The Netherlands in World War II - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of the Netherlands from 1939 to 1945 covers the events in the Netherlands that took place under the German occupation that started on May 10, 1940 with the Battle of the Netherlands. The Netherlands hoped to stay neutral when 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...

broke out in 1939 but this failed to happen when Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. On May 15, 1940, one day after the Bombing of Rotterdam

Rotterdam Blitz

The Rotterdam Blitz refers to the aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Air Force on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II. The objective was to support the German troops fighting in the city, break Dutch resistance and force the Dutch to surrender...

the Dutch forces capitulated. Subsequently the Dutch government

Dutch government in exile

The Dutch government in exile was the government of the Netherlands, headed by Queen Wilhelmina, that evacuated to London after the German invasion of the country at the outset of World War II....

and the royal family went into exile in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The occupying forces were supported by a minority of the Dutch. Active resistance was carried out by a small minority which grew in the course of the five years of the occupation. The Germans deported the majority of the country's Jews to concentration camps. In doing so they were assisted by the Dutch police and civil service. Most of the South of the country was liberated in the second half of 1944. The rest, especially in the West of the country, suffered from the Hunger Winter

Dutch famine of 1944

The Dutch famine of 1944, known as the Hongerwinter in Dutch, was a famine that took place in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands, especially in the densely populated western provinces above the great rivers, during the winter of 1944-1945, near the end of World War II. A German blockade...

. On May 5, 1945, the whole country was liberated by the Canadian Forces.

Interbellum

The defense budget was not increased until Nazi Germany remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. The budget was further increased in 1938 (annexation of Austria

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

, and occupation of the Sudetenland

Sudetenland

Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

) and 1939 (German invasion of Poland). The colonial government also increased their military budget because of increasing tension with the Japanese Empire. The Dutch did not mobilize their forces until shortly before France and Great Britain gave Nazi Germany their declaration of war. The Dutch government tried to buy new arms for their badly equipped forces but a considerable share of ordered weapons never arrived.

In the winter of 1939-1940, the Dutch experienced a number of false alarms concerning a German attack. Dutch agents in Berlin warned the military command a number of times, but as all reports proved to be false the Dutch commanders eventually paid little attention.

German invasion

At the outbreak of Second World War in 1939, the Netherlands declared itself neutral once again as it had done during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Even so, on May 10, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands.

One of the purposes of the German invasion of the Netherlands was to draw away attention from operations in the Ardennes

Ardennes

The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

and to lure British and French forces deeper into 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...

as well as to pre-empt a possible British invasion in North Holland

North Holland

North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...

. Also, the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

had insisted on seizing the Dutch soil for they were in need of airfields near the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

coast.

The German forces faced little resistance at first, but their advance was eventually slowed by the Dutch Army. At the Afsluitdijk

Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.It is...

, the Grebbeberg, Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

and Dordrecht

Dordrecht

Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...

the Dutch Army offered strong resistance. A German airborne landing at 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...

, intended to capture the Dutch royal family and the government, turned into a disaster for the Germans, and about 1,500 of the paratrooper

Paratrooper

Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...

s and airlanding troops that had not been killed were captured and shipped to Britain.
Additionally about 280 Ju 52

Junkers Ju 52

The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler...

transports were destroyed on the airfields of Ypenburg, Valkenburg and Ockenburg or shot down, with the consequence that the German airborne forces were not available for the planned invasion of Britain. In all, the invasion of the Netherlands cost the Germans some 520 aeroplanes, the highest losses of the war in such a short period. Queen Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...

, her family and the government evacuated to Britain, but during the Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...

her daughter Princess Juliana

Juliana of the Netherlands

Juliana was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry...

and her children proceeded to Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

On May 14, the Germans — surprised by the Dutch resistance

Dutch resistance

Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...

— demanded the surrender of the city of Rotterdam

Rotterdam

, threatening to bomb the city. A surrender was agreed upon with Dutch and German forces, with the Dutch intention of protecting its own civilians. However, due to miscommunication between German negotiators on the ground and the Luftwaffe units assigned to carry out the bombings, the city was bombed by error, with 950 civilians killed and the town centre devastated.

After this bombardment, the German military command threatened to bomb the city of Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

as well if the Netherlands did not surrender. The Dutch army, under command of General Winkelman, laid down arms at 19:00 on 14 May, and formally capitulated on May 15, with the exception of the forces in Zeeland

Zeeland

Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

. They resisted for a few more days, together with some French troops , until the bombardment of Middelburg

Middelburg

Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...

on May 17, which forced the Zeeland forces to surrender as well.

