Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family relocated to London. Princess Juliana and her children sought refuge in Ottawa, Canada until after the war.
The Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 25 June 1945 until 3 July 1946. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP), the social-democratic Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and the social-liberal Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB) by royal decree following the end of World War II. The cabinet was a provisional centrist grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with prominent civil engineer Willem Schermerhorn of the Free-thinking Democratic League serving as Prime Minister. Social Democratic Leader Willem Drees served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs.
Antonius Johannes Jurgens, also known as Anton Jurgens was a Dutch businessman.
The Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party, churches, and independent groups. Over 300,000 people were hidden from German authorities in the autumn of 1944 by 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers. These activities were tolerated knowingly by some one million people, including a few individuals among German occupiers and military.
At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations. In February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta Conference that reparations would not be given in monetary form. The plan which was worked out in most detail was the one made by Frits Bakker Schut, and hence became known as the Bakker-Schut Plan.
Capital punishment in the Netherlands was abolished in 1870 in criminal law after the States General recognized it was "cruel and uncivilized". The bill was introduced by liberal-catholic Minister of Justice Franciscus van Lilaar and debated in both the Senate and House of Representatives for seven days before approval. Following the abolition of the death penalty, life imprisonment was made an official punishment in 1878.
Alberts Frères, founded around 1899, was one of the first film production companies in the Netherlands. The company was founded by brothers Albert (1879–1941) and Willy Mullens (1880–1952); they were the main filmmakers and exhibitors in the Netherlands in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Walraven "Wally" van Hall was a Dutch banker and resistance leader during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He founded the bank of the Resistance, which was used to distribute funds to victims of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and fund the Dutch resistance. Van Hall was executed by the German occupier in Haarlem shortly before the end of the war and buried at the Erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal.
Damen Naval is a Dutch shipyard, and a continuation of the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, responsible for a number of ships used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is owned by the Damen Group. Damen Naval is situated in Vlissingen.
The Weerbaarheidsafdeling was the paramilitary arm of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB), the fascist political party that collaborated with the German occupiers of the Netherlands during World War II. The organization, roughly equivalent to the German SA, was founded in 1932 by Anton Mussert, co-founder of the NSB in 1931 and its leader until the end of the war. Members wore and marched in black uniforms and were thus called "blackshirts". In 1933 the Dutch government banned the wearing of uniforms, and the WA was disbanded in 1935 in order to forestall the Dutch government's banning it. In 1940, after the German invasion, the WA became openly active again, and more ruthless than before. They specialized in violent attacks, particularly on the Dutch Jewish population.
Andries Jan Pieters was a Dutch war criminal and, together with Artur Albrecht, was one of the last two people to be executed in the Netherlands. Pieters served as a volunteer for Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front. When he was wounded he returned to the Netherlands and in the final months of World War II he led a SS commando in the Netherlands, which tortured and executed resistance members and others.
Duivelsberg is a hill and nature reserve in the municipality of Berg en Dal in the Dutch province of Gelderland, near the border with Germany. It is politically significant, however, because Duivelsberg is the only part of the Netherlands that was both annexed from Germany and retained after World War II.
During the First World War between 1914 and 1918, approximately one million Belgians fled across the border to the Netherlands. These refugees were both civilians who were afraid of the war and the alleged atrocities of the Germans, and soldiers who either deserted or were cut off from their army unit.
The bombing of Nijmegen on 22 February 1944 was an opportunistic aerial bombing raid by the United States Army Air Forces on the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, then occupied by Nazi Germany. In terms of the number of victims, it was one of the largest bombardments of a Dutch city during World War II. Officially, nearly 800 people were killed by accident due to inaccurate bombing but, because people in hiding could not be counted, the actual death toll was probably higher. A large part of the historic city centre was destroyed, including Saint Steven's Church. Saint Augustine's Church and Nijmegen railway station were heavily damaged as well.
The Battle of Nijmegen or Liberation of Nijmegen occurred in the Netherlands from 17 to 20 September 1944, as part of Operation Market Garden during World War II.
Langenboom is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is part of the municipality of Land van Cuijk. Langenboom is located in the Peel region, and lies about 18 kilometres (11 mi) south-west of Nijmegen.
Caballero is a Dutch brand of unfiltered cigarettes owned and manufactured by British American Tobacco. Caballero is the Spanish word for knight.
The Big Arsenal, in Dutch: Groot Tuighuis, in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, is also known as Old St. James Church, or Oude Sint Jacobskerk. It is the former location of the Noordbrabants Museum. It now houses the municipal heritage department and its storage. It is open to visitors four days a week.
Anarchism in the Netherlands originated in the second half of the 19th century. Its roots lay in the radical and revolutionary ideologies of the labor movement, in anti-authoritarian socialism, the free thinkers and in numerous associations and organizations striving for a libertarian form of society. During the First World War, individuals and groups of syndicalists and anarchists of various currents worked together for conscientious objection and against government policies. The common resistance was directed against imperialism and militarism.
Copieweg camp was a Dutch Internment Camp for German civilians that operated in Surinam during World War II, from 1940 to 1947. They were interned due to their nationality rather than due to proven support for Nazi Germany, although some of them were widely known to be Nazi supporters. Non-German detainees were also sent to this camp after 1942, including a small group of South African conscientious objectors and a few members of the Surinam political opposition including the politician Wim Bos Verschuur. The camp was built on the site of a Roman Catholic Monastery twenty kilometres from Paramaribo which was expanded to house a larger number of detainees.
