ANPPrins Bernhard in 2003
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 01:32
There was little doubt, but now there is definitive proof that Prince Bernhard was a member of the NSDAP – Adolf Hitler’s party. The original NSDAP membership card was found in the prince’s archives.
In his book De Achterblijvers, which will be published this Wednesday, Flip Maarschalkerweerd reveals that he has found the prince’s original NSDAP membership card, writes NRC. Maarschalkerweerd is the former director of the Royal House Archives. He found the map at Soestdijk Palace in the prince’s private archives, which he had to inventory after his death in 2004.
Prince Bernhard denied that he was a member of the Nazi party until his death. Even when confronted with previous evidence. In 1996, historians reported that they had found a copy of his membership card in the US. Correspondence about the termination of membership from 1936 was also found. That year he became engaged to Juliana. Bernhard only admitted that he had been a member of a branch of the SS for a time.
In a series of interviews he had with the Volkskrant before his death, the prince stated: “I can declare with my hand on the Bible: I was never a Nazi. I never paid for party membership, I never had a membership card.”
2023-10-03 23:32:12
#Bernhard #NSDAP #membership #card #archive