Aftermath of the invasion

The invasion resulted in 2,300 dead, and 7,000 wounded Dutch soldiers and the deaths of over 3,000 civilians. The German army lost 2,200 men, suffered around 7,000 wounded and 700 troops reported missing, and 1,300 were captured and shipped to Britain.

Initially the Dutch expected to be liberated quickly by the Allied armies, who were expected to drive the Germans back. This did not happen, however. The Allied armies stationed in Northern France were forced to evacuate via Dunkirk to Britain, and those that remained surrendered as Germany won the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

. The Dutch now knew the Nazi occupation would not be over soon.

Shortly after the German victory, the Dutch government led by Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

Dirk Jan de Geer

Jonkheer Dirk Jan de Geer was a Dutch nobleman, lawyer, conservative statesman and prime minister of the Netherlands . He was disgraced for advocating a peace settlement between the Kingdom and Nazi Germany in 1940.Born in Groningen, he was a descendant of the de Geer family painted by Rembrandt...

was invited by the Germans to return to the country and collaborate with Nazi forces, as the Vichy France

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

government had agreed to do. De Geer wanted to accept this invitation but Queen Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

did not approve it, and dismissed De Geer in favour of Pieter Gerbrandy.

Gleichschaltung

Following the refusal of the Dutch government to return, the Netherlands was controlled by a German civilian governor—unlike France and Denmark, which had their own governments, or Belgium, which was placed under German military control. The civil government, the Reichskommissariat Niederlande

Reichskommissariat Niederlande

The Reichskommissariat Niederlande, literally "Reich Commissariat of the Netherlands", was the civilian occupation regime set up by Nazi Germany in the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II. Its full title in German was the Reichskommissariat für die besetzten niederländischen Gebiete...

, was headed by the Austrian Nazi 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...

. The German occupiers implemented a policy of Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...

(“enforced conformity”), which was characterized by the systematic elimination of non-Nazi organizations. In 1940, the German regime more or less immediately outlawed all socialist and communist parties; in 1941, it forbade all parties, except for the NSB

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...

. This second step was an enormous shock to the religious parts of the Dutch society because of decades of pillarisation

Pillarisation

Pillarisation is a term used to describe the politico-denominational segregation of Dutch and Belgian society. These societies were "vertically" divided into several segments or "pillars" according to different religions or ideologies.These pillars all had their own social institutions: their own...

, which meant that nearly every religious group (for example Catholics and Protestants) had its own institutions. The Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

fiercely opposed the second step and in 1941 all Roman Catholics were urged by Dutch bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s to leave associations that had been Nazified.

Position of the Dutch within the Nazi ideology

Another aim of the German occupiers was to dissolve the Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

nation and make it part of a greater Germanic, or Aryan, one. The German officials, including those of the SS, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and 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...

himself regarded the Dutch as part of the Aryan Herrenvolk (master race).

Persecution of Jews

Shortly after it was established, the military regime began to persecute the Jews of the Netherlands. In 1940, there were no deportations and only small measures were taken against the Jews. In February 1941, the Nazis deported a small group of Dutch Jews to the concentration camp Mauthausen. The Dutch reacted with the February strike

February strike

The 1941 February Strike, also known as 'The Strike of February 1941', was a general strike organized during World War II in the Netherlands against the anti-Jewish measures and activities of the Nazis. Its direct causes were the pogroms held by the Germans in the Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam....

as a nationwide protest against the deportations, unique in the history of Nazi-occupied Europe. Although the strike did not accomplish much—its leaders were executed—it was an initial setback for Seyss-Inquart as he had planned to both deport the Jews and to win the Dutch over to the Nazi cause. Prior to the February strike, the Nazis had installed a Jewish Council: a board of Jews, headed by Professor David Cohen and Abraham Asscher

Abraham Asscher

Abraham Asscher was a Dutch Jewish businessman from Amsterdam, a politician, and a leader of his community who attained notoriety for his role during the German occupation of the Netherlands .-Early career:...

, who served as an instrument for organising the identification and deportation of Jews more efficiently, while the Jews on the council were told and convinced they were helping the Jews. In May 1942, the Nazi leaders ordered Dutch Jews to wear the Star of David

Star of David

The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...

