Prince Bernhard (29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) - consort to Queen Juliana

[thecrownjewelthief]

It was one of those things that most always suspect about him...

I guess it was a kind of openly known secret, but were was no hard proof of available

Did he ever flat-out deny it? I kind of thought it was a known thing just given his age. Membership in the Nazi Youth was required, would there have been a way out of party membership for him?

[Pomme]

Yes he flat-out denied his NSDAP membership.
The SS/SD were 'necessary'  to complete his education.

[VanillaMoomin]

Yes he flat-out denied his NSDAP membership.
The SS/SD were 'necessary'  to complete his education.

I read this article https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67017311

And the bit that really stood out to me is that a US military administrator sent him back his membership card in 1949 saying that he had been going to destroy it but “you have earned the right to destroy it yourself”. Then Bernhard never destroyed it, even though he had ample opportunity. He must have valued it.

[Principessa]

It was one of those things that most always suspect about him...

I guess it was a kind of openly known secret, but were was no hard proof of available

Did he ever flat-out deny it? I kind of thought it was a known thing just given his age. Membership in the Nazi Youth was required, would there have been a way out of party membership for him?

I guess he was alreay too old for being a member of the Nazi Youth.

But Prince Claus, the husband of Beatrix, was condemned by some due to his membership of the Nazi Youth (even as he was no active Nazi and related).

[Principessa]

Yes he flat-out denied his NSDAP membership.
The SS/SD were 'necessary'  to complete his education.

I read this article https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67017311

And the bit that really stood out to me is that a US military administrator sent him back his membership card in 1949 saying that he had been going to destroy it but “you have earned the right to destroy it yourself”. Then Bernhard never destroyed it, even though he had ample opportunity. He must have valued it.

It seems so.

[Principessa]

reminded me of the issue with the Horst Wessel song at the wedding gala of Juliana and Bernhard in 1937

https://erfgoedstem.nl/wi...hut-met-horst-wessellied/

...It was already known that the Horst Wessellied was played at Juliana and Bernhard's wedding gala in 1937. But why was the Residentie Orchestra given that assignment, despite an earlier statement by the Dutch government that only the Wilhelmus would be played? In Historical Nieuwsblad, cultural philosopher Albert van der Schoot reconstructs how the government changed tack at the last minute.

On January 5, 1937, a gala concert took place in the Building for Arts and Sciences in The Hague on the occasion of the upcoming royal wedding. Because the German government had always demanded that justice be done to the prince's German origins, there was a lot of speculation in advance about whether the German national anthem would be played. This anthem was expanded by the Hitler regime with the Horst Wessellied, the Nazi party anthem, which was extremely controversial in the Netherlands.

Strong note to Berlin
Two days before the gala, the Dutch government declared in a strong note to Berlin that only the Wilhelmus would be played. After all, Bernhard had been naturalized as a Dutch citizen. And yet it was the same government that ordered the Horst Wessellied to be played one day later. Historian Loe de Jong has suggested that the government had made a concession to the Germans. But a letter from the then Prime Minister Hendrik Colijn shows that it was actually Queen Wilhelmina who had imposed her will on the cabinet.

Wilhelmina saves Bernhard
From a letter that Albert van der Schoot recently found in the National Archives, he deduces that it was her advisor Frans Beelaerts van Blokland who had helped Wilhelmina find a way out: the Horst Wessellied would not be played in honor of Bernhard, but of her foreign guests. With this trick the queen brought the cabinet to its knees. She thus saved the reputation of her future son-in-law in Germany, but embarrassed her ministers. Albert van der Schoot is a cultural philosopher and was a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam until his retirement. His book Captain Walther Boer and the gala concert will be published next week....


https://historiek.net/hor...d-juliana-bernhard/68722/


On January 5, 1937, an orchestra played at the gala concert in honor of the wedding of Juliana and Bernhard (which took place two days later), in addition to the Wilhelmus and the Deutschlandlied, as well as the national socialist Horst Wessel song. The then Queen Wilhelmina insisted that this song be performed. However, the well-known resident conductor of the Oranjes, Dr. Peter van Anrooy, refused on principle to conduct this song and was summarily dismissed.

