A monument to the heroes of the February 1941 strike was erected in one of the central quarters of the Dutch capital Amsterdam. The monumental figure of a dockworker represents the courage of the working class, who rose up at the call of the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) to fight against fascist terror and repression. As emphasized at the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, the then chairman of the CPN Central Committee, Kh. Hoekstra, February strike laid the foundation for the Resistance movement in the Netherlands, the struggle for national independence in the period 1940-1945. During these years, the international alliance of the Dutch proletariat "with all those who fought against fascism in the underground and on the fronts - first of all with the Soviet people"was strengthened. 1

In Soviet historiography, there are a number of works devoted to the anti-fascist resistance movement in the Netherlands, its most striking episodes and participants in this struggle .2 Some information about the Resistance movement in Holland is also given in the BSE, the Soviet Historical Encyclopedia, World History, and the History of the Second World War 1939-1945. Dutch Marxist historical literature on the Resistance is represented by a number of pamphlets, monographs, and articles published in the CPN organs-the newspaper "De Waarheid "and the magazine"Politiek en Cultuur". They reveal the prominent role of the Communist Party of the Netherlands in organizing and deploying Resistance in the country3 .

Most of the works on the Resistance movement in the Netherlands created by bourgeois historians are written by employees of the Dutch State Institute of Military Documentation in Amsterdam, whose director until 1979 was the famous scientist L. de Jong. The purpose of the first official multi-volume collective work, published shortly after the end of World War II, was mainly to justify the policy of cooperation between officials of the Dutch administration and the occupation.-

1 XXVI Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. February 23-March 3, 1981. Stenogr. otch. T. 3. M. 1981, p. 86.

2 Shelimov A. The Netherlands (Holland). - Anti-fascist Resistance Movement in Europe during the Second World War, Moscow, 1962; Bauman, G. G. February strike of 1941 - a turning point of the Resistance movement in the Netherlands. - Novaya i novostei istoriya, 1966, N 4; his. The April-May strike of 1943 and its significance in the struggle of the Dutch people against fascism. - Izvestiya Severo-Kavkazskogo tsentra vysshey shkoly, seriya sotsial'nykh nauk, 1976, N 2; Krasilnikov E. P. Hanni Schaft-the heroine of the Resistance movement in the Netherlands. - New and recent history, 1982, N 6.

3 Groot P. de. In dienst van het volk. Amsterdam. 1950; De Waarheid over de Februari-staking. Amsterdam. 1954; Maas G. Kroniek van de Februari-staking 1941. Amsterdam. 1961.

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However, it is often called "moderate collaboration" by the Russian authorities, to present it as a form of "disguised Resistance"4 . Until the mid-60s, the Institute published a number of monographs devoted to certain forms of Resistance - the strike movement, illegal printing, evasion of forced sending to work in Germany, etc. 5 .The first attempt to analyze the Resistance as a whole was L. de Jong's 5-volume work "Occupation"6. In the 70s and early 80s, this author created generalizing works on the history of the Dutch Resistance, 7 and published biographies of a number of participants in the anti-fascist struggle .8 American and West German historians are also interested in this topic .9
In bourgeois historiography (with the exception of the last multi-volume work of L. de Jong), there are no studies of the armed struggle of the Dutch people against the German-fascist invaders. This is undoubtedly due to the class positions of bourgeois historians: the organizer and driving force of the partisan struggle was the Communist Party of the Netherlands, which rallied the working class and representatives of the democratic strata of the population around it. Another characteristic feature of bourgeois historiography is the underestimation of the significance of events on the Soviet-German front for the development of Resistance in the Netherlands, and first of all the defeat of the Fascist troops by the Red Army at Stalingrad. At the same time, the role of British paratrooper scouts in organizing the Resistance movement is exaggerated. Today, no bourgeois historian ignores the prominent role of the CPN in the Resistance. However, attempts are still being made to present the activities of the Dutch Communists in a distorted light-as "directed from Moscow".

