Be Brave, Become Stormer

An Analysis of the Experiences of the Members of the Dutch Nationale Jeugdstorm during

the Period of German Occupation, 1940-1945

Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) Master History: Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2016-2018

Carmen Moll Mentor: Peter van Dam

Second Reader: Jouke Turpijn 1 July, 2018

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Content

Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………... 3

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………... 4

1.1 Historiography: The Dichotomy between Right and Wrong…………………….. 5

1.2 The Nationale Jeugdstorm……………………………………………………….. 9

1.3 Research Methods and Methodological Considerations………………………… 16

1.4 Plan of the Analysis……………………………………………………………... 18

2. The Ideological Foundations of the Nationale Jeugdstorm………………………………. 20

2.1 1934-1940: The A-political Character of the Nationale Jeugdstorm……………. 23

2.2 10 May 1940: The Invasion of the Nazis………………………………………... 24

2.3 The Ideological Commitment of the Jeugdstormer……………………………… 30

3. The Communal Identity and Social Relations of the Jeugdstormers……………………... 36

3.1 Social Interaction in Dutch Society: Anti-National Socialist Sentiment………... 37

3.2 Connecting Ideology to Identity: The Formation of a Community…………..… 40

3.3 The Communal Experience of Membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm……… 44

3.4 The Social Relations of the Jeugdstormers: Interaction or Isolation?.................... 49

4. The Willingness to use Force within the Jeugdstorm Community……………………….. 56

4.1 Some Sort of Military Scouting: Militarization of the Jeugdstorm……………… 58

4.2 Feelings of Enmity within the Jeugdstorm Community………………………… 62

4.3 Enmity in Practice: Were Stormers Willing to Use Violence?.............................. 65

5. Conclusion: The Jeugdstorm as a Community of Experience……………………………. 72

6. Bibliografie...……………………………………………………………………………... 80

7. Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… 85

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Abbreviations

AJC Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale

NIOD Nederlands Instituut Oorlog Documentatie

NIVO Nederlandsche Inrichting voor Volkse Opvoeding

NJS Nationale Jeugdstorm

NJV Nederlandsch Jonglings Verbond

NSB Nationaal Socialistische Beweging

NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

NPV Nederlandsche Padvinders Vereniging

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1. Introduction

On the 14th of December, 1931, the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging (NSB) was called into

existence at a founders’ meeting in Utrecht. The first and second men within the party were

respectively, Anton Adriaan Mussert (1894-1946) and Cornelis van Geelkerken (1901-1976).

In the years that followed, the men would attempt to bring on a large-scale mobilization of the

Dutch people, who were in the grip of a devastating financial crisis that terrorized the larger

part of Europe. According to NSB’s fascist ideology, the ideal society would be based on a

strongly connected national community (saamhorige volksgemeenschap) in which the

individual would be subordinated to the collective. With Mussert as the ultimate leader, the

NSB strove to restore the glory of the Dutch collective. In its early years the NSB rapidly

gained popularity among (mainly) middleclass citizens, who were attracted to Mussert’s

powerful rhetorics. In addition, the party’s political constituency was strengthened by

relatively young people who were attracted to the strong and populistic course of the NSB.

Due to the fact that the NSB hadn’t established a minimum age for the membership

application to the party during the first few years of its existence, it was possible for the

younger generation to join the so-called “black-shirts”. Within three years, the NSB counted

thirteen youth sections nationwide, varying from sport groups to political youth departments.

Together these younglings were good for one tenth of the total number of members in 1933.1

In 1934 Mussert made the decision to formally organize the youth of the party, by

founding an independent youth section under the leadership of ‘Kees’ van Geelkerken. The

official instruction was given on the 1st of May, on a so called Landdag – a member meeting

of the NSB – at the Rai in Amsterdam. Van Geelkerken had been known not to interfere in

1 Bart Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland: De Radicalisering van de Nationale Jeugdstorm (1934-1945),” Masterthesis, Radboud Universiteit, 1988, 2–10.

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the ideological debates that Mussert initiated and instead focused his attention on the

pragmatic organization of the material and support the movement needed.2 Mussert looked at

him as the ideal future leader of the youth section the party needed so bad. Other youth

organizations in the Netherlands were judged to be either too politically coloured, like the

Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale (AJC), or too internationally oriented, like the Nederlandsche

Padvinders Vereniging (NPV). The national socialistic youth movement wouldn’t be the

umpteenth pillar of the verzuilde society, but would strive to unite the entire Dutch youth,

independently of political preferences. Therefore, the main goal of the youth organisation

would be the education of a nation loving future Dutch generation.3 The precise date on which

the organization was installed is subject to historical debate. However, it is clear that the first

division, the group Velp, started functioning on June 2nd, 1934. The official installation of this

division took place months later on October 3rd. It took until the 27th of September, for the

first registration forms to be filled out.4 Irrespective the precise founders date, 1934 had thus

brought the Netherlands a new youth organisation and the Nationale Jeugdstorm (NJS) was

born.5 In this research the lives and thoughts of the Jeugdstormers who joined the

organization in the years that followed will be explored in order to gain insight in the

experience of Jeugdstorm membership.

1.1. Historiography: The dichotomy between Right and Wrong

When analyzing the to the NSB connected organizations within Dutch society, the connection

to the post-war debate on “right” and “wrong” is easily made. The Dutch Historian Lou de

Jong wrote one of the most influential surveys on the Netherlands during the German

2 Bart van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken: De Rechterhand van Mussert (Utrecht/Antwerpen: Veen Uitgevers, 1990), 25–29. 3 Renee Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm: De Noodlottige Belangenstrijd Om de Jeugd, 1934-1945,” Masterthesis, Erasmusuniversiteit Rotterdam, 1988, 33–34. 4 Idem, 36–38. 5 Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland,” 9.

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occupation named Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1969-1994).

As a Dutch Jew born in 1914 De Jong himself had experienced the threat the Germans had

posed to the Dutch Jewish population and had fled the low countries. Upon his return after the

war, De Jong became head of the Nederlands Instituut Oorlogs Documentatie (NIOD) for

which he started working on the now still highly valued historical analysis. With fourteen

parts and twenty-nine individual books – of which twelve parts are written by De Jong

himself – this comprehensive historical overview provides its readers with an extensive

history on the totality of the Second World War in the Netherlands. The leading themes in his

version of events are oppression, collaboration and resistance. Be it because of the close

proximity of the Second World War or be it because of his personal experiences and great

losses as a result of the Holocaust, De Jong’s survey leaves little room for doubt: during the

war, an individual was either “right” or “wrong”, either for or against the Netherlands, either a

resistance fighter or an NSB’er.6

In the years after the war both historians and the general public tended to accept the

strict distinctions between those who were deemed “right” and those who were deemed

“wrong” in times of the Nazi-empire. The “right” people had fought and resisted the German

occupiers and their national socialistic ideology, while the “wrong” people had aligned

themselves with the Nazis during the years of war.7 In 1983, the Dutch Historian J.C.H. Blom

was one of the first to mention the lack of nuance in the Dutch Holocaust historiography. In

his dissertation he asked the question whether, now De Jong’s extensive history on the

Second World War was almost finished, there would be any need for further research on

account of the occupational period of the Netherlands. He concluded that this would depend

on the ability and willingness of academics to break free of the dominant political moral

question of “right” and “wrong” which was connected to division between collaboration and

6 J. C. H. Blom, In de Ban van Goed en Fout (Amsterdam: Boom, 2007), 15. 7 Ismee Tames, “Children of Dutch Nazi Collaborators,” European Review of History 22, no. 2 (2015): 223.

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resistance.8 To accomplish this change of discourse, Blom proposed three new courses for

academic research: 1) studies on the mood among the Dutch population during the years of

German occupation; 2) international comparisons between the Netherlands and other

countries over de course of the Second World War; and 3) studies based on a more broad

temporal perspective.9 Despite the difficulty of the tasks ahead, Blom hopefully concluded

that these new perspectives would break through the stigma of “right” versus “wrong”.10

Since Blom’s dissertation, a vast number of publications appeared which indeed

provided perspectives alternative to that of De Jong’s Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de

Tweede Wereldoorlog. Research on the prosecution of the Dutch Jews, the interplay between

the occupational and domestic forces during the occupation, the mood among the Dutch

population under the Nazis, Dutch war economics and food supplies and problems during the

post-war period have appeared as main themes for academic research. Within these works the

stereotypes of both “right” and “wrong” groups within Dutch society have been nuanced. One

of the most prominent works has been the book Grijs Verleden: Nederland en de Tweede

Wereld Oorlog (2001) of the Dutch Historian Chris van der Heijden. He finds that the

duration and intensity of the war spurred most people to leave behind their pre-war belief

systems and worldviews. Van der Heijden recognizes a pattern of adaptation to an

increasingly escalating German dominance and terror. As a result, the strict line between

collaboration and resistance – between black and white – faded into grey (grijs).11

Despite these changes in discourse, there are several traditional historical narratives on

the Second World War which historians have just recently started to reanalyze. The picture of

the ‘isolated’ and ‘opportunistic’ small men, who joined the NSB due to his alienated position

8 Blom, In de Ban van Goed en Fout, 14. 9 Idem, 95. 10 Idem, 25. 11Chris van der Heijden, Grijs Verleden: Nederland in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Uitgeverij Contact, 2008).

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in society, that was first established in the works of Lou de Jong and A.A. de Jonge, has

generally not been questioned in Holocaust historiography.12 Only recently two Dutch

Historians, Josje Damsma and Erik Schumacher, have opened the debate on this fixed image

of the Dutch NSB members. In their research on ‘De Strijd om Amsterdam’ (or: The Battle of

Amsterdam), the researchers have tried to answer the question to what extent the dominant

narrative on NSB’ers is tenable when it is analyzed on a smaller scale. They’ve looked into

the behavior of the Amsterdam NSB’ers themselves and the opinions and judgements that

were given about them by their social environment. The analysis shows a far more varied

picture of the associations between NSB’ers and non-members, than the one dominant in the

historiography. The societal divisions based on NSB membership were far less cutting than

generally assumed. When individuals got to know each other, the social isolation of NSB’ers

tended to be partially lifted. Therefore, Damsma and Schumacher propose the use of the term

“interaction” instead of isolation, as a basic concept for looking into the NSB. In contrast to

isolation which a closed concept is, the question of interaction offers a more open perspective

to look into the relations between members and non-members over the course of the war.13

Damsma and Schumacher argue that research at the NSB should consider that the

movement was both the carrier of Dutch fascism and the representation of a category of

Dutchmen in general. The idea that the fanatical NSB members interacted with the rest of

society, diverged from the post-war Dutch identity, which was based on a moderate national

character. Within this narrative, the Netherlands were perceived to be immune to the spirit of

revolution and it thus offered no breeding ground for communism or national socialism. As

for wartime historiography, the emphasis was laid on the heroes of the national resistance.

‘Dutch fascism’, as seen in the NSB-movement was regarded a contradictio in terminis. To

12 A.A. de Jonge, Het Nationaal-Socialisme in Nederland. Voorgeschiedenis, Ontstaan en Ontwikkeling (Den Haag: Kruseman, 1968) 167. 13 Josje Damsma and Erik Schumacher, “De Strijd Om Amsterdam: Een Nieuwe Benadering in het Onderzoek naar de NSB,” FGw: Instituut Voor Cultuur Geschiedenis (2009) 18.

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improve the research on the NSB, and NSB related organizations like the NJS, researchers

should deviate from the dominant picture and to some extent, break with the Dutch national

identity. As Damsma and Schumacher state: ‘Especially, the place of Dutch collaborators and

fascists within the Dutch society is what is interesting, because this not only teaches us about

the NSB’ers themselves, but also over the whole of the Netherlands during the period of

German occupation.’14

While academic research has to some extent benefitted from the more nuanced

interpretation of ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’, there is still progress to be made in creation of an

historically neutral picture on the NSB and its members. Collective history on account of

collaboration is still very-much colored by the need for an acceptable self-image on the

thoughts and actions of the Dutch population during the Second World war. In turn,

academical researchers have just recently started to discover some new perspectives and

concepts by which the NSB and its sister organizations can be analyzed in a more nuanced

way. Years after the Second World War came to an end, the Netherlands are thus still dealing

with historic debates on those “deemed wrong”. New historical analysis of these morally

difficult subjects can contribute to more critical reflection of the Dutch collective identity and

incorporate the thoughts and actions of NSB’ers and NJS’ers as an inherent part of the Dutch

society in the twentieth century.

1.2.The Nationale Jeugdstorm

One of the groups within Dutch society who, despite their categorization as “wrong”, has

received little attention during the change of discourse are the children of the Nationale

Jeugdstorm. The age of Jeugdstormers, when entering the NJS, generally varied from 8 to 18.

In addition, adult kader-members were installed to lead the local Jeugdstorm troepen. While

14 Damsma and Schumacher, “De Strijd om Amsterdam,” 20. From this point forward all citations will be translated from Dutch in Englisch.

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the organization remained relatively marginal during the pre-war period with around 2.000

members, it counted over 12.000 members at its height in 1942 and thus really established

itself in the Dutch war society. The children – often the offspring of NSB parents – were

united by education and group exercises under the umbrella of national socialistic ideology.15

In contrast to many of the other Dutch youth organizations, the NJS remained active until the

end of the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1945. In the period after the war, the

children of the NJS were labeled ‘politically contaminated’ and largely put into re-educational

camps and boarding schools in order to create a possibility to reintegrate them into Dutch

society.16 Others were simply left to the grace of family members, or were put in orphanages,

while their NSB parents served long-term imprisonment before trial.17

The difference between the amount of research that has been conducted on account of

the NSB and the NJS is both outstanding and unexpected. Whereas the NSB itself has

received a lot of attention over the past few decades, their youth section has only scarcely

been analyzed. Even De Jong only mentions the NJS once over the course of his historical

analysis.18 The fact that the Jeugdstorm is an underexplored topic, doesn’t account for a lack

of deployment in the Dutch and German war apparatus. Certainly, during the last years of the

Second World War, the outflow of NJS members to (semi)military units substantially

increased. Both the NSB and NJS provided the Germans with Dutch volunteers for the

Waffen-SS, which took part in the genocidal practices in the East.19 In this, both the NSB and

the NJS are one of the view societal groups that connect the Netherlands to the Holocaust in

15 “Jeugdstorm,” Verzets Museum Amsterdam, accessed April 14, 2017, https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/jongeren/nsb/nsb,jeugdstorm. 16 Tames, “Children of Dutch Nazi Collaborators,” 230. 17 Dick Kampman, De NSB En de NSB’ers: Kennisonrechtvaardiging en Stereotypering (Groningen: VU University Press, 2015), 9–10. 18 Lou de Jong, Het Koninkrijk Der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (NIOD, 1969-1994), 232, http://loe.niod.knaw.nl/grijswaarden/De-Jong_Koninkrijk_deel-01_voorspel_zw.pdf. 19 Evertjan Roekel, Jongens van Nederland: Nederlandse Vrijwilligers in de Waffen-SS (Antwerpen: Spectrum, 2011), Chapter 2.

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general.20 Therefore, looking into the NJS, its members and their lives can provide a unique

perspective on how in the Netherlands the youth was formed to the national socialistic model.

Constructing a history of mentality of the young NJS members will provide a new and

valuable insight in the Germanisation of Dutch society during the years of German

occupation. Thus far, most academic research on account of Foute Kinderen has concentrated

on the rehabilitation and traumatic post-war experiences of the offspring of former parents.

Among others, Bettina Drion, Chris van der Heijden, and Ismee Tames, have written about

the memories and struggles of the children of Dutch NSB’ers.21 All these publications have

one important thing in common: their research subject is relatively broad in the sense that

they all chose to analyze all children of NSB parents and not just those connected to certain

associations like the NJS. The focus is either on the memories or on post-war experiences of

the totality of Foute Kinderen.

In contrast, this research will focus solely on the members of the Nationale Jeugdstorm

during the years of German occupation. The diaries of seven Dutch Jeugdstormers kept by the

NIOD will be regarded the “way in” on a search to the history of mentalities. In addition,

seven diaries of kader-members, family members and one Jeugdstorm battalion commandant,

will be used for further information. As common for times of crisis, the Second World War

saw an increase in the number of diaries kept by both adults and children.22 After the war,

both historians and the general public have worked together to gather and archive these

interesting personal accounts of the war in the NIOD. Whereas the diaries were initially only

picked up by the general public (think of the Anne Frank Diary, which until very recently did

20 Kampman, De NSB En NSB’ers, 20. 21 Bettina Drion and Maaike Molhuysen, Scherven: Nazaten van Foute Nederlanders over Hun Familieverleden (Baarn: Marmer, 2013). Chris van der Heijden, Kinderen van Foute Ouders: Hun Verhaal (Amsterdam: Atlas Contact, 2014). Ismee Tames, Besmette jeugd: de kinderen van NSB’ers na de oorlog (Amsterdam: Balans, 2009). 22 Rudolf Dekker, “Jacques Presser’s Heritage: Egodocuments in the Study of History,” Memoria y Civilización 5 (2002): 35.