Peter van Anrooy fired
We read this and more interesting things on a blog by Gerard de Boer. When Van Anrooy and his 25 orchestra members refused to play this song - because of the Nazi persecution of Jews and dissidents in Germany - Queen Wilhelmina was furious. She immediately replaced Van Anrooy with Captain Walther Boer, who was conductor of the Royal Military Band and wanted to play the Hordt-Wessel song.

During the performance of the Horst-Wessel song, several German guests raised their arms and gave the Hitler salute:

https://youtu.be/U8Vjkinzmm4

In an interview in 1950, Peter van Anrooy later said:

“Even Her Majesty sent a gentleman to me to urge me to conduct everything. But I refused. Of course I could have called in sick. I was also ill after everything they had done to me in the orchestra. But I wanted everyone to know that I was the one to conduct that damn song. Then captain Walther Boer came to do the dirty work. I can still see that beautiful gentleman standing in front of the royal box, flicking knives. Bah!"

The Horst Wessel song
The Horst Wessel song functioned as the official anthem of the NSDAP, the party of Adolf Hitler and associates. The first verse of this song, in combination with the first verse of the Deutschlandlied, was the German national anthem in the years 1933-1945. First the Deutschlandlied was played, then the verse of the Horst Wessel song.

The song's author was the writer and SA propagandist Horst Wessel (1907-1930). He did not compose the melody of the song himself, but is based on a much older song.

The lyrics of the Horst Wessel song read:
“Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen!
SA marschiert mit ruhig (mutig) festem Schritt.
Kam’raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen,
Marschier’n im Geist in unser’n Reihen mit.
Die Straße frei den braunen Bataillonen.
Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann!
Es schau’n auf’s Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen.
Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an.
Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm (-appell) geblasen!
Zum Kampfe steh’n wir alle schon bereit!
Schon (Bald) flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen (über Barrikaden),
Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit!”

When Horst Wessel died on February 23, 1930, 30,000 Nazis attended his funeral and he almost immediately became a Nazi martyr. The Horst Wessel song was played at his funeral and none other than Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, ensured that this song became the party anthem of the NSDAP.

[thecrownjewelthief]

It was one of those things that most always suspect about him...

I guess it was a kind of openly known secret, but were was no hard proof of available

Did he ever flat-out deny it? I kind of thought it was a known thing just given his age. Membership in the Nazi Youth was required, would there have been a way out of party membership for him?

I guess he was alreay too old for being a member of the Nazi Youth.

But Prince Claus, the husband of Beatrix, was condemned by some due to his membership of the Nazi Youth (even as he was no active Nazi and related).

I was thinking of Claus, so thank you for mentioning that!

Yes he flat-out denied his NSDAP membership.
The SS/SD were 'necessary'  to complete his education.

Thank you!

[ralf103]

Interesting that after years of explicitly saying "I never had a membership card" and saying he'd swear to this on the bible that STILL he didn't see to it the membership card was destroyed.

[Principessa]

Interesting that after years of explicitly saying "I never had a membership card" and saying he'd swear to this on the bible that STILL he didn't see to it the membership card was destroyed.

Indeed, that is.

This week the issue came along in some casual conversations I had. F.e. due to hearing it being mentioned and or discussed on the radio.
Many wonder why it is such a "big" news. His membership was sort of known, a kind of open secret.

[Principessa]

It was one of those things that most always suspect about him...

I guess it was a kind of openly known secret, but were was no hard proof of available

Did he ever flat-out deny it? I kind of thought it was a known thing just given his age. Membership in the Nazi Youth was required, would there have been a way out of party membership for him?

I guess he was alreay too old for being a member of the Nazi Youth.

But Prince Claus, the husband of Beatrix, was condemned by some due to his membership of the Nazi Youth (even as he was no active Nazi and related).

I was thinking of Claus, so thank you for mentioning that!

Yes he flat-out denied his NSDAP membership.
The SS/SD were 'necessary'  to complete his education.

Thank you!

According to some Wiki info of Prince Claus (Dutch version):

Claus was born on the northern German estate of Dötzingen, just outside the town of Hitzacker on the River Elbe. He belonged to a low-noble German family. His great-grandfather, Major General Gabriel Ludwig Johann von Amsberg (1822–1895), had been authorized by Grand Duke Frederick Francis III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on October 31, 1891 to continue to hold the title of nobility that his father had already held without any elevation to the nobility. .

