{"id":6052,"date":"2019-05-23T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T08:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=6052"},"modified":"2019-06-12T15:11:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:11:27","slug":"the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-3-het-verzet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-3-het-verzet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dutch Resistance in World War II \u2013 Part 3: Het Verzet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the aftermath of the <em>dodenherdenking\u00a0<\/em>and the celebration of the <em>bevrijding\u00a0<\/em>of the Netherlands from the German occupation during World War II on May 4 and 5 and the fact that 2019 marks 80 years since the start of World War II in 1939, I am writing a series on how the Dutch got sucked into the war, and how they fought and resisted the Nazi occupation. In this third part, we will explore how the Dutch resisted the Nazi rule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other posts in the series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"LqvrhV8mAf\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-de-slag-bij-mill\/\">Dutch Resistance in World War II &#8211; Part 1: De Slag bij Mill<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Dutch Resistance in World War II &#8211; Part 1: De Slag bij Mill&#8221; &#8212; Dutch Language Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-de-slag-bij-mill\/embed\/#?secret=dYtHle92yf#?secret=LqvrhV8mAf\" data-secret=\"LqvrhV8mAf\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"RVN7Vr1xFD\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-2-rotterdam\/\">The Dutch Resistance in World War II &#8211; Part 2: Rotterdam<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;The Dutch Resistance in World War II &#8211; Part 2: Rotterdam&#8221; &#8212; Dutch Language Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-2-rotterdam\/embed\/#?secret=2YtvqmrVCR#?secret=RVN7Vr1xFD\" data-secret=\"RVN7Vr1xFD\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"NeGFgaoNfT\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-4-de-engelandvaarders\/\">The Dutch Resistance in World War II \u2013 Part 4: De Engelandvaarders<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;The Dutch Resistance in World War II \u2013 Part 4: De Engelandvaarders&#8221; &#8212; Dutch Language Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-4-de-engelandvaarders\/embed\/#?secret=A2hFHMd2CJ#?secret=NeGFgaoNfT\" data-secret=\"NeGFgaoNfT\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is <em>H<\/em><em>et Verzet<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_6059\" style=\"width: 918px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nederlands_verzet_in_de_Tweede_Wereldoorlog#\/media\/File:Verzetsgroep_Dalfsen-Ommen-Lemelerveld.png\" aria-label=\"Resistance Group Netherlands Dalfsen Ommen\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6059\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6059\"  alt=\"\" width=\"908\" height=\"586\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/Resistance-Group-Netherlands-Dalfsen-Ommen.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/Resistance-Group-Netherlands-Dalfsen-Ommen.png 908w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/Resistance-Group-Netherlands-Dalfsen-Ommen-350x226.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/Resistance-Group-Netherlands-Dalfsen-Ommen-768x496.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 908px) 100vw, 908px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6059\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A local verzetsgroep (resistance group) (Image by Stefanhendriks1989 at Commons.wikimedia.org, CC0 public domain)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After the <i>capitulatie <\/i>(capitulation) of the Netherlands, many people did not want to give up that easily. Some actively collaborated with the Nazis, an act known as\u00a0<em>collaboratie<\/em> (collaboration). Others simply tried to make the best of the new situation without resisting or helping it actively, while others actively resisted it. This last group would become known as<em> het Verzet\u00a0<\/em>(&#8220;The Resistance&#8221;). While this sounds like one coherent, large group, it really was not. In fact, the question that should first be asked is:\u00a0<em>wat is verzet\u00a0<\/em>(what is resistance?)<\/p>\n<p><em>Geschiedschrijver\u00a0<\/em>(historian) Loe de Jong, who wrote a seminal series on the Netherlands during World War II, defines\u00a0<em>verzet\u00a0<\/em>as follows: &#8220;<em>Verzet was steeds verzet tegen de bezetter: elk handelen waarmee men trachtte te verhinderen dat deze de doeleinden verwezenlijkte die hij zich gesteld had.