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not have a scholarly edition), it is now increasingly accepted among historians to use these

interesting sources for academic research, provided that research is based on an appropriate

framework dealing with the specific character of diary studies. While other sources – like

official NJS documents, correspondence, and post-war interviews with NJS members – will

be used to support the finding, the fourteen diaries will be the main source of information,

since they provide a unique insight in both the personal stories of these children, and specific

culture in which they lived their young lives.23

In the social debates about the Jeugdstormers assumptions on account of guilt, shame

and perpetratorship often dominated general opinion.24 On the one hand the children were

brought up in an extremely fascist environment, full of rhetorics and symbolism aimed at the

exclusion of those who were deemed “outsiders”. On the other hand, the ethics of

condemning a group of children to the category of perpetrator is generally perceived to be

problematic. To what extent can children really be held responsible for their thoughts and

actions, when they are still so depended on the actions and choices of their (often, but not

always) NSB parents? The discrepancy between perpetratorship and being a victim of the

situation asks for a very specific and nuanced analytical toolbox. Since the Jeugdstormers

were mainly in their teenage years, their accountability for their involvement in the

organization can be questioned. However, the term victim of the situation, in this context, is

in no way meant to be equal or comparable to the victimhood of the Jews in sight of the

German enterprise to solve the Jewish Question by means of extermination. At the same time,

the Jeugdstormers and their fascist ideology formed an important building block for the

German occupational forces within the Netherlands. As argued by the Greek fascism-expert

23 Esmeralda Kleinreesink, “Researching ‘The Most Dangerous of All Sources’: Egodocuments,” in Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Military Studies, ed. Joseph Soeters (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), 155. 24 Stephanie Bird et al., Reverberations of Nazi Violence in Germany and Beyond: Disturbing Pasts (London, Oxford, New York, New Dehli, and Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2016), 17.

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Aristotle Kallis, local fascists, like the NJS members, generally actively engaged in the

persecution of the Jews, committed violence against their political opponents and often

volunteered for local police forces and local government functions. As a result, the stormers

can be seen as ‘unique, crucial building blocks of the architecture of genocide in the national

socialistic New Order.’25 While the NJS-members were certainly connected to the local

powerbase for the Nazi government, it is difficult and maybe even unfair to argue that they

bear full responsibility for their role during this period. Yet, notions of guilt and shame often

appear as main themes in the oral history of the children of the NSB.26

In addition to these difficult moral considerations, our own cultural perception further

colors the analysis of the foute children of the NJS. In the dominant Western culture, the

period of childhood is generally depicted as a very specific – almost utopic – life phase, in

which a child needs to be both careless and happy. When a child loses its ‘innocence’ during

this phase, this loss is perceived to be unjust and tragic. This cultural notion tends to influence

the lens through which we perceive the stories of all children: the reader is almost naturally

inclined not to judge a child on its political or moral choices. As the Dutch historian and

political scientist Ismee Tames puts it: ‘The ‘innocence’ automatically turns every evil that

befalls the child into something “unjust”.’27 As a result, the political and historical context in

which these children lived tends to fade to the background and the emotional interpretation of

the NJS members’ life stories gains the upper hand. In light of a more nuanced interpretation

of Jeugdstorm membership, this over-emotionalization of the loss of innocence is also not

feasible and will therefore not be part of this analysis.

The British professor in German History, Mary Fulbrook has formulated some useful

and fitting concepts in her research into guilt and shame among communities of experience,

25 Damsma and Schumacher, “De Strijd Om Amsterdam,” 3. 26 Bird et al., Reverberations of Nazi Violence in Germany and Beyond, 51. 27 Tames, Besmette jeugd, 22.

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connection and identification. Shame, according to Fulbrook, is ‘an emotion directed

primarily towards the self, arising particularly when some aspect of the self is inappropriately

exposed to the gaze of other’. Guilt, in contrast to shame, is not about emotion but about

inappropriate agency, since it ‘relates to an act (or failure to act) towards others, where the

focus is on the effects on the victim.’28 The question of guilt is connected to the character of

the codes that has been transgressed and will be answered differently according to the chosen

perspective of the researcher. In addition, the cultural context influences the way in which

guilt or shame are imposed upon individuals through public processes of blaming and

shaming.29 Following this line of thought, Ismee Tames has argued that the children of the

NSB’ers themselves have propagated the image of the ‘innocent child punished by society’.

The NIOD research program Legacies of Collaboration: The Integration and Exclusion of

Former National-Socialist milieus in the Netherlands after the Second World War contains

oral histories and interviews with some great number children from NSB parents who were

often members of the Jeugdstorm. Tames, has stated that a ‘trump card effect’ appears to be

dominant in all the stories gold by these Nazi children: they all seem to recall incidents of

bullying, exclusion and repeating reminders of their NSB family history.30 However, when

she compared their narratives with those of the people in their social environment a more

nuanced story appeared. Tames thus concludes that ‘what and how people remember is

closely related to how they understand their life stories and what makes sense to them.’31 The

feelings of shame and guilt were perceived to be key factors in being accepted by the post-war

Dutch society and have thus so far been presented as part of the redemptive narrative of the

innocent child.

28 Bird et al., Reverberations of Nazi Violence in Germany and Beyond, 18. 29 Idem, 18. 30 Idem, 57. 31 Idem, 58.

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Over the years a variety of disciplinary frameworks has been used to analyze guilt and

shame and Fulbrook has thus asked herself the question: ‘What then can historians add?’32

She argued that whereas psychologists attempt to expose the inner processes of guilt and

shame, historians are able to analyze the collective character of thoughts and experiences. By

looking at the expression of emotions, dominant public discourses and the communication of

feelings in different historical environments, historical research can explore the historical

phenomenology of guilt and shame. A central concept in the search for the historical

phenomenology is the ‘community of experience’, which she defines as followed:

Communities of experience are those who lived through certain events – ‘defining

experiences’ – that significantly affect the subsequent course of their lives, whether or

not they explicitly engage in ‘memory work’.33

Fulbrook supplements this framework with the concepts of the ‘communities of connection’ –

who did not live through the experiences themselves but are affected by the consequences for

their significant others – and the ‘communities of identifications’, who become personally

invested due to processes of identification.34 In analyzing the diaries and oral histories of the

Dutch Jeugdstormers these categorizations can be seen as a useful tool for academical

research. The children of the NJS should be considered as a community of experience since

their membership to the Jeugdstorm – at least in their own perception – altered the course of

their lives. Their membership therefore was a defining experience. Finding out what precisely

this experience entailed for the period during the war is the central question of this research.

32 Bird et al., Reverberations of Nazi Violence in Germany and Beyond, 17. 33 Idem, 17. 34 Idem, 17.

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1.3. Research Methods and Methodological Considerations

From a methodological point of view, certain aspects will be taken into account. First of all,

diaries exclude direct contact or interaction between research subject and researcher. In this

way the source material is relatively limited. To confine this drawback as much as possible,

the information found in the diaries will be supplemented by information from additional

primary material. Several books like The Nazi Leerling and Onder de Vleugels van de Partij

recorded the experiences of former Jeugdstorm members. In addition, the interviews with

former Jeugdstorm members in the Dutch documentary program Andere Tijden provide

insight in the thoughts and actions of those involved. These sources all have in common that

they were created years after the events themselves. Therefore, both the effects of memory

loss and mental processes of self-justification will have to be taken into account when using

the narratives of these specific stormers. However, as an addition to the main narrative in the

diaries, the interviews hold the potential to further contribute, clarify, and specify the research

findings of this analysis.

A second difficulty in the study of diaries is the uncertainty of the historical truth

narrated by the authors. In contrast to historic sources which are drawn up in a more formal

setting – like official NJS documentation – personal writings can be ‘restricted, biased,

afflicted by emotion, and full of errors’.35 For the children who held a membership to the NJS,

the club and their fellow members would most likely be a substantive part of their social life.

In addition, a large part of the children would have relatives who held ties to the NSB. Both

personal disposition and (un)conscious self-censorship will therefore be kept in mind while

reading the diaries of NJS members.

Third, one could question the representativeness of the authors writings for the general

experience of membership to the NJS. To what extent can fourteen diaries, of which only

35 Kleinreesink, “Researching the Most Dangerous of All Sources,” 156.

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seven are written by Jeugdstormers themselves, account for the experience of almost 12.000

NJS members? This question generally taunts historical research, especially in the case of

Holocaust studies. The opinion on the number of sources needed for sound historical research

differs among historians. Peter Kushner, for example, argued that it is acceptable to work with

a small number of sources when they are looked into by using a maximalist method, in which

the information is embedded in a broader historical context.36 In contrast, Jan Gross has

argued that the information of every singular source should be accepted until there are

persuasive arguments to the contrary.37 Accordingly, historical research would benefit from

an approach in which literally all fragments of information at our disposal are used. A more

nuanced stance was set apart by Omar Bartov, who argued that testimonies can be conflicting,

inaccurate or even mistaken. Nevertheless, he stated that these specific sources hold their

historical value due to the fact that they provide insight in events that would otherwise remain

unknown. He proposed that scholars use testimonies with the same care and ‘suspicion’ as

they would by using other sources. 38 Analyzing these specific sources should be a mix of

critical mass collection on the one hand and using all accounts available in case of limited

sources on the other. In this research I will opt for the latter stance in examining the

testimonies by former Jeugdstorm members. There aren’t many diaries on account of

experiences as members of the NJS, yet, those available will be examined by means of critical

source analysis and supplemented with the narratives from other relevant diaries and the

narratives of books and oral histories of other former Jeugdstorm children. Although the

seven Jeugdstormers only represent a small section of the Dutch Jeugdstorm youth, they are

the only firsthand experiences available for academic research and thus, they are the best, if

36 Peter Kushner, “Holocaust Testimony, Ethics, and the Problem of Representation,” Poetics Today 27 (1999): 275–96. 37 Jan T. Gross, Neighbours: The Destruction of the Jews of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001), 138–42. 38 Omar Bartov, “Setting the Record Straight,” PastForward (Spring 2011): 24–26.

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not only way to analyze this specific piece of war-history. In addition, the degree of similarity

or diversity in the writings of the children can contribute to some understanding of tendencies

among the Jeugdstormers in general.

1.4. Plan of the Analysis

Based on the historiographic context and methodological considerations set apart in the above

section, this research will answer the main question: To what extent did the experience of

membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm influence the lives and social relations of the

members during the years of German occupation, 1940-1945? In order to fully analyze the

experience of membership to the organization, three determinants will be subjects of analysis:

the ideological influence, the social influence and the behavioral influence of NJS

membership.

First, I will answer the question: To what extent were the members of the Nationale

Jeugdstorm influenced by the official NJS ideology? Both official NJS source material – like

official documents and promotion material – and secondary literature, will be used to gain

insight in the ideological foundations of the NJS. The organizational developments will then

be compared with the experiences of membership and the extent to which members were

influenced by the official NJS-ideology, based on a diary analysis.

The second question of this analysis reads: To what extent did membership to the

Nationale Jeugdstorm affect the social relations of the children during the war? In this chapter

the collective character of the NJS will be explored against the background of the Dutch

society during the twentieth century. After this, the complexity of and interplay between the

NJS-collective identity and the identity of individual stormers will be set apart, in order to

establish whether the membership resulted in social isolation or social interaction.

19

Last, I will analyze the behavioral dimension of the experience of Jeugdstorm

membership by answering the question: To what extent were the members of the Nationale

Jeugdstorm willing to use violence during the period of their membership? In this final

chapter the physical and mental preparation for the use of violence will be set apart.

Thereafter, it will be examined whether the experience of membership did result in violent

behavior and violent attitudes, by analyzing the diaries of the Jeugdstorm members.

Throughout the analysis the organizational history of the Nationale Jeugdstorm will be

set next to the experiences of individual Jeugdstorm members. This two-dimensional

approach – in which top-down and bottom-up historical analysis are combined – will provide

a new perspective on the character and consequences of membership to the Nationale

Jeugdstorm.

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2. The Ideological foundations of the Nationale Jeugdstorm

Years after the Second World War, Hoofdstormer Van Geelkerken argued that the NJS in fact

was nothing more than a militarized scouting group.39 This notion seems somewhat modest,

for the Nationale Jeugdstorm was connected to both generic fascism and its most prominent

Dutch representative, the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging. As a third political option,

which was neither right- nor left-oriented, fascism has often been defined based on what it

was not: it was antibourgeois, anti-communistic, anticapitalistic etcetera. The political

conviction was based on the desire to start a ‘new’ society by the power of the people, after a

period of crisis and decay. In this, the interest of the state was valued above that of the

individual. Both national unity and collective action were considered of the utmost

importance. According to fascist ideology the ideal ‘natural order’ suffered by immigration of

‘outsiders’, the lack of patriotism, tendencies of individualism, international oriented

socialism and communism, the loss of moral values, egalitarianism and consumerism. 40

The term fascism refers to the biggest commonalities between the different local,

regional and national variants. German national socialist ideology can be regarded the

outstanding example of generic fascism.41 Hitler’s ideology focused first and foremost on

racial and biological antisemitism, while such considerations were only of secondary

importance to many other fascists. Fascists primarily aimed to establish national unity with a

purified people but didn’t specifically exclude the Jews.42 So, while both aspired the

establishment of a ‘total state’ and bore a tendency to radicalization, fascism characterized

39 David Barnouw, “Wie de Jeugd Heeft, Heeft de Toekomst,” Fibula: Tijdschrift Voor Jeugd En Geschiedenis 31, no. 3 (1990): 7. 40 Willem Huberts, In de Ban van een Beter Verleden: Het Nederlandse Fascisme (1923-1945) (Nijmegen: Uitgeverij Vantilt, 2017), 22. 41 Josje Damsma, “Nazis in the Netherlands: A Social History of National Socialist Collaborators, 1940-1945,” (Dis. Thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2013), 12. 42 Idem, 12.

21

itself as a dynamic movement which canalized its radicalization towards the by leadership

appointed targets, whereas German national socialism internalized radicalization in its most

extreme form.43

In practise, these theoretical boundaries, tended to fade. In the Netherlands, the NSB

had organized Dutch fascists under the leadership of Anton Adriaan Musset starting from the

14th of December, 1931. While the name of the movement inevitably linked the political party

to the similarly named German Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP),

Mussert’s ideology was more fascistic then national socialistic of nature. The original party

program ignored the racial doctrine and the Führerprinzip that were prominent in the

NSDAP. According to Mussert, the specifics of these assumptions were too un-Dutch and

thus better left out in the struggle to the ultimate goal: breaking down the ‘pillarization’ of

Dutch society. The NSB would embody the totality of the Dutch nation by inspiring

collaboration among the people, while eradicating the materialistic individuality that had

gained dominance due to capitalistic and socialistic ideology.44 In the nine years up to the

invasions of the Nazis, the NSB had developed its own fascist ideology and its own

organizational structure, with a total of 10.000 members in 1939 (in this period the party was

already marginalized on a national level).45 So, while Germany and its national socialistic

ideology were a friendly occupying force for the Dutch fascist, the collaboration between the

NSB and the Germans needed compromises, both due to the friction between Dutch

ultranationalist sentiment and German occupation and due to friction between the levels of

importance of racial doctrine in ideological convictions.46

The interplay between fascism, German national socialism and Dutch national

socialism that lay at the base of the ideological fundaments of the Nationale Jeugdstorm can

43 Huberts, In de Ban van een Beter Verleden, 18–38. 44 Van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken, 21–22. 45 Damsma, “Nazis in the Netherlands,” 11–16. 46 Huberts, In de Ban van een Beter Verleden, 52.

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be placed. Both the German national socialists and the Dutch fascists saw themselves as the

vanguard of a newer and younger generation, which would relieve the older generation from

their duties. Consequently, the younger generations would have to be prepared to become

good citizens which valued the national community above their individual needs.47 As early

as 1932, the party program of the NSB concerned itself with the undisciplined and disordered

youth generation in the Netherlands. Accordingly, Dutch children should be raised by the

principles of moral convictions, order, discipline, civil sense, and industriousness, which

would result in a maximum of character, spirit and intelligence of the new generation. From

this moment onwards, emphasis was put on the education of the spirit of the people (de volkse

geest).48 These ideas found expression in the ideology of the Nationale Jeugdstorm.

Official documentation of the Nationale Jeugdstorm provides a unique insight in the

precise outline of the internally debated ideological currents that dominated the organization,

before and during the Second World War. The extent to which these organizational decisions

on account of the ideological teachings really affected the members of the Jeugdstorm is

hereby unclear. Were the children really perceptive of the fascistic foundations of the

organization? Or was NJS membership a merely scouting-like experience for the

Jeugdstormers? In this chapter, the relation between the official NJS ideology and the

ideological perceptiveness of the NJS members will be analysed based by answering the

question: To what extent were the members of the Nationale Jeugdstorm influenced by the

official NJS ideology? By means of an extensive comparison between the organizational

ideology of the Nationale Jeugdstorm and the worldviews of its individual members, an

important element of experience of membership will be uncovered.

47 Robin te Slaa and Edwin Klijn, De NSB: Ontstaan En Opkomst van de Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, 1931-1945 (Amersfoort: Boom, 2009), 512. 48 Henk van Setten, Opvoeding in Volkse Geest: Fascisme in Het Onderwijs 1940-1945 (Bergen: OCTAVO, 1985), 57.

