On this date in 1946, the Dutch journalist/propagandist Max Blokzijl was shot at Scheveningen for wartime Nazi collaboration.
Blokzijl (English Wikipedia entry | Dutch), who had a Jewish grandmother, fought in World War I but had become a war correspondent at Berlin by the end of it, reprising his prewar career.*
From 1918 to 1940 he worked from Germany, and Germany worked on him; in 1935, with National Socialism ascending its zenith in Germany, Blokzijl joined Anton Mussert‘s Dutch knockoff, the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging party. He also wrote anonymously for the fascist newspaper De Waag.
When Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, Blokzijl decloaked as a fascist and accepted a gig as Berlin’s hand for the Dutch press. He was noted for the wartime radio show Brandende kwesties (Burning Issues) which helped make his the calm and measured voice of Dutch national socialism — an identification which soon proved to be a great liability.
The last Nazi redoubts in the Netherlands didn’t surrender until the very end in May, 1945, and that’s when Blokzijl was arrested, too. He stood a half-day trial on September 11, 1945 for his media campaign “aimed at breaking the spiritual resistance of the Dutch people are against the enemy and infidelity of the people to his government and the Allied cause.”
One could argue that the firing squad was a harsh penalty for a guy who had no direct hand in any atrocities. As with the French propagandist Robert Brasillach, the circumstance of facing the nation’s judgment so directly after the war contributed to the severity of Blokzijl’s punishment: indeed, Blokzijl was the very first Dutchman tried for his World War II behavior, which made a death sentence virtually de rigueur. As he wrote to his lawyers in the end, “I fall as the first sacrifice for a political reckoning.”
* One of his prewar careers: he was also a professional singer.
On this day..
- 1968: My Lai Massacre
- 1984: James Hutchins
- 1841: The Jewboy's Gang
- 1868: Eleven samurai, for the Sakai Incident
- 1773: Lewis Hutchinson, "the most detestable and abandoned villain"
- 1789: Not Mary Wade, 11-year-old thief
- 1649: Saint Jean de Brébeuf, missionary to the Huron
- 1677: Thomas Sadler and William Johnson, mace thieves
- 1244: Two hundred-plus Cathars at Montsegur
- 37: Some poor wretches, despite the death of Tiberius
- 2005: Mohammed Bijeh, the desert vampire
- 1457: László Hunyadi, the death before Hungary's rebirth
Max Blokzijl was veroordeeld and dood geschoten voor zijn daden gedurende tweede wereld oorlog. Mijn vader, Gererad Nieland (een lid van de bekende Nieland broeders – Herman en Jan waren zijn broers) was LEVEND BEGRAVEN in November 1943 op bevel van Karel Lodeijk Diepgrond Kamp Erika commandant. Diepgrond was genaamd als een “Politiek Gevange”. Die moordenaar had ook drie zwarte handelaren in de nek dood geschoten en liet de lichamen maar op de weg bij een sloot liggen. WAT ZOORT VAN JUSTITIE IS HET DAT BLOKZIJL MAAR NAZI SPEKJES HIELD OP DE RADIO, MAAR DE MOORDENAAR VAN VIER MANNE VRIJLOOPT? IK BEN NU 78-JAAR OUD MAAR DENKT IEMAND DAT HET EEN RECHTE MANIER WAS OM EEN OORLOGSMISDADIGER VRIJ TE SETTEN? Dat is de reden waarom ik Nederland had verlaten in 1964 en nu in Amerika woon. Maar het verleden heeft een manier om je te volgen.