In 1928 the family left for the former German colony of Tanganyika (later Tanzania), where his father became manager of a coffee and sisal plantation in German-English hands. Claus spent almost ten years of his youth in Tanganyika and later characterized those years as particularly happy. In 1933 his mother sent him and his sisters to live with relatives in Bad Doberan on Germany's Baltic Sea coast. He attended primary school there. He did not like it and in 1936 he was placed in a German boarding school in Lushoto in Tanganyika. There he became a convinced member of the Hitler Youth.

In 1938 his mother left with him for Nazi Germany. He went to the Baltenschule boarding school in Misdroy on the island of Wollin in Pomerania. When war violence increased, he went to live with his grandmother in Bad Doberan and continued his education at the local Friderico-Francisceum-Gymnasium from January to August 1943. That year he "automatically" became a member of the NSDAP-Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth. From August 1943 to January 1944 he was deployed as a 'navy helper' in the Kiel area.

In January 1944 he was called up for the Reich Labor Service for two months and assigned to an airfield in the city of Königsberg, now Kaliningrad in Russia. Back at school he obtained a (war) final diploma in July 1944.

He was then immediately called up for military service. From August 1944 to March 1945 he stayed in Neuruppin with the reserve armored division. During that period, he trained for three months at the local armored school in Viborg, Denmark, occupied by the Germans. He was then assigned to the ninetieth Panzergrenadier Division in Italy at the beginning of March as an ensign. By his own admission, he did not fire a shot again after his training.

On May 2, 1945, the Americans took him prisoner of war near Meran and took him to an internment camp in Ghedi, where he was put to work as an interpreter and driver. From September 1945 he stayed in the American Latimer camp in England. As a prisoner of war he again served as an interpreter.

At the end of that year he was released and in December 1945 he went to live in his birthplace on the Elbe. His war school diploma was not recognized after the war and at the end of 1947 he again passed the final exams for grammar school in Lüneburg. He saw his parents for the first time after the war that year, who were held in an internment camp in Africa as German citizens and alleged enemies of the British Empire in Africa.

In order to qualify for mechanical engineering studies, he worked in a machine factory in Winsen (Luhe), near Hamburg, from January to November 1948. Because he was not selected, he decided to study law at the university in Hamburg. As a working student he had all kinds of jobs. He graduated in 1952. In 1953 his father died. After an internship in the United States and a short period at a law firm, where he worked on the legal restoration of Jewish Germans in West Germany, he opted for a new direction: diplomacy. On April 1, 1957, after a successful selection test, he became an official in the West German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1958 he passed the attaché exam.

On June 28 Beatrix and Claus announced their engagement via a television broadcast


The fact that he had German nationality, had been a member of the Hitler Youth and had served in the Wehrmacht caused a commotion among part of the Dutch population; Twenty years after the German occupation of the Netherlands, this was still a sensitive issue. In June 1965, old Nazi propaganda pamphlets were hung at the Staatsspoor train station in The Hague with the text below: 'Claus, back to your home'. Orange swastikas were also painted on the walls in the city, with the letter B added. In Amsterdam – especially on the Munttoren, but also elsewhere in the city – 'Raus Claus' was painted on walls and fences with white paint.


During a visit to the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht on September 13, 1965, in addition to a lot of confetti, stones were also thrown at Claus and Beatrix. A raw egg landed on the hood of the car behind them. On a wad thrown to the couple was a ribbon that read "Claus Raus".

The Dutch parliament debated the proposed marriage for a long time and only after the historian Loe de Jong had established on behalf of the government in Italy that Claus could not be blamed for any war crime, did the faction leaders declare that a bill for marriage would obtain a majority. On December 10, 1965 he received a Dutch passport and on February 16, 1966 his name was officially changed to Claus George Willem Otto Frederik Geert van Amsberg.



And about his image in the Netherlands, later on:

In the eyes of the general public, the prince remained a nice, but somewhat sad-looking and vulnerable figure in the shadow of Queen Beatrix for a long time. In recent years he managed to change this image through his involvement in the fortunes of developing countries. his candid interviews, his legal battles against incorrect publications in tabloids and his playful actions in protest against the strict straitjacket. For example, during his speech at the presentation of the Prince Claus Award in 1998, dedicated to African fashion, he called on all men to "stick out their necks", exclaiming "tie wearers of all countries, unite!" took off his tie and threw it away.