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2.1. 1934-1940 The apolitical character of the Nationale Jeugdstorm

From an ideological perspective, the timeline of the Nationale Jeugdstorm can be split in two

main periods: the pre-war pedagogic period, and the war years of internal ideological conflict.

Between 1934 and 1940 the NJS ideology can be characterized as apolitical and pedagogic.

Since the fact that after the invasion of the German forces, the ideological disputes on the

organizational level were based on the preservation of the pre-war character, it is important to

first focus on the main ideological characteristics of the NJS in the pre-war period.

Between 1934 and 1940, the Nationale Jeugdstorm was, at least on paper, initiated as a

pedagogic organization aimed at tending the Dutch youth. The main activities of NJS were

summer camps, one-day manifests (so-called Velddagen), trainings and propaganda meetings,

walking marches and colportage with the Sneeuwstorm magazine.49 The alleged goals of the

NJS were limited to exercise, gymnastics, athletics and leisure activities, in combination with

practical education and the advancement of knowledge about nature, country, people and

‘kinsmen’. According to official organizational documentation, regular exercise would build

the Jeugdstorm character and enhance tucht, orde and discipline among the members. Chants

and songs would give vent to the spirit of the Dutch people and folkish art. By these

principles, the societal rigid order that had led to a pillarized society had to be replaced by an

‘organic whole’, in which all people would be lively Dutch nation people. In a 1939 official

document the main goal of the organization was set apart as followed:

‘We wish love for the Nation and for the House of Orange, for our own People, and to

induce and reinforce Language and Culture. Therefore, we have to be a youth

organization, in which all Dutch boys and girls are welcome, and in which they feel at

home, regardless of Christian confirmation, rank, social class or accomplishment.’50

49 Te Slaa and Klijn, De NSB, 513. 50 NIOD, 123, 1133: ‘Het Doel van de Nationale Jeugdstorm (1939)’.

24

In order to impel the entire Dutch youth to join the organization, the NJS leadership very

explicitly denied its ties to the NSB. The apolitical and pedagogic character of the NJS was

explicitly propagated to the outside world, which noticeably stood in extreme contrast with

the high number of NSB members who filled the places in the NJS leadership. The tension

between the self-proclaimed apolitical and non-NSB related character of the NJS, and the

underlying fascistic nature of the Jeugdstorm, resulted in many problems concerning the

organization’s right of existence during the entire pre-war period. In addition, it can be argued

that, based on membership numbers, the organization had far from united the entire Dutch

youth: since 1936 the member administration had not shown any significant growth and in the

period before the German invasion the NJS had only counted 1.200 members.51 A former NJS

member who joined the organization in 1936 as so-called ukkepul, years after the war

described his outlook on the pre-war character of the NJS and stated:

‘Altogether the NJS was a youth group which resembled many other organizations

from that time. especially the scouting is comparable, with the difference that in the

Jeugdstorm political propaganda was actively made and that everything was harder

and more militarized.’52

2.2. 10 May 1940: The invasion of the Nazis

Due to the staggering membership numbers and problems due to the association with the

NSB, the Nationale Jeugdstorm had been non-existent when the Germans invaded the

Netherlands at 10 May 1940. For more radical members of the abolished NJS, the arrival of

the Nazis was the go-ahead for the Germanization of the NSB youth section. Led by Rost van

51 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm,” 73. 52 Inge P. Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij: Kind van de Führer (Bussum: Het Wereldvenster, 1983), 47.

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Tonningen, the radical leadership attempted to surpass Van Geelkerken’s attempts to re-

establish the NJS, by organizing the more German oriented youth organizations: Blauwvoet

and the Mussert-Garde.53 Despite their more corresponding ideological preferences, the

Germans chose not to support these organizations, and instead supported the Jeugdstorm.

When the NJS was reinstalled at June 8th 1940, the organization’s leadership could rebuild the

Nationale Jeugdstorm in a more “fascist friendly” environment. Little changes were

immediately implemented, like for example, the replacement of the official pre-war NJS

salutation HOE-ZEE! with the NSB slogan HOU ZEE!, and the change from the original

battle cry ‘Fear god, honour the king!’ by ‘In gods trust all for the nation!’ as a result of the

betrayal of the Dutch Royal house, which had fled the Netherlands when the Nazis had

invaded the country.54 Nevertheless, the process of mapping the ideological course of the NJS

became a complex and troublesome enterprise. Throughout the entire period of occupation

there was one central issue that dominated the internal conflicts on the ideological teachings

of the NJS: the ‘Diets-Duits’ divide. The Dietse ideology, supported by Van Geelkerken and

Mussert, was in line with the apolitical campaign of the pre-war NJS and the original Dutch

fascist ideology of the NSB, before they had become closer to the NSDAP due to a lack of

support. In contrast, the Duitse ideology, was pursued by an increasing number of kader-

members, who had had taken a more radical stance by constantly finding ways to relate or

even adopt NJS ideology to the example of German national socialistic ideology. This

ideological antithesis dominated the Nationale Jeugdstorm until its very end in 1945.

Basically, the supporters of the Dietse current in the NJS placed the Dutch nation at

the centre of its ideology. The “own” was preferred over the “other” which meant that the

Dutch culture, language, history and the Dietse tribe should be the main focus of the NJS

53 N. K. C. A. in ’t Veld, De SS En Nederland: Documenten Uit SS-Archieven, 1935-1945 (’S-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976), 217–24. 54 NIOD 123, 1134: ‘Dienstvoorschrift (Uitreksel)’.

26

teachings. The original documents of the NJS place this at the fundament of the organization,

and explain the Jeugdstorm’s central teaching as followed:

‘The Dutch people are one organic unity. One in spirit and in blood with ancestry and

offspring, in their bond to Dutch soil, the Homeland. Individuals or groups need to

subordinate their own interests to that of the Homeland and need to serve it to the

extent of acquired capabilities. Respect for religion, righteous moral, patriotism,

honour and sense of duty, companionship, discipline, order, sacrifice and communal

spirit have to be generated, cultivated and sustained within the community.’55

The Jeugdstorm would reach this goal by means of the mental and physical education of its

members, by informing people outside the circle of members, and by other lawful means of

spreading its message. The education of the Jeugdstormers was aimed to increase their sense

of ‘courage, honor and loyalty’.56 Typical Dietse ideological documents elaborated on the

great men of Dutch history, like Willem van Oranje and Michiel de Ruyter, who served as

exemplary men.57 The periods of bloom, decay and recovery of the Dutch nation and people

were set apart and elaborated upon in order to educate the stormers about their future tasks of

rebuilding the new order. In this new order, the kinship with other Dutch speaking countries

like Belgium and South Africa was considered of great importance, and therefore the children

would, for example, be taught to sing national songs of these countries.58

55 Nationale Jeugdstorm, Dienstvoorschrift I: Statuut, Opbouw En Leiding van Den “Nationale Jeugdstorm (Utrecht, Wintermaand 1941), 3. 56 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Nationale Jeugdstorm Jongeren Kwartier, Richtlijnen voor de Vorming’. 57 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Geschiedenis van het Vaderland’. 58 “Zangbundel van Den Nationale Jeugdstorm,” Den Nationale Jeugdstorm, 1943, Het Geheugen van Nederland, http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/nl/geheugen/view/zangbundel-den-nationale-jeugdstorm?coll=ngvn&maxperpage=36&page=1&query=Jeugdstorm+zangbundel&identifier=EVDO02%3AKONB15-64.

27

The underlying ideological purpose of the Jeugdstorm becomes apparent in a letter of

a Regional Leader, who responded to questions on account of the creation of a new NJS

division. He mentioned that the main duty of a child was servitude to the community, based

on national solidarity and love of the nation. This interpretation of civil duty was similar to

that of the NSB, but while the NSB also participated in the political battle, the Jeugdstorm had

to remain a pedagogic organisation, which took an absent stance from politics. The main

concepts of duty, sacrifice, patriotism, honour, companionship and others, were to be taught

in practise, instead of by ‘endless sermons’. Exercise, sport and game were but tools in

reaching the goal of changing the minds of the children: the creation of the ‘Jeugdstorm-

spirit’.59 So, while the NJS was obviously ideologically motivated, the leaders still perceived

the organization as apolitical. An organization was considered to be political when it

participated in the democratic party politics as seen in the Tweede Kamer. National socialism

and, in turn the Dietse NJS ideology were a world view, and thus per definition apolitical.60

Despite Van Geelkerkens’s apolitical vison for the NJS, the organization was certainly

used as a pawn in war politics. Both NJS ideology and policy was used to endorse the national

separatism that was pursued by Mussert. The Dietse ideology proscribed that the German

occupation was a phase of transition towards the real national socialistic state, within the

Germanic confederation. In this, Germany would be led by the Führer Adolf Hitler, while

Mussert would be the Leider of the Dietse state. This also meant that the Dietse current within

the NJS generally opposed the militarisation of the Jeugdstorm. The Jeugdstorm was meant to

cultivate the new generation for the future world and not to create the Germanic confederation

itself. When throughout the war the German pressure for Jeugdstorm participation in the war

increased, the rigid stance of the Dietse section softened: the stormers could fight, but only

for Dietsland itself and not for Germany.

59 NIOD 123, 1136: ‘Brief Gewestleider Gewest II Nationale Jeugdstorm, 24 November 1940’. 60 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm,” 112.

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December 13th, 1942, was a turning point, both for the NSB and the NJS. Since 1940

Mussert had collaborated with the Nazis in an attempt to establish Dutch independence within

the Great German empire. When Mussert was named ‘Leader of the Dutch People’ by Hitler,

on December 13th, Mussert regarded this as a sign of acknowledgement. In reality the German

leader probably acted symbolically, since he never seriously inclined to grant the leader of the

NSB any form of autonomy in the years that followed. Nevertheless, after this NJS

Hoofdstormer Van Geelkerken was granted a new position as head of ‘National Security and

Home Affairs’ under Mussert’s newly obtained leadership. The relocation of Van Geelkerken

resulted in the fact that his attention was distracted from his Hoofdstormer function within the

NJS. Despite Van Geelkerken’s and particularly Mussert’s preference for a moderate, Dietse

oriented NJS, the radicals within the organization were now able to gain the upper hand.

The Duitse ideology was both more radical national socialistic and more Germanic

oriented than the Dietse ideology. The main point of reference for all the Duitse teachings was

the Germanic folkish sentiment. This meant that the main aspiration was not to remain a

separate Dietse nation, but instead to ascend in the Great German Empire, in an ultimate

alliance between all Germanic people. Instead of accepting Mussert’s role as leader of the

Dutch people, Hitler was recognized as Führer and supreme leader of all Germanic nations.

Ideologically the emphasis was thus placed on the kinship with the Germanic people and the

origin in the Germanic tribe. Throughout the war, Nazism became more and more prominent

in the Duitse current of the Jeugdstorm.61 Typical Duitse ideological documents elaborated on

the German race, but also mentioned the Jewish Question, racial hygiene and heredity.62 In

line with the Duitse ideology the reading lists for kader-members also included books like

Mein Kampf. In the ideological battle within the Jeugdstorm, the Duitse current continuously

attempted to gain closeness to Germany. The radicals-maintained contact with the German

61 Barnouw, “Wie de Jeugd Heeft, Heeft de Toekomst,” 10. 62 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘het Joden Vraagstuk’; ‘Rassenkunde’.

29

Hitler Jugend, organized kader-trainings in Germany and tried to get the Jeugdstormers to

engage in the German Weersportkampen.63 This was all meant to spur ideological

radicalization toward the Great-German ideal. As stated in a letter of a Jeugdstorm leader

(1941): ‘It is the task of the national socialistic leadership to guide the youth and educate them

to be worthy national socialists to the salvation of the entire Germanic Community.’64

The idea of resilience (de Weerbaarheids-gedachte) became increasingly important in

the Duitse ideology. The terminology was mainly a coverup for the preparation of the Dutch

youth for front service.65 In contrast to the Dietse current, the radicals did want to support the

Germans in their battle against Bolshevism. They therefore pushed the boys of the Jeugdstorm

towards the German exercise camps, where the Wehrmacht extensively recruited their

soldiers. Those who were left behind in the Netherlands due to age or sex (or a lack of

parental consent) would be obliged to support the heroic soldiers from the home front. Under

the slogan: ‘Front Care is Duty’, the children were obliged to write letters to the Jeugdstorm

at the Eastern Front and to perform yearly offertory. In turn the heroic stories and letters of

the stormers at the front rapidly appeared in the propaganda magazines of the Jeugdstorm.66

It can be argued that the ideological centre of gravity shifted throughout the course of

the war. Bart Engelen, for example, has studied the articles of the Jeugdstorm magazine De

Stormvlag and has found that throughout the war the Great Germanic Thought was

increasingly propagated towards the members of the Jeugdstorm. While the magazine in 1941

mainly wrote about the Diets patriotism, there was already an increase in references to

‘Germanje’ and the ‘Führer’ in 1942. In 1943 one of the leading articles read: ‘No Chatter!:

We will, as Germanic Youth consecutive, stand around… our Germanic Führer Adolf Hitler.’

63 Ramses Oomen, “Jeugd van Het “Nieuwe Europa: Transnationale Connecties van de Nationale Jeugdstorm Bij Het Europese Jeugdverbond,” Tijdschrift Voor Geschiedenis 130, no. 4 (2017): 602-604. 64 NIOD 123, 1138: ‘Brief Hoofdstormer Banheer A. F. G. Borst, Oogstmaand 4, 1941’. 65 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm,” 244. 66 NIOD 123, 1179: ‘Unnamed propaganda paper with letter of Jeugdstormer J. T., 1942’.

30

Finally, in 1944, the Dietse articles had completely disappeared from the Stormvlag and

instead, the redaction wrote about the Jeugdstormers’ battle against Bolshevism.67 Apart from

this, the historical timeline as set apart in the previous chapter shows an ongoing battle

between the Dietse and Duitse supporters, to gain the overhand in NJS policy. The NJS

pocketbook of 1944 is the ultimate example of this: the content both urged the children to

participate in the battle of the Führer, while the booklet also elaborated on the national

socialistic Dutch empire, placed within a powerful Europe.68

2.3.The Ideological Commitment of the Jeugdstormers

The organizational history of the Nationale Jeugdstorm thus showed a high degree of internal

ideological dispute, which resulted in variations of its ideological teachings both in time and

in place. Whereas some local kader-members were attracted and influenced by the Duitse

current, others communicated the Dietse ideology to the Jeugdstorm members. In practise the

ideological teachings of the NJS served two main functions. On the one hand it had an

external function of attracting individuals to join the party and become a national socialist. On

the other hand, it served the internal function to socialize those who had become member into

the specific ideological framework. However, the extent to which the ideological lines set out

by the organization, really influenced NJS members can be questioned. In an analysis of the

ideological commitment of individual NSB members, performed by Josje Damsma, it was

argued that not all NSB’ers were equally ideologically committed. By analysing individual

cases, Damsma found that NSB’ers joined the party for a wide range of reasons, sometimes

even based on social conformity, or the simple incentive to preserve ownership of a radio

67 Bart Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland,” 38. 68 “Germaansche Landdienst,” Nationale Jeugdstorm, Geheugen van Nederland, 1944, http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/nl/geheugen/view/germaansche-landdienst-nationale-jeugdstorm?query=Jeugdstorm+&page=1&maxperpage=36&coll=ngvn&period=1944%2C1945&identifier=EVDO02%3ANIOD05_3046.

31

under the new German government. Fierce fascism certainly could be a reason to join the

black-shirts, but ideological commitment certainly wasn’t uniform.69 A similarly diverse

picture arises when the thoughts and actions of the young Jeugdstorm members are analysed.

A former NJS kader-member after the war argued that over the years: ‘the NJS blurred,

because the people of the first hour were the idealists. Those who entered after 1940 often

only did this for their own gain.’70

The narratives of the seven diaries of Jeugdstorm members showed varying degrees of

NJS ideological influence. While the narrated lengths of Jeugdstorm membership varied

between them, the three NJS girls all showed little to no reference to either the Duitse or the

Dietse ideology of the Jeugdstorm. A. G. (age 15, stormster), who had only joined the

Jeugdstorm for a brief period, mainly wrote about the time she spent in Germany as forced

labour in the war industry. She portrayed herself as a victim of the Nazi system, rather than a

supporter of the Dutch national socialist collaborators like the NJS.71 In contrast, the other

two girls, an anonymous stormster (age unknown), and meeuwke B. W. (age 10), did actively

attend the local Jeugdstorm meetings. Despite the descriptions of their attendance of the

meetings of the local Jeugdstorm troepen, both of the girls did not refer to any of the

ideological subjects – Diets or Duits – set apart in the above section. The anonymous

stormster, who kept her diary in the period between December 1941 and December 1942,

extensively elaborated on her school life by detailed descriptions of her studies, tests and test

results. She also wrote about family life, vacations and small outings. The girl occasionally

referred to her Jeugdstorm membership, but when she did she only globally described the

activities she participated in. 72 Similarly, meeuwke B. W (age 10), who wrote during July

69 Damsma, “Nazis in the Netherlands,” 46–47. 70 Maria Driessen, “Slechts Onderdeel Hoewel Onmisbaar: Meisjes en Vrouwen bij Den Nationale Jeugdstorm en de Nationaal-Socialistische Vrouwenorganisatie in Nederland, 1934-1945” (Thesis, Katholieke Universiteit, 1983), 47. 71 NIOD 244, 1939: ‘Diary A. G.’. 72 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous, Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’.

