VORRINK: Yes, Sir.
M. FAURE: You exercised these functions in 1940 at the time of the invasion of the Netherlands, by the Germans?
VORRINK: Yes.
M. FAURE: I should like to ask you to give a few explanations on the following situation: There existed in the Netherlands, before the invasion, a National Socialist Party. I should like you to state what the situation was, after the invasion by the Germans and during the occupation, with regard to the various political parties in the Netherlands, and more particularly the National Socialist Party, and what were the activities of this Party in liaison with the German occupation?
VORRINK: I should prefer to speak in the Dutch language. I am sorry I do not know French and English well enough to use these languages—but in order not to delay the proceedings, I shall make my declarations in German. This is the only reason why I am using the German language.
The political situation in Holland after the invasion by the Germans was that first and foremost the German Army wanted to maintain public order in Holland. But the real Nazis immediately came with the Wehrmacht and tried to direct and organize public life in Holland according to their concepts. There were among the Germans three main categories. In the first place, there were those who believed in the “blood and soil” (Blut und Boden) theory. They wanted to win over the whole of the Dutch people to their National Socialist concepts. I must say that, in certain respects, this was our misfortune because these people, on the basis of their “blood and soil” theory, loved us too much and when that love was not reciprocated it turned to hate.
The second category consisted of the politically informed; and these people knew perfectly well that the Dutch National Socialists in Holland were only a very small and much hated group. At the elections of 1935 they received only 8 percent of the votes, and 2 years later this percentage had been reduced by one-half. These people were tactlessness itself. For instance, when the ruins of Rotterdam were still smoking, they saw fit to make a demonstration at which the leader of the Dutch National Socialists, Mussert, dedicated to Göring a new bell as a thank offering for what he had done for Holland. Fortunately, it did not prevent him from being defeated.
In the third place there were the so-called intriguers, those who wanted to destroy the national unity of Holland and who, first of all, tried through Seyss-Inquart to gain the favor of the Dutch people by flattery. In the same way as Seyss-Inquart, they always stressed that the two peoples were kindred races and should therefore work together, while behind the scenes they played off one Nazi group against the other.
In Holland at that time there existed the Dutch National Socialist Workers’ Party, the Dutch National Socialist Front, and the so-called National Front. All these three movements had their contacts with certain German organizations. The Germans first tried to find out whether it was possible to use these groups for their purposes. Slowly, however, they recognized that it was not possible to work with these groups; and so they decided to adopt the National Socialist movement only. These National Socialists gradually occupied the key positions in the Dutch administration. They were appointed general secretaries for internal administration, they became commissioners of the provinces, mayors, et cetera.
I should like to mention in this connection that at that time there were not enough people qualified to become mayors, so that short courses of instruction were arranged which performed the record feat of turning out Dutch mayors in 3 weeks. You can imagine what kind of mayors they were.