<\/em>&#8221; (Resistance was always resistance against the occupier: Every action with which one intended to prevent that the occupier would realize the objectives he had set.) These <i>doeleinden <\/i>were, in particular:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>To make the Netherlands a\u00a0<em>nationaal-socialistische staat\u00a0<\/em>(national-socialist state)<\/li>\n<li>To use the Dutch\u00a0<em>economisch potentiaal\u00a0<\/em>(economic potential), in particular for the\u00a0<em>oorlogsvoering\u00a0<\/em>(war effort), or simply\u00a0<em>exploitatie\u00a0<\/em>(exploitation)<\/li>\n<li>To deport hundreds of thousands of Dutch\u00a0<em>staatsburgers\u00a0<\/em>(citizens), in particular the\u00a0<em>Joden\u00a0<\/em>(jews) to concentration and extermination camps, or simply\u00a0<em>deportatie\u00a0<\/em>(deportation)<\/li>\n<li>To prevent any\u00a0<em>steun\u00a0<\/em>(support) for\u00a0<em>vijanden\u00a0<\/em>(enemies) or any actions against the three\u00a0<em>doeleinden\u00a0<\/em>above.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>With this broad definition, many acts were considered\u00a0<em>verzet<\/em>. Something seemingly harmless like wearing an <em>anjer<\/em> (carnation) on June 29, 1940 &#8211; the <em>verjaardag\u00a0<\/em>(birthday) of Prince Bernard, whose favorite flower was the\u00a0<em>anjer<\/em>, was already considered\u00a0<em>verzet<\/em>. Why? After the Germans took over, the <em>k<\/em><em>oningin\u00a0<\/em>(queen) fled to England. The\u00a0<em>monarchie\u00a0<\/em>(monarchy) was removed when the Nazi rule took over. So showing allegiance to that\u00a0<em>monarchie\u00a0<\/em>meant going against the first\u00a0<em>doeleind<\/em>e of making the Netherlands a\u00a0<em>nationaal-socialistische staat<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Of course\u00a0<em>verzet\u00a0<\/em>would also go further, like giving a place to <em>onderduiken\u00a0<\/em>(hide) to Jews or other <em>vervolgden\u00a0<\/em>(prosecuted) under the Nazi regime. Or much further, like executing Nazi officers or attempting to assassinate high-ranking officials. Many\u00a0<em>verzetsstrijders <\/em>(resistance fighters) were much more <em>terughoudend <\/em>(reluctant) to do these things, because the repercussions were grave. If you gave\u00a0a roof to a <em>vervolgde<\/em>, they could also take you away or burn down your house. After an (attempted) assassination, many more regular Dutch people would get murdered.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the\u00a0<em>oorlog\u00a0<\/em>(war), there were about 45,000\u00a0<em>leden\u00a0<\/em>(members) of different\u00a0<em>verzetsgroepen\u00a0<\/em>&#8211; half a percentage of the Dutch population at the time. The amount of people that helped out, or only did small deeds of\u00a0<em>verzet\u00a0<\/em>is much higher of course.<\/p>\n<h2><em><strong>Radio Oranje\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>and other news<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Radio Oranje, eerste uitzending 28 juli 1940\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4Vm2TQqqPfQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One way that the Nazis tried to reach their\u00a0<em>doeleinden\u00a0<\/em>was by censorship of the media. To resist this, many illegal channels were created to still keep people informed. One of the most famous was <em>Radio Oranje.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On July 28, 1940, two and a half months after the Dutch capitulation, the English BBC premiered a special <em>kwartier\u00a0<\/em>(quarter-hour) for\u00a0<em>Radio Oranje<\/em>, a new radio program for the Dutch to speak to its population in the Netherlands. <em>K<\/em><em>oningin\u00a0<\/em>Wilhelmina opened this Dutch-speaking program, where she said the following:<\/p>\n<p><em>Ruw geweld is niet in staat een volk zijn overtuiging te ontnemen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(Raw violence is not able to deprive a people of its convictions.)<\/p>\n<p><em>Nederland zal den strijd volhouden, zo lang tot voor ons een vrije en gelukkige toekomst opdaagt.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(The Netherlands will continue the fight until a free and happy future appears for us.)<\/p>\n<p><em>Radio Oranje\u00a0<\/em>was\u00a0<em>uitgezonden\u00a0<\/em>(broadcast) every day at 9 pm Dutch time. It would present Dutch news, warnings about attacks and even serve to pass on coded messages.<\/p>\n<p>Even though Wilhelmina&#8217;s flight to England was seen by some as an act of cowardice, even treason, this was a clear sign that she was on the side of Dutch\u00a0<em>verzet<\/em>, against the Nazis. A lot of people listened it, but the actual effectiveness of the program is hard to measure. However, it definitely helped to <em>steek de Nederlanders een hart onder de riem <\/em>(&#8220;stick the Dutch a heart under the belt&#8221; &#8211; expression meaning to support, motivate, encourage).