32

1940 and then again for a period in 1944, summed up her daily activities, like: ‘rose out of

bed’, ‘went to school’, and ‘ate’. The girl mentioned her Jeugdstorm membership in relation

to an NJS camp she attended in Nijmegen and reported on the activities. However, just like

the anonymous stormster, B. W. she didn’t refer to the NJS ideology in any way.73

It is striking that these seemingly not ideologically influenced Jeugdstorm members

were all girls. The absence of direct references to any of the NJS’s ideological teachings can

most likely be partly explained by the organization’s differentiation between boys and girls.

From the beginning onward the Jeugdstorm ordered its members in separate boy and girl

sections under either female or male kader-members. The ideological debates that dominated

the leadership, were probably of lesser importance to the Jeugdstorm girls than to the

Jeugdstorm boys, since regardless of the Diets or Duits orientation of their kader-members,

the membership of girls was primarily meant as a preparation for the life as a good housewife

and mother. For example, the Duitse idea of weerbaarheid for NJS girls was essentially

different than the weerbaarheid for boys, since it referred to a powerful and proud life attitude

by which the girls were encouraged to fulfil their womanly-duties. The family was regarded

to be the most important pillar – the fundament – of society. Therefore, the womanly duties in

the family where the center of gravity for the educational activities of the stormsters and

meeuwkes.74 The other ideological considerations of the NJS were only of secondary

importance for the education of the girls. As Driessen puts it: ‘Boys were the future defenders

of the nation, the soldiers. The girls took care of reproduction and the conservation of the

nation’s people, the future mothers.’75 In line with this organizational differentiation between

boys and girls, it can be argued that what at first sight seems to be an absence of NJS ideology

in the diaries of the stormsters and meeuwkes, might just as well be a confirmation of the

73 NIOD 244, 728: ‘Diary B. W.’. 74 J. C. H. Blom, “Een Harmonisch Gezin en Individuele Ontplooiing. Enkele Beschouwingen over veranderende opvatting over de vrouw in Nederland sinds de Jaren Dertig,” BMGN 108, no. 1 (1993): 34-35. 75 Driessen, “Slechts Onderdeel Hoewel Onmisbaar,” 40–42.

33

ideological influence of their NJS membership. However, none of the girls make any

reference to either the desire to fulfil their maternal duty, or the national socialistic knowledge

which lay at the base of their future role in the new order. They simply seemed to be occupied

with day-to-day life – with choirs and school, with family and friends – instead of with the

preparation of their future national socialistic maternal duties. Real ideological commitment

to NJS ideology thus seems to be missing in their diary writings.

Other diary writers showed more commitment to the NJS cause, by not only reporting

the fun activities they participated in, but to varying extents also writing about the ideological

side of membership. The stormer J. L. S. (age unknown), for example, used his diary solely to

report on his Jeugdstorm activities in the period between October 1941 and June 1944. The

boy used Jeugdstorm slogans, like: ‘Front Care is Duty’ and ‘Be Brave, Become Stormer!’ in

reference to his activities in the organization.76 However, most of the boy’s writings revolved

around the role of the Jeugdstorm within the Dutch society, whereby he enthusiastically

reported on the occasions were non-members seemed to be interested in the activities of the

NJS. While the wish for national unity isn’t explicitly written down, the writings of J.L.S.

seem to suggest that he was somewhat aware of the Dietse ideology of the NJS. Another,

more explicit example of an ideologically influenced Jeugdstorm member is the anonymous

Amsterdam stormer (age unknown) who went into German voluntary labour service in 1944.

While the boy only wrote little about his time in the Jeugdstorm, he did mention that he

volunteered to work in Germany, based on his national socialist convictions. In reference to

his time spend in Germany the boy stated: ‘Voluntarily I have put this force and slavery upon

myself. Nevertheless, I will stay, because I am national socialist’. Despite the fact that the boy

only scarcely made such references in relation to his worldview, it is very probable that the

76 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’.

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boy went into labour service while he was influenced by Duitse ideology of the NJS, since the

more radical section of the organization actively encouraged such behaviour.77

The diary author A. P., who wrote a most comprehensive overview of his time as

stormer in the period between 1941 to 1943, reported on all affairs he found of the ‘utmost

interest’. The boy collected the official messages of The Führer and Mussert, made negative

references on the Oranjes in exile, posted the developments on the Eastern and Western fronts

and collected ideological newspaper pieces that elaborated on the New Order. In addition,

under the category of “personal news”, A. P. reported on his Jeugdstorm membership and the

NJS ideological teachings. The persistent interplay between and partial influence of both the

Duitse and Dietse ideology within the NJS seemed to have influenced A. P. throughout the

entire Second World War. While the boy seemed to have been involved in the military

developments of the German forces from 1941 onward, he also frequently reported on the

Dutch NSB and NJS and their ideological considerations. In the Summer of 1942, after the

stormer participated in a kader-training, the boy started to refer to weerbaarheid of

Jeugdstorm members. A. P. repetitively mentioned the that ‘we have to work together with all

Germanic peoples’, and he reported on the ‘heroic courage’ of the German soldiers, but at the

same time kept referring to the ‘European Revolution’ and the national developments.78 A.

P.’s worldview thus shows similarity to the inconsistency of the NJS ideological currents.

The role of external ideological indoctrination of kader-members as a source of

radicalization of individual members hereby seems very plausible. F. G., who was a kader-

member of the Jeugdstorm of around 30 years of age, for example, wrote on his willingness to

spread more radical ideological teachings within the Jeugdstorm. The man attended several

formative scholarly camps in Germany and even (unsuccessfully) prepared for front service.

It is notable that F. G. after his attendance to these camps, increased his references to the more

77 NIOD 244, 1164: ‘Anonymous, Amsterdam NJS-member’. 78 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Anonymous, Amsterdam NJS-member’.

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radical ideological teachings within the NJS. For example, the man in 1944 described how he

attempted to realize the “SS-thought” within the Jeugdstorm, hereby preaching the

militarization of the younger NJS members. 79 Similar perceptiveness and willingness to

spread the more radical Duitse ideology was written down in a collective diary, by kader-

members who visited the AuslandsFuhrerschule Der Hitler-Jugend in Potsdam in 1941. The

authors of this collective diary regularly refer to propaganda materials that they absolutely

‘have to show’ to the stormers and seem to agree with the need of the ‘most close form of

cooperation’ between the Dutch Jeugdstorm and the German Hitler Jugend.80

Altogether, the analysis of the writings of the diaries authors shows different levels of

ideological commitment within the community of Jeugdstormers. While some stormers saw

themselves as national socialists and made references to Duitse and Dietse ideological

notions, the stormsters and meeuwkes only reported about the NJS as a leisure providing

organization. On an organizational level the representatives of the Duitse and Dietse currents

battled to gain the upper hand in the NJS ideological teachings. On an individual level this

resulted in diverse ideological influence. Some children hint towards Dietse teachings, while

others act upon the Duitse NJS orientation. However, while the NJS held a very specific

ideology, this did not mean that the ideology landed in the minds of the young NJS members

(certainly for the younger members, like B. W.). The notion of differentiation seems to be

appropriate. There are those who were perceptive of the ideology of the NJS, and who made

sense of their environments according to the by the Jeugdstorm presented worldview. And

there were those who attended the meetings, but whose writings didn’t show any big signs of

indoctrination whatsoever.

79 NIOD 244, 1037: ‘Diary F. G.’. 80 NIOD 244, 987: ‘Anonymous. Onze Reis Naar Potsdam, 1941’.

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3. The Communal Identity and Social Relations of the Jeugdstormers

From 1934 onward, on an organizational level the Nationale Jeugdstorm had trouble with

establishing itself within the Dutch society. During the pre-war years, the association with the

NSB and their national socialist ideology had resulted in the repetitive abolishment of the

organization. While it was a regular feature of youth movements in the ‘30s to wear a uniform

to spur unity, the Dutch government used it to lay a ban on the Jeugdstorm. On the 28th of

January 1936, the NJS was charged with the violation of the restriction on wearing uniforms

and thereby propagating an ideal of nationhood. In reaction to this attack, the leaders of the

NJS decided to cancel the organization, though three days later the Jeugdstorm – now called

Vereniging Nationale Jeugdstorm81 – was already up and functioning again, since the

abolishment was meant as a formal juridical act.82 Meanwhile, the NSB was being attacked

based on the civil service ban (ambtenarenverbod), which proscribed that people with a

‘revolutionary conviction’ or a membership to a suspicious organization – the NSB was

considered to be one of these – were to lose their position as civil servant.83 The NJS offered

an alternative for NSB’ers in civil service functions, since the Jeugdstorm wasn’t officially

connected to the party, and they were thus allowed to join this sister organisation as so-called

kader-members.84 So, while a second attempt to shut down the organization in November

1937, was now rejected by the High Council, due to the fact that the new foundation (Vreest

god, Eert de Koning!) no longer showed signs of propagation of nationhood, the NJS was

now attacked based on the Ambtenarenverbod. In an attempt to overcome the

countermeasures of the Dutch government, Van Geelkerken forbid membership to the NSB in

81 Van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken, 29. 82 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm,” 52–59. 83 Robin te Slaa, “Colijn en het Ambtenaren Verbod van 1933,” Spieghel Historiael 36, no. 10 (2001): 420-426. 84 Barnouw, “Wie de Jeugd Heeft, Heeft de Toekomst,” 5–6.

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combination with a membership to the NSJ. Nevertheless, the ban was placed by the Collein

government.85 On the official cancelation meeting in February 1940, Van Geelkerken,

officially abolished the Jeugdstorm, under loud protest of the more radical section of the

organization led by Rost van Tonningen.

The course of events, has led historians to argue that NSB’ers, and subsequently the

Jeugdstorm, were a marginalised isolated and unpopular group even before the invasion of the

German forces.86 The pre-war decrease in membership numbers before the war seems to

confirm that the popularity of the Jeugdstorm had suffered heavily due to the negative

attention it had gotten in the pre-war years.87 However, after the Nazis had established their

control over the Netherlands, the size of the NJS organization increased substantially. At its

height in 1942 the organization counted over 12.000 members.88 The interaction between the

group of NJS members and their surroundings are an important element in uncovering the

experience of Jeugdstorm membership. By answering the question: To what extent did

membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm affect the social relations of the children during the

war? both the communal positioning of the Jeugdstorm as a group and the private interaction

of individual members will be analysed. In order to gain a full picture on the social

interactions of Jeugdstorm members with their surroundings, I will first focus on the social

structures within Dutch society and general tendencies towards the NJS members, after which

I will focus on the social relations themselves.

3.1. Social interaction in Dutch society: anti-National Socialist sentiment

The term pillarization, or verzuiling, has often been used to describe the Dutch societal

relations over the course of the twentieth century. The term refers to ‘a phenomenon by which

85 Van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken, 29. 86 “Nazis in the Netherlands,” NIOD, accessed 24 April 2018, https://www.niod.nl/en/nazis-netherlands. 87 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm,” 70–76. 88 Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland,” 24.

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vertical divisions divided the Dutch politics and society in a Protestant, a Catholic, a social

democratic and a ‘neutral’/liberal pillar.’89 In reality, the strict societal division in four

different pillars was far less rigid than often assumed. The pillars were neither consentient,

nor stable during the 1930s and ‘40s, since the social communities were in constant flux. Both

the role of social organizations and the level of collaboration between different societal

groups were constantly revaluated and changed. In the period just before the eruption of the

Second World War, the different political groups had moved closed to each other, in an

attempt to overcome the economic crisis of the ‘30s. In addition, the internal infrastructure of

these societal groups had weakened due to the national socialists who had started to establish

their own organizations as a partial replacement of the existing social democratic and

catholic.90 Jeugdstorm had been one of these organizations, though not really successful, as

explained in the previous chapter. As visible in the staggering membership numbers and the

lack of political support during the period from 1936 onward, the Dutch population generally

was anxious to support NSB type organizations in the light of the disturbance of the so-valued

public order. However, while some have argued that the ideological rejection of the pillarized

society by both the NSB and the NJS further marginalized the NSB support on a nationwide

scale91, it is more likely that their association with the German Nazis resulted in social

problems, while other fascist organizations based on relatively similar ideological principles,

like the Nederlandse Unie, grew rapidly during the same period.

After the invasion of the Nazis in 1940, the development towards communal unity

between different societal groups catalysed. Van der Boom has argued that while the invasion

itself was perceived as utterly unjust, the Dutch were initially relieved since the Germans

89 Friso Wielenga, Nederland in de Twintigste Eeuw (Amsterdam: Boom, 2009), 79. 90 Peter van Dam, Staat van Verzuiling: Over Een Nederlandse Mythe (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 2011), 115–19. 91 Wielenga, Nederland in de Twintigste Eeuw, 108–9.

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were less terrible than expected.92 However, the gradual ideological equalization of the Dutch

society to the German ideological principals in the period that followed was generally

repulsed. At an organizational level, the Germans started a campaign to nazificate all Dutch

youth organizations. The occupying forces gradually adopted a policy in which non-

compliance to Nazi doctrine meant direct liquidation. In the period between 1940 and 1941

the Nederlandsch Jonglings Verbond (NJV) and the Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale (AJC) were

shut down, due to their unnuanced criticism on the new imposed order.93 Other organizations

generally attempted a more neutral course, which resulted in the ongoing abolishment of the

remaining societies until end 1941.94

The feelings of enmity towards the occupying forces spurred feelings of unity and the

collaboration between internal groups. In turn it also resulted in the increasing rejection and

alienation of both the Nazi occupying forces and the Dutch national socialists.95 This context

resulted in a tense social environment. On the one hand it has been argued that the feelings of

hate and despise were remarkably deeply rooted.96 On the other hand, Damsma’s case study

on the personal relations of NSB’ers showed that, despite the rejection of national socialistic

ideology by a majority of the people, the social interaction between the regular Dutchmen and

the NSB’ers on an individual basis wasn’t as bad as one should expect from reading the

narrative set apart above. She argues that provocative behaviour from NSB’ers had more

effect on the social interaction with others, than NSB membership in itself.97 The experience

of being a national socialist in times of war was thus most likely very two-sided, with on the

92 Van der Boom, ‘We Leven Nog’: De Stemming in Bezet Nederland (Amsterdam: Boom, 2003), 26–28. 93 Martine Vermandere, “Door Gelijkene Drang Bewogen? De Socialistische Partij en haar Jeugdbeweging, 1886-1994,” Politiek en Verzuiling 8 (2001): 250. 94 Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen alles voor het Vaderland,” 21. 95 Wielenga, Nederland in de Twintigste Eeuw, 165. 96 Van der Boom, ‘We Leven Nog’, 39. 97 Damsma, “Nazis in the Netherlands,” 176.

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one hand the social interaction between the NJS group and their surroundings and on the other

hand the social interaction between NJS members and their private environment.

3.2. Connecting ideology to identity: the formation of a community

The ideological teachings of the Nationale Jeugdstorm, as set apart in the previous chapter,

were an essential part of defining the group identity of the Jeugdstormers, which in turn

influenced their interaction with other people. Todd Nicholas Fuist has created the term

ideological performance to refer to the: ‘behaviour, language, use of props, and aesthetics’

that are used to display the performers ‘beliefs, values, and allegiances’.98 By this, both

performances and audiences are placed in so-called meaning systems. The ideological

performances take on different forms and can manifest both publicly as privately and explicit

or unconsciously. In addition, the performances can be multivocal: since different things can

be communicated to different audiences and even to the same audience, the message doesn’t

have to be uniform. Based on this theoretical model it can be argued that organizations are

sights were meaning is generated and disseminated. The ideological performances of the

Jeugdstorm thus contributed to the identity formation of the performer and the interaction

with others.99

When using the concept of ideological performance to look into the process of identity

formation within the NJS, many examples of NJS specific ‘behaviour, language, use of props,

and aesthetics’ can be pointed out. The frequency with which several ideological

performances are mentioned in the diaries, conduces to the plausibility of those performances

as identity forming elements. A reoccurring element is the care for one’s body and uniform,

based on specific NJS aesthetics. From a pedagogic point of view the Jeugdstormers were

98 Todd Nicholas Fuist, “The Dramatization of Beliefs, Values, and Allegiances: Ideological Performances Among Social Movement Groups and Religious Organizations,” Social Movement Studies 13, no. 4 (2014): 428. 99 Idem, 427–33.

