Resistance Movement (Netherlands)

On May 10, 1940, German troops, without declaring war, invaded the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that declared neutrality. Three days later, the defeat of the Dutch became apparent. Queen Wilhelmina and members of the government left the country, having flown to London .

On May 14, German aircraft bombed Rotterdam ; over a thousand civilians were killed under the rubble of houses. At 21:30, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch army, General Hendrik Winckelmann, signed the act of surrender , and the German tanks entered Amsterdam ^[1] .

After the seizure of the country, the German authorities appointed Austrian Arthur Zeiss-Inquartart , Reich Commissar of the Netherlands, who assumed the post on May 29 , he urged the citizens of Holland that the Germans were not going to oppress this country or impose their ideology on it ^[2] . However, the situation gradually worsened, in the first place the occupation affected the country's Jewish population, which was sent to concentration camps, many died.

The resistance movement in the Netherlands was of a decentralized nature; several relatively small underground organizations and groups operated simultaneously in the country, which carried out anti-German activities independently of each other ^[3] . Passive forms of spontaneous resistance and petty sabotage (failure to comply with the orders of the occupying authorities, providing assistance to people in an illegal situation ...) have gained some acceptance among the population. The development of organized forms of the Resistance movement took place slowly, under conditions of repression by the German occupying administration (those who were caught while carrying out anti-German actions were shot on the spot without a court). The open landscape and high population density also restricted illegal activities.

An important role in the resistance movement was played by the Dutch communists:

• May 15, 1940 at a meeting in Amsterdam, the leadership of the Dutch Communist Party decided to move to the illegal situation and the organization of resistance to the German occupiers. In July 1940, the Communist Party was banned.
• In November 1940, the Dutch Communists began to publish the newspaper De Waarheid , and local publications ( De Vonk , Het Noorderlicht , Het Compas , Tribune ) and the distribution of leaflets were also arranged. A little later, the creation of a military organization began (“ Militair Contact ”).

In general, more than half of the members of the Communist Party of the Netherlands died during the struggle against the Nazis. ^[4] .

In the summer of 1940 in Haarlem B.Eyzerdraat, a teacher at a vocational school, created an underground group “Gyozov” (“ De Geuzen ”), which began distributing leaflets. The organization operated in Haarlem and in the Flüringen area. In November 1940, the organization was crushed - 15 people were arrested, and B. Eiserdraat was shot ^[5] . In total, the occupants identified and arrested 37 members of this organization ^[6] , 18 of them were shot ^[7] .

The underground organization that united Protestants, from August 31, 1940, was engaged in publishing the newspaper Frey Nederland ( Vrij Nederland ) ^[3] .

The underground organization, which united supporters of the Social Democrats, from August 11, 1941, was engaged in publishing the newspaper “Het Parool” (“ Het Parool ”), its activists called the people of Holland for elemental resistance ^[3] . Among the activists of the organization was Adrian Althoff (editor of the newspaper Het Volk , arrested and shot in 1943) and several journalists.

Anti-fascist activities took various forms. The groups forged food cards , printed fake money , published underground newspapers (Waarheid, Trouw, etc.), sabotaged communications lines and railways, distributed food and goods, and saved the Jewish population.

• in the autumn of 1940, unrest began in the cities of Born and Amersfoort , as a result, on November 12, 1940, the authorities made concessions and refused to increase the working day ^[5] ;
• at the end of November 1940, a student protest was held in which students of Leiden University and the High Technical School in Delft took part ^[5] ;
• February 15, 1941, the Dutch Communists held a demonstration in Amsterdam ^[5] ;
• On February 17-18, 1941, the Dutch Communist Party organized the strike of the metalworkers of Amsterdam in protest at the dispatch of Dutch workers to Germany ^[5] ;
• On February 25, 1941, the Communist Party of the Netherlands, together with the trade unions, called for a strike called the February Strike. It was an unprecedented case of resistance: in the occupied country, a general strike of workers and employees was organized - from dockers to bank employees and merchants in protest against the Jewish pogroms. The strike quickly swept almost all the cities of Holland, but was suppressed for three days. 9 people were killed and 24 injured during the dispersal of the protesters, another 4 were sentenced to death and executed, several hundred were arrested ^[5] .

On August 12, 1941, the German occupation authorities announced the dissolution of the trade unions.

In the spring of 1942, on the initiative of the Dutch Communist Party, another underground organization, the Netherlands People’s Militia (“ De Nederlandse Volksmilitie ”), was created in the country, which included communists and non-partisan anti-fascists. Under the leadership of S. Dormitz, activists of the organization engaged in sabotage and sabotage on the railways. In mid-1942, the organization suffered heavy casualties, over 100 participants were arrested, but the remaining activists continued their activities, and in October 1942 they blew up a large Wehrmacht warehouse in The Hague ^[5] .

Jupe Westerwel, , a socialist professor, the righteous of the world , organized with his wife a network of Dutch resistance — the Westervel group , which helped Jews in the Netherlands to leave the country, providing them with forged documents ^[8] . Jupe was killed by the Nazis in August 1944. His wife, Wilhelmina Dora, was captured, went through several concentration camps, and returned to the Netherlands after the war ^[9] .

1943

At the beginning of 1943, the “National Hiding Assistance Organization” was created (“ Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers ”), led by priest Frits Slomm. The activists of the organization provided assistance to people who were in an illegal situation, hiding from the occupation authorities ^[5] .

Also, in early 1943, as a result of several raids and undercover work, the Germans managed to inflict a heavy blow on the leadership of the Communist Party of Holland - two of the three members of the "leading three" CPN (Lou Jansen and Jan Dieters), as well as a backup member of the triple Jan Yanzen ^{[ 10]} .

On February 5, 1943, members of the resistance movement from cell CS-6 were shot dead in the Hague by Lieutenant-General of the Dutch Army H. Seyfard, who led the recruitment of Dutch volunteers to the SS forces and shortly before receiving the order to prepare parts of the Dutch army for the war against the USSR ^[11] On February 10, 1943, the second attempt was made - a propaganda chief was shot in The Hague ^[12] , on February 12, 1943, Dutch collaborator C. van Ravenzwaal, appointed by the mayor of Utrecht, was killed ^{[13] [14]} .

In March 1943, former military police officers who became civilian police officers refused to arrest Jews. One of them, Hendrik Drogt , after the arrest of the SD, managed to escape and became a member of the Resistance movement, saving the pilots of the allies and the Jews.

On March 27, 1943, an underground group of 9 people, led by architect van der Veen, disarmed the guards, and burned the address table in Amsterdam ^[5] .

On April 29, 1943, a massive strike began in the country against sending 300,000 Dutch prisoners of war to forced labor in Germany. The strike lasted until May 7, 1943, with 1 million people taking part in it ^[15] . The speeches were brutally suppressed by the occupation authorities: 95 people were killed and 400 injured during the dispersal of protesters, another 80 were executed by the verdict of the military field courts, over 900 people were arrested and sent to prisons and concentration camps ^[5] .

On May 1, 1943, the Resistance Council (“ Raad van Verzet ”) was created, which included communists and several small allied organizations, and about 2 thousand organized activists were subordinate to the Council ^[3] .

In June 1943, the Knock-Plugen organization (from Knokploeg , “fighting squads”) was created by Protestant circles, whose activists attacked address bureaus and other occupying institutions, freed the detainees, stole food cards, document forms, material valuables. and funds used for the development of anti-German activities ^[3] .

On June 27-28, 1943, a protest action of doctors took place, in which 1.7 thousand medical workers took part. As a result, the occupation authorities abandoned the idea of ​​creating a "Union of Doctors" ^[5] .

Supporters of the government created the paramilitary organization Orde-Dienst (Service Order), which included officers and military personnel of the Dutch army. The organization was engaged in conducting intelligence in the interests of the Western allies and received assistance from the UK ^[3] .

1944-1945

In the spring of 1944, the coordination structure of the Dutch Resistance Movement - the “triangle” was created, which included representatives of Orde-Dienst, “fighting squads” and the Council of Freedom. The activity of the structure was determined by supporters of the waiting policy ^[3] .

After the Allied troops landed in Normandy in June 1944 , the liberation movement in the country gained momentum. The need for intelligence data on German fortifications has increased.

By September 1944, part of the country was liberated during the Dutch Allied offensive , but the subsequent German counteroffensive postponed the country's liberation until May 1945 .