. Around the same time the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

of the Netherlands publicly condemned the government’s action in a letter read at all Sunday parish services. Thereafter, the Nazi government treated the Dutch more harshly: notable socialists were imprisoned, and, later in the war, Roman Catholic priests, including Titus Brandsma

Titus Brandsma

Blessed Titus Brandsma was a Dutch Carmelite priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many times before the Second World War....

, were deported to concentration camps. In 1942, a transit camp was built near Westerbork by converting an existing internment camp for immigrants; at Vught

Vught

Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is a town where lots of commuters live and has recently been named "Best place to live" by the Dutch magazine Elsevier.-Politics:...

and Amersfoort

Amersfoort

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the...

the Germans built concentration camps as well. Eventually, with the assistance of Dutch police and civil service, the majority of the Dutch Jews were deported to concentration camps.

High Jewish death toll

Of the 140,000 Jews that had lived in the Netherlands prior to 1940, only 30,000 survived the war. This high death toll had a number of reasons. One was the excellent state of Dutch civil records: the Dutch state, prior to the war, had recorded substantial information on every Dutch national. This allowed the Nazi regime to determine easily who was Jewish (whether fully or partly of Jewish ancestry) simply by accessing the data.

Another factor was the disbelief of both the Dutch public as a whole and the Dutch Jews themselves. Most could not believe that the Jews would be subjected to genocide and sent to death camps. This meant the Jews needed to hide in others’ homes, but that was difficult especially in urban areas. It was also punishable by death. Despite the risks, many Dutch people helped Jews. One-third of the people who hid Jews did not survive the war.

Oppression

Arbeitseinsatz
Arbeitseinsatz
Arbeitseinsatz was forced labour during World War II when German men were called up for military service and German authorities rounded up labourers, some from Germany but more from the occupied territories, to fill in the vacancies...

— the drafting of civilians for forced labor — was imposed on the Netherlands. This obliged every man between 18 and 45 to work in German factories, which were bombed regularly by the western Allies. Those who refused were forced into hiding. As food and many other goods were taken out of the Netherlands, rationing

Rationing

Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

(with ration cards) became a way of controlling the population. Anyone who violated German laws, such as hiding or hiding another, automatically lost his or her food ration. At times, the resistance would raid distribution centres to obtain ration cards to be distributed to those in hiding.

The Atlantic Wall

Atlantic Wall

The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...

, a gigantic coastal defence line built by the Germans along the entire European coast from southwestern France to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

and Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, included the coastline of the Netherlands. Some towns, such as Scheveningen, were evacuated because of this. In The Hague, 3,200 houses were demolished and 2,594 were dismantled. 20,000 houses were cleared, and 65,000 people were forced to move. The Arbeitseinsatz also included forcing the Dutch to work on these projects, but a passive form of resistance took place here by working slowly or poorly.

For the resistance to succeed, it was sometimes necessary for its members to feign collaboration with the Germans. After the war, this led to difficulties for those who pretended to collaborate when they could not prove they had been in the resistance — something that was difficult because it was in the nature of the job to keep it a secret.

Collaboration

Not all Dutch offered active or passive resistance against the German occupation. Some Dutch men and women chose or were forced to collaborate with the German regime or joined the German army (which usually would mean being placed in the Waffen-SS). Others, like members of the Henneicke Column

Henneicke Column

The Henneicke Column was a group of Dutch Nazi collaborators working in the investigative division of the Central Bureau for Jewish Emigration , with headquarters in Amsterdam, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II .Between March and October 1943 the group, led by Wim...

, were actively involved in capturing hiding Jews for a price and delivering them to the German occupiers. It is estimated that Henneicke Column captured around 8,000-9,000 Dutch Jews who were ultimately sent to their death in the German death camps.

National Socialist Movement

The NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, translation: National Socialist Movement), was the only legal Dutch political party for much of the war, and it actively collaborated with the German occupants. In 1941, when Germany still seemed certain to win the war, about three percent of the adult male population belonged to the NSB.

After World War II broke out, the NSB sympathized with the Germans, but nevertheless advocated strict neutrality for the Netherlands. In May 1940, after the German invasion, 10,000 NSB members and sympathizers were put in custody by the Dutch government. Soon after the Dutch defeat on 14 May 1940, they were set free by German troops. In June 1940, NSB 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...

held a speech in Lunteren

Lunteren

Lunteren is a place in Gelderland Province, Netherlands. It has a railway station and the train travels between Amersfoort and Ede.It is known also because of three Conference Centres in the vicinity, like Het Bosgoed, which hosting especially academic conferences and De Werelt Congress Hotel.It...

in which he called for the Dutch to embrace the Germans and renounce the Dutch Monarchy, which had fled to London.