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taught to be examples of perfect orderly disciplined youngsters, at home, on the streets and at

school.100 The Jeugdstormers were obligated to wear specific black-and-blue uniforms, by

which they set themselves apart from other children while at the same time connecting them

to the NSB and other international youth organizations like the German Hitler Jugend.101 A

former Jeugdstormer after the war recalled: ‘You had to look properly: policed shoes, combed

hair and teeth and nails neatly cleaned.’102 The different service diaries mention specific

information sessions on account of proper appearance. For example, one of the leaders of the

NJS stormsters in Bussum, mentions: ‘Wearing necklaces and bracelets is forbidden, as are

the so-loved hair bows.’ Such emphasis on the proper appearance of the NJS members was

further amplified by the many propaganda posters which read ‘Be Brave, Become

Stormer!’103, which were accompanied by pictures of strong, blond-hair-blue-eyes boys and

girls. These specific aesthetics – connected to the body cult of national socialist ideology104 -

determined the appearance of the Jeugdstormers in public.

Another element of identify formation frequently described by children are the public

walking marshes the Jeugdstorm organized. In these events, the children dressed in their

Jeugdstorm uniforms and often singing the march songs which were written down in their

singing bundle, paraded through the fields and streets of their surroundings. Officially these

marches served as a tool for national socialistic propaganda105 and as a means to build the

semi-military organizational character106, but for those who were part of the performances, or

for those who watched them, they could hold a different meaning. The former NJS member

100 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Nationale Jeugdstorm Jongeren Kwartier, Richtlijnen voor de Vorming’. 101 Oomen, “Jeugd van het “Nieuwe Europa,” 593–623. 102 Inge P. Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 47. 103 “Wees Dapper. Wordt Stormer,” Het Geheugen van Nederland, Collectie Oorlogsaffiches 1940-1945, Geheugen van Nederland, http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/nl/geheugen/view/weest-dapper-wordt-stormer--nationale-jeugdstorm?coll=ngvn&maxperpage=36&page=1&query=jeugdstorm&identifier=NIOD01%3A47828. 104 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Vorming, Richtlijnen II, 1942’. 105 NIOD 123, 1134: ‘Voorschrift Voor de Propaganda in de Streek, Nationale Jeugdstorm’. 106 Daniel Horn, “The Hitler Youth and Educational Decline in the Third Reich,” History of Education Quarterly 16, no. 4 (1976): 427–29.

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Dick Woudenberg has emphasised the special type of gravitation he felt towards the ‘mystical

marches’ as performed by the Jeugdstormers.107 Accordingly, the marches were perfect

examples of synchronized, repeating, rhythmic movements. Both Woudenberg and his

playmates – and many more, as it would turn out later – were fascinated by these

‘performances’. It was something that the boys wanted to participate in.108 And also J. L. S.,

when elaborating on a march at 19 ‘Herfstmaand’ 1942, emphasises, that it: ‘Got much

attention from the youth!’109 By constantly parading through the streets of the Dutch cities,

the Jeugdstormers thus both performed their identity for outsiders and formed their own

identity towards military examples.

Besides, the private and public performances of march songs also contributed to the

collective identity formation of the Jeugdstormers. Scholarly study at songs and music within

social movements has generally argued that singing is an ‘in-group activity that primarily

serves to build the ego of the members’. 110 The Jeugdstormers’ singing bundles were filled

with battle songs, national songs, Flemish and South African songs, province and region

specific songs and peregrine songs. The copy of 1943 counted over 50 pages, filled with

hymns about: ‘Dietscher sons, strong by body and mind’ who are more than willing: ‘To fight

for Dietschland, to sacrifice the blood of our hearts’.111 According to P. A. – a Jeugdstormer

who attended a kader-education by the NSB to become an NJS singing instructor – wrote that

the songs were meant to propagate the Jeugdstorm identity as ‘folkish’ and

‘unsophisticated’.112 The many songs about to the strong Jeugdstormers who fought a

righteous cause, when performed collectively, had the power to create the identity of both the

107 Matthijs Cats, “Marcheren Voor Mussert,” Andere Tijden (Nederland 2, 14 December 2006), https://www.anderetijden.nl/aflevering/371/Marcheren-voor-Mussert-. 108 Mischa Cohen, De Nazi Leerling: De Schuldige Jeugd van Dick Woudenberg (Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Atlas Contact, 2017), 43. 109 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 110 Sheryl Hurner, “Discursive Identity Formation of Suffrage Women: Reframing the ‘Cult of True Womanhood’ Through Song,” Western Journal of Communication 70, no. 3 (2006): 234–60. 111 Het Geheugen van Nederland, “Zangbundel”. 112 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Diary A. P.’.

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individual Jeugdstormers and of the Jeugdstorm as a collective, by building self-confidence

and by stimulating group unity.

Another reoccurring performance which is described in the diaries are the flag

ceremonies, in which the children were obliged to participate at the Saturday services and at

special occasions. In a diary originating from Bilthoven 1944, the leaders of the local

stormsters and meeuwkes described how the children performed flag-raising ceremonies at the

beginning of a Jeugdstorm day and that the days were ended by bringing down that same flag.

All children were positioned near the flagpole after which two children would either raise or

lower the flag, while saying an ‘to the leader contributed phrase’. The small ceremonies were

closed with the sinning one of the Jeugdstorm songs.113 According to an anonymous stormer:

‘The flag was holy to us. It symbolised the power of the group. (…) Those who didn’t greet

the flag, offended our people. Those who didn’t greet our flag, offended our group and our

leaders. This led to many fights.114 The flag itself can be regarded a symbol for the

Jeugdstorm, while the raising of the flag can be seen as ritualistic ceremonial behaviour. Just

like the national flag accentuates the citizens’ identification as national members, the

Jeugdstorm flag accentuated the stormers’ identification as NJS-member.115

The ideological performances stood in strange contrast with several initiatives of the

NJS leadership to limit negative association of the Jeugdstorm for the general public. For

example, in several letters regarding the safety of the Jeugdstormers at public meetings sent

from Het Jongerenkwartier (headquarter of the NJS organization) it is mentioned that the

W.A. was only to make an appearance when regular police forces were unable to perform

their tasks in order to avoid the connection between NJS and the W.A.116 Also, when the

113 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bilthoven’. 114 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 49. 115 Robert T. Schatz and Howard Lavine, “Waving the Flag: National Symbolism, Social Identity, and Political Engagement,” Political Psychology 28, no. 3 (2007): 332. 116 NIOD 123, 1138: ‘Letter by the Regional Leader Brabant, 26 Zomermaand 1941’.

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Jeugdstormers were increasingly deployed in the Landstorm, these boys were no longer

allowed to wear their NJS uniforms, because this would make a false impression the public. It

seemed like the national socialist leadership was very aware of negative attitudes towards

them within the Dutch society. Nevertheless, ideological performances separated the NJS

member and established their collective identity in line with the national socialistic ideals and

positioned them within the Dutch society. An Amsterdam civil servant strikingly argued: ‘The

people know them, they parade their black suits, wave strange banners and greet by strange

salutation. They wear foreign insignia and abide in the house of the enemy.’117 So, while the

diary analysis of Jeugdstorm members has showed that there were different levels of

perceptiveness to NJS ideology, the participation in the ideological performances would link

the children to the national socialistic ideology all the same and therefore determine the

interaction with other groups within society.

3.3. The Communal experience on Membership of the Nationale Jeugdstorm

In addition to ideological performance, the communal experience of the NJS members

contributed to their association as a Jeugdstorm member. On an organizational level the

Jeugdstorm leadership and propagandists had a very specific idea on what Jeugdstorm

membership meant. Official documents from 1940 very explicitly list what is expected from

the Jeugdstormers in terms of commitment: the Jeugdstorm is only willing to harbour active

members and is unwilling to maintain the membership of “members-on-paper” (with the

exception of those stormers who had entered the labour service in Germany or any

Wehrmacht formation).118 Those who entered would have to be loyal to the Jeugdstorm

117 Van der Boom, ‘We Leven Nog’, 40. 118 NIOD 123, 1130: ‘Inschrijving en Registratie van Leden’.

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ideals, leaders, comrades, the Dutch soil and the Dutch people.119 This mobilized group of

Dutch children would recreate Nederland and its people.120

The hardship of the task of the NJS member was connected to the narrative of the

martyr. Research at NSB propaganda materials has exposed the martyr complex that gained

dominance within the NSB circles from the 1930s onward. When the support from the Dutch

population had staggered after 1935, the NSB propagandists and party leaders had started to

regard themselves as the only ones who hadn’t fallen for the deception of liberal elites.121

Within the narrative of martyrdom, NSB’ers would regard themselves as the vanguard of the

national revival of the Netherlands as pioneers in the creation of a new order.122 After the

Germans entered the Netherlands in 1940, and the NJS had moved more towards the NSB’s

ideological teachings, the Jeugdstormers sometimes also tended to refer to the idea of

martyrdom, when elaborating on their Jeugdstorm membership. In a propaganda booklet from

1944, for example, a Jeugdstormer writes that he found his place of belonging: ‘among the

boys and girls, who in these times, despite the great troubles they have to endure – the

troubles of both mental and material nature – have fought for a real and grandiose ideal

(…)’123 Membership didn’t have to be easy, but it was the right thing to do. Be Brave, Become

Stormer!

In contrast, when looking through the eyes of the Jeugdstormers themselves,

membership was far less heavy-felt than set apart in the organization’s propaganda. For the

larger part, the children were relatively positive about their membership to the Jeugdstorm.

Many of the diaries contain positive references to either the Jeugdstorm itself, to the activities

119 NIOD 123, 1133: ‘Het doel en beschrijving van de Nationale Jeugdstorm (1939)’. 120 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Vorming, Richtlijnen II (1942)’. 121 Huberts, In de Ban van Een Beter Verleden, 106–9. 122 Dietrich Orlow, “A Difficult Relationship of Unequal Relatives: The Dutch NSB and Nazi Germany, 1933-1940,” European History Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1999): 367. 123 Frits Barkhuis, Max Blokzijl Spreekt Tot de Jeugd: Een Boek Voor de Oude En de Jonge Generatie (Utrecht: Nenasu, 1944), 9.

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that the Jeugdstorm organized for its members and to the friends the children made within the

organization. For example, an anonymous girl who joined the Jeugdstorm on the 21st of July

1942, reported on the city outings, sport events, kader-courses and so-called region days

(streekdagen) she attended at the NJS, about which she repetitively stated that: ‘It will be

great fun’.124 Another NJS boy who left the Netherlands for voluntary labour service in

Germany, elaborated in his diary on his departure from the local Jeugdstorm division and

states: ‘Who knows, maybe I will never return to the Jeugdstorm. It makes you sweat for a

while, if you have to say goodbye to your Schaar.’125 This suggests that he valued his

membership to the Jeugdstorm and that he had a hard time leaving the stormers behind. And

also S. L. who joined the Nationale Jeugdstorm in 1942 and who was evacuated from

Haarlem to Utrecht, wrote on how he wished to again visit the services of the Jeugdstorm in

the new town126, something he probably wouldn’t do if he didn’t value his membership to the

organization.

In the diaries of Jeugdstorm leaders many comments can be found in reference to the

nice atmosphere on the Jeugdstorm services. The leaders of a group in Bilthoven in 1944, for

example, wrote: ‘It was a nice service, we went home satisfied,’127 and ‘it was great fun!’128

They also mention relatively normal childlike behaviour. For example, the: ‘The meeuwkes

were once again rowdy today and rubbed snow on the stormsters, when they were positioned

in rank. They were forgiven, since the snow was very tempting.’ Another service journal of a

girl group reports on how the meeuwkes celebrated holidays like Sinterklaas, where the

children accordingly very much enjoyed themselves.129

124 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous, Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’. 125 NIOD 244, 1164: ‘Anonymous, Amsterdam NJS-member’. 126 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 127 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bilthoven’. 128 NIOD 244, 388: ‘Diary M. K.’. 129 NIOD 244, 722: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bussum’.

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The post-war narratives of several Jeugdstormers, also hint towards feelings of pride

and belonging. In a Dutch documentary, Dick Woudenberg explained, that his mind was filled

with the thought that he and his fellow Jeugdstormers ‘belonged to a special group: which

marched in front of the troops and brought a new order.’130 And also on a much simpler scale

the stories of the Jeugdstormers paint a picture of proud membership. An anonymous

Jeugdstormer, who would later in the war join the SS, explained: ‘I was dressed in the

ukkepullen-uniform of the NJS – the Jeugdstorm – a little blue suit which I was very proud

of.’131 The idea of belonging to a collective, a special group, is something which he, just like

Woudenberg, emphasizes in his writings. In description of an NSB meeting which the boy

attended he states: ‘I felt included into the collective ecstasy (…).’132

It seems that, for many, the action of joining the NJS was almost normal. The

carelessness by which some of the children report about entering the period of being

jongmaat, without giving any specific reasons or thoughts about what membership to the NJS

means, is almost common. One of the girls wrote: ‘Saturday I subscribed myself as a member

of the Jeugdstorm. It satisfied me greatly.’133 And also J. L. S. on the 25th of October 1942,

simply reports that he joined the Jeugdstorm, without any further notion on his reasons for

joining the organization.134 It is likely that the social environment of the children hereby

played a role. Historians have argued that during the war, most NJS members were the

offspring of NSB families, in which at least one of the two parents had connections to the

party.135 This meant that the children often already had been in contact with the national

socialistic worldview, before entering into NJS membership and could thus explain why the

action of joining isn’t discussed in any of the diaries.

130 Cats, ‘Marcheren Voor Mussert’. 131 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 32. 132 Idem, 32. 133 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous, Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’. 134 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 135 Cohen, De Nazi Leerling, 42.

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Nevertheless, it would be excessive to argue that the Jeugdstorm community was

uniform in its perceptions of membership. A more negative reference with regard to

membership of the Jeugdstorm, I found in the diary of A. G. (age 15 when the Germans

invaded the Netherlands), who had been a Jeugdstorm member from 1941 to 1942. A. G. had

joined the Jeugdstorm in imitation of a friend who was already a member. She argued that she

almost never attended the Jeugdstorm meetings or wore her uniform in public. As a result, her

membership was ended by the NJS, due to a lack of involvement.136

In addition, perceptions on membership weren’t constant over the course of the war.

The stormer A. P. for example, who started writing in his diary to ‘write down explicitly the

most important events’ in the period between 1941 until 1943, started out as a proud and very

much involved Jeugdstorm member, but became more critical as the years passed. On the 6th

of December 1941, A. P. wrote that the Jeugdstorm could be seen as the pioneer in Dutch

political struggle that dominates the country. Yet, in 1943, after he has moved from Den Haag

to Haarlem and when he thus has joined a different Jeugdstorm group, he wrote:

‘Now, since we live in Haarlem, the enthusiasm, the life courage, the optimism which

I possess, and I believe all of us to some extent, although we will not confess this to

each other, has showed its ugliness. Now, one will wonder, are you no longer a

national socialist? Yes, is my answer, now more than ever [am I national socialist]

(…) As enthusiastic stormer I came to Haarlem, but now it has reached the point at

which I seriously consider leaving the Jeugdstorm.’

A. P.’s perception of the Jeugdstorm thus shifted considerably between 1941 and 1943.137 The

group dynamics and the ideological preference of local sections can thus also be regarded

136 NIOD 244, 1939: ‘Diary A. G.’. 137 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Diary A. P.’.

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determining factors in coloring the membership of the Jeugdstormers. Internal NJS struggles

on which ideological course to sail had made difference between local groups possible, which

in turn determined the experience of membership the Jeugdstormers had.

3.4. The Social Relations of the Jeugdstormers: isolation or interaction?

The diaries and additional sources left behind by former Jeugdstorm members provide insight

in the complexity of and interplay between NJS collective identity and the identity of

individual Jeugdstorm members in interaction to the rest of Dutch society. The descriptions of

social relations with non-Jeugdstorm or NSB related people were divers and changed over the

course of the war.

From the start of the Second World War onward, interaction between NJS members

and non-NJS members was influenced by the association with NSB. Based on a diary analysis

of regular Dutchmen, Bart van der Boom has argued that the feelings of hate against the

NSB’ers were generally surprisingly profound. Accordingly, the “black shirts” were even

more despised than the Nazis themselves. In an official rapport of the Wehrmacht it was

mentioned that the people rather dealt with ten Germans than one NSB’er. Generally,

NSB’ers were regarded to be fake, surrogate, imitative and therefore lacking character.138 As

a result, the NJS children, who were already in the pre-war apolitical phase associated with

the NSB, were similarly disregarded as a group. Many of the sources account for incidents of

bullying or verbal assaults in public places. For example, several letters directed to the

headquarter of the Jeugdstorm, het Jongerenkwartier in Utrecht, mention incidents of

bullying and exclusion of NJS children in public schools.139 Many of the Jeugdstorm children

138 Van der Boom, ‘We Leven Nog’, 39–40. 139 NIOD 123, 1146: ‘Letter by W. G. Jules Masset, 24 Januari 1944’.

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after the war accounted for incidents of verbal abuse, in which they were called names due to

their ties with the NJS.140

This negative interaction with peers could have profound effects on the lives of NJS

children. Dick Woudenberg has argued that he started to experience the negative

consequences of his Jeugdstorm membership, directly after the capitulation of the Netherlands

on the 10th of May, 1940. Accordingly, this was the moment in which some of his classmates

decided that they would avert further contact with him. Some chose to ignore him, while

others started to call him names (the latter he greeted with a taste of their own medicine). In

the weeks that followed, Dick felt the atmosphere become increasingly more and more anti-

NSB to an extent that he was beaten up regularly. In his own words, he became a: ‘frightened

child, whose biggest worry was to return unharmed from home to school and back again.’141

When he told his parents about the situation, they decided to transfer the boy to the

Nederlandse Inrichting voor Volkse Opvoeding (NIVO) where the school classes were filled

with other NSB offspring. This meant Dick had to say goodbye to his friends at the local

Jeugdstorm, but nevertheless, Dick felt it as a ‘relief’ to be seen as one of the boys, instead of

traitor.142 In a way, the social dynamics had pushed him away from the general Dutch society,

towards a more German friendly environment. Dick Woudenberg was not the only one who

pulled back in more familiar social circles. An anonymous stormer described the impact of

the hostile school environment on his NJS membership: ‘It already was hard for me at school,

but now my life was over, and in turn I moved more and more towards the Jeugdstorm. There

I had friends, there they understood my troubles, there I could do things right.’143 The local

140 Cats, ‘Marcheren Voor Mussert’. 141 Cohen, De Nazi Leerling, 86. 142 Idem, 85–86. 143 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 46.