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the Nazis forbade to listen to\u00a0<em>Radio Oranje\u00a0<\/em>and even installed\u00a0<em>stoorzenders\u00a0<\/em>(jammers). Even owning radio receivers was forbidden at some point. But the Dutch often just hid their radio away.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6065\" style=\"width: 486px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Voorpagina_Vrij_Nederland_31_augustus_1940.jpg\" aria-label=\"Vrij Nederland Eerste Oplage\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6065\"  alt=\"\" width=\"476\" height=\"726\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage.jpg 476w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage-229x350.jpg 229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 476px) 100vw, 476px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6065\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The front page of the first <em>oplage<\/em> of Vrij Nederland of August 31, 1940. (Image by Hannolans at Commons.wikimedia.org under public domain)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Radio Oranje\u00a0<\/em>was not the only way to spread Dutch news. More than 1300 illegal so-called\u00a0<em>verzets<\/em><em>kranten\u00a0<\/em>(resistance newspapers) were produced by the end of the war. <em>Kranten\u00a0<\/em>like\u00a0<em>Het Parool\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Vrij Nederland\u00a0<\/em>grew very quickly, and exist to this day as national\u00a0<em>kranten<\/em>. They had <em>oplages\u00a0<\/em>(prints) of a few hundred to hundreds of thousands every month.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Effectiveness of <em>v<\/em><em>erzet<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jong in Oorlog - Verraad of verzet in de oorlog\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vUZ_gRsmfHg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>How effective were all these actions? Did they really help resist the Nazi rule, save lives, and help end the\u00a0<em>oorlog<\/em>? Hard to say exactly, but it is likely. The Dutch actually helped more than 350,000 people\u00a0<em>onderduiken<\/em>, which is one of the highest numbers in Europe. The Nazis also never really succeeded in converting the Netherlands into a <em>nationaal-socialistische staat<\/em>. We will never know if this would have happened had the\u00a0<em>oorlog\u00a0<\/em>lasted longer, but the\u00a0<em>verzet\u00a0<\/em>definitely played an important role in resisting the Nazis.<\/p>\n<p>However, not all Dutch that resisted wanted to do it from within the Netherlands. They wanted to go further and fight within an army. And those brave Dutch people we will take a look at next time.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alletop10lijstjes.nl\/top-10-nederlandse-oorlogsfilms\/\"><em><strong>Het verzet<\/strong><\/em><strong> in modern culture<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zwartboek (trailer) 2006\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7APEb3ngkpk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Het verzet\u00a0<\/em>makes for a good story, telling of the <em>heldhaftige\u00a0<\/em>(heroic) and\u00a0<em>verschrikkelijke\u00a0<\/em>(horrible) of the\u00a0<em>oorlog<\/em>. There are many Dutch movies that tell stories, some based on reality, of\u00a0<em>verzetsstrijders<\/em>. Recent examples are\u00a0<em>Oorlogsgeheimen<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Zwart Boek\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>De Tweeling<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think of the Dutch verzet? Was there <em>verzet <\/em>in your country against the Nazis? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"229\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage-229x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage-229x350.jpg 229w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/05\/vrij-nederland-eerste-oplage.jpg 476w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><p>In the aftermath of the dodenherdenking\u00a0and the celebration of the bevrijding\u00a0of the Netherlands from the German occupation during World War II on May 4 and 5 and the fact that 2019 marks 80 years since the start of World War II in 1939, I am writing a series on how the Dutch got sucked into&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii-part-3-het-verzet\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":6065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[60713,3590,27711],"tags":[178,444988,7285,3664],"class_list":["post-6052","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-2","category-dutch-language","category-dutch-vocabulary-2","tag-history","tag-resistance","tag-war","tag-world-war-ii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6052"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6104,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052\/revisions\/6104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}