Nederlandsche Unie

It was created by Dr Louis Einthoven who had been Chief of Police in Rotterdam, Johannes Linthorst Homan who had been Queen's Commissioner in Groningen, and Professor Jan de Quay who had been part of the Roman Catholic State Party.

[3] The background was the conviction of the three founders that the Dutch culture and way of life could only be preserved through a policy of accommodation and limited collaboration with the Germans.

Furthermore, they wanted a more moderate alternative to the openly fascist National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland, NSB) and prevent that this would transfer all political power through the German leadership.

The general agenda of the Nederlandsche Unie included a stronger community spirit, an “organic further development of society” and the obligation to work for everyone.

After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the Soviet Union, the occupiers expected a pro-German mood in the political organizations they tolerated in the Netherlands, which, however, largely failed to materialize among the members of the Unie.

For example, the three founders asked Lodewijk Ernst Visser, the chairman of the Joodsche Coördinatie Commissie and influential member of the Jewish community, recommending Dutch Jews to retire from public office.

[3] An article appeared in De Unie in July 1941, in which the leadership clearly distanced itself from Nazism and called for the national sovereignty of the Netherlands.

The appearance of this article led to various reprisals on the part of the occupying powers: In addition to a ban on assembly and a fine of 60,000 guilders, the distribution of De Unie was also prohibited.

This was followed by a ban on all activities on August 31, 1941 and then the dissolution of the organization at the end of the year by Arthur Seyß-Inquart, the Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands.