Prince Bernhard, who was Queen Juliana’s former husband, insisted until his death in 2004 that he never joined the Nazi Party.
– I can swear with my hand on the Bible that I have never been a Nazi, he said in an interview with the newspaper De Volkskrant shortly before he died, aged 93. He added that he never paid dues and never had a membership card.
Therefore, the daughter is kept private
But these claims were shattered when the membership card from 1933 was recently found and declared genuine by the royal household.
Historian Flip Maarschalkerweerd, former head of the royal house’s archives, found the membership card in the prince’s private archive at his residence, Soestdijk Castle.
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Born in Germany
Bernhard, who was born in 1911 in Jena, Germany, was living in Berlin when he joined the National Socialist Party NSDAP.
He married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands in 1937 after meeting her at the Berlin Olympics the previous year, introducing her to his jet set life of fast cars, luxury holidays and designer clothes.
– I feel used by TV 2
During the war, he led the Dutch resistance movement from London, where the government and his mother-in-law Queen Wilhelmina were in exile.
After Juliana became Queen in 1948, he became Inspector General of the Armed Forces and took on official and unofficial duties for the government.
Internationally, he was best known as the founder in 1961 of the World Wildlife Fund WWF, now known as the World Wildlife Fund. He was president until 1977.
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Amorous affairs
Two weeks after he died, it emerged in the scandalous interview in De Volkskrant that he was the father of two daughters out of wedlock and had had a long series of extramarital affairs. Then his participation in a corruption scandal in 1970 was also uncovered.
– I am surprised that Prince Bernhard kept the document, and that it was still in the archives of the royal family, says Rick Evers, who is a Dutch expert on the royal house.
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He says that the membership card would not have become known if the current King Willem-Alexander had not approved it.
– These are private archives, not national archives. He decides how they should be handled, says Evers.
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Requires investigation
The Netherlands’ most important Jewish organization CIDI and one of the National Assembly’s parties have demanded an investigation into Bernhard’s Nazi past, but Prime Minister Mark Rutte has so far rejected the demand.
CIDI says the revelation adds another dark side to the Netherlands’ modern history, and King Willem-Alexander understands it is causing waves.
– I can imagine that the news makes a strong impression and triggers strong emotions, especially in the Jewish community, he says.
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Form of betrayal
For the personal trainer Jolijn Oliemans (41), who is asked while she is on her way past the Noordeinde castle where Willem-Alexander has his office, the news came as a form of betrayal.
– It is also the fact that he has always denied what is difficult for people, and that there has been so little openness about it, she says.
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Demands have appeared in social media to depose the royal family after the revelations, and opinion polls show that support is falling.
According to an Ipsos survey in September, only 38 percent of the Dutch say that they still have great confidence in the king. That is down from almost 80 percent in 2020.
The Queen’s loving gesture
More than a quarter of those asked want the Netherlands to become a republic, and a month ago the royal family was met with boos during the celebration of Prince’s Day in The Hague.
Misstep
The family is still struggling to recover from several missteps during the corona pandemic.
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In October 2020, while the country was in partial lockdown, the King and Queen flew to Greece on holiday. They returned the next day as a result of the uproar when the journey became known.
Just two months before, the king was accused of having little compassion for the plight of ordinary people after he was pictured on a Greek island without a mask and without keeping a distance from others.
2023-10-19 05:10:04
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