On May 10, 1940, Nazi troops invaded the Netherlands. The Dutch army made a stubborn resistance to the invaders for five days, but on May 15 it was forced to capitulate. Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch government emigrated to England. An hour after the signing of the act of surrender, Hitler's aircraft subjected Rotterdam to a barbaric bombardment, turning the city center into ruins. There was no military need to bomb Rotterdam: the invaders wanted to intimidate and terrorize the population .10
Two weeks after the capture of the Netherlands, Hitler introduced a "civil administration" in the country, headed by Reichskommissar A. Seyss-Inquart. In an address to the Dutch people on May 29, 1940, Seyss-Inquart declared his "peaceful intentions." 11 The subsequent course of events, however, showed what the true goals of the invaders were:-

4 Onderdrukking en Verzet. Nederland in Oorlogtijd. D. 1 - 4. Amsterdam - Arnhem. 1948 - 1954.

5 Bouman P. J. De april-mei-stakingen van 1943. ?s-Gravenhage. 1950; Winkel L. E. De ondergrondse pers 1940 - 1945. ?s-Gravenhage. 1954; Sijes B. A. De Februari-staking 25 - 26 februari 1941. ?s-Gravenhage. 1954; ejusd. De arbeidsinzet 1940 - 1945. ?s-Gravenhage. 1966; Rutter A. J. Rijden en staken. ?s-Gravenhage. 1960; Sanders P. Het Nationaal Steun Fonds. ?s-Gravenhage. 1960.

6 Jong L. de. De bezetting. D. 1 - 5. Amsterdam. 1961 - 1965.

7 Jong L. de. Verzet en Illegaliteit 1940 - 1945. Amsterdam. 1976; ejusd. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de tweede wereldoorlog. D. 1 - 10. ?s-Gravenhage. 1969 - 1982.

8 Klatter J. De verzetsgroep Zwaantje. Oorlogsbelevenissen van dr. Allard Oosterhuis. Amsterdam. 1968; Kors T. Hannie Schaft. Het levensverhaal van een vrouw in verzet tegen de nazi?s. Amsterdam. 1976; Hof J. Frits de Zwerver. Den Haag. 1976.

9 Kock E. Unterdruckung und Widerstand. 5 Jahre deutscher Besetzung in den Niederlanden 1940 - 1945. Dortmund. 1960; Warmbrunn W. The Dutch under German Occupation 1940 - 1945. Stanford. 1963; Maass W. B. The Netherlands at War: 1940 - 1945. Lnd. - N. Y. - Toronto. 1970.

10 Istoriya vtoroi mirovoi voyny 1939-1945 [History of the Second World War 1939-1945], vol. 3, Moscow, 1974, p. 94.

11 Seyss-Inquart A. Vier Jahre in den Niederlanden. Amsterdam. 1944, S. 9 - 10.

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electrification and merciless economic exploitation of the Netherlands. In conversations with the leader of the Dutch fascists A. Mussert, Hitler did not hide his intentions to annex the Netherlands 12. In May 1942, Goebbels wrote in his diary that, in the words of the" Fuhrer","The Netherlands should no longer exist as an independent state" 13 .

Trying to attract the cooperation of the country's big bourgeoisie, the Hitlerites decided, however, to proceed cautiously at first .14 In order to get their hands on the colonies of the Netherlands, and especially Indonesia, they tried to create the illusion of some independence of the Netherlands .15 In a secret "First Report on the situation in the Occupied Netherlands May 29 - July 19, 1940", Seyss-Inquart wrote to Hitler that he saw his goal in bringing to life "a political will that will embody the economic connection of the Netherlands with the Reich as the will of the Dutch people" .16 The Reichskommissar considered one of his main tasks to promote collaboration in every possible way, as a result of which, in his opinion, a representative group of Dutch figures could arise who were ready to lead the country to voluntarily join Germany.

Aware of the weakness of the fascist movement in the Netherlands , 17 and Mussert's limited political abilities, 18 the Reichskommissar did not dare at first to make the main bet on the Dutch fascist party National Socialist Movement (NSD)19 . The attempt of the occupiers to attract the Social Democratic Workers ' Party of the Netherlands (SDLP) to cooperate with the fascists ended in failure. Inspired by Seyss-Inquart, the proposal of Mussert's deputy M. Rost van Tonningen to create a new "people's labor movement" was decisively rejected by the leadership of the SDLP in July 1940.20 At the same time, the SDLP leaders, not considering it possible to organize active resistance by the party's forces, decided to actually dissolve the party 21 . Many functionaries of the SDLP remained in their posts in trade unions, in the press, etc. A large number of ordinary members of the Social Democratic Party later joined the Resistance organizations.

