The Enemy Remains the Same – Fight With Us!
A poster dated 1943 from the German-occupied Netherlands that sought to win over the local Dutch by reigniting feelings of the historical Anglo-Dutch naval rivalry. Charmingly juxtaposing an antiquated Dutch three-decker is a modern German U-boat, the Germanic allies setting sail for London. Several landmarks including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are clearly discernible upon the backdrop of a red glow and a torn Union Jack.
As the two preeminent seafaring nations of western Europe, the Dutch and the English can trace their enmity back to the year 1673 as referenced on the poster, during which the Third Anglo-Dutch War took place. Not long thereafter, the British throne was usurped by the Dutch William of Orange in the last successful invasion of the British isles by a foreign power, now known today as the Glorious Revolution.
Hitler thought highly of the Dutch who were considered fellow members of the wider Aryan brotherhood and racial equals to the Germans. As such, the occupational regime of Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart took a conciliatory approach towards the (gentile) Dutch. For Seyss-Inquart, his first objective was not to extract as much as possible for Germany, but to resolve the social plague of unemployment, as German aims in the Netherlands ultimately revolved around encouraging a social revolution directed at the eventual assimilation of the racially superior Dutch into the Third Reich. The Dutch authorities were on the same page regarding unemployment. Contrary to popular belief, the Dutch territories did indeed experience an economic boom throughout 1940-1941 under German management. New calculations of macroeconomic statistics for the period 1938-48 show that that the first year and a half of the occupation coincided with the best economic performance of the decade, according to Professor Ham Klemann of Erasmus University. His studies further conclude that not only was industrial capacity in 1945 larger than in 1940, the Dutch population actually grew during this period. Seyss-Inquart later stated during the Nuremberg trials that his “conscience was untroubled” as he improved the conditions of the Dutch people while serving as their Reichskommissar and concluded by saying, “My last word is the principle by which I have always acted and to which I will adhere to my last breath: I believe in Germany.”
All across Europe, private and public institutions had good reason to draw attention to losses and to conceal any profitable business that had occurred during the war. Western European governments selectively portrayed to the outside world a destroyed country, a ruined economy and starving masses in the hopes of garnering compassion alongside American aid and German compensation. The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs at the time prohibited the publication of the aforementioned macroeconomic data, as they would potentially undermine his position in the ongoing negotiations for American aid to be received through the Marshall Plan. Similarly, when the Allied press released images of healthy Dutch women celebrating VE day with American and British troops, the Hague made sure to disseminate photographs of starving children and the elderly in the most miserable circumstances to garner further sympathy and additional economic aid.
The hardships that were faced by Germany’s western domains during the later years of the war can be attributed primarily to their deteriorating military situation rather than being a result of deliberate policy. It can be inferred thus that a German military victory would have conversely brought about corresponding prosperity to Western Europe. This hypothesis influenced the deification of victory as expressed in the omnipresent calls of “Sieg Heil!” (Hail Victory) across the Reich.
Text reads: The Enemy Remains the Same! 1673-1943. Fight With Us!
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A poster dated 1943 from the German-occupied Netherlands that sought to win over the local Dutch by reigniting feelings of the historical Anglo-Dutch naval rivalry. Charmingly juxtaposing an antiquated Dutch three-decker is a modern German U-boat, the Germanic allies setting sail for London. Several landmarks including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are clearly discernible upon the backdrop of a red glow and a torn Union Jack.
As the two preeminent seafaring nations of western Europe, the Dutch and the English can trace their enmity back to the year 1673 as referenced on the poster, during which the Third Anglo-Dutch War took place. Not long thereafter, the British throne was usurped by the Dutch William of Orange in the last successful invasion of the British isles by a foreign power, now known today as the Glorious Revolution.
Hitler thought highly of the Dutch who were considered fellow members of the wider Aryan brotherhood and racial equals to the Germans. As such, the occupational regime of Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart took a conciliatory approach towards the (gentile) Dutch. For Seyss-Inquart, his first objective was not to extract as much as possible for Germany, but to resolve the social plague of unemployment, as German aims in the Netherlands ultimately revolved around encouraging a social revolution directed at the eventual assimilation of the racially superior Dutch into the Third Reich. The Dutch authorities were on the same page regarding unemployment. Contrary to popular belief, the Dutch territories did indeed experience an economic boom throughout 1940-1941 under German management. New calculations of macroeconomic statistics for the period 1938-48 show that that the first year and a half of the occupation coincided with the best economic performance of the decade, according to Professor Ham Klemann of Erasmus University. His studies further conclude that not only was industrial capacity in 1945 larger than in 1940, the Dutch population actually grew during this period. Seyss-Inquart later stated during the Nuremberg trials that his “conscience was untroubled” as he improved the conditions of the Dutch people while serving as their Reichskommissar and concluded by saying, “My last word is the principle by which I have always acted and to which I will adhere to my last breath: I believe in Germany.”
All across Europe, private and public institutions had good reason to draw attention to losses and to conceal any profitable business that had occurred during the war. Western European governments selectively portrayed to the outside world a destroyed country, a ruined economy and starving masses in the hopes of garnering compassion alongside American aid and German compensation. The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs at the time prohibited the publication of the aforementioned macroeconomic data, as they would potentially undermine his position in the ongoing negotiations for American aid to be received through the Marshall Plan. Similarly, when the Allied press released images of healthy Dutch women celebrating VE day with American and British troops, the Hague made sure to disseminate photographs of starving children and the elderly in the most miserable circumstances to garner further sympathy and additional economic aid.
The hardships that were faced by Germany’s western domains during the later years of the war can be attributed primarily to their deteriorating military situation rather than being a result of deliberate policy. It can be inferred thus that a German military victory would have conversely brought about corresponding prosperity to Western Europe. This hypothesis influenced the deification of victory as expressed in the omnipresent calls of “Sieg Heil!” (Hail Victory) across the Reich.
Text reads: The Enemy Remains the Same! 1673-1943. Fight With Us!