Prince Claus has left in many people's memories the image of a stylish and exceptionally honest man. At the time of his death, he was widely regarded as the most popular member of the royal family.

There are still many tangible memories of Prince Claus in the kingdom. Streets, squares and institutions such as schools are named after him. The Prins Clausplein, an important link in the Dutch highway network, bears his name. The same applies to the Prins Claus Bridge in Utrecht. The Prince Claus Fund was established on the occasion of his seventieth birthday and aims to increase cultural knowledge and promote a good interaction between culture and development.

On December 6, 2009, a one-off performance took place in the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam under the title Claus!, based on the idea and direction of John Leerdam of the Julius Leeft! Foundation! It was a lecture with music by Harto Soemodihardjo and texts by Paulette Smit, Pieter Hilhorst, Yoeri Albrecht, Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld and Guus Pengel, in which a selection of artists, politicians and other Dutch people took on the role of Claus

[Principessa]

Article about Bernhard and his Nazi connection from 2010:

https://nos.nl/artikel/14...lijk-wel-een-gewezen-nazi

Loosely translated as:

NOS News
•
Monday March 8, 2010, 4:22 PM
Modified Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 10:45 am

'Bernhard was in fact a former Nazi'

Watch the NOS program 'Bernhard, the story of a German' here By reporter Pauline Broekema

"Perhaps Bernhard later genuinely did not feel like a former Nazi, but in fact he was, of course." Writes Annejet van der Zijl in her book 'Bernhard. A hidden history'.

She researched Bernhard's early years for five years. Spoke contemporaries, consulted new sources. Such as the non-public archive of the Humboldt Universität, the former Friedrich-Wilhelm Universität in Berlin, where Bernhard studied.

NSDAP There she found his membership card of the Studentenschaft. With the note that he is a member of the NSDAP, the SA and, among other things, the Borussia corps association, which was also under Nazi influence.

Bernhard has always denied his NSDAP membership and support for Hitler. Previously, researcher Gerard Aalders discovered documents in American archives proving NSDAP membership.

Nonsense Bernhard never denied his membership, probably since October 1932, of Motor SA. He said that membership of a National Socialist organization was necessary for study and examination. Nonsense, says Van der Zijl. Only years later was education so Nazified that political demands were made from above.

Vlegel Quite a flail, a Schnösel, he was. Says Erica von Hodenberg, a German aristocrat who met him in Paris in the mid-1930s. Where he worked at IG Farben.

By the way, not in the dream job that his biographers later made of it. He did the simple office work. And playing the big fancy boy, according to Von Hodenberg, who didn't like him that much. "Someone who talked about everything but really had nothing to say about anything."

Mother She does not significantly change the image of Bernhard that has been painted in recent years. She does sharpen it, with a pleasantly flexible writing style that made her a bestselling author with books such as Sonny Boy.

The pasha of Woynowo, he is called in the book, after the dilapidated estate where his parents Berni and Armgard mainly had eyes for each other.

Mother's boy Bernhard, born on June 29, 1911 (not on June 28 as was recently claimed) was a mother's boy who left his brother Aschwin, three years younger, in his shadow. Drilled by his mother. "Being afraid was simply not an option, nor was losing."

Until her death, Bernhard cherished his mother and called her every day. Ultimately, there was only one woman in his life: his mother.

Shadowy Colonel Van der Zijl describes Bernhard's early years in the depths of time. The Wilhelmian Empire, the First World War and the revolution of 1918. Father in the army, mother mainly concerned with horses, assisted by the shadowy Colonel Alexei Pantchoulidzew. He remained faithful to her.

Also later, when her son, Prince of Orange, bought the castle of Warmelo for Armgard. For Van der Zijl it is certain that the two were indeed a couple. In the conventional sense of the word. Bernhard has always said that the relationship was purely platonic.

Creative narrator Throughout the book, Van der Zijl questions the veracity of Bernhard's memories and statements. She calls him a creative storyteller. Who created his own myth. Excellent ability to mobilize public opinion. With biographers who turned him into the man the people wanted.

