Before I begin, this is not an excuse for the Dutch SS, none of my family were part of it nor were they members of the NSB. It is the result of my attempt to try to understand why so many Dutchmen joined the SS.
As a 70 year old Dutch-Canadian, I decided late in life to learn more about the experience of Canadian soldiers in WWII and my parents teenage experience in occupied Netherlands. I found various YouTube channels both in English and Dutch that provide good film footage, story-lines and personal accounts and in the course of that was shocked to learn how many Dutch were part of the NSB, i.e. Dutch Nazis.
In the early 1900's working people in the Netherlands, and most of the world, had no labour laws nor any social security and often worked in horrible conditions. My oma had been an identured child working for Van Houten chocolate factory. This resuted in various socialist political movents including attempts to unionize as well as various flavours of communism and national socialism. These latter two were acrimonious polar opposites. And that statement is the lead-in to answering the question "why did Dutchmen volunteer to join the SS?"
The answer for many, most or all was to 'go to Russia to destroy the root of communism". At that moment there probably was no thought that one day they would be betraying their own Nederland by being placed in the position of fighting against the Allies during Market Garden.
As a 70 year old Dutch-Canadian, I decided late in life to learn more about the experience of Canadian soldiers in WWII and my parents teenage experience in occupied Netherlands. I found various YouTube channels both in English and Dutch that provide good film footage, story-lines and personal accounts and in the course of that was shocked to learn how many Dutch were part of the NSB, i.e. Dutch Nazis.
In the early 1900's working people in the Netherlands, and most of the world, had no labour laws nor any social security and often worked in horrible conditions. My oma had been an identured child working for Van Houten chocolate factory. This resuted in various socialist political movents including attempts to unionize as well as various flavours of communism and national socialism. These latter two were acrimonious polar opposites. And that statement is the lead-in to answering the question "why did Dutchmen volunteer to join the SS?"
The answer for many, most or all was to 'go to Russia to destroy the root of communism". At that moment there probably was no thought that one day they would be betraying their own Nederland by being placed in the position of fighting against the Allies during Market Garden.
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