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Jeugdstorm groups organized discussion groups, at which the children could talk about the

troubles they endured outside of the organization.144

Also, when the Jeugdstormers went out in public together, bystanders would

occasionally express themselves negatively towards the children. In the collective diary of the

Bilthoven stormsters, an incident was reported on the 18th of May, 1944. When the stormsters

had performed a propaganda march through Tuindorp in Utrecht, a doctor’s wife had allowed

her two sons to throw a tennis ball at the girls ‘with intentions’. The incident culminated in an

argument between the doctor’s wife and the leader of the stormsters, after which the police

had to meddle and calm the situation.145

Likewise, the Jeugdstormers themselves sometimes tended to provoke negative

interaction with their environment, based on their ideological convictions. In the diary of J. L.

S. a very striking example can be found. Within the Dutch society the tendency of Oranje-

gezindheid (loyalty to the exiled Dutch royal family) was very much alive during the period

of Nazi rule. Over the years, Queen Wilhelmina became the main symbol of Dutch freedom

and for many the return of the Queen and the end of the German occupation had become one

and the same thing.146 In contrast, the Jeugdstorm had officially denounced the House of

Orange from the moment of their installment in June 1940. The flight of the Queen was seen

as a cowardly betrayal of the Dutch people, and consequently their slogan changed form ‘Fear

god, honor the king!’ to ‘In Gods trust everything for the nation’147. In May 1944, the stormer

J. L. S. reports on a propaganda action he participated in: ‘Some people had a party in the

Paarlaarsteeg, that was no problem, but they sang “Leve Willemientje, Oranje Boven, Leve

Willemientje” and so on. As punishment we [several stormers] have painted their entire

144 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 51. 145 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bilthoven’. 146 Van der Boom, ‘We Leven Nog’, 25. 147 NIOD 123, 1130: ‘Nationale Jeugdstorm STATUUT’.

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pavement [with the text: “The Youth in the Jeugdstorm”].’148 Obviously, this kind of

interaction complicated the relationship between NJS members and non-NJS members.

In contrast there are also many descriptions of NJS public activities in which the

Jeugdstormers described the fun they had and not mention any negative interaction with

bystanders. The Bilthoven collective diary, besides from the incident described above, doesn’t

account for any other negative interference in public marches of the stormsters during 1944,

and also the Bussum collective diary (1942-1944) does not mention any incidents during

marches and other public displays.149 An anonymous stormster who writes about visits to

Gouda describes what a ‘wonderful day’ she had, parading through the city in December

1942.150 In addition, the stormer J. L. S. (1942) who reported on several NJS public marches

and ceremonies, mentions the attention such events received from the environment. On a

march in the autumn of 1942, the boy writes: ‘Got much attention from the youth!’ Years

later, in 1944 the boy writes about another march which was followed by a national socialistic

public meeting (which was also attended by the NJS). Accordingly, ‘There was great interest

along the roads of more non-NSB’er, than NSB’ers themselves. (…) And indeed, there were

many non-members on this public meeting.’151 So, when the NJS went out as a group, the

interaction with their surroundings wasn’t per definition negative and in some situations, there

even seems to have been slight interest in the specific group.

In addition, the solidarity between the NJS members and their countrymen, while

certainly less strong due to the difference in loyalty, doesn’t seem to have disappeared

completely. It is interesting to see how in times of social need, the NJS did act as a helping

actor within society. Stormer J. L. S. has reported bombings on Rotterdam in 1943 by “the

Tommies” and described how the entire local Jeugdstorm had come in action to secure the

148 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 149 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bilthoven’, and NIOD 244, 722: ‘Anonymous, NJS Bussum’. 150 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous, Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’. 151 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’.

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place of the disaster. The NJS members helped with the cleansing of the debris, saved people

from under the collapsed buildings and later distributed food among the emergency

services.152 This is certainly no example of Jeugdstormers’ exclusion or isolation, but rather

of social involvement and to some extent even of solidarity towards their fellow Dutchmen.

On a more personal level the diaries also seem to confirm the fact that NJS

membership influenced social action in very diverse manners. Notions of negative references

to the NJS membership of the children are frequently written down in the diaries. The

children often referred to small incidents in which being the connection to the NJS didn’t

‘help’ the situation they were in. For example, the stormer A. P. reported on a family quarrel

about an inheritance in the fall of 1942. When he elaborated the situation, he described: ‘A. P.

is a member of the Jeugdstorm and of the NSB and he parades in his uniform, which doesn’t

come in handy.’ The boy’s ties with the national socialistic organization contributed to the

tensions within the family argument to an extent in which his aunt wishes to deny him the

inheritance of his grandfather. The boy seemed to have been very aware that at least some

members in his social circle looked down on him due to the fact that he was a stormer.

Sometimes the conflict about membership went even deeper. E. H. S., an NSB’er who

kept a diary over the entire course of the war, described how the relations within his family

altered due to differences of allegiance. The household is divided. E. H. S. was a fierce

NSB’er, while his wife was far more moderate of opinion. The NSB’er wrote about the

tension within the family when son Jim on his own initiative decides to join the Nationale

Jeugdstorm. Accordingly, the NSB’er and his wife sat the boy down to discuss the difficulty

this would give Jim on the school and at the sport field when they heard of his plans. The boy

nevertheless continued his plans and started his period as Jongmaat. Jim’s membership

resulted in many arguments with his brother Jan. In 1941 E. H. S. wrote: ‘Many times Jan

152 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’.

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walked out of the room with tears in his eyes, when harsh words were used in the many

discussions.’153

In contrast, some of the other Jeugdstorm members do not account for any negative

interaction resulting from their ties to the NJS. meeuwke W. B., who kept a short diary in the

beginning of the war (1940), didn’t mention any negative social interaction due to her

membership. She simply wrote about normal day-to-day life, like nothing has changed as a

consequence of her NJS membership.154 Also, the anonymous stormster (1941-1943), who

named her diary Wildzang, only referred to the nice times she had when she visited towns

together with her NJS group. She wrote a lot about her school activities but did not mention

any negative confrontations due to her NJS background. In addition, when she reported on her

solicitation at the P.T.T. post company, again there was no mention of any negative

consequences of her NJS membership.155 An explanation for this friendlier social

environment could very simply be that the children grew up in a more national socialistic

social circle. Yet, it could also mean that the children really weren’t negatively treated as a

result of their membership.

It seems that until the very end of 1944, this diverse mixture of tensions and public

disapproval, but also of normal contact, interest, and sometimes even solidarity between NJS

members and non-NJS members determined the social interaction within Dutch society.

September 1944 was a turning point for the Germans, but also for the societal interactions

between national socialists and regular Dutchmen. The rapid advance of the Allied forces had

led to the premature excitement of the national liberation from the Nazis and consequently to

panic and chaos within the national socialistic community. Lou de Jong has estimated that

half of the Dutch families – mostly the women and children – connected to the NSB or SS had

153 NIOD 244, 1597: ‘Diary E. H. S.’. 154 NIOD 233, 728: ‘Diary B. W.’. 155 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous. Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’.

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fled during this period. A part of them left the country and took residence in one of the

German refugee camps, while others remained in the Northern and Eastern parts of the

country.156 The profound effects of Dolle Dinsdag (the 5th of September, 1944) were

mentioned in some of the diaries. An anonymous stormer who returned to the Netherlands

after a period of Labour Service in Germany, described the panic and chaos of these days:

‘Where was the Jeugdstorm? No message, nothing left behind? The Dolle Dinsdag had

changed everything.’157 And also W. A. J, a leader of a Jeugdstorm orchestra, wrote about the

flight of over 350 NSB and NJS woman and children who left the country as refugees to camp

Westerberg (which was now used as a transit camp for the Dutch national socialists).158 After

this episode of collective panic within the national socialistic community, many of the

stormers were displaced or otherwise separated from their familiar social circles. After this

the lives of many of the NJS members altered radically, as will be set apart in the next

chapter.

156 Remieg Aerts et al., Land van Kleine Gebaren: Een Politieke Geschiedenis van Nederland 1780-1990 (Nijmegen: SUN, 1999), 247. 157 NIOD 244, 1164: ‘Anonymous. Amsterdam NJS-member’. 158 NIOD 244, 591: ‘Diary W. A. J.’.

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4. The willingness to use Force within the Jeugdstorm Community

On an organizational level, the Nationale Jeugdstorm showed an increasing militarization

over the course of the Second World War. During the period of rapid growth until 1942, the

problems concerning the increasing membership numbers had dominated the Jeugdstorm

leadership. After 1942, the influx of new members staggered and thus organizational

problems decreased. Meanwhile, Hoofdstormer Van Geelkerken focused more of his attention

on his other tasks within the NSB party, thereby gaining the followers of the Duits oriented

NJS ideology to gain territory. In 1943 Mussert, Seys-Inquart and Rauter decided, under

pression of the Nazi occupying force, on the military deployment of the stormers above the

age of 17 for the protection of the Netherlands. In order to limit the influence of the Nazis and

the SS (Duitse ideology), the leaders went to great lengths to accommodate the boys in the

Dutch Landwacht (later called, Landstorm).159 For the stormsters who would not fight for the

safety of the land, plans were made on a half year of service in Germany, to gain knowledge

of the life of becoming a future national socialistic housewife.160 In November 1943, a

conflict of interest concerning the Germanization of the Landwacht, resulted in an absolute

break between Mussert and Van Geelkerken. For the NJS this meant the end of any blockades

to the attempted radicalization by the larger part of the leadership. Van Geelkerken remained

Hoofdstormer of the Jeugdstorm, but from this moment onward made more and more

concessions towards Nazi administrative wishes, for his own political gain.161 While precise

details are missing, it is often argued that in 1944 Van Geelkerken had come to several vague

agreements with the head of the Dutch Hitler Jugend, on the incorporation of the NJS

159 In ’t Veld, De SS en Nederland, 377-379. 160 P. de Rooy, “Jeugd Is Argeloos En Overmoedig Spel: De Jeugdbewegingstraditie in de Nationale Jeugdstorm,” in De Kunst van Het Mores Leren ed. J. Eggink (Amersfoort/Leuven: Acco, 1988), 105. 161 Van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken, 75–79.

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members in the German Hitler Jugend, in case of a successful invasion of the Allied forces in

the Netherlands. This would mean immediate deployment of the children in the German

Wehrmacht. After the panic of Dolle Dinsdag on September 5th, 1944, Van Geelkerken

temporarily disappeared to secure his own belongings, and some of the more radical NJS

leaders quickly tried to make the presumptuous plans into reality. Van Geelkerken made a

hasty return and interrupted the planning process, after which the “Great German Revolt” was

continued from Germany. The plans were never realised since Seys-Inquart prohibited the

merge of the NJS and the HJ in 1945. Van Geelkerken was fired as NSB chairmen on the 1st

of January 1945 and resigned his function as Hoofdstormer several days later. Meanwhile the

larger part of the remaining NJS leadership resided in Germany due to the revolt.162 As a

result of the internal struggles, the beginning of 1945, even before the end of the Second

World War, the Nationale Jeugdstorm had largely disappeared and only really existed on

paper.

It can be argued that, while the NJS started out as a national socialistic, but mainly

pedagogic organization in the pre-war period, the years of war show an increasing willingness

by the leadership to deploy the Jeugdstormers in the violent battle of national socialism. Many

of the Jeugdstorm boys did eventually end up in some sort of military service and many of the

Jeugdstorm girls fulfilled militarized support roles at the Homefront. In 1944 it was reported

by the Stormvlag that approximately 1.600 stormers above the age of 15 served in some sort

of (semi)military organization (either Landwacht, Landstorm or in the German

Wehrmacht).163 The fact that the stormers ended up in front service does not account for their

attitude to use violence, because it doesn’t validate whether their service was voluntary or not.

In this chapter the attitudes of the Jeugdstormers in the militarized context will be analysed by

answering the question: To what extent were the members of the Nationale Jeugdstorm

162 Van der Boom, Kees van Geelkerken, 68-75. 163 Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen alles voor het Vaderland,”, 37.

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willing to use violence during their time of membership? In order to fully answer this

question, the analyses will not be limited to the final phase alone but will instead look at the

Jeugdstorm members’ willingness to use violent action during the entire Second War period.

To what extent did the Nationale Jeugdstorm spur feelings of enmity and did they actively

promote the militarization of members on a local level? And, most importantly, what was the

experience of membership in light of the ongoing militarization?

4.1. Some Sort of Military Scouting: Militarization of the Jeugdstorm

The fascist footing of the Nationale Jeugdstorm inevitably connected the organization to a

positive attitude towards violence. For fascists the willingness to commit violence was

connected to notions of struggle, revolution and the ‘action man’. Violence was seen both as

an inevitable instrument to accomplish the aspired new order, which had to be free of racially

inferior groups and as an aim in itself.164 As set apart in the first chapter, the NJS for a long

time tried to only limitedly adopt the fascist ideology. Yet, in practise the NJS promoted

militarization and violence from a very early stage onward. The totality of the Jeugdstorm

was set up in a military-like manner. An official service prescription issued by the

Stafkwartier van den Nationale Jeugdstorm in 1942, read:

‘In a military organized community like the Jeugdstorm, the enforcement of strict

order and discipline is a condition of existence. Therefore, there will be a specific

disciplinary law within the Jeugdstorm. The disciplinary law is the totality of written

and unwritten rules concerning the enforcement of discipline and order within the

Jeugdstorm as founded in the stormer’s honor’165

164 Roger Eatwell, “Fascism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies ed. Michael Freeden and Marc Stears (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), e-book. 165 NIOD 123, 1134: ‘Dienstvoorschrift XV Handhaving van Tucht en Orde’.

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The strict military-like obedience of the Jeugdstorm members was enforced, to an extent that

members were excluded when they renounced the Jeugdstorm practices. The internal

interaction of members was based on ranks and on the hierarchical grouping in different

Jeugdstorm sections. For example, in the diaries kept by the NJS leadership, there were

regular references to inspections by higher ranked Jeugdstorm leaders, in which the troepen

had to account their activities and progress to higher-ranking kader-members. Also, within the

groups the hierarchical obedience was regularly practiced by means of order exercises, during

which the children were drilled to execute certain orders.166

Several Jeugdstorm activities which were reported in the diaries of NJS members can

be related to the preparation for military service or other violent behaviour of the

Jeugdstormers. First and foremost, the propaganda marches can be regarded a preparation for

military service. The marches were one of the most regularly mentioned NJS activities in the

diaries under examination. Often the children would orderly parade the streets of Dutch cities.

The goal of these marshes was twofold: on the one hand it was a means of propaganda and

identity formation (as set apart in the last chapter); and on the other hand, it was a means of

low-scale militarization of the Jeugdstormers. Just like by the order exercises mentioned

above, the children were taught to strictly obey the commands of the NJS leadership, as

common within military organizations.

Another example was the veldspel in which the children of one Jeugdstorm-troep were

divided in two opposing groups in which they would re-enact a certain battle. By playing the

game, the children were familiarized with simple strategy, map reading, camouflage

techniques, the use of compass, basic orientation and so on. An anonymous stormer explained

that: ‘For the veldspel we were divided into two groups: one with red bands around the arm

166 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous NJS Bilthoven’, and NIOD 244, 722: ‘Anonymous NJS Bussum’.

