Title/"Mother of Resistance of Holland" Queen Wilhelmina, a woman who dared to challenge Hitler!
Text/Jane, a history lover.
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Foreword:
During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in only four days, completely ignoring that the Netherlands is a neutral country. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her family could only flee to Britain. The Dutch people under Nazi occupation have passed a dark period. The Queen of the Netherlands, who is in England, has won the respect of the Dutch with her anti-fascist determination.
（Wilhelmina）
Neutral Netherlands fell
When Hendrik Van Loon’s "Tolerance" was republished in the late 1930s, he There is no doubt that mankind has reached the "most intolerant age". The hometown of Van Loon, the Netherlands, has been shrouded in the shadow of the invasion of Nazi Germany.
In the early days of World War II, the German Minister in The Hague met with Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. In a statement read jointly with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he promised that if the Netherlands maintains a neutral position, Germany will not infringe on Dutch territory in the future.
However, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands has repeatedly expressed her concerns and distrust of Germany. She read Hitler's "My Struggle", every word and every sentence in the book made her deeply aware of a threat.
In 1936, the "German-Austria Agreement" was signed, and in the spring of 1938, Germany-Austria merged. After just six and a half months, at the end of September, the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia was ceded to Germany under the policy of appeasement. This series of events all demonstrated the ambition of Nazi Germany to expand.
(World War II European situation picture)
In August 1939, at the urgent urging of Queen Wilhelmina, the Netherlands issued a comprehensive mobilization order. In her radio speech to the Dutch people, the Queen emphasized that this is not a signal that war is about to come, but a necessary measure taken by the Netherlands to deal with the unpredictable situation outside.
On the 28th, Queen Wilhelmina and King Leopold of Belgium communicated to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other countries their willingness to mediate in order to solve the increasing crisis in Europe. But all efforts did not help, and the hope for peace fell to nothing after the Germans blitzed Poland.
(The picture shows Queen Wilhelmina)
The Netherlands was a neutral country in World War I and World War II. At that time, a Dutch foreign minister explained:
Judging from the strategic position of the Netherlands, "If the Netherlands is not a neutral country, it would be a suicide."
But the fact is that even if the Netherlands is a neutral country, on May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany seemed to invade. Like Denmark and Norway, they also invaded the Netherlands. And made the Netherlands as part of the "yellow plan" to pave the way for the invasion of France.
The German army centrally arranged 136 divisions, more than 3,000 tanks, and more than 4,500 aircraft from Beihai to Switzerland, divided into three armies, A, B, and C. The battle plan for the Netherlands is: the air force overcame the outdated fortifications—the Dutch fortress, and landed at the airports of Ippenburg, Okunburg and Valkenburg in a large-scale airborne operation, defeating the equipment in one day. The backward Dutch forces captured The Hague and forced the Netherlands to surrender.
But the Dutch army was not vulnerable. The fighting lasted for four days.
(operation plan)
During these four days, the queen of Noordeinde Palace made contact with Britain. The queen's daughter and family members have already travelled to Britain on a naval destroyer. The queen hesitated for a while as to whether to flee abroad.
She originally decided to go to Zeeland Province in the southwest.There is French garrison, and you can stand by the German offensive for a period of time. She didn't want to leave Holland. But the news that the Netherlands is about to fall spread like wildfire, and Wilhelmina must go to England.
(Queen and Daughter Juliana)
The Queen took a tightly guarded ship, crossed the English Channel, and landed at a British port. She spoke on the phone with Henry VI. When Henry VI talked about the form in the Netherlands, he described it as "abnormally bad" .
On the 14th, the Netherlands and Germany started negotiations on surrender. At one o'clock in the afternoon, German bombers flew over Rotterdam and dropped countless bombs.
(Aircraft that dropped the bomb)
Rotterdam became a sea of flames. About 24,000 houses burned down and 80,000 people were displaced. The atrocities of the fascists were exposed. The Germans said that if the Netherlands does not surrender as soon as possible, Utrecht, The Hague, and Walhavn will be bombarded equally ruthlessly.
was forced by the strong force of the German army and in order to avoid more and more frequent bombings by the Dutch people. The Netherlands surrendered that day.
(Rotterdam’s billowing smoke)
The Queen’s anti-fascist position
After the independence of Belgium in 1830, the Netherlands did not have it for a hundred years Experienced a war. War is unfamiliar to the Dutch, let alone being occupied by another country. For the flagrant invasion of Nazi Germany, the Dutch were first shocked. As Queen Wilhelmina said:
"The Netherlands fell asleep on a pillow called Neutral."