In 1940, the German regime had outlawed all socialist and communist parties; in 1941, it forbade all parties, except for the NSB. The NSB openly collaborated with the occupation forces. Its membership grew to about 100,000. The NSB played an important role in lower government and civil service; every new mayor appointed by the German occupation government was a member of the NSB.

After the German signing of surrender on May 6, 1945, the NSB was outlawed. Mussert was arrested the following day. Many of the members of the NSB were arrested, but few were convicted; those who were included Mussert, who was executed on May 7, 1946. There were no attempts to continue the organization illegally.

Nederlandsche SS

In September 1940, the Nederlandsche SS

Nederlandsche SS

The Nederlandsche SS was formed on September 11, 1940. On November 1, 1942 the name was changed to Germaansche SS in Nederland . The Nederlandsche SS in total counted circa 7,000 members and was primarily a political formation. In addition it served as a reservoir for the Waffen-SS...

was formed as "Afdeling XI" (Department XI) of the NSB. It was the equivalent to the Allgemeine SS

Allgemeine SS

The Allgemeine SS was the most numerous branch of the Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany. It was managed by the SS-Hauptamt...

in Germany. In November 1942 its name was changed in Germaansche SS in Nederland. The Nederlandsche SS was primarily a political formation but also served as manpower reservoir for the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

Dutch volunteers in the German army and the Waffen-SS

Between 20,000 and 25,000 Dutchmen volunteered to serve in the Heer

Heer

Heer is German for "army". Generally, its use as "army" is not restricted to any particular country, so "das britische Heer" would mean "the British army".However, more specifically it can refer to:*An army of Germany:...

and the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

. The most notable formations were the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland

4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands

The 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland. was a German Waffen SS volunteer division comprising volunteers of Dutch background...

which saw action exclusively on the Eastern Front and the SS Volunteer Grenadier Brigade Landstorm Nederland

SS Volunteer Grenadier Brigade Landstorm Nederland

The 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland. was a Waffen SS Division during World War II. It was formed by the converting the SS Volunteer Grenadier-Brigade Landstorm Nederland into a division...

which fought in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Nederland brigade distinguished itself on the Eastern Front during the Battle of Narva (1944)

Battle of Narva (1944)

The Battle of Narva was a military campaign between the German Army Detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front fought for possession of the strategically important Narva Isthmus on 2 February – 10 August 1944 during World War II....

, with several troopers receiving the Knight's Cross

Knight's Cross

Knight's Cross refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield....

, Nazi Germany's highest award for bravery.

After the war, in the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

, the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

was condemned as a criminal organisation due to its essential connection to the Nazi Party and its involvement in war crimes and the Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

Dutch Resistance

The Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation during World War II developed relatively slowly, but its counter-intelligence, domestic sabotage, and communications networks provided key support to Allied forces beginning in 1944 and through the liberation of the country. Discovery by the Germans of involvement in the resistance meant an immediate death sentence.

The country's terrain, lack of wilderness and dense population made it difficult to conceal any illicit activities, and it was bordered by German-controlled territory, offering no escape route, except by sea. Resistance in the Netherlands took the form of small-scale, decentralized cells engaged in independent activities. The communists CPN however organized resistance from the start of the war. So did the circle of liberal democratic resisters who were linked through Professor Dr. Willem or Wim Schermerhorn to the Dutch government-in-exile in London, the KP ("Knokploeg", or Assault Group). This was one of the largest resistance groups, numbering around 550 active participants; it was also heavily targeted by Nazi intelligence for destruction due to its links with England. Some small groups had absolutely no links to others. These groups produced forged ration cards and counterfeit money, collected intelligence, published underground newspapers, sabotaged phone lines and railways, prepared maps, and distributed food and goods. After 1942 the National Organisation (LO) en National Force Units (LKP) organized national coordination. Some contact was established with the government in London. After D-day the existing national organizations LKP, the OD and the Council of Resistance merged into the internal forces under the command of Prince Bernhard

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld , later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was prince consort of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and father of six children, including the current monarch Queen Beatrix....