The reformed professor Waterink, a pedagogue at the VU, who cherished Bernhard until he left Soestdijk after the Greet Hofmans affair, disappointed in the prince, was such an image-builder. He portrays the prince as a convinced anti-Nazi. Van der Zijl, who quotes Waterink remarkably often, quotes: "A young man who uses English as a language in the silence of the evening when meeting God, must be far from the National Socialist delusions such as those in the Germany of the years around 1935 was already coming to the fore."

Men's man Bernhard knew how to use publicity flawlessly and turn it to his will. And sometimes it made me better off financially. He sold his photos of the newborn Beatrix to journalist friend Sefton Delmer. According to Delmer for four thousand pounds, or fifty thousand guilders.

A man's man. Product of an upbringing at boarding schools. Men's friendships that were held in high regard. He did not take into account that the friend in question was also married and had children. Van der Zijl suggests that it cost his dear friend Teengs Gerritsen his first marriage.

Money is the main motivation The great tragedy of Bernhard's life, the writer believes, is the choice he makes at the age of twenty-five. Wholeheartedly supported by his mother, with an aunt as a matchmaker, he manages to make a crushing impression on Juliana. For whom a man was desperately wanted.

Fasseur described the origins of the Orange marriage in his biography.

The German prince who presented himself on a ski pasture. Van der Zijl writes: "The fact that money had been the main motivation behind his marriage would later become one of the most shameful and categorically denied aspects of his life."

Infidelity It became clear shortly after the meeting that there was no burning love on his part. He visited two friends, proposed marriage to both of them and when he was shown the door, he continued to work on Juliana.

Wilhelmina, which has also been described earlier, was initially fond of the young German prince. During the London years, during the war, the removal came. And Juliana was confronted with his infidelity. While Fasseur attributes Juliana's tantrums to her character, Van der Zijl believes that it is the jealous woman who remained nothing more than stomping her feet powerlessly.

Orange fascists After the war, Bernhard actually has two houses. Warmelo, the castle he buys for his mother. Soestdijk, with his confidants. Resistance fighters who were left with a hangover years after the liberation.

Staff members, such as Charles van Houten and Gerry van Maasdijk, whom writer A. den Doolaard called: "the group of Orange fascist officers around Bernhard."

Greed In the financial settlement of the war, Bernhard behaves like "a modern Faust blinded by greed". He uses arrangements intended for war victims. Received one million marks in 1960 as part of the Wiedergutmachung. And later a Polish benefit of 134,000 euros. For the damage caused to his birthplace. Where he had once been the pasha. Center of existence. About whom his father wrote a few days after his birth: "A little heavenly messenger, who was sent to us from paradise and will certainly fill our lives with his brilliance."

[Principessa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs5g2yMtSx8

Discussion on Dutch tv in 2010, following the publication of Annejet van der Zijl's book about Bernhard

[Principessa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW3fzYAiCcw

An interview with historian Gerard Aalders, one of the first who reveiled that Bernhard had been a NSDAP member.
Apparently it resulted in confrontations with Dutch government members and Prince Bernhard himself

In this interview it is also remarked that Bernhard vowed on the Bible that it wasn't true, his membership.
His membership of the SS had been confirmed by Bernhard, according to Aalders, because to many had seen him in that role.

According to reports, Prince Bernhard has passionately denied that he was a NSDAP member. Why?

Presumably he did not want to let his image, acquired during the Second World War, be damaged. His actions and image in 2 WW gave him a kind of hero status. How would it feel for resistance heroes, among others, if one of their "leaders" was actually a NSDAP member?

But it would probably be better if Bernhard just acknowledged it and that would probably be the end of the matter.

He was also not the only Lippe-Biesterfeld or other German nobility members who became and were members of the NSDAP. Bernhard's brother was also a member. In terms of nobility, some probably felt that this would allow them to be reinstated (more) in their honor.

[Principessa]

A special about Prince Bernhard by Dutch show "Andere Tijden" of 2019


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCDXTK0lWV8


Red:
Andere Tijden is a Dutch television program. It is made by NTR and VPRO on NPO 2 and covers historical topics. Using images and conversations with those involved, we look back on an event from that time that may or may not be related to the present.

[Countess of Cows]

Even before it came out he was a card carrying Nazi, he always seemed like an arrogant piece of work.