Abstract
This one of the most important chapters of the book, conveys how a newspaper Het Parool stopped Van der Waerden’s appointment at the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, Van der Waerden’s individual case prompted the Government of the Netherlands to pass a new law, banning all “persons, who during the occupation years have continuously worked in Germany out of their free will” from all government jobs.
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Notes
- 1.
It was started by Frans Johannes Goedhart under the title Nieuwsbrief van Pieter ‘t Hoen on July 25, 1940 and became Het Parool on February 10, 1941 [Kei].
- 2.
In search for greater expressiveness, the editors included in this Dutch article some passages in German. I am leaving them in German, and add translation in brackets. I also include in parentheses some Dutch expressions that are particularly hard to adequately translate into the English.
- 3.
Handwritten letter in Dutch; RANH, Papers of Hans Freudenthal, mathematician, 1906–1990, inv. nr. 89.
- 4.
Here Van der Waerden refers to one particular Alderman (there were six): Mr. Albertus de Roos (1900–1978), the Alderman (1945–1962) for Education and Arts.
- 5.
Handwritten letter in Dutch; RANH, Papers of Hans Freudenthal, inv. nr. 89.
- 6.
Van der Waerden’s letter to Het Parool was dated January 21, 1945, as seen from Het Parool’s January 23, 1945 acknowledgement sent to Van der Waerden and signed by Secretary Hoofdredactie: see ETH, Hs 652: 11631.
- 7.
Van der Waerden likely refers to the de-Nazification boards, College van Herstel of Amsterdam and Utrecht.
- 8.
University of Amsterdam students’ weekly.
- 9.
Under the Arbeitseinsatz program, the Dutch (and other) peoples were sent to work in Germany (or “Greater” Germany). Those who went were punished after the war. In a 2004 e-mail to me, Dr. Knegtmans comments as follows [Kne8]: “As far as I know, only very few people actually volunteered for the Arbeitseinsatz. Most (several hundreds of thousands) did so under pressure and among them were three thousand students of all Dutch universities and a few staff members. After the war, however, there was some criticism of these men. Could they not have evaded conscription, some asked publicly. I think they could not, because their names and addresses were known and most needed the income for their families. This was of course not the case with the students, but in fact most students fled from the Arbeitseinsatz in Germany back to Holland, while others did not return to Germany from their holidays. I think that none of the students, staff members or professors of the University of Amsterdam was punished for voluntarily joining the Arbeitseinsatz. Probably no one did join voluntarily. But some of the Nazis among the students and staff joined the German army (or the Dutch Volunteer Corps) or para-military German organizations. The staff members among them were removed from the university, the students simply did not return to the universities.”
- 10.
Pieter ‘t Hoen was the pseudonym of the Amsterdam journalist Frans Johannes Goedhart (1904–1990), the founder of Het Parool, who was arrested in January 1942. Madelon de Keizer [Kei] reports that “Goedhart was one of the twenty-three suspects to be brought to trial before the German magistrate in the first Parool trial in December 1942. Seventeen death sentences were pronounced and thirteen Parool workers were executed by firing squad in February 1943. Goedhart managed to obtain a reprieve. He escaped in September 1943 and resumed his position on the editorial board.”
- 11.
Herman Bernard Wiardi Beckman (1904–Dachau, March 15, 1945), a member of the Editorial Board of Het Parool, one of the intellectuals of the SDAP (De Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij), arrested in January 1942, he ended his life in the Nazi concentration camp Dachau.
- 12.
Jacobus Jan (Koos) Vorrink (1891–1955), a member of the Editorial Board of Het Parool, chairman of SDAP (De Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiders Partij) and later of PvdA (De Partij van de Arbeid, labor party), was arrested on April 1, 1943, and later sent to the Nazi Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen, from which he was liberated by the Soviet Army in 1945.
- 13.
“O.D.” stands for Orde Dienst, a national resistance organization.
- 14.
Vrij-Nederland, De Geus, Je Maintiendrai, Trouw, and De Waarheid were Dutch underground publications of the occupation period. Recall, Van der Corput served on the Board of Vrij-Nederland.
- 15.
According to Dr. Knegtmans [Kne3], ASVA, a new general student union that had emerged from the circles in the Amsterdam student resistance. During the first postwar years it was very keen on matters involving the behavior of old and new professors during the war.
- 16.
Archives of the ASVA in the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam.
- 17.
Het Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, finding aid number 2.14.17, record number 73—dossier B.L. van der Waerden (Archive of the Ministry of Education).
- 18.
We see here again Hopf–Van der Waerden rationale.
- 19.
Het Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, finding aid number 2.14.17, record number 73—dossier B.L. van der Waerden (Archive of the Ministry of Education).
- 20.
This letter is a part of the documents provided to me by the Utrecht University Archives. These documents show that the Utrecht’s College van Herstel en Zuivering was impressed by Van der Waerden retaining his Dutch citizenship while in Germany, and thus favored Dr. Van der Waerden for the Utrecht job until this letter arrived.
- 21.
Letter in Dutch; ETH Hs 652: 10646.
- 22.
Clay here clearly refers to Albertus de Roos, the Alderman for Education and Arts.
References
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Peters, P., Minjnheer de Red, Propria Cures, 56th year, No. 22, February 8, 1946.
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Waerden, B. L. van der, Rechtzetting, Propria Cures, February 1, 1946.
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Soifer, A. (2015). The Het Parool Affair. In: The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0712-8_29
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