.
One of the riskiest activities was hiding and sheltering refugees and enemies of the Nazi regime, Jewish families like the family of Anne Frank

Anne Frank

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...

, underground operatives, draft-age Dutch, and others. Collectively these people were known as onderduikers. Later in the war this system of people-hiding was also used to protect downed Allied airmen. Reportedly, resistance doctors in Heerlen

Heerlen

Heerlen is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. It forms part of Parkstad Limburg, , an agglomeration of about 220,000 inhabitants.After its early Roman beginnings and a rather modest medieval period, Heerlen...

concealed an entire hospital floor from German troops.

In February 1943, a Dutch resistance cell rang the doorbell of the former head of the Dutch general staff and now collaborating General-Lieutenant Hendrik A. Seyffardt in the Hague

The Hague

. Seyffardt commanded the campaign to recruit Dutch volunteers for the Waffen-SS and its war in the East. After he answered and identified himself, they shot him twice in the abdomen. He died the following day. This assassination of the high-level official triggered a cruel reprisal from SS General 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...

, who ordered the killing of 50 Dutch hostages and a series of raids on Dutch universities. On October 1 and 2, 1944, the Dutch resistance attacked German troops near the village of Putten

Putten

Putten is a municipality and a town in Gelderland province in the middle of the Netherlands. In 2007 it had a population of 23,024.Putten is surrounded by a great variety of landscapes. To the east of Putten lies the Veluwe, the biggest national park of the Netherlands...

, which resulted in war crimes on behalf of the occupying Germans. After the attack, part of the town was destroyed, and seven people were shot. The entire male population of Putten was deported and most were subjected to forced labour; 48 out of 552 survived the camps. The Dutch resistance unintentionally attacked Rauter's car on March 6, 1945, which in turn led to the killings at De Woeste Hoeve, where 116 men were rounded up and executed at the site of the ambush and another 147 Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

prisoners executed elsewhere.

The final year

After the Allied landing in Normandy in June 1944, the western Allies rapidly advanced in the direction of the Dutch border. Tuesday September 5 is known as Dolle dinsdag (“mad Tuesday”) — the Dutch began celebrating, believing they were close to liberation. In September, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....

, an attempt to advance from the Dutch-Belgian border across the rivers Meuse

Meuse

Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, Waal and Rhine into the north of the Netherlands and Germany. However, the Allied forces did not reach this objective because they could not capture the Rhine bridge at the Battle of Arnhem

Battle of Arnhem

The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944....

. During Market Garden, substantial regions to the south, including Nijmegen and much of North Brabant

North Brabant

North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...

, were liberated. Much of the northern Netherlands remained in German hands until the Rhine crossings in late March 1945.

Parts of the southern Netherlands were not liberated by Operation Market Garden, which had established a narrow salient between Eindhoven and Nijmegen. In the east of North Brabant

North Brabant

and in Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

, British and American forces in Operation Aintree managed to defeat the remaining German forces west of the Meuse between late September and early December 1944, destroying the German bridgehead between the Meuse and the Peel marshes. During this offensive the only tank battle ever fought on Dutch soil took place at Overloon

Overloon

Overloon, mun. Boxmeer, is a village in the Netherlands in the province of North Brabant. It is best known as the site of the National Museum of War and Resistance of the Netherlands, and for a World War II battle that occurred around the village in September and October 1944.As a result most of...

.

At the same time, the Allies also advanced into the province of Zeeland

Zeeland

. At the start of October 1944, the Germans still occupied Walcheren

Walcheren

thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...

and dominated the Scheldt

Scheldt

The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...

estuary and its approaches to the port of Antwerp. The crushing need for a large supply port forced the Battle of the Scheldt

Battle of the Scheldt

The Battle of the Scheldt was a series of military operations of the Canadian 1st Army, led by Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds. The battle took place in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands during World War II from 2 October-8 November 1944...

in which First Canadian Army

First Canadian Army

The First Canadian Army was the senior Canadian operational formation in Europe during the Second World War.The Army was formed in early 1942, replacing the existing unnumbered Canadian Corps, as the growing number of Canadian forces in the United Kingdom necessitated an expansion to two corps...

fought on both sides of the estuary during the month to clear the waterways. Large battles were fought to clear the Breskens Pocket

Breskens Pocket

The Breskens Pocket was a pocket of fortified German resistance against the Canadian First Army in the Battle of the Scheldt during the Second World War. It was chiefly situated on the southern shore of the Scheldt estuary in the southern Netherlands, near the Belgian border...

