VORRINK: Yes, Sir.
M. FAURE: You exercised these functions in 1940 at the time of the
invasion of the Netherlands, by the Germans?
VORRINK: Yes.
M. FAURE: I should like to ask you to give a few explanations on the
following situation: There existed in the Netherlands, before the
invasion, a National Socialist Party. I should like you to state what
the situation was, after the invasion by the Germans and during the
occupation, with regard to the various political parties in the
Netherlands, and more particularly the National Socialist Party, and
what were the activities of this Party in liaison with the German
occupation?
VORRINK: I should prefer to speak in the Dutch language. I am sorry I do
not know French and English well enough to use these languages—but in
order not to delay the proceedings, I shall make my declarations in
German. This is the only reason why I am using the German language.
The political situation in Holland after the invasion by the Germans was
that first and foremost the German Army wanted to maintain public order
in Holland. But the real Nazis immediately came with the Wehrmacht and
tried to direct and organize public life in Holland according to their
concepts. There were among the Germans three main categories. In the
first place, there were those who believed in the “blood and soil” (Blut
und Boden) theory. They wanted to win over the whole of the Dutch people
to their National Socialist concepts. I must say that, in certain
respects, this was our misfortune because these people, on the basis of
their “blood and soil” theory, loved us too much and when that love was
not reciprocated it turned to hate.
The second category consisted of the politically informed; and these
people knew perfectly well that the Dutch National Socialists in Holland
were only a very small and much hated group. At the elections of 1935
they received only 8 percent of the votes, and 2 years later this
percentage had been reduced by one-half. These people were tactlessness
itself. For instance, when the ruins of Rotterdam were still smoking,
they saw fit to make a demonstration at which the leader of the Dutch
National Socialists, Mussert, dedicated to Göring a new bell as a thank
offering for what he had done for Holland. Fortunately, it did not
prevent him from being defeated.
In the third place there were the so-called intriguers, those who wanted
to destroy the national unity of Holland and who, first of all, tried
through Seyss-Inquart to gain the favor of the Dutch people by flattery.
In the same way as Seyss-Inquart, they always stressed that the two
peoples were kindred races and should therefore work together, while
behind the scenes they played off one Nazi group against the other.
In Holland at that time there existed the Dutch National Socialist
Workers’ Party, the Dutch National Socialist Front, and the so-called
National Front. All these three movements had their contacts with
certain German organizations. The Germans first tried to find out
whether it was possible to use these groups for their purposes. Slowly,
however, they recognized that it was not possible to work with these
groups; and so they decided to adopt the National Socialist movement
only. These National Socialists gradually occupied the key positions in
the Dutch administration. They were appointed general secretaries for
internal administration, they became commissioners of the provinces,
mayors, _et cetera_.
I should like to mention in this connection that at that time there were
not enough people qualified to become mayors, so that short courses of
instruction were arranged which performed the record feat of turning out
Dutch mayors in 3 weeks. You can imagine what kind of mayors they were.
Furthermore, they became administrators in nazified organizations and
commercial undertakings, which gave them certain power in Holland; and
they behaved like cowardly Nazi lackeys.
Mr. Rost von Tonningen, for instance, used millions of Dutch guilders to
finance the war against Russia in order to fight against Bolshevism as
he called it. Finally, in December 1942, Seyss-Inquart declared the Nazi
Party to be the representative of the political life of Holland. If it
had not been so tragic, one might have laughed at it. Mussert was then
appointed as the Leader of Holland. I must add that the Nazi Party had
only a shadow existence from the political point of view, with the
single but important exception that these people had occasionally the
opportunity to deal with matters of personnel. I should also add that
sometimes they turned the heads of young Dutchmen and persuaded several
thousands of them to enter the SS formations; and during the last years
it became even worse. Then they even went so far as to put young boys
into the SS without their parents’ consent. They even forced minors from
correctional institutions into the SS. Sometimes—I know of cases
myself—young boys who for certain reasons were at loggerheads with
their parents, were taken into the SS. To realize the harm done you
must, as I have sometimes done, go and speak to these children who are
now in camps in Holland. You will then see what a monstrous crime has
been committed against these young people.
M. FAURE: Am I to understand that all these methods employed by the
Germans were intended to achieve the nazification of Holland and that if
there were, as you have indicated, several varying tendencies among the
Germans, these tendencies differed only as to the means to be employed
and not in regard to the purpose of Germanization?
VORRINK: The actual nazification of Holland extended to practically all
spheres of our national life. They tried in every domain to introduce
the Leadership Principle. I would like to point out, for instance, that
contrary to our expectations, they did not ban the Socialist Trade
Unions but just tried to employ them. They merely sent a Nazi
commissioner who told the people, “The era of democracy is past, just go
on working under the leadership of the commissioner and you can still
help the workers. It is not necessary to change anything.” They even
tried that with the Dutch political parties.