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and one with blue bands. The read had to pick a strategic point to place a flag and defend it

against the blue, who had to conquer it.’167 Besides the fact that the game is comprehensibly

described in the official Dienstvoorschriften, there are several references to the enactment of

the battle in practise. For example, stormer J. L. S. reported on the 30th of January, 1944 that

he and his troep played a veldspel with a German bunker as the main quarter.168 And also, in

1944, in the collective diary of Bilthoven the game is mentioned. In this occasion the blue’s

and red’s – which were mentioned in the pre-war report on veldspelen of the anonymous

stormer above – had been replaced by the Germans and the Anties, who were in this case the

Allied “Tommies”. The veldspel was described by references to ‘heavy fighting’ and the

sorrowful enrapturement of the Germans as ‘prisoners of war’. The local leader herby reports

the pitiful victory of the Germans.169

While the veldspelen can be seen as a military inclined but relatively harmless

example of encouragement of violent behaviour, the shooting lessons of the SS to the

Jeugdstormers during the final phase of the war cannot. In 1942, ten NJS kader-members had

participated in the prior military education for the SS in Avegoor, with the aim to learn the

preparation for the real battle, of which shooting was one. Upon their return, the kader-

members were instructed to pass along their knowledge, so that all stormers would end up

prepared for military service. However, because the Jeugdstorm didn’t have access to

weapons, the initiative to self-militarization failed. The Jeugdstorm remained dependent on

the SS for the – by the more radical members much valued – shooting lessons. Only in one of

the diaries such lessons are mentioned. As early as 1943, J. L. S. reports that he had had

theoretical lessons of shooting, by the Dutch SS with a K.K. rifle. In 1944 he mentioned the

167 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 49–50. 168 NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 169 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous. NJS Bilthoven’.

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shooting lessons again, this time writing: ‘It was my second time shooting with an interval of

6 months, but nevertheless, I was one of the best.’170

The physical preparation for the use of violence by the NJS remained relatively

limited over the course of the war. Children who would eventually end up in the military

units, often in hindsight argued how unprepared they were for violent battle by Jeugdstorm

membership alone.171 The real military training of Jeugdstorm children occurred when they

ended up in Germany Wehrertüchtigungsslagern, or in Dutch Weersportkampen. From 1942

onward, these camps were organized by the Hitler Jugend as a paramilitary training for

German boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years of age with as main goal to

incorporate them in the Waffen-SS. From March 1943 onward additional camps were

organized for the youth of surrounding Germanic countries aimed at the Nazification of the

Weerbaarheid principle. Besides relatively harmless activities like skiing and swimming, the

children would be instructed in shooting and field exercises, with the main purpose to nazify

the children and recruit the boys for military service. In the process the children were

subjected to heavy pressures and manipulative practices.172 Former Jeugdstormer Arjen de

Groot, years after the war narrated in an interview and elaborated on his experience in one of

the Weersportkamp at the end of 1944:

‘In the middle of the night when I was sound asleep, in the middle of the night I do not

know at what time, I was taken out of bed, with several others and then I was put on

the assembly station in my underpants. There we had to stand and wait and we would

be there for 10 or even 30 minutes.’173

170 NIOD, 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 171 Paul Ruigrok, ‘De Oorlog Niet Voorbij’, Andere Tijden (Nederland 2, 7 May 2011), https://www.anderetijden.nl/aflevering/198/De-oorlog-niet-voorbij-. 172 Oomen, ‘Jeugd van Het Nieuwe Europa’. 173 Ruigrok, ‘De Oorlog Niet Voorbij’.

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4.2. Feelings of enmity within the NJS community

In contrast to the fairly limited physical preparation for the use of violence by the NJS as set

apart above, the propaganda apparatus of the organization did considerably more for the

psychological preparation. The experience of committing to acts of violence is very much

connected to feelings of enmity. These feelings are often not the result of heterogeneity

between different identity groups, but instead the result from the mental construction of

different identity groups. These groups tend to stigmatize based on the emphasis on

differences. In this process notions of dirtiness, foreignness, corruption and deceivableness

are assigned to the ‘other’ identity group, by which the psychological distance increases.

Feelings of fear further contribute to this process, because perceived ‘security problems’ can

be used as a validation for the will to destroy the other and can thus result in in the radical

determination to do so.174 This psychological process lies at the base of violent action and can

thus be used to analyse the feelings of enmity as aspired by the NJS propaganda apparatus.

As for the identity framework propagated by the Nationale Jeugdstorm, multiple

narratives which aimed to create some sort of enmity can be found within the organization’s

propaganda and official documents. During the pre-war period, but also during the first few

years of the Second World War, a recurrent subject in Jeugdstorm publications was the

“ruination of the Dutch youth”. The democracy was designated as the main cause of the

‘disorderly’ and ‘rogue’ youth generation, that dominated and ruined the Netherlands in the

pre-war era.175 In contrast, the children of the Jeugdstorm were again taught how to be

‘orderly, disciplined and loyal’. They would take good care of their physique and were always

neatly dressed in their blue-black uniforms. The children would be stormers above all else,

thus incorporating them into the Jeugdstorm identity group. In addition, they differed from

174 Jacques Semelin, Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 48–50. 175 Barkhuis, Max Blokzijl Spreekt Tot de Jeugd, 40.

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the adults within the nation. In an article in the Stormmeeuw (1943) this part of the

Jeugdstorm identity is set apart as followed:

‘We, the youth, have the advantage unlike the adults, to stand uninhibited and

unbiased towards the problems of our time. We are untroubled by the burden of the

past, by which the adults were shaped and which they can never completely shake

off.’176

The Jeugdstormers were the new generation who would take the lead in the new order. As a

group they were thus positioned both against those peers who were not a member of the

Jeugdstorm, but also against the totality of the adultery by which the propaganda did not

differentiate between national socialist and non-national socialist.

Over the course of the war, the narrative on enmity became more complicated.

Originally, as explained in chapter one, the Jeugdstormers were told they belonged to the

Dietse tribe, which was part of the Nordic races. They were linked to other Dutch speaking

nations like Belgium and South Africa and kinsmen in East and West India. In turn, Dietsland

was designated to hold a place in the ‘great’ and ‘strong’ European society. In addition, the

Dietse tribe originated from the Germanic tribe, which also resulted in a form of kinship

among these. In their own words: ‘As Dutchmen, we participate in the Germanic society, as

Dutchmen we enter the European community, and as Jeugdstorm, we are of the European

youth union.’177 So, while the identity of the Jeugdstorm members was carefully designed and

positioned within the Dutch society, the identity of the group as a whole within the world is

176 “De Stormmeeuw: Maandblad van Den Nationale Jeugdstorm,” F. Barkhuis, 1943, 9:6, Het Geheugen van Nederland http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/nl/geheugen/view?query=Jeugdstorm&page=7&maxperpage=36&coll=ngvn&identifier=OBA01%3ASTORM-1943-09-06&resultsidentifier=OBA01%3ASTORM-1943-09-06. 177 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Vorming, Richtlijnen II’.

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far more complicated. The comprehensive, racial and national identity framework that

resulted from all the connections to different nations, races, and communities, resulted in the

exclusion of two main groups.

As common within the national socialistic community, the Jews were regarded to be

inferior and problematic. Documents titled The Jewish Question and Racial Science published

by the Nationale Jeugdstorm, set apart the history and the demographics of the Jews in the

Netherlands. For the Jeugdstorm, the Jewish Question was mostly related to the problem of

ontnoording, by it is meant that the so-called “Northern race” is slowly decreasing by

interracial mixture with other races (of which the Jew’s are certainly one).178 Other documents

refer to kader-evenings, for the purpose of the education of kader-members, at which topics

like racial studies (Rassenkunde), the Jewish Problem and Racial hygiene are taught to the

Jeugdstorm leadership.179 In addition, both the Stormvlag and Stormmeeuw, occasionally refer

to the Jewish problem. 180 One of the propaganda folders read: ‘The Germanic youth are

those, who have not yet been placed under the influence of the previous Jewish thinking and

system and have thus not been influenced by the bad and strange tendencies of a bygone

era’181 While this is a clear negative reference to the Jew, it should be emphasised that in

reading the residual documentation in the archives, the subject of “the Jew”, didn’t appear that

often. Other historians, like Van Engelen en Kwak have already argued that the Jewish

Question, wasn’t a hot topic within the Jeugdstorm community. Accordingly, the NJS was

obliged to follow the NSB policies but didn’t engage in a strict compliance with all aspects.182

The issue of the Jews, often only became a hot topic for the NJS members when the stormers

178 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Ontnoording en Opnoording van het Noordras’. 179 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Het Jodenvraagstuk’. 180 Rooy, “Jeugd Is Argeloos En Overmoedig Spel,” 101. 181 NIOD 123, 1153: ‘Richtlijnen in het kader van activiteiten van de Nationale Jeugdstorm’. 182 Kwak, “De Nationale Jeugdstorm”. En: Bart Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland”.

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or kader-members came under the influence of the German ideology, at the schools and sport

events that were hosted in Germany.

Far more documents refer to the Bolshevist threat that endangered the Great German

Empire, and thus indirectly, the Netherlands. After Germany had started the war against

Russia in the beginning of 1941, the destiny of the Dutch people had, accordingly, become

even more connected to that of the Germans. As a result, the battle against Bolshevism, had

become of the utmost interest for every national socialist. The core of the Dutch society had

to fight for the faith of the Empire: the youth, and thus the Jeugdstorm, were certainly no

exception. Certainly, the more radical branch within the NJS tried to lure the young stormers

to the Eastern front by means of extensive propaganda, in which the Bolshevist was set apart

as the “other”. Heroic stories of stormers who gave their lives in ‘Europe’s Battle for

Freedom’ were dispersed under the members.183 Later, the entire Jeugdstorm was activated to

support those who had left by means of front care: by collecting money and writing letters.

The battle against Bolshevism was very much pursued by the Duits oriented NJS leaders, and

therefore increasingly gained prominence over the course of the war.

4.3. Enmity in Practise: Were the Stormers Willing to Use Violence?

During the early years of the NJS existence, the experience of Jeugdstorm membership could

include fights and participation in riots. During this phase the violence of Jeugdstorm

members was aimed at the undisciplined non-NJS members, which were singled out by

Jeugdstorm propaganda. stormers were encouraged to provoke, to establish themselves as a

group and to conquer the streets, in line with the NSB ideology.184 An anonymous stormer

after the war elaborated on this experience as followed:

183 NIOD 123, 1179: ‘Nameless. Propaganda Paper’. 184 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 48.

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‘these street fights heavily increased after 1939, after the mood against the NSB and

the Jeugdstorm became more hostile. When the meeuwen or stormsters went on

marches, they had to be protected by stormers, who were equipped with their

schouderkoppels so they could take down their opponents.’185

Accordingly, the street fights and riots often resulted from the provocation of bystanders

during propaganda marches. On an organizational level the protection of members became a

much-discussed issue. Letters sent from the Hoofdkwartier to the regional leaders mention the

need for the protect the Jeugdstorm members.186 In 1940 one of the incidents even ended in

the murder of a to the Jeugdstorm connected WA’er Peter Ton, by a lost police bullet.187

Interestingly enough, none of the diary authors included stories of these group riots in their

description of their Jeugdstorm membership. While references to the negative attitude of

bystanders can be found – like in the diary of A. P. who mentions the ‘persisting terror

toward national socialists’ at the beginning of 1940188 - the willingness to fight with non-

members among the Dutch population isn’t mentioned by any of the Jeugdstormers. Nor do

the children refer to violent attacks during their public appearances. It thus seems plausible

that the experience of membership didn’t necessarily included the participation in acts of

violence against other social groups in Dutch society.

A far more violent attitude among the young stormers can be detected in reference to

the Eastern Bolshevists. The outflow of members who took service in the German Waffen-SS

can be traced back to the beginning of 1941. The tendency among Jeugdstorm members to act

upon the Duitse NJS ideology and join the battle of the Great German empire, resulted in

conflicts with the predominantly Dietse NJS leadership during early years of war. In a letter

185 Spruit, Onder de Vleugels van de Partij, 49. 186 NIOD 123, 1138: ‘Letter to the regional leader of Brabant, 26 Zomermaand 1941’. 187 NIOD 123, 1179: ‘Nationale Jeugdstorm PETER TON, Herfstmaand 1941’. 188 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Diary A. P.’

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sent from the NJS headquarter in response to a request to join the battle against bolshevism, it

was argued that:

‘While I completely understand that you are fully willing to participate in this gigantic

battle, I can absolutely not grant you permission to do so, while it is of the upmost

importance to the Jeugdstorm of the Dutch people and thus the Germanic community,

that the kader of the Jeugdstorm remains unattenuated.’189

Several diaries account for similar outflow of other NJS members. F. G. leaves his kader-

function at the Jeugdstorm in august 1941 for 6 months of front training. While the experience

isn’t positive and F. G. doesn’t even end up at the Eastern front, his willingness to fight

doesn’t decrease. He eventually even decides to participate in a Lehrgang of the Reichs

Jugend Führung in Berlijn (1944), after which he is determined to mobilize his fellow

Jeugdstormers for the participation in the battle at the Eastern Front.190 Another example of

tendency to participate in the battle against Bolshevism is narrated by Dick Woudenberg,

whose brother Jan Woudenberg (a former Jeugdstorm himself) had rapidly joined the Dutch

SS on the arrival of the Nazis. Only months later, the boy had joint the SS Division Wiking,

‘not knowing what a hard time awaited him’.191 How many stormers, like Jan Woudenberg,

joined the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht during the first few years of the Second World War

is unclear. It is known that during this period the Germans created special units for racially

related volunteers of which the SS Division Wiking was one, consisting of volunteers from

Scandinavia and West-European Countries like the Netherlands and Belgium.192 According to

W. Wijnaendts who acted as regional NJS leader of Limburg, there were over 700 stormers

189 NIOD 123, 1138: ‘Letter by Hoofdstormer Banheer A. F. G. Borst, Oogstmaand 4, 1941’. 190 NIOD 244, 1037: ‘Diary F. G.’ 191 Cohen, De Nazi Leerling, 81. 192 Rolf-Dieter Müller, Hitler’s Wehrmacht, 1935-1945 (Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2016), 74.

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who participated in the SS at the end of 1943. So, even before the Duitse ideology had gained

the upper hand within the Jeugdstorm organization, some of the Jeugdstorm members showed

themselves willing to act upon the enmity against the Bolshevists.

It is striking that the examples of the members who were willing to use violence

during these early years were all relatively old: The letter of the Hoofdkwartier is clearly

addressed to a kader-member; F. G. is around the age of 30 when the war erupts; and also, Jan

Woudenberg was one of the oldest children within the family. The diaries kept by younger

Jeugdstorm members account for less violently oriented membership experiences in which the

‘battle against Bolshevism’ is mentioned (in varying degrees) but is not acted upon. For the

stormsters and meeuwkes, NJS membership would per definition be non-violent, since

national socialistic ideology prescribed them to fulfil a caring role within the society and the

families.193 This was reflected in the diaries of the anonymous stormster who wrote

Wildzang194 and of meeuwke B. W.195, who both only mentioned the ‘fun’ marches of the

NJS. For the stormers and meeuwen, the use of violence was more in line with ideological

teachings of the NSB. Yet, both J. L. S, who kept his diary until June 1944 and A. P. who

recorded his activities until 1943, only accounted for their participation in marches and other

NJS propaganda activities.196 Both of the stormers make no mention of the official orders

issues by Mussert, Seys-Inquart and Rauter, on the mandatory enlistment to the Dutch

Landstorm in September 1943. A. P. even wrote how he requested and received postponement

of his labour service in Germany, so he could end his education at the university.197

The real militarization of the Jeugdstorm, as written down in the diaries of the

Jeugdstorm members, only started in the final phase of the war. For the girls their role in

193 Driessen, “Slechts Onderdeel Hoewel Onmisbaar,” 41–42. 194 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous. Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’. 195 NIOD 244, 728: ‘Diary B. W.’. 196 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Diary A. P.’, and NIOD 244, 1330: ‘Diary J. L. S.’. 197 NIOD 244, 1014: ‘Diary A. P.’.

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violent action, remained supportive. In the collective diaries of Bussum and Bilthoven, it was

regularly reported how the girls were instructed to maintain contact with the Jeugdstormers

who were deployed at the Eastern front in the ‘Battle against Bolshevism’. One of the leaders

reports in spring 1944: ‘Because of the soft weather we went on to our little hill and there the

front letters were collected, which we faithfully write every week. Of the boys themselves two

letters arrived this week. A sailor even wrote us for the second time.’ Later they report that

‘All together we have delivered over 130 letters this month!’198

The real turning point in the militarization of the members occurred after Dolle

Dinsdag, 5th of September 1944. In the chaos that erupted due to advancing Allied forces and

due to the massive panic among NSB’ers during these days, many of the Jeugdstorm

members ended up displaced and forced in some sort of military service. This service could

take violent and non-violent forms: An anonymous stormer from Amsterdam, for example,

was employed in the build-up of the Dutch line of defence, by rolling barbwire and digging

trenches.199 However, many others were installed in fighting functions. The Jeugdstorm

bandleader W. A. J., was after Dolle Dinsdag installed as the leader of two entire Jeugdstorm

troepen who are assigned to the Dutch Landstorm. During this period the Landstorm was used

to evacuate the Eastern parts of the Netherlands, and later, the forces were even merged into

the German army.200 A few months later, some of these boys went to Amsterdam to: ‘fight

terrorists’. The remaining part of the boys is deployed in Deventer to stop the advancing

Canadian forces.201 Also A. S., who was installed as Stasscharführer of a depleted

Jeugdstorm company in April 1945. The commander also refers to violent military action by

the former stormers, when a messenger is attacked: ‘(…) we assumed that it was the work of

198 NIOD 244, 764: ‘Anonymous. NJS Bilthoven’. 199 NIOD 224, 1164: ‘Anonymous. Amsterdam NJS-member’. 200 Damsma, “Nazis in the Netherlands,” 100. 201 NIOD 244, 591: ‘Diary W. A. J.’.