After the German invasion of the Netherlands, Queen Wilhelmina issued a declaration of "Flaming Protest". She said:
"I regard everything that harms the interests of my people as my personal enemy." After
came to England, the queen refused to live in Windsor Palace. She said that her people lived under Nazi rule every day, and she would be ashamed if she lived in a comfortable palace.
(Windsor Palace)
Churchill met the queen. In his memoirs, Churchill wrote:
The defeated generals looked haggard, only Queen Wilhelmina His eyes are firm. In history, more than two hundred years ago, the queen's ancestor William III came to England as a king and became the king of England with his wife Mary. When Queen Wilhelmina set foot on the British land, she was a fugitive monarch who lost her country, but there was no trace of desolation in her expression.
Churchill praised the Queen.
(Churchill)
The queen is always concerned about the situation in the Netherlands. In June after the fall of the Netherlands, Seth Inquart, the German commissioner to the Netherlands, dissolved the Dutch Parliament and the Council of State by virtue of his privileges. In July of the following year, except for the Dutch Nazi Party, all Dutch political parties were forcibly disbanded, and the "Swastika" sign was hung up high in the government hall.
The Nazis announced to the Dutch that Queen Wilhelmina had abdicated. This made the queen very angry, she must let her people know that she always stood with the Dutch people. Her people are living in misery, and she knows this better than anyone.
Queen Wilhelmina insists that she is the only monarch of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands is still a "sovereign country". In 1942, Wilhelmina established a "special advisory committee" to continue to exercise parliamentary duties.
The British radio headquarters opened the "Orange Radio Station" for the Queen. Through the radio, the Queen told her people that the Netherlands will eventually return to the Dutch people's determination and will. The Queen often consults with advisers and ministers in London, how to speak on the radio can arouse the hope of the people more positively and optimistically.
(Queen Wilhelmina on the air)
The queen originally called Nazi Germany "a group of gangsters". Over time, various signs showed that the Nazis were not just a group of "lawless bandits", but naked anti-human elements. The Nazis acted in the Netherlands, and the persecution of Jews intensified.
There were 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands. In the end, less than 25% of Jews survived. The Queen urged people to stay conscientiously vigilant, not to be deceived by the Nazis, and not to listen to the Nazis' evil doctrines.
Some kind-hearted Dutch people in the area helped the Jews escape from the Nazis. They will also be implicated and punished if they are found.
One of the most famous characters is Anne Frank, the author of "Anne's Diary". She is one of many Dutch Jews who died in Nazi concentration camps. Her father’s friends helped them hide in their homes and draw the curtains during the day. There was no sound, for fear that the betrayal Dutch Nazis would notice.
In the end, Anne Frank was discovered.
The reason why so many Jews were sent to concentration camps was that before the war, the Dutch government required people to register their religious beliefs. The Jews believed in Judaism, and the Nazis followed their plans and searched for Jews everywhere. The Catholic Church and the Christian Church jointly wrote a protest letter expressing anger at the Nazis' persecution of Jews, a violation of Christian principles.
The Queen's speech on "Orange Radio Station" also made the most severe criticism and condemnation of the Nazis. It is said that the Queen even used the most vulgar and worst words to curse the Nazis.
(Annie Frank's statue)
The Dutch people are under mental pressure that cannot be ignored. It is not only because of the harbouring of Jews, the mutual suspicion between neighbors, but also the Gestapo search and the knocking of participants in the Dutch resistance movement.
Queen Wilhelmina supported the resistance movement in the Netherlands. Faced with the exploitation and high-pressure policies of the Nazis, she encouraged people to stand up and take up arms to fight against fascism. Don't be silent, don't be the meek lamb of the aggressor.
The Nazis are not rulers of the Netherlands, the Netherlands belongs to the Dutch people. Freedom is the "daughter of the Netherlands" and the sovereignty of the people should not be trampled upon. The dictatorship of fascism should not fall on the Dutch!
The Dutch once fought against the brutal Spanish King Philip II, and now they are fighting against the Nazis!
Since 1941, in order to increase the number of domestic laborers in Germany, the Nazis began to force young and middle-aged men and women in the Netherlands to work in German factories to make daily or military supplies that the Germans urgently needed.
(The ruins of the wall after being bombed by the Germans)
In July, the Germans opened up the Eastern European front. After conquering the "European Bread Basket" Ukraine, Germany sent another one. A group of Dutch agricultural workers who are skilled in farming went to cultivate the land on the Ukrainian plains and transported the crops to Germany to make up for the shortage of food during the war.
In 1942, from May to June, nearly 50,000 workers traveled to Germany by train.
In 1943, Germany issued a decree that incorporated the oath of allegiance to the Nazis into the university admission regulations. Those who refuse to sign allegiance will be escorted to Germany for hard work. In every occupied territory, the rights of the locals were violated. A series of oppressions all illustrate the unreasonable dictatorship of the Nazis.
