Dutch resistance facts for kids
The Dutch resistance was a group of brave Dutch who stood up against the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. They fought the Nazis in many ways, often without using weapons. The resistance helped hide about 300,000 people in 1944.
The Dutch resistance started slowly. In 1941, Dutch people organized a strike, known as the February strike. They protested against the Nazis sending away over 400 Jews. This event made the resistance stronger. Dutch communists created small, secret groups of resistance members. Other groups also formed, like De Geuzen and military groups such as the Ordedienst ('order service'). Many of these early groups were found by the Nazis in the first two years of the war.
Dutch resistance groups gathered secret information about the Nazis. They also carried out sabotage (damaging things to disrupt the enemy) and set up communication networks. This helped the Allied forces from 1944 until the Netherlands was freed. Sadly, about 75% (105,000 out of 140,000) of Dutch Jews were killed in the Holocaust, mostly in Nazi death camps. Some resistance groups focused on saving Jewish children. Between 215 and 500 Dutch Romani people were also killed by the Nazis.
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What Was Resistance?
Besides fighting with weapons, the Dutch resisted the Nazi German occupation in other ways. These were important choices for those who opposed the Nazis but did not want to use violence. Nonviolent resistance included spying, hiding people who were being hunted, and helping them escape. It also meant not following Nazi rules, joining public protests, printing illegal newspapers, and damaging companies that helped the war effort. Thousands of people were arrested by the Nazis and put in jail for months. Some were sent to concentration camps or even killed.
The Dutch February Strike in 1941, which protested the sending away of Jews, was the only strike of its kind in Nazi-occupied Europe.
After the war, the Netherlands created a special medal for bravery called the Resistance Cross. Out of 95 people who received it, 93 had been killed.
Before the Invasion
Before the Germans invaded, the Netherlands was neutral. This meant they had not taken sides in any wars since 1830. During World War I, Germany did not invade the Netherlands. The former German Kaiser even fled to the Netherlands in 1918. Because of this, the German invasion in World War II was a huge shock. The Netherlands ordered its army to get ready in September 1939.
Even though the Netherlands was neutral, German forces attacked the country's large merchant ships after World War II began. In November 1939, the Nazis sank the Dutch passenger ship SS Simon Bolivar, killing 84 people. This shocked the Netherlands, and it was not the only Dutch ship destroyed.
German Invasion of the Netherlands
On May 10, 1940, German troops attacked the Netherlands. The Germans invaded with about 750,000 soldiers. This was three times the size of the Dutch army. The Germans also used 1,100 planes, while the Dutch army had only 125. They destroyed 80% of the Dutch military aircraft by bombing. However, the Germans lost over 500 planes in the attack.
The Nazis tried the first large-scale paratrooper attack in history, but it failed. The Dutch army managed to take back control of three airfields the Germans had captured.
Major areas where the Dutch military fought back were:
- The Grebbelinie near Amsterdam
- Kornwerderzand, which had strong bunkers
- Rotterdam, where Dutch Marines defended the bridges
After four days, the Germans had taken over 70% of the country. Adolf Hitler ordered Rotterdam to be destroyed. Nazi bombing left about 85,000 Dutch civilians without homes. The Dutch surrendered.
About 2,000 Dutch soldiers died fighting the Nazi invasion. At least 800 civilians also died in Rotterdam.
Early German Rule
The Nazis wanted to turn the Dutch people into Nazis. The Netherlands has wide, open areas, which made it hard to hide secret resistance activities. This was different from places like the Maquis in France, who had many hiding spots.
The first time the Germans rounded up Jews in February 1941 led to the first general strike against them.
Dutch social democrats, Catholics, and communists started the resistance movement. At first, if the Germans found out people were in the resistance, they put them in jail. But if someone was part of an armed group, the Nazis could send them to concentration camps. After mid-1944, Hitler ordered his soldiers to shoot all resistance members. The Nazis also carried out revenge attacks against innocent civilians after resistance activities happened.
The Nazis sent Dutch Jews to concentration and extermination camps. They also started building defenses along the coast and made 30 airfields. They forced adult males between 18 and 45 to work in German factories or on public projects. In 1944, most trains were sent to Germany, and 550,000 Dutch people were sent to Germany as workers. Because of this, the resistance became much more organized and stronger. The resistance even killed high-ranking Dutch officials, like General Seyffardt.
Resistance Activities
On February 25, 1941, the Communist Party of the Netherlands called for a general strike, known as the 'February Strike'. German troops responded by shooting at unarmed crowds and taking many prisoners. However, this strike was very important because resistance against the Nazi occupation grew stronger afterward.
Dutch resistance was usually secret. Resistance activities in the Netherlands included sabotage, like cutting phone lines, handing out anti-German leaflets, or tearing down posters. Some small groups gathered intelligence (secret information) and published underground newspapers. These included De Waarheid, Trouw, Vrij Nederland, and Het Parool. They also damaged phone lines.
Another very important resistance activity was hiding Jewish families, like Anne Frank's, as well as resistance fighters, and Allied aircrew. The resistance managed to hide over 300,000 people from the Nazis.
Related pages
- Corrie ten Boom, a Christian resistance organizer
- Anti-fascism
- Bentley, Stewart. The Dutch Resistance and the OSS (2012)
- Bentley, Stewart. Orange Blood, Silver Wings: The Untold Story of the Dutch Resistance During Market-Garden (2007)
- Fiske, Mel, and Christina Radich. Our Mother's War: A Biography of a Child of the Dutch Resistance (2007)
- van der Horst, Liesbeth. The Dutch Resistance Museum (2000)
- Schaepman, Antoinette. Clouds: Episode of Dutch Wartime Resistance, 1940-45 (1982)
- Sellin, Thorsten, ed. "The Netherlands during German Occupation," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 245, May, 1946 pp i to 180 in JSTOR
- Warmbrunn, Werner. The Dutch under German occupation, 1940–1945 (Stanford University Press, 1963)
- Dewulf, Jeroen. Spirit of Resistance: Dutch Clandestine Literature under the Nazi Occuaption (Rocher NY: Camden House, 2010)
Images for kids
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Members of the Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in Eindhoven during Operation Market Garden, September 1944
See also
In Spanish: Resistencia neerlandesa para niños