On September 5, 1944, Colonel H. Koote announced the creation of the Inner Army in the Netherlands ( Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten ), which united supporters of the emigrant government. The NBS included members of the underground organization Ordedienst , as well as officers and military personnel of the Dutch army, she began to receive weapons from the Western allies.

On the evening of September 17 , the day the Dutch operation began, the underground Radio Radio Orange (Orange Radio) called for a general strike on the railway to address the decision of the Prime Minister in exile Peter Seers Gerbrandi. The vast majority of employees of the railway, whose staff amounted to 30 thousand people, left jobs, many went underground.

On September 18, 1944, official press reports made it clear: “stopping the railways means stopping the supply of food”. As a result of the hungry winter of 1944, 18,000 Dutch were killed ^[16] .

On October 27, 1944, H. Koot issued an order banning sabotage without the sanction of the command of the "Internal Army", which was opposed by the Council of Freedom and "fighting squads", but after IA van van Beinen died in November 1944 (head “Fighting squads”) and Theyssen (who led the activities of the Freedom Council Fighting Groups), the activity of the Resistance movement in Holland declined ^[5] .

On the evening of March 6, 1945, on the road between Arnhem and Apeldoorn , the Dutch Resistance fighters attempted assassination of Obergruppenführer SS Hans Rauter , who was wounded by several shots and pretended to be dead, in the Netherlands.

On the night of 5–6 April 1945, Soviet prisoners of war revolted on Texel, fighting continued until April 9, when reinforcements arrived at the German forces on the island. Subsequently, the surviving participants in the uprising turned to guerrilla activity, which continued until the landing of the Western Allies on the island in May 1945. In all, 570 of 800 Soviet prisoners of war, 89 Dutchmen and 460 Germans died during the uprising ^[5] .

The last units of the German troops in Amsterdam and in northern Holland surrendered on May 6, 1945.

The resistance movement in Holland received help from the UK and the USA. Between November 8, 1941, and April 21, 1943, the British intelligence services prepared and transferred 53 agents to Holland, but as a result of the betrayal of one of the agents, the German counterintelligence agencies arrested everyone else (out of 52 people, 47 were executed, and the rest continued to work under German control) ^[17] , this allowed the Germans to start a “ radio game ” (dubbed Operation “Nordpol” ) and in 1942-1944 obtain a significant amount of weapons, ammunition and equipment “for the Dutch resistance movement I".

Between September 1944 and April 1945, British aircraft made 600 sorties, during which 35,000 firearms, several million rounds of ammunition and other military assets were dropped for the Dutch resistance movement. ^[18]

During the occupation in Holland, 199 thousand people died (including 2500 participants in the resistance movement), the total damage to the country's economy amounted to 20 billion guilders , and public debt increased from 5.5 billion guilders in 1939 to 19.5 billion guilders ^[15] .

• the Royal Decree of May 3, 1946 established an award for members of the Resistance movement - the Order of the Cross of Resistance ( Verzetskruis 1940–1945 ), which was awarded 95 heroes of the Dutch Resistance (94 of the 95 awarded were awarded posthumously).
• The 374 dead members of the Resistance movement were buried at the memorial cemetery in Blumendal .
• The Museum of Resistance was opened in Amsterdam

• x / f " Soldier of the Orange Country " (1977)
• x / f " Black Book " (2006)
• Call of Duty: United Offensive
• x / f "Rifagen" (2016)
• Bankier van het verzet (2018) [1]

• G. G. Bauman. The April-May strike of 1943 and its importance in the struggle of the people of the Netherlands against fascism // Izvestia of the North Caucasus Center of Higher Education (series "Social Sciences"), No. 2, 1976.
• E.P. Krasilnikov. Resistance Movement in the Netherlands in the coverage of foreign historiography // Foreign historiography of the antifascist Resistance movement in Western European countries / Coll., Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institute of General History. M., 1988. pp 106-125
• Edward Cukridge. Europe is on fire. Sabotage and espionage of the British intelligence services in the occupied territories. 1940-1945. M., Tsentrpoligraf, 2003. - 496 pages.
• G. Gikes. Operation North Pole. The Abwehr secret war in the Nordic countries . - M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2004.
• Anny Latour (Anni Latour). The Jewish Resistance in France (Jewish Resistance in France): [ eng ] / trans. from French Irene R. Ilton. - New York: Holocaust Publications, Inc., 1981. - 287 p. - ISBN 0-89604-026-7 .