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partisans. Therefore, we decided to purify the surroundings.’202 A clear definition of these

‘partisans’ and ‘terrorists’ is not provided, but it does make clear that at least small groups

Jeugdstormers, when deployed in the Landstorm, did at least to some extent participate in the

war violence. It is clear that a substantial part of the stormers of the NJS were deployed

during this period. The Stormvlag reported, at the end of 1944, that over 1.600 boys above the

age of 15 served in a (semi)military organization.203 In addition, on an organizational level the

shift to the Duitse ideology had been settled, thereby fully accommodating the deployment of

the boys in the battle against Bolshevism. However, a reoccurring notion of those who ended

up at the front is the insufficient preparation of any real violent action, by their NJS

membership alone. None of the diary author’s writings explicitly refers to violent fighting

experiences. However, post-war narratives account that many of the boys that were sent into

battle were relatively unable to fight. Former stormer Dick Woudenberg for example, had

been sent to the front with his entire school class, were they accordingly arrived as

‘schoolboys’.204 And also former stormer Arjen de Groot, years after the war recalled: ‘I

didn’t feel like a soldier, not heroic at all’.205

Altogether, the writings of the older Jeugdstorm members who left during the early

years of war, account for a violent attitude towards the opponents of the German Great

Empire. In contrast the diaries of the younger members do not account for outstanding violent

action or attitudes during their years of Jeugdstorm membership. During the last period of

existence, the children of the Nationale Jeugdstorm were mobilized and militarized by its

leadership who had committed to the Duitse ideology and the hereto connected feelings of

enmity. While members were exposed to these explicit enmities through the organizational

propaganda, real military preparation for battle held off. It seems likely that during these last

202 NIOD 244, 955: ‘Diary A. S.’. 203 Engelen, “In Godsvertrouwen Alles Voor Het Vaderland,” 37. 204 Cohen, De Nazi Leerling, 174. 205 Ruigrok, ‘De Oorlog Niet Voorbij’.

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months of war, many stormers did commit acts of violence, since they ended up in fighting

positions. However, the picture that the stormers were ideologically indoctrinated fighters,

willing to sacrifice their lives for the Duitse ideals, can be nuanced. Yes, some of the

Jeugdstormers radicalized and experienced their NJS membership as a steppingstone to

fighting positions. Yet, others simply ended up in fighting positions due to official decisions

of deployment of Jeugdstorm members.

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5. Conclusion: The Jeugdstorm as a Community of Experience

An anonymous stormster wrote on August 30th, 1942: ‘It was such a lovely trip to Gouda!

First, we traveled there by train to Gouda station. From there we marched through the city

during which we stood fast several times in order to admire the townhome, the Waagen and

the old church. From there we continued through the streets while singing (…)’206 At first

sight this description of a city trip organized by the Nationale Jeugdstorm seems like a

relatively harmless attempt to provide leisure to the Dutch youth during the time of German

occupation. Marching through the streets, singing songs, the children would have a fun day,

away from the wartime troubles that dominated the country. This narrative stands in strange

contrast with the general assumptions on account of the Nationale Jeugdstorm and its

members. In the historic and public debates that dominated the academic world just after the

war, the Jeugdstormers were labeled as fout. Just like all other national socialists, NSB

members and collaborators, the children were regarded a problematic social group within the

liberated Dutch society. While the former Jeugdstormers thus often had to deal with the

consequences of their membership, the experience of membership has remained strangely

underexposed. Both historical analysis and public debate seem to have assumed that the

experience of Jeugdstorm membership followed the developments on the organizational level.

In contrast, this bottom-up analysis has focused on the communal experience of NJS

membership instead of the choices and convictions of the Jeugdstorm leadership.

Organizational history has been continuously set off against the individual narratives of

Jeugdstorm members in an attempt to answer the question: To what extent did the experience

of membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm influence the lives and social relations of the

members during the years of German occupation, 1940-1945? This question has been

206 NIOD 244, 1010: ‘Anonymous. Mijn Dagboek Wildzang’.

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analyzed based on three central aspects: the Jeugdstormers’ perceptiveness to the NJS

ideology, the changes in the Jeugdstormers’ social relations due to their membership and their

willingness to use violence in accordance with Jeugdstorm membership.

The Nationale Jeugdstorm found its ideological origin in fascism, Dutch national

socialism and German national socialism. During the pre-war years the Jeugdstorm leadership

pursued an apolitical and pedagogic course and hereto denied their ties to the NSB movement.

After the Nazis entered the Netherlands the connection to the NSB was no longer denied.

Subsequently, the number of members quickly increased, until a total of 12.000 members in

1942. On an organizational level the period between 1940 and 1945 was dominated by the

antithesis between the Dietse and Duitse ideology. The Dietse ideological supporters under

leadership of Hoofdstormer Van Geelkerken built on the pedagogic and nationally oriented

course of the pre-war NJS, while the increasing number of supporters of the Duitse ideology,

emphasized the need for weerbaarheid and looked for closeness to their German kinsmen.

Within this organizational context, the ideological commitment of the individual Jeugdstorm

members varied greatly. While the narratives of older kader-members seem to confirm that

they were externally educated or sent to Germany for training, the average Jeugdstormer

experienced more internally oriented membership to the organizations. Some leaned toward

the Dietse ideological principles, others acted upon the more extreme Duitse ideology. In

some of the narratives none of the two ideological currents seem to have the upper hand.

Again, other Jeugdstorm members made no references to the ideological considerations of the

Jeugdstorm at all. Remarkably, the two stormsters and the meeuwke seemed to have been the

least perceptive to the ideological side of the NJS. It thus seems likely, that besides the

difference in the ideological teachings, and difference in the perceptiveness of individual

members, the experience of Jeugdstorm membership also differed between boys and girls. All

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in all, the ideological influence of the NJS on the members was not uniform, but their

teachings settled in the minds of the children in varying degrees.

The general patterns of interaction provided a rough social context for the members of

the Nationale Jeugdstorm. On the one hand there was much rejection towards both the Nazi

occupying forces and the native national socialists. On the other hand, personal relations do

not seem to have been affected by NSB membership alone, since there was still social

interaction on an individual level. Within this tense social environment, the membership of

the Nationale Jeugdstorm determined a substantial part of the identities of the children. The

performance of ideology in the form of, for example, Jeugdstorm aesthetics, collective

marches, march songs and flag ceremonies, built the Jeugdstorm identity among the members

and positioned them towards other social groups. The individual children generally seemed to

enjoy their membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm. Bearing membership to the organization

stimulated feelings of pride and belonging. However, it would be presumptuous to assume

that all children enjoyed memberships, while some did leave the organization. In addition, the

perception of membership could alter over time, when for example ideological convictions of

individual members diverged from the NJS official teachings. The interaction between this

diverse group of stormers and their social surroundings was influenced by their association

with the Jeugdstorm. The connection to national socialism resulted in problems, since this

made the Jeugdstorm members an easy target for the occupied population to express

frustration towards the Nazi domination. The interplay between the extreme ideological and

social positioning by the Jeugdstorm members and the frustrations of outsiders could result in

incidents of bullying and public confrontations. Yet the many diaries also account for

numerous examples whereby the Jeugdstormers just had fun during the public NJS activities

and whereby no negative interaction was mentioned. On an individual level a similar pattern

can be found. Sometimes membership negatively influenced family relations or social

75

relations with peers. However, in other accounts these notions of negative social interaction

on the individual level are absent. Until the panic and chaos of Dolle Dinsdag in September

1944 a diverse mixture of tensions and public disapproval, but also normal contact, mutual

interest and sometimes even solidarity between NJS members and non-NJS members

determined the social relations of the Jeugdstorm members. So, the social relations of a child

could radically alter after they entered the Jeugdstorm, but Jeugdstorm membership did not

per definition result in social problems with outsiders.

On an organizational level the development towards the militarization of the

Jeugdstorm was two-sided. Already during the pre-war years, the organization organized

marches and veldspelen for its members to perform, in order to teach them very basic military

skills in an approachable manner. However, real internal stimulation for the violent pursuit of

the NJS ideology wasn’t successfully implemented on a national level over the course of the

Second World War. For real military preparation of members, the NJS remained dependent

on the sporadic shooting lessons by the SS and the external Weersportkampen in Germany,

which became more frequently visited when the more radical leadership gained the upper

hand during the final years of the war. In contrast, the psychological preparation for violent

action by the encouragement of feelings of enmity, was far more developed on an internal

level. The propaganda apparatus of the Jeugdstorm singled out the rogue and undisciplined

non-Jeugdstorm children within society and all the ‘spoiled adultery’ of the Netherlands. On a

greater scale both the Jews and the Bolshevists were designated as enemies of the Jeugdstorm.

However, most of the attention was focused on the latter group. So, while the Jeugdstormers

were relatively underprepared for the use of violence, they were confronted with enemy

images in the NJS teachings. From the early years onward riots between groups of

Jeugdstormers and bystanders occurred, however it is plausible that the experience of

membership didn’t necessarily include the use of violence against non-members, since these

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incidents are notably absent from the primary source material. Most of the violent behavior

originating from the stormers was aimed against the Eastern Bolshevists. The members who

joined the Germans in battle form in the early years of war were mainly the older kader-

members. In contrast, the younger members didn’t act upon the enmity, and thus experienced

far less violently inclined membership. Though during the last view years, the experience of

regular membership became more dominated by the Eastern battle. Collective NJS diaries

show how girls were deployed as mental caretakers of the Jeugdstormers who were

increasingly leaving for the East, by keeping up correspondence with the boys in fighting

functions. After Dolle Dinsdag the atmosphere really changed. In a collective flight of NSB

families, many Jeugdstorm children were displaced and were assigned to fighting functions in

the Landstorm, Landwacht or any of the German fighting units. Since the unprepared

stormers mostly ended up in fighting positions during this period, violence was committed.

However, notion that all the Jeugdstorm members were in fact fanatically willing to fight for

the Jeugdstorm ideals seems an overstatement, since the voluntary element of military service

had almost completely disappeared.

All in all, the experience of Jeugdstorm membership did certainly have effects on the

lives and social relations of the Jeugdstorm members. Ideologically altered worldviews,

changed social relations and changes in behavior can be connected to the simple fact that the

children bore membership to the Nationale Jeugdstorm. However, both nuance and

differentiation are necessary in order to fully comprehend the experience of Jeugdstorm

membership. Not all Jeugdstorm children were perceptive to the NJS teachings that emanated

from the ideological struggles of the organizations leadership. During the war – certainly until

the very end of 1943 – the children generally liked to be part of the Jeugdstorm community

and enjoyed the activities the organization planned for them. The ideological and wartime

struggles that dominated the organization’s leadership are almost totally missing from a lot of

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the primary source material. The social interaction between the children and their social

environment generally altered due to the fact that they had become Jeugdstorm members. Yet,

this didn’t mean that social conflict and social confrontation dominated the lives of all the

members. And also, on a behavioral level, the committing to violent acts seemed to have

remained a personal choice, for the largest period of the War. These individual experiences do

not completely override the developments on an organizational level. The Jeugdstorm was

part of the Dutch NSB, its leadership did collaborate with the Germans, and the collective

mobilization, and later militarization, of the entire Dutch youth was a central element of the

organizational teachings. Nevertheless, the analysis of the communal experience

complements the already existing organizational historic image by providing a new

perspective on how members lived their lives in connection to the NJS. This more complete

understanding of the Nationale Jeugdstorm – of which the official line of governance on the

organizational level is one side, and the individual experience members is another – breaks

the stigma of uniformity among the Jeugdstorm children.

As the saying goes: There are two sides to every story. This analysis of the

membership experience of the children who joined the Jeugdstorm is the “other side” in the

still ongoing debate on goed en fout. The relevance of the findings hereby transcends the

simple aim of gaining further insight in the Nationale Jeugdstorm during the period of

German occupation. As explained at the beginning of this research, the post-war process of

identity formation of the Dutch collective was very much steered by the differentiation

between the foute collaborators and the goede resistance fighters. The Dutch society was

perceived to be moderate, insusceptible for revolution and generally negative towards both

communism and national socialism. It was determined that the Netherlands of the Second

World War had been filled with resistance fighters and, therefore, there was no room for

Dutch national socialists within the national identity. Those who did not fit in the positive

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collective identity were socially outcasted in the years that followed, which is still visible in,

for example, the innocent child narrative that was adopted by the former Jeugdstorm members

during the ‘80s. While the academic debate is slowly altering its course, the public debate has

yet to incorporate a more nuanced version of events. Both academic and public debate would

benefit from a more nuanced understanding of the Dutch society during the war, since it

leaves more room for differentiation within the categories of goed and fout, as illustrated by

this research. A more inclusive and thus more accurate view on the Dutch national identity

could hereby be gained.

In addition, the analysis of the experience of Jeugdstorm membership has shown that

knowledge about ‘the other side’ has the potential to soften the rigid social divisions that are

often assumed in the process of identity formation and societal interaction. Societal and

political divisions based on convictions on what is goed and what is fout, can still be found in

the contemporary Dutch society and are not limited to the Second World War alone. For

example, the contemporary debate on the tolerance and inclusion of Muslim immigrants and

refugees has placed opponents and proponents on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

However, in this and other instances the picture of a rigid and polarized societal division can

be nuanced by a comparative analysis of the organizational positioning on a political level on

the one side, and the communal experiences on an individual level on the other side. The

analysis of the communal experience of Jeugdstorm membership has shown that the fact that

people are “connected” to a certain type of organization or ideological current, does not

establish their full mental and physical commitment to all aspects of that membership. There

are many examples in which people participate in a certain organization in a far more nuanced

way than the official line of the organization would suggest. This doesn’t exclude the fact that

some people foster and act upon extreme or radical opinions. It simply allows for more

variation and diversity on an individual level.

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Years before the Second World War reached the Netherlands the children of the Dutch

Nationale Jeugdstorm marched the streets in their black and blue uniforms, collectively

singing on the glory of the Dietsland, of which they themselves were the most important

representatives. After the Germans had entered the Netherlands in 1940, there were many

more who answered to the cry: Be Brave, Become Stormer! and who thereby entered in the

Jeugdstorm community. With all their collective grandeur and collective action, it was the

individual members, with all their mutual differences, who lay at the base of this since often

disputed organization. They were the Nationale Jeugdstorm.

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6. Cited Materials

Abbreviations

NIOD Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust-, en Genocidestudies GVNL Geheugen van Nederland

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Barnouw, David. “Wie de Jeugd Heeft, Heeft de Toekomst.” Fibula: Tijdschrift Voor Jeugd

En Geschiedenis 31, no. 3 (1990): 5–10. Bartov, Omar. “Setting the Record Straight.” PastForward Spring 2011 (2011): 24–26. Bird, Stehphany, Mary Fulbrook, Julia Wagner, and Christiane Wienand. Reverberations of

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over veranderende opvatting over de vrouw in Nederland sinds de Jaren Dertig.” BMGN 108, no. 1 (1993): 34-35.

Blom, J. C. H. In de Ban van Goed En Fout. Amsterdam: Boom, 2007. Boom, Bart van der. Kees van Geelkerken: De Rechterhand van Mussert. Utrecht/Antwerpen:

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7. Abstract: Be Brave, Become Stormer!

In this thesis the membership experience of the members of the Nationale Jeugdstorm (NJS)

during the years of the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940-1945) is analyzed. From

1934 until the end of the Second World War the Nationale Jeugdstorm, which can be regarded

a sister organization of the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging, aimed to unite and educate the

Dutch youth by the fascistic model, with varying success. While the organizational history of

the NJS has been analyzed by past research, the experience of the individual members has

largely been left out. By means of an extensive diary analysis the ideological perceptiveness,

the social relations and the willingness to use violence of the members of the Nationale

Jeugdstorm is uncovered.

Building upon recent research on the nuance debate on goed and fout and on the

reevaluation of the isolated postilion of national socialists within the Dutch society, I argue

that the membership experience of the Nationale Jeugdstorm can best be characterized by the

notions of diversity and variation. On an ideological level the Nationale Jeugdstorm

propagated two different worldviews: an internally oriented Dietse ideology; and a German

oriented Duitse ideology. Members show difference in perceptiveness to both these

ideological teachings. On a social level the isolation of national socialistic children is largely

refuted. Social relations could certainly be affected by membership, but negative

confrontation or isolation was not a direct result of Jeugdstorm membership. On a behavioral

level, members showed several degrees on willingness to use violence. On the one hand a

relatively small group of mainly older NJS kader-members chose to participate in violent

action from the early war years onward. The real turning point in the militarization of the NJS

occurs after Dolle Dinsdag 1944, after which many of the Jeugdstorm members are displaced

and assigned military tasks. Their participation in violent action hereby doesn’t necessarily

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represent a willingness to fight. All in all, the experience of Jeugdstorm membership did

certainly have effects on the lives of the Jeugdstorm members on all three levels, but the

experience of membership was generally very dissimilar. A more complete understanding of

the Nationale Jeugdstorm – of which the official line of governance on the organizational

level is one side, and the individual experience members is another – breaks the stigma of

uniformity among the Jeugdstorm children.