As President of the Socialist Democratic Workers’ Party of Holland, I
had a long conversation with Rost von Tonningen, who personally told me
that it was a pity that the good cultural work done to educate the
workers should cease. We both wanted socialism and all we had to do was
to work together calmly. I denied that at the time of that conversation.
I told him that for us democracy was not a question of opportunism but a
part of our ideology and that we were not prepared to betray our
convictions and our principles.
They tried to keep the workers in their organizations; but slowly the
workers, thousands and tens of thousands of them, left their
organizations. When finally the National Labor Front was created, with
the Catholic and Christian Trade Unions, there certainly was an
organization but no longer any members.
M. FAURE: Can you state with accuracy whether in your country
persecutions against the Jews were started?
VORRINK: One of the worst chapters of our sufferings in Holland was the
persecution of the Jews. You may know that we in Holland, and especially
in Amsterdam, had a strong Jewish minority. These Jews took a very
active part in the public and cultural life of Holland, and one can say
there was no anti-Semitism in Holland.
When the Germans first came to Holland, they promised us that they would
not harm the Jews at all. Nevertheless, even in the first weeks there
was a wave of suicides. In the following months the measures against the
Jews started. The professors in the universities were forced to resign.
The president of the highest court in Holland was dismissed. Then the
Jews had to present themselves for registration, and then came the time
when the Jews were deported in great numbers.
I am proud to say that the Dutch population did not suffer this without
protesting. The Dutch students went on strike when their Jewish
professors were driven out, and the workers of Amsterdam went on strike
for several days when the persecution of the Jews started. But one has
to have seen this with one’s own eyes, as I have, to know what a
barbaric system this National Socialism was.
The Green Police sealed off whole sections of cities, went into houses,
even went on the roofs, and drove out young and old and took them off in
their trucks. No difference was made between young and old. We have seen
old women of over 70, who were lying ill at home and had no other desire
than to be allowed to die quietly in their own home, put on stretchers
and carried out of their home, to be sent to Westernborg and from there
to Germany, where they died.
I myself remember very well how a mother, when she was dragged from her
home, gave her baby to a stranger, who was not a Jewess, and asked her
to look after her child. At this moment there are still hundreds of
families in Holland where these small Jewish children are being looked
after and brought up as their own.
M. FAURE: Can you state whether, apart from these measures against the
Jews, the Germans concerned themselves with other confessions?
VORRINK: From the beginning the Germans always tried to get the churches
into their power. All the churches, the Catholic as well as the
Protestant, protested whenever the Germans violated human rights. The
churches protested against the arbitrary arrest of persons, against the
mass deportation of our workers, and the church never failed to testify
for the Jews.
Of course, the church dignitaries, the priests and pastors, had to
suffer for that; and hundreds of our pastors and priests were taken to
concentration camps, and of the 20 parsons and priests whom I knew in
the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, only one has returned to
Holland.
M. FAURE: Can you state what measures were adopted with regard, for
example, to culture, propaganda, and teaching?
VORRINK: What incensed us most in Holland was not so much our military
defeat. We were a small people, and I can say that during those 5 days
we fought as well as we could. Perhaps it would have been possible to
maintain a correct attitude with the occupation forces, if it hadn’t
been for the Nazis’ determination to dominate us, not only in a military
sense, but also to break our spirit and to crush us morally. Therefore,
they never lost an opportunity of encroaching on our cultural life in
their efforts to nazify us.
In regard to the press, for instance, they forced us to publish in our
press editorials which were written by Germans and to print them on the
front page in order to create the impression that the editor in chief of
the paper had written them. One can even say that these measures were
the starting point for the very extensive underground press in Holland,
because we wouldn’t allow the Germans to lie to us systematically. We
had to have a press which told us the truth.
Also in regard to the radio, it was soon forbidden to listen to foreign
stations; and they dealt out exceedingly harsh punishment to people who
defied this ban; and there were a great many people in Holland who
listened to the foreign radio, especially the BBC. And we in Holland
were always glad to hear the British radio which never hesitated to give
the people, _in extenso_, all the affecting speeches of Hitler and
Göring, while we were not allowed to listen to Churchill’s speeches. In
those moments we were deeply conscious of the reasons why we had built
up our resistance, and we also knew why our Allied friends strove with
all their might to deliver the world from the Nazi tyranny.
It was the same in the field of the arts. Quite a number of guilds for
painters, musicians, and writers were forced to organize themselves. An
author could not even publish a book without submitting it to some Nazi
illiterate.
They also encroached on school life and tried to influence elementary
education; for instance, in the text books for children of 6 to 12 years
they ordered that whole sentences should be struck out. A sentence like
the following, “When the Queen visited them the people cheered.” In the
schools and public buildings they organized real hunts for pictures of
our Royal Family.