Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Resistance Literature in Dutch History
- 2 Antifascist Literature in the 1930s
- 3 The Netherlands under German Occupation
- 4 Clandestine Printing
- 5 Clandestine Literature
- 6 The War after the War
- 7 Three Times Dam Square: An Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Resistance Literature in Dutch History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Resistance Literature in Dutch History
- 2 Antifascist Literature in the 1930s
- 3 The Netherlands under German Occupation
- 4 Clandestine Printing
- 5 Clandestine Literature
- 6 The War after the War
- 7 Three Times Dam Square: An Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
THE NETHERLANDS HAS A LONGER HISTORY as an independent state than many of its European neighbors. While Germany only came into existence as a united nation-state in 1871, the Netherlands has comprised an independent unity since 1648. Unofficially, Dutch independence even dates back to 1581, the year in which the rebellious provinces of the Netherlands rejected Spanish sovereignty with the publication of the “Plakkaat van Verlatinghe” (Act of Abjuration), a formal declaration of independence. With the exception of a brief period of French domination (1795–1813), its sovereignty was never questioned. The “seniority” of the Netherlands was a common basis for mockery in clandestine literature to counter German imperialistic propaganda. A famous example starts with the following verses:
Toen Hollanders waren gekomen
tot menschenbewustzijn op aard,
toen hing nog de mof in de boomen
te sling'ren aan pooten en staart.
Hij schreeuwt en hij blèrt in het heden
van bodem en bloed en van ras,
toont hiermee dat in het verleden
een brulaap zijn voorvader was.
[When the Dutch had already acquired
human consciousness on earth,
the Kraut was still in the trees
hanging from paws and tails.
Today he still screams and he barks
about soil and blood and race,
and hereby shows that in the past
his forefather was a howler monkey.]
This anonymous poem, entitled “Duitsche beschaving” (German Civilization), continues with a reference to the heroes of the Dutch colonial expansion, who were conquering the world at a time when the Germans “were still wearing diapers.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Spirit of ResistanceDutch Clandestine Literature during the Nazi Occupation, pp. 9 - 23Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010