The leaders of the five largest bourgeois parties in the Netherlands and the SDLP formed a "Political Convention" in early July 1940 with the aim of implementing a policy of "moderate cooperation" with the occupiers. An attempt to enter into negotiations with the occupation authorities failed, however, because the Nazis refused to allow the publication of the manifesto of the "Political Convention", which contained phrases about loyalty to the Orange dynasty and the post-war independence of the Netherlands.

Seyss-Inquart pinned his main hopes on the "peaceful integration of the Dutch into national Socialism" in the summer and autumn of 1940.

12 Het Proces Mussert. ?s-Gravenhage. 1948. Doc. 8, blz. 323 - 327; Picker H. Hitlers Tischgesprache im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941 - 1942. Bonn. 1951, S. 67.

13 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 5. 1974, blz. 197, 201.

14 F. Halder Military Diary, vol. 2, Moscow, 1969, p. 246.

15 Ibid., p. 188. Such political camouflage lost all meaning after the capture of Indonesia by Japan in March 1942.

16 Onderdrukking en Verzet. D. 1, blz. 334.

17 In May 1940, the fascist National Socialist Movement party had 27,500 members (Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 4. 1972, blz. 224).

18 Seyss-Inquart considered Mussert's political ability to be lower than that of the average Reich Gauleiter (Onderdrukking en Verzet. D. 1, blz. 335).

19 In addition to the NSD, there were several minor fascist groups in the Netherlands, which later merged with the Mussert party.

20 Correspondence van Mr. M. M. Rost van Tonningen. D. 1. ?s-Gravenhage, 1967, bijlage A, blz. 833 - 835.

21 Drees W. Van Mei tot Mei. Assen. 1959, blz. 85.

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with the organization "Dutch Union"created by Dutch collaborators at the end of July 22 . Its leaders promoted the corporate system and supported some of the activities of the Nazis. The occupation authorities hoped for a gradual evolution of the " Union of the Netherlands "in a totalitarian direction." 23 The majority of its members, however, did not support the policy of their leadership, in which disagreements soon arose over the expediency of meeting the demands of the Nazis. As a result of the growing anti-fascist sentiments of the members of the "Dutch Union", the attempt of the Dutch bourgeoisie to organize mass political collaboration with the invaders failed.

While giving full support to the Dutch collaborators, the occupiers were not going to discount the Mussertites. The failure of the attempt to plant collaborationism "on a broad basis" led the occupiers to conclude that it was necessary to provide broad support to the NSD. On September 25, 1940, the leader of the Dutch fascists was received by Hitler, who stated that he had instructed Seyss-Inquart to " prepare the way for Mussert to come to power." In the autumn of 1940, the occupiers began appointing members of the NSD to senior positions in the state apparatus of the Netherlands. From January 1, 1941, the Reichskommissar issued Mussert a monthly sum of 300,000 guilders .

However, there was a force in the country that thwarted the plans of the Nazis and their henchmen. Such a force was the Dutch working class, led by the CPN. Long before the occupation of the Netherlands, the Communist Party called on workers to unite against the threat of fascism. In the spring of 1938, from the rostrum of the XIII Congress of the CPN, the general secretary of the Communist Party, P. de Groot, pointed out that "the Netherlands is under immediate threat from Fascist Germany." "We are ready," continued P. de Groot, "to defend the independence of the Netherlands unconditionally and at any cost from a fascist attack from abroad." 25 By the beginning of World War II, the CPN had developed into a serious political force. The Communist Party, which had 9,000 Communists in its ranks, 26 became much stronger politically and organizationally, and gained valuable experience in mobilizing the masses to fight fascism .27 About 700 Dutch communists fought the Fascists in the fields of Spain as part of the international brigades 28 .

From the very beginning of the occupation, the CPN started organizing a Resistance movement. On May 15, 1940, a meeting of the CPN Central Committee was held, at which the illegal leadership of the party was formed, consisting of P. de Groot, J. Dieters and L. Jansen. All prominent figures of the Communist Party went underground. From the most active Communists, groups of three people were formed, and communication between them was maintained by instructors. In the summer of 1940, the Communist Party did a lot of work to raise money for the "Solidarity Fund" for workers who refused to go to Germany to work in the military industry. On July 19, 1940, the CPN was officially banned by the occupiers. However, by that time, the Communist Party had already been essentially transferred to an illegal position. Number of illegal immigrants

22 Seyss-Inguart A. Op. cit., S. 24.

23 Drees W. Op. cit., blz. 34.

24 Het Proces Mussert. Doc. 4, blz. 318, 193.

25 Groot P. de. De dertiger jahren 1936 - 1939. Amsterdam. 1967, blz. 95.

26 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 4, blz. 904.

