Reichskommissariat Niederlande
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After being occupied by Nazi Germany, the Netherlands became a Reichskommissariat, which was basically an occupation authority and a colony of Germany. It was administered by a German governor Arthur Seyss-Inquart, who formerly was the last chancellor of Austria who initiated its annexation into Germany.
[edit] Collaboration and Politics
Upon the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, Nazi Germany's position on the Dutch people initially looked favourable, Adolf Hitler regarded the Dutch as part of the Aryan "Herrenvolk" (Master Race). Collaborationists included the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal Socialistische Beweging "NSB"). The NSB declared that the monarchy was abolished and that the Netherlands should support Germany in the war. 20,000 to 25,000 Dutchmen served in the German Army and Waffen SS. The NSB's leader Anton Mussert attempted to convince Hitler that he should be leader of an independent Dutch state, Hitler denied this request and Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart remained the ruler of the Netherlands though Mussert was allowed to take the title "Leader of the Dutch People" and allow the NSB to continue its political activities.
All institutions and organizations not deemed acceptable by Nazi Germany were abolished. These measures were opposed especially by Dutch Roman Catholics and socialists.
Despite being considered Herrenvolk, Germany's requirements for war production resulted in the enacting of forced labour (Arbeitseinsatz) on Dutch men of the ages between 18 and 45 as well as extracting Dutch natural resources to use for Germany's war machine.
[edit] February Strike
In February 1941, opposition to the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis and the collaborationists caused major strikes broke out across the Netherlands. This started after the NSB and its stormtroopers, the Weerbaarheidsafdeling (Defence Section) or WA began a series of provocations against Jewish neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. Fighting broke out in which members of the WA were injured, the collaborationists then called in the support of the German Army which assisted in turning the neighbourhood into a ghetto surrounded by barbed wire and armed positions, non-Jews were not allowed to enter the area. Days later German Ordnungspolizei entered the neighbourhood but a number of police were injured, the Germans then responded by raiding the neighbourhood and capturing 425 Jews who were then deported to concentration camps. On the 24th, the Communist Party of the Netherlands (made illegal by the Nazis) called for the people of Amsterdam to go on strike. Afterwards, tram trivers, schools, and some companies joined the strike. After three days, German police put down the strike.
[edit] Liberation
From 1944 to 1945, the Reichskommissariat came under attack from Allied forces. The first attempt to liberate the Netherlands by the Allies was during Operation Market Garden in 1944, involving the use of paratrooper divisions to take over key bridges in the Netherlands to allow Allied tanks positioned in Belgium to quickly go through the Netherlands and reach Arnhem, which held a bridge over the river Rhine. This would put the Allies in a strategic advantage to invade Germany and quickly end the war. However intelligence failures and poor organization led to Market Garden falling apart and German forces taking back lost areas in Belgium.
After Market Garden, the Canadian army was given the initiative to liberate the Netherlands, the Canadian armed forces managed to push the German forces to the upper part of the Netherlands by 1945 in which Germany surrendered, abdicating its claim to the Netherlands and all other occupied territories.