The Dutch began to resist.
Radical Dutch patriots destroyed factories in Germany and destroyed the roster of workers who would be transported to Germany. Blow up the railway built by the Germans. Destroy all facilities beneficial to Nazi Germany.
(Queen Wilhelmina speaking)
"Orange Radio Station" is only fifteen minutes long each time. In the hearts of the Dutch, it is like rain. The Queen's voice is a comfort to every Dutchman who hears her talk.
When the German commander-in-chief General Janssen ordered that all the former Dutch armed forces report to the prisoner-of-war camp for detention, "Orange Radio" told people:
"Hide... ignore their summons...".
In May, the Nazi police chief Lauter announced a new ban, confiscation of radio equipment in personal homes and shops. People are prohibited from displaying pictures of the Queen. Books and movies about Queen Wilhelmina are banned. The resistance group can only publish the latest instructions and news of the Queen in London through underground newspapers.
But everything will not last too long. With the advent of 1944, the Dutch saw the hope of the Allied forces coming to victory.
(Allied soldiers in World War II)
dutch liberation
When the defeat of Nazi Germany was timed, the Dutch people passed the darkest period , But hope has arrived, waiting for the final liberation of the Netherlands.
The cooperation between Queen Wilhelmina and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces resulted in unanimous agreement. The government in exile in London established a Civil and Military Administration, which was placed under the full jurisdiction of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. In order to assist the Allied forces in fighting, she contacted the domestic resistance movement and called for a national railway strike.
This command received a general response. Within 48 hours, almost all trains driven by the Dutch stopped running.
After the queen learned of the victory of the Normandy landing, she couldn't hide her joy. She saw the hope of regaining Holland. She eagerly awaits further victory for the Allied forces.
(Normandy Landing)
In September, the Allies were filled with optimism. The British and American forces even believed that they could win the victory before Christmas.
General Montgomery, who has always been restrained and restrained, proposed a bold and imaginative plan: to seize the bridges of a series of river basins in the Netherlands, such as the Rhine, Lake, and Waal, to take the German hinterland directly and occupy Germany. Ruhr area, an industrial powerhouse. Landed in Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem in the Netherlands. The name is "Operation Market Garden".
Although the action was the same as the Dutch campaign from September to November, it failed to achieve the intended effect. But the Dutch believed that the Allied forces would eventually liberate the Netherlands.
In retaliation, Nazi Germany banned the delivery of grain from the eastern part of the Netherlands to various regions. The wartime blockade has allowed the Dutch people to live like years, and the food embargo has made the already difficult situation even worse. The Nazi government provided only 200 grams of food per person per week, and the price of wheat on the black market was as high as £56 per catty.
(Allied soldiers in the beach landing)
In November, the winter in the Netherlands was too cold. In Rotterdam alone, 400 people died of freezing and starvation on the streets every day. The Allies used the air force to drop 6,684 tons of food on the hungry Dutch. This is the darkness of the Dutch before dawn.
Until 1945, the defeat of Nazi Germany was unable to reverse. In March, there were success stories on the Western Front. The queen knew that this was a good news that a real victory was about to come. The troops led by Eisenhower finally broke through the Siegfried line that was not crossed by Operation Market Garden, from the North Sea to the Rhine.
When the Allied forces invaded the Netherlands, Queen Wilhelmina personally reviewed the Allied forces, and she pinned all her hopes of liberating the Netherlands on them. At the same time, the German army had no fighting spirit before the doomed defeat, and the Allied forces finally captured the Netherlands in the final period of World War II.
(The Queen is reviewing the British army)
On the eve of victory, Queen Wilhelmina announced through the radio that she had planned a new Dutch parliament plan, and she had already done it. Preparation to her country. At the same time, the Battle of Berlin started, and the Third Reich was about to die.
On May 6, the whole territory of the Netherlands was liberated. On the 8th, Nazi Germany surrendered.
(the picture shows Queen Wilhelmina)
Peace has finally arrived. During the war, "Radio Orange" gave the Dutch people great confidence. The queen has been with the domestic oppositionThe fascist struggle stands together to encourage and support the Dutch people to fight against the fascist. The Dutch call her "the mother of resistance in the Netherlands".
The Dutch welcome the return of their queen, they cheer on the streets. Joy filled the crowd. The Dutch praised their wise queen. She was aware of the Nazi aggressive ambitions before Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. Throughout World War II, the Queen has always stood with the Dutch people.
Although Queen Wilhelmina did not play a decisive role in the final victory. However, Queen Wilhelmina is a symbol, and her anti-fascist stance has never changed even in the darkest and most difficult times.
