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Concept
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
Summary
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland, nɑ(t)ʃoːˌnaːlsoːʃaːˈlɪstisə bəˈʋeːɣɪŋ ɪn ˈneːdərlɑnt; NSB) was a Dutch fascist and later Nazi political party that called itself a "movement". As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s. Under German occupation, it remained the only legal party in the Netherlands during most of the Second World War.
The NSB was founded in Utrecht in 1931 during a period when several nationalist, fascist and Nazi parties were founded. The founders were Anton Mussert, who became the party's leader, and Cornelis van Geelkerken. The party based its program on Italian fascism and German Nazism: however, unlike the latter, before 1936 the party was not antisemitic and even had Jewish members.
In 1933, after a year of building an organization, the party organized its first public meeting, a Landdag in Utrecht which was attended by 600 party militants. Here the party presented itself. After that, the party's support began to grow. In the same year, the government forbade civil servants to be members.
In the provincial elections of 1935, the party gained eight percent of the votes and two seats in the Senate. This was achieved against the background of the economic hardship of the Great Depression. Mussert's image as a reliable politician and his pragmatism allowed him to unite the different types of fascism and contributed to the party's success. This was bolstered by the party's strong organization and its political strategy, which was not oriented towards revolution but a democratic and legal take over of the country. By 1936, the party was holding annual mass meetings near Lunteren in Gelderland and, in 1938, it built the Muur van Mussert there, a wall which was supposed to be one element in a set of buildings and monuments inspired by the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg.
In 1936, under the influence of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen, the party became more radical and openly antisemitic.
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