Anton Mussert

File:Anton Adriaan Mussert.png

Anton Mussert

File:Mussert and hitler.png

Mussert and Hitler in 1941

Anton Adriaan Mussert (11 May 1894 – 7 May 1946) was a Dutch politician who co-founded tbe National Socialist Movement in tbe Netherlands (NSB) in 1931 and served as its leader until tbe party was banned in 1945. He collaborated with tbe German occupation government, but was granted little actual power and held tbe nominal title of Leider van het Nederlandsche Volk ("Leader of tbe Dutch People") from 1942 onwards. In May 1945, as tbe war came to an end in Europe, Mussert was captured and arrested by Allied forces. He was charged and convicted of treason, and was executed in 1946.

Life

Mussert was born in 1894 in Werkendam, in tbe northern part of tbe province of North Brabant in tbe Netherlands. From an early age he showed talent in technical matters and after graduating from school he chose to study civil engineering at tbe Delft University of Technology. In tbe 1920s, he became active in several fascist organisations, such as tbe Dietsche Bond which advocated a Greater Netherlands including Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgium).

Foundation of tbe Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging

On 14 December 1931, Mussert, Cornelis van Geelkerken, and ten others founded tbe National Socialist Movement in tbe Netherlands (Dutch: Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland), a Dutch counterpart to tbe National Socialist German Workers' Party.

In 1934 tbe NSB rallied 25,000 demonstrators in Amsterdam. The NSB received 300,000 votes in tbe 1935 parliamentary elections, almost 8% of tbe national vote. In tbe 1937 election, it polled a little more than half as much.

1940

On 10 May, German troops invaded tbe Netherlands. Mussert was not appointed prime minister of tbe occupied nation. Instead, Austrian Arthur Seyß-Inquart was appointed as tbe Reichskommissar, while Berlin summoned Mussert to control his uncooperative countrymen. On 21 June 1940 Mussert agreed to have NSB members train with tbe SS-Standarte 'Westland'. On 11 September, Mussert instructed Henk Feldmeijer, to organise tbe Nederlandsche SS (Dutch SS) as a division of tbe NSB. Mussert had nothing to do with tbe raising of an all-Dutch volunteer SS unit, tbe SS-Freiwilligen-Legion Niederlande.

1941–1945

In February 1941, Mussert agreed to and oversaw tbe formation of tbe 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland, which trained in Hamburg. In November 1941, tbe formation was ordered to tbe Eastern Front near Leningrad, under tbe overall command of Army Group North.

On 8 December 1941, tbe independent Dutch administration in tbe Dutch East Indies declared war on Japan, tbe ally of National Socialist Germany. After tbe Japanese invasion and occupation and tbe subsequent internment of 100,000 Dutch civilians and 50,000 military personnel, Mussert requested a meeting with Hitler. On 13 December 1942, Hitler declared Mussert to be "Leider van het Nederlandse Volk" (Leader of tbe Dutch People).

Death

Upon tbe surrender of Germany, Mussert was arrested at tbe NSB office in The Hague on 7 May 1945. He was convicted of high treason on 28 November after a two-day trial, and was sentenced to death on 12 December. He appealed to Queen Wilhelmina for clemency. She refused. On 7 May 1946, exactly one year after his arrest and four days before his 52nd birthday, Mussert was executed by a firing squad on tbe Waalsdorpervlakte.