, Woensdrecht

Woensdrecht

Woensdrecht is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands.Woensdrecht is mainly known for Woensdrecht Air Base. In 1983 it was decided that the US would station 48 nuclear armed cruise missiles here, unless the USSR would reduce the number of SS-20 missiles to 378. Since the number was...

and the Zuid-Beveland

Zuid-Beveland

Zuid-Beveland is a part of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands north of the Westerschelde and south of the Oosterschelde. It is a former island, now peninsula, crossed by the Canal through Zuid-Beveland on the west and the Scheldt-Rhine Canal on the east.It consists of four...

Peninsula of German forces, primarily “stomach” units of the Wehrmacht as well as German paratroopers of Battle Group Chill. German units composed of convalescents and the medically unfit were named for their ailment; thus, "stomach" units for soldiers with ulcers.

By 31 October, resistance south of the Scheldt had collapsed, and the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division

2nd Canadian Infantry Division

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the First Canadian Army, mobilized on 1 September 1939 at the outset of the Second World War. It was initially composed of volunteers within brigades established along regional lines, though a halt in recruitment in the early months of...

, British 52nd (Lowland) Division

British 52nd (Lowland) Division

The British 52nd Division was a Territorial Army division that was originally formed as part of the Territorial Force in 1908.- World War I :...

and 4th Special Service Brigade all made attacks on Walcheren Island. Strong German defenses made a landing very difficult, and the Allies responded by bombing the dikes of Walcheren at Westkapelle

Westkapelle

Westkapelle can refer to:* Westkapelle - a place in the municipality of Knokke-Heist in Belgium* Westkapelle - a place in the municipality of Veere in the Netherlands...

, Vlissingen and Veere

Veere

Veere is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands, on Walcheren island in the province of Zeeland.-Population centres :Aagtekerke , Biggekerke , Domburg , Gapinge , Grijpskerke , Koudekerke , Meliskerke , Oostkapelle , Serooskerke , Veere , Vrouwenpolder , Westkapelle...

to flood the island. Though the Allies had warned residents with pamphlets, 180 inhabitants of Westkappelle died. The coastal guns on Walcheren were silenced in the opening days of November and the Scheldt battle declared over; no German forces remained intact along the 64 mi (103 km) path to Antwerp.

After the Allied armies broke out from Normandy, the Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans along the coast of the English Channel. It liberated, among others, the towns of Ypres, Ghent and Passchendaele. A successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General Maczek allowed liberation of the city of Breda

Breda

Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...

without any civilian casualties (October 29, 1944).

The Dutch government had not wanted to use the old water line when the Germans had invaded in 1940. It was still possible to create an island out of Holland by destroying dikes and flooding the polder

Polder

A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...

s, but this island contained the main cities

Randstad

Image:Randstad_with_scale.png|400px|thumb|right|Clickable schematic map of the Randstadcircle 528 380 26 Schipholrect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeerrect 399 166 479 245 Velsencircle 250 716 32 Delftcircle 220 642 60 The Hague...

. The Dutch government had decided then that there were too many people to keep alive to justify the flooding. However, Hitler ordered that Fortress Holland (German: Festung Holland) be held at any price.

Hunger Winter

The winter of 1944–1945 was very harsh, which led to 'hunger journeys' and many cases of starvation (about 30,000 casualties), exhaustion, cold and disease. This winter is known as the Hongerwinter (“hunger winter”), or Dutch famine of 1944. In response to a general railway strike ordered by the Dutch government-in-exile in expectation of a general German collapse near the end of 1944, the Germans cut off all food and fuel shipments to the western provinces, in which 4.5 million people still resided. Severe malnutrition was common and 18,000 people starved to death. Relief came at the beginning of May, 1945.

Liberation

After crossing the Rhine at Wesel and Rees

Operation Plunder

Commencing on the night of 23 March 1945 during World War II, Operation Plunder was the crossing of the River Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British 2nd Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey , and the U.S. Ninth Army , under Lieutenant General William Simpson...

, Canadian forces entered the Netherlands from the east, liberating the eastern and northern provinces. The western provinces, where the situation was worst, however, had to wait until the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands was negotiated on the eve of May 5, 1945 (three days before the general capitulation of Germany), in the De Wereld Hotel in Wageningen

Wageningen

' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...

