Europe’s Liberation 80 Years On: The Netherlands
The official narrative of the Dutch resistance downplayed the role of the Left in the struggle against Nazism, but it also served as a barrier against the legitimation of far-right ideas. With the far right now in power, that barrier has collapsed.
Commemoration of those who died during World War II at the National Monument at the Grebbeberg Military Field of Honor on May 4, 1951. (Sepia Times / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
On May 4, 1945, British field marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, almost exactly five years after Nazi Germany invaded the country.
Around a quarter of a million Dutch people died in the war. Its memory became a political and moral touchstone in Dutch society. Few questions were more important than whether someone had been “right” or “wrong” — whether they had resisted the occupation or collaborated with the Nazis.
Prewar fascism was a relatively small movement in the Netherlands, with the Dutch National Socialist Movement (NSB) receiving just over 4 percent in the last elections before the war. After liberation, being called an NSB member was one of the worse possible insults, while there was no greater honor than recognition as a former member of “the resistance.”
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