Nationaal Socialistische Beweging

Nationaal Socialistische Beweging 

The Nationaal Socialistische Beweging was a Nazi movement, established by the Dutch nationalist Anton Adriaan Mussert. Its platform borrowed full paragraphs from that of the German Nazi party, but left out all paragraphs referring to Jews. Jews were able to join the NSB. In the 1935 Dutch provincial elections, the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging received eight percent of the country’s vote. This stunned the traditional Dutch political parties, who could not believe that the Nazi Party would gain so much support, and the Catholic church, who could not believe that so much of that support came from the Catholic sector. During the next elections, all other parties vocally opposed the NSB, as did the Catholic church. Despite Mussert’s original refusal to associate himself with anti-Semitism, extremist elements in his party forced him to change his views. In 1938 Jews were no longer allowed to be NSB members. When Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, Mussert hoped to be made prime minister, but he was ignored.