. Previously the Swedish Red Cross had been allowed to provide relief efforts, and Allied forces were allowed to airdrop food over the German-occupied territories in Operation Manna.

On the island of Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

, nearly 800 Georgians

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

, part of the German army, rebelled

Georgian Uprising of Texel

The Georgian Uprising on Texel was an insurrection by the 882nd Infantry Battalion Königin Tamara of the Georgian Legion of the German Army stationed on the German occupied Dutch island of Texel . The battalion was made up of 800 Georgians and 400 Germans, with mainly German officers...

on April 5, 1945. Their rebellion was crushed by the German army after two weeks of battle. 565 Georgians, 120 inhabitants of Texel, and 800 Germans died. The 228 surviving Georgians were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union when the war ended.

Collaborators

After being liberated, Dutch citizens began taking the law into their own hands, as had been done in other liberated countries, such as France. Collaborators and Dutch women who had had relationships with men of the German occupying force, called moffenmeiden were abused and humiliated in public, usually by having their heads shaved and painted orange.

Casualties

By the end of the war, 205,901 Dutch men and women had died. The Netherlands had the highest per capita death rate of all Nazi-occupied countries in Western Europe, 2.36%. Another 30,000 died in 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....

, either while fighting the Japanese or in camps as Japanese POWs. Dutch civilians were held in those camps as well.

Dutch East Indies and the war against Japan

On December 8, 1941, Netherlands declared war on Japan. On January 10, 1942 the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese invaded the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Dutch naval ships joined forces with the Allies to form the ABDA

Abda

Abda may refer to:People*Abda , a personal name, given to two biblical figures*Abda of Edessa, saint of the Assyrian Church of the East*Abda of Dair-Koni, also known as Rabban Mar Abda, abbot and saint...

fleet (American-British

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

-Dutch

Royal Netherlands Navy

The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

-Australian

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

fleet) commanded by the Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman

Karel Doorman

Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman was a Dutch Rear Admiral who commanded ABDACOM Naval forces, a hastily-organized multinational naval force formed to defend the East Indies against an overwhelming Imperial Japanese attack. Doorman was killed and the main body of ABDACOM Naval forces destroyed...

. On February 27–28, 1942, Admiral Doorman was ordered to take the offensive against the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

. His objections on the matter were overruled. The ABDA fleet finally encountered the Japanese surface fleet at the Battle of the Java Sea

Battle of the Java Sea

The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, that sealed the fate of the Netherlands East Indies....

, at which Doorman gave the order to engage. During the ensuing battle the ABDA fleet suffered heavy losses. The Dutch cruisers Java and De Ruyter were lost, together with the destroyer Kortenaer. The other allied cruisers, the Australian Perth, the British Exeter, and the American USS Houston
USS Houston
Four United States Navy ships have borne the name Houston, after the city of Houston, Texas., was a cargo ship during World War I, was a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1930, and sunk in 1942...

tried to disengage, but they were spotted by the Japanese in the following days and eventually destroyed. Numerous ABDA destroyers were also lost, such as the USS Pope

USS Pope

USS Pope may refer to:, a Clemson-class destroyer, commissioned in 1920 and sunk in battle in 1942., an Edsall-class destroyer escort, commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1946., a troop transport which saw service during World War II and later as a commercial freighter....

. According to legend, Adm. Doorman, gave the order to attack were Ik val aan, volg mij! ("I am attacking, follow me!"); in reality, the order was "All ships follow me."

After Japanese troops had landed on Java and the KNIL had been unsuccessful in stopping their advance (due to the Japanese ability to occupy a relatively unguarded airstrip) the Dutch forces on Java surrendered on 1 March 1942. Dutch soldiers were imprisoned in labor camps, though some were executed on the spot. Later all Dutch, including civilians, were captured and sent to camps, and some were deported to Japan or sent to work on the Thai-Burma Railway

Death Railway

The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Thailand–Burma Railway and similar names, was a railway between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma , built by the Empire of Japan during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma campaign.Forced labour was used in its construction...

.

The Dutch submarines escaped, and they resumed the fight on with the Allies, from bases in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, such as Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

. As a part of the Allied forces, they were on the hunt for Japanese oilers on their way to Japan and the movement of Japanese troops and weapons to other sites of battle (including New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

). Because of the significant number of Dutch submarines active in this theater of the war, the Dutch were named the "Fourth Ally" in this area — along with Australians, Americans, and New Zealanders.

