone with her name, date of birth and the inscription, "The truth makes free". The site is controversial, and local residents fear that the grave could become an attraction for what they consider right wing extremists.
Literature
- Op zoek naar mijn huwelijksring ("In search of my wedding ring") (1990) van FS Rost van Tonningen, De Krijger, Erembodegem (B) ISBN 90-72345-14-2