The Germans invaded Holland on 10 May 1940, which surrendered after only four days, giving rise to
widespread panic and confusion among the population. The Dutch, who are related both linguistically
and racially to the Germans, were taken aback by the confrontation. Prior to World War II, Holland had
some 52,000 German residents who lived and worked in the Netherlands. It is not surprising, therefore,
that a number of imitation Nazi movements emerged during the 1930s. The largest was founded on 14
December 1931 by Anton Adriaan Mussert. It was called the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging (NSB
National Socialist Movement). It was a strictly nationalistic Dutch fascist movement, and proved
ultimately to be the most successful.
On 18 May 1940, Arthur Seyss-Inquart became Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands, which was
declared to be a Reich Commissariat. With complete control of the countrys entire resources, which he
exclusively directed towards the demands of the German war machine, Seyss-Inquart ruled
authoritatively, answering only to Hitler. He generally followed the carrot and stick method of rule,
though his rule was more stick than carrot. In March 1941, he had bestowed upon himself the power to
administer summary justice, at least pertaining to dissension or suspected resistance. He levied
swingeing fines, confiscating the property of all enemies of the Reich, including Jews, and instigated
severe reprisals for acts of subversion and sabotage. He forced five million Dutch civilians to work for
the Germans, and deported a total of 117,000 Jews to concentration camps.
Under these conditions, the main exponent of collaboration was the NSB, a party that was extremely
well organized. The NSB was now to come to the fore, and on the tenth anniversary of its foundation
was granted an exclusive political monopoly in the Netherlands by the Germans. All other parties were
faced either with merger or disbandment. The NSB had its own stormtroopers, the Weer Afdeelingen
(WA Defence Section), but on 11 September 1940 it took a bold step by establishing its own SS
within the party framework. J. Hendrik Feldmeyer, the former leader of the Mussert Garde, was the
initiator of the plan; he had visions of it becoming the equivalent of the German Allgemeine-SS. It was
at first simply known as the Nederlandsche SS, which was replaced by the more general term
Germaansche SS en Nederland (or the Germanic SS in the Netherlands) on 1 November 1942. Until
then it had been one of the paramilitary sub-formations of the NSB. Himmler gave orders that it was
now to become part of a greater Germanic SS. Musserts control was now marginalized, with an oath of
loyalty to Adolf Hitler being taken by the Dutch SS men. Its membership, which stood nominally at
3727 (five regiments plus an SS police regiment), was constantly depleted by voluntary enlistment into
the Waffen-SS. There were possibly up to a further 7000 Dutch volunteers in the Germanische
Sturmbann, an SS formation raised from the large pool of Dutch and other Nordic workers in Germany.
Seven battalions were recruited from the industrial cities of Berlin, Brunswick, Dresden, Dsseldorf,
Hamburg, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. In effect, the Germanische Sturmbann was never anything other
than a recruiting agency for the Waffen-SS.
Never before seen interesting picture showing a Dutch NSKK volunteer wearing the rare NSKK
Honor Badge from the collection of Dian Notebaert.
MSW (Wendel?)