Many Dutch Army and Navy airplane pilots also escaped, and, with airplanes given by the United States of America, they formed the Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

No. 18 Squadron

No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF

No. 18 Squadron was a joint Dutch and Australian bomber squadron of World War II.-History:No. 18 Squadron was formed at Canberra on 4 April 1942. Like the other two joint Australian-Dutch squadrons the Dutch authorities provided No. 18 Squadron's pilots and aircraft...

(with B-25 Mitchell

B-25 Mitchell

The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...

bombers) and the No. 120 Squadron

No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF

No. 120 Squadron was a joint Dutch and Australian squadron of World War II. The squadron was first formed in December 1943 as part of the Royal Australian Air Force , and saw combat in and around New Guinea during 1944 and 1945 equipped with P-40 Kittyhawk fighters. Following the war, No...

(with P-40 Kittyhawk

Curtiss P-40

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...

fighters). These squadrons helped to defend Australia from the Japanese, and bombing raids from Australia to the Dutch East Indies were carried out. They also participated in the eventual liberation of the Netherlands East Indies.

Gradually, control of the Netherlands East Indies was wrested away from the Japanese. The largest Allied invasion took place in July 1945 with the Australian landings on the island of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

, to seize the strategic oil-fields from the now cut-off Japanese forces. However, the Japanese had already begun independence negotiations with Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n nationalists such as Sukarno

Sukarno

Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...

, and the Indonesian forces had themselves taken over control of sizable portions of Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

and Java. Following the Japanese announcement of surrender

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist...

on 15 August 1945, Indonesian nationalists led by Sukarno declared their country's independence and a four year armed and diplomatic struggle

Indonesian National Revolution

The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...

between the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans began.

The Dutch civilians who suffered greatly during their internment finally returned home to a land that had suffered greatly as well.

After the war

After the war, some who were thought to have collaborated with the Germans were lynched or otherwise punished without a trial. Men who had fought with the Germans in the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS were used to clear minefields and suffered losses accordingly. Others were sentenced by courts for treason. Some were proven to have been wrongly arrested and were cleared of charges, sometimes after having been in custody for a long period of time.

The Dutch government initially developed plans to annex a sizable portion of Germany (Bakker-Schut Plan

Bakker-Schut Plan

At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations, but in February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta...

), either with or without German population — which in the latter case would have to be "Dutchified" — doubling the land area of the Netherlands. This plan was dropped after an Allied refusal (although two small villages were added to the Netherlands). One successfully-implemented plan was Black Tulip, the deportation of all holders of German passports in the Netherlands and several thousand Germans were deported in this way.

The bank balances of Dutch Jews who were killed are still the subject of trials today, more than half a century later.

The end of the war also meant the final loss of the Dutch East Indies. Following the surrender of the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies, Indonesian nationalists fought a four-year war of independence against Dutch and initially British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

forces, eventually leading to the Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia. Many Dutch and Indonesians emigrated or returned to the Netherlands at this time, and their presence has resulted in a lasting Indonesian influence in Dutch culture and cuisine.

World War II has left many trails on Dutch society. On May 4, the Dutch commemorate those who died during the war. Among the living, there are many who still have emotional problems due to the war, both in the first generation and the second. In the year 2000, the government was still granting 24,000 people an annual compensatory payment (although this also includes victims from later wars, such as the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

Documentaries

Making Choices: The Dutch Resistance during World War II (2005) Tells the stories of four participants in the Dutch Resistance and the miracles that saved them from certain death at the hands of the Nazis.

External links

Canada and Holland The liberation of Holland with photos and video footage.
Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War - The Liberation of the Netherlands, 1944-1945
Administrators of the German occupied Netherlands during WW II
The invasion of Holland in 1940
Dutch Resistance Museum
World War II: Dutch aftermath and recovery

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Interbellum

German invasion

Aftermath of the invasion

Gleichschaltung

Position of the Dutch within the Nazi ideology

Persecution of Jews

High Jewish death toll

Oppression

Collaboration

National Socialist Movement

Nederlandsche SS

Dutch volunteers in the German army and the Waffen-SS

Dutch Resistance

The final year

Hunger Winter

Liberation

Collaborators

Casualties

Dutch East Indies and the war against Japan

After the war

Documentaries

See also

Further reading

External links