The Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel (Bond for National Recovery) was a Dutch national-revival movement founded in 1932 under the honorary chairmanship of Generaal C. J. Snijders, at the instance of Mr. Dr. Van Gijbland Oosterhoff. The Verbond was one of a number of inter-war movements in the Netherlands that sought to combat the perceived decline of national authority, defence, and morale in the years after the First World War. Snijders accepted the honorary chairmanship only with the greatest reluctance — “zeer à contre-coeur” — and after persistent personal persuasion by Van Gijbland Oosterhoff, who followed him to Berlin and obtained his consent in a face-to-face interview.
The Founding of 1932
The Verbond was founded in 1932 in the atmosphere of national anxiety that followed the Zeven Provinciën mutiny of 1933 and the general perceived decay of authority in the Netherlands of the depression years. The biographer Van den Berg records that Snijders’ “hartgrondigen afkeer van het politieke bedrijf” made him refuse the chairmanship “aanvankelijk hardnekkig”; his wife supported him in his refusal. When the promoters’ time began to press and Snijders was about to leave for a journey to Germany, one of them spent an hour on the telephone in a vain attempt to change his mind. The next day, after Snijders’ arrival in Berlin, Van Gijbland Oosterhoff telephoned his hotel, followed him to Berlin with a fellow-promoter, and asked again for a personal interview. Only when Snijders was made to understand “dat de geboorte van Nationaal Herstel werd geacht, volkomen te moeten worden afhankelijk gesteld van zijn ‘ja’ of ‘neen’” did he consent — “zeer à contre-coeur” — to accept the honorary chairmanship.
Relation to the N.S.B.
Van den Berg records that the promoters of the Verbond drew a sharp distinction between their movement and the N.S.B. (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) of Anton Mussert. The N.S.B.’s leidersbeginsel was in direct conflict with the place that Nationaal Herstel assigned to the House of Orange in the Dutch constitutional order; it was on this point that all attempts at fusion between the two movements foundered. The ambtenarenverbod (civil-servants’ ban) that prohibited civil servants from membership of the N.S.B. and named organisations did not extend to the Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel — a fact that Van den Berg cites as proof of the Verbond’s non-equivalence with the N.S.B.
Significance
The Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel is one of the principal vehicles of Snijders’ post-war public activity. His acceptance of its honorary chairmanship — reluctant as it was — is the principal exception to his general rule of avoiding political engagement after his resignation as Opperbevelhebber in November 1918.
See Also
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht
- First World War
- Vereeniging “Ons Leger”
- Nederland
- 1932
- 1933
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 148–151. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.
The Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel (Bond for National Recovery) was a Dutch national-revival movement founded in 1932 under the honorary chairmanship of Generaal C. J. Snijders, at the instance of Mr. Dr. Van Gijbland Oosterhoff. The Verbond was one of a number of inter-war movements in the Netherlands that sought to combat the perceived decline of national authority, defence, and morale in the years after the First World War. Snijders accepted the honorary chairmanship only with the greatest reluctance — “zeer à contre-coeur” — and after persistent personal persuasion by Van Gijbland Oosterhoff, who followed him to Berlin and obtained his consent in a face-to-face interview.
The Founding of 1932
The Verbond was founded in 1932 in the atmosphere of national anxiety that followed the Zeven Provinciën mutiny of 1933 and the general perceived decay of authority in the Netherlands of the depression years. The biographer Van den Berg records that Snijders’ “hartgrondigen afkeer van het politieke bedrijf” made him refuse the chairmanship “aanvankelijk hardnekkig”; his wife supported him in his refusal. When the promoters’ time began to press and Snijders was about to leave for a journey to Germany, one of them spent an hour on the telephone in a vain attempt to change his mind. The next day, after Snijders’ arrival in Berlin, Van Gijbland Oosterhoff telephoned his hotel, followed him to Berlin with a fellow-promoter, and asked again for a personal interview. Only when Snijders was made to understand “dat de geboorte van Nationaal Herstel werd geacht, volkomen te moeten worden afhankelijk gesteld van zijn ‘ja’ of ‘neen’” did he consent — “zeer à contre-coeur” — to accept the honorary chairmanship.
Relation to the N.S.B.
Van den Berg records that the promoters of the Verbond drew a sharp distinction between their movement and the N.S.B. (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) of Anton Mussert. The N.S.B.’s leidersbeginsel was in direct conflict with the place that Nationaal Herstel assigned to the House of Orange in the Dutch constitutional order; it was on this point that all attempts at fusion between the two movements foundered. The ambtenarenverbod (civil-servants’ ban) that prohibited civil servants from membership of the N.S.B. and named organisations did not extend to the Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel — a fact that Van den Berg cites as proof of the Verbond’s non-equivalence with the N.S.B.
Significance
The Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel is one of the principal vehicles of Snijders’ post-war public activity. His acceptance of its honorary chairmanship — reluctant as it was — is the principal exception to his general rule of avoiding political engagement after his resignation as Opperbevelhebber in November 1918.
See Also
- Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
- Opperbevelhebber van Land- en Zeemacht
- First World War
- Vereeniging “Ons Leger”
- Nederland
- 1932
- 1933
Source
D. van den Berg, Cornelis Jacobus Snijders (1852–1939): Een leven in dienst van zijn Land en zijn Volk (Voorburg: September 1944), pp. 148–151. Koninklijke Bibliotheek shelfmark 0301 4872.