27 In the second half of the 1930s, the CPN was the vanguard of a broad anti-fascist movement, whose activities led to the failure of the Dutch fascists ' attempts to succeed in the 1937 and 1939 elections.

28 Groot P. de. Der dertiger jahren 1936 - 1939, blz. 34.

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The CPN was 2 thousand people by that time. After the CPN was banned, the Communists began distributing illegal leaflets and published a pamphlet on Soviet politics. On November 23, 1940, the Communist Party published the first issue of the underground newspaper De Waarheid. In the future, this newspaper was published regularly once every two weeks with a circulation of more than 20 thousand copies .29
The CPN's policy was aimed at launching a struggle against the occupiers, against attempts to annex the Netherlands, against the NSD and tendencies towards an agreement with Nazi Germany. At the end of October 1940, the Communists took the lead in the struggle of unemployed people engaged in public works in the area of the cities of Barn and Amersfoort against the increase in the length of the working day. When public works were stopped in January 1941, the CPN called on the unemployed to fight for more benefits. On February 17-18, 1941, the Communists led a metalworkers ' strike in Amsterdam, organized to protest the forced deportation of Dutch workers to Germany. The strikers won: the Nazis were forced to make concessions and until the beginning of 1942 were limited to sending only unemployed people to Germany .30
In the summer and autumn of 1940, a number of anti-fascist groups also emerged in the Netherlands, whose members were not connected with the Communists and acted separately. They were engaged in publishing illegal leaflets and newspapers, collecting intelligence data, and trying to commit separate acts of sabotage and sabotage. The largest of these was an organization founded in Haarlem by an employee of a carpet-weaving factory, B. Eizerdrat, who began issuing anti-Fascist leaflets on May 18, 1940. The members of this organization, which numbered several hundred people and consisted mainly of young people, called themselves "gezami". By doing so, they wanted to show that they consider themselves the successors of the traditions of the Dutch people's struggle against Spanish rule in the XVI century. There were also Gez groups in Rotterdam, Delft, and Zwijndrecht. Gezami published a handwritten bulletin called Geuzenberichten until the fall of 1940, and attempts were made to organize sabotage. In November 1940, the Gestapo managed to arrest most of the members of this anti-Fascist group. 15 "gezs", including Eizerdrat, were executed by the Nazis in March 1941.

In September 1940, the first of the bourgeois underground newspapers, Vrij Nederland, was published by Protestant circles. In February 1941, the first issue of the underground newspaper Het Parool was published. Among its editors were former SDLP figures, but the newspaper was not officially the party's organ. At the beginning of 1941, the monthly circulation of illegal newspapers was 57,000 copies .31
In 1940, in the Netherlands, regular officers of the Dutch army created the organization "Service of Order", associated with the emigrant government and fully supported its policy of" attantism " (waiting). Her practical work consisted mainly of gathering intelligence for the expatriate government in London and the Anglo-American command. Members of the "Service of Order" opposed the deployment of an active armed struggle of the masses, fearing that this would lead to an increase in the number of people living in the city.

29 Communist Party of the Netherlands. Congress 19. Amsterdam. 1958. Moscow, 1959, p. 69.

30 Reuter F. De Communistische Partij van Nederland in oorlogstijd. Herinneringen. Amsterdam. 1978, blz. 41.

31 Winkel L. E. Op. cit., blz. 20.

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influence of "left-wing elements"in the country 32 . The emigrant government assigned the " Service of Order "the task of taking power in the country after the liberation of the Netherlands by Anglo-American troops, in order to ensure"calm and order".

The summer and autumn of 1940 were marked by the growing anti-Nazi sentiments of Dutch workers, who were dissatisfied with the introduction of a card system for distributing food and industrial goods in the country in the summer of 1940, the robbery of the Dutch economy , 33 and the forced transfer of the unemployed to Germany. Open displays of patriotic feelings of the Dutch took place on June 29, 1940, the birthday of Prince Bernard, the husband of the daughter of the Queen of the Netherlands, Princess Juliana. This day was celebrated throughout the country as a national holiday. In major cities, there were skirmishes between Dutch patriots and the German police and Mussertovtsy. In Amsterdam, the invaders opened fire on the crowd and wounded 23 Dutchmen 34 . At the end of November 1940, students of the University of Leiden and the Higher Technical School in Delft went on strike to protest against the order of the occupation authorities to dismiss Jewish professors. Unrest also took place in other higher education institutions in the Netherlands. In Delft, students resumed their studies only in April 1941, and the University of Leiden remained closed until the end of the war.

With the support of the occupation authorities, the Mussert assault detachments developed extraordinary activity in January-February 1941. On February 22-23, 1941, the Nazis raided Jews in Amsterdam. 425 young Jews were sent to a concentration camp 35 .

The Communist Party of the Netherlands aimed at the working people of its country, and especially the working class, to demonstrate to the Nazis its determination to thwart their plans. At the beginning of February 1941, at a conference of the illegal leadership of the CPN, it was decided to organize a strike in the cities of the province of North Holland in protest against the fascist terror and the desire to put the Mussertites in power .36 On February 15, 1941, at the call of the CPN, a demonstration was held in Amsterdam against the invaders and their henchmen. On February 22, 1941, the CPN leadership decided to start a mass strike on February 25, 1941. The program of the strike was a manifesto written by P. de Groot and supplemented by L. Jansen. The manifesto called for: "Organize a protest strike at all enterprises! Fight with one accord against terror! Organize self-defense by businesses and neighborhoods!". The manifesto also included economic demands for higher wages and unemployment benefits. One of the central points of the manifesto was a call to thwart the "monstrous plan to bring Mussert to power" 37 .

On the evening of February 24, a meeting of CPN activists was held in Amsterdam, where they were given the necessary instructions by the party leadership. The next day, early in the morning, Communist Party activists showed up at businesses in Amsterdam, calling for a strike.

32 History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. Vol. 8. M. 1977, p. 223; Politiek en Cultuur, 1975, N 2, blz. 60.

33 At the end of 1940, the average Dutch family purchased 70% of food products by card, and in the summer of 1944 - 96.5% (Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 7, 1976, blz. 156). In the summer of 1940, the invaders took to Germany the reserves of raw materials accumulated by the Dutch government in case of a blockade.

34 Ibid. D. 4, blz. 284.

35 Jong L. de. De bezetting. D. 1, blz, 174.

36 De Waarheid, 1.II.1979.

37 Quoted from a photocopy of the manifesto (Jong L. de. De bezetting. D. 1, blz. 190-191).

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Work has stopped in the harbor and at most factories in the northern part of the city. By midday, workers of almost all enterprises, employees, and salesmen joined the strike. Transport stopped. Crowds of people filled the streets of Amsterdam. The Communists distributed leaflets calling for the strike to continue .38
On the same day, there were strikes in many other cities in the province of North Holland and in the city of Utrecht. On February 26, the strikes continued. In total, more than 300 thousand Dutch people took part in them. On February 26, the commander-in-Chief of the German armed forces in the Netherlands, General F. K. Christiansen, declared a state of emergency in the province of North Holland and ordered work to begin the next day. Police and troops opened fire on the demonstrators, among whom 9 people were killed and 24 seriously injured. About 100 Communists were arrested, and four of them were shot .39 The invaders lifted the state of emergency only on March 8, 1941.

The February 1941 strike was the first mass act of Resistance in the Nazi-occupied European countries. Its significance lies in the fact that it marked the beginning of mass Resistance to the invaders. The strike also dealt a blow to plans to form a puppet government led by Mussert. It became clear to the Nazis that the formation of such a government would cause a new explosion of indignation among the Dutch, so it was never created until the end of the occupation.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the USSR. On June 27, Seyss-Inquart appealed to the Dutch to take part in a"crusade against Bolshevism." The invaders launched a broad campaign to recruit the Dutch into the "Volunteer Legion", which later became part of the SS 40. The vast majority of the Dutch, however, refused to take part in the criminal adventure of the Nazis. The struggle of the USSR against the Nazi aggressors aroused hopes among the Dutch for the defeat of fascism, and contributed to the rise of the Resistance movement. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, in her speech on English radio on June 24, 1941, stated that the Dutch government considers the Soviet Union as its ally and will provide it with assistance. 41 (The USSR was officially recognized by the Dutch government on July 10, 1942) .42
After the German attack on the USSR, the CPN created a "military commission" and groups for armed struggle against the invaders (the so-called mil-groups)43 . The head of the "military commission" was a prominent communist J. van Gilze, his closest assistants were a participant in the battles in Spain M. Meyer