Politics of the Netherlands
Political parties
Elections
The National Socialist Dutch Workers Party (Dutch Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiderspartij or NSNAP ) was a minor Dutch national socialist party founded in 1931 and led by Ernst Herman van Rappard. Seeking to copy the fascism of others, notably Adolf Hitler, the group failed to achieve success and was accused by rivals such as the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) and the General Dutch Fascist League of being too moderate for a fascist movement.
The group looked to the National Socialist German Workers Party for its inspiration, setting up its own Storm Trooper battalion in imitation of the Sturmabteilung and its own Holland Youth like the Hitler Youth, as well as copying the black swastika in a white circle on a red background as its emblem. Unlike its far right counterparts, who claimed to endorse Dutch patriotism, the NSNAP sought full incorporation of the Netherlands into the Third Reich, a policy which won it little support as the 998 votes which the party captured in the 1937 election demonstrated. Unlike the NSB, the NSNAP focused on anti-semitism, and denounced the NSB as a Jewish-dominated, pseudo-National Socialist organisation.
Van Rappard was unable to hold the party together and before long three separate group were claiming the NSNAP name, one under Major Cornelis Jacobus Aart Kruyt and the other under Albert van Waterland (who had dropped his real surname of de Joode as it meant 'the Jew'). This factionalism in what was already a small party ensured that Alfred Rosenberg, who had considered the possibility of supporting the group with German money, lost interest and so the three NSNAPs faded from significance.
The NSNAP did not gain from the German invasion of 1940 as the German authorities chose Anton Mussert of the rival NSB as their main beneficiary and Major Kruyt's version of the party merged into Mussert's movement in late 1940. The NSNAP finally disappeared altogether on December 14, 1941 when Arthur Seyss-Inquart banned all parties except the NSB. With van Rappard on active service with the Waffen-SS most of the remaining NSNAP members accepted the decision and switched their support to Mussert.
Famous quotes containing the words national, socialist, dutch, workers and/or party:
“In our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“One is a socialist because one used to be one, no longer going to demonstrations, attending meetings, sending in one’s dues, in short, without paying.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)
“‘Tis probable Religion after this
Came next in order; which they could not miss.
How could the Dutch but be converted, when
The Apostles were so many fishermen?
Besides the waters of themselves did rise,
And, as their land, so them did re-baptize.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“The industrial world would be a more peaceful place if workers were called in as collaborators in the process of establishing standards and defining shop practices, matters which surely affect their interests and well-being fully as much as they affect those of employers and consumers.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Yesterday the Electoral Commission decided not to go behind the papers filed with the Vice-President in the case of Florida.... I read the arguments in the Congressional Record and can’t see how lawyers can differ on the question. But the decision is by a strictly party vote—eight Republicans against seven Democrats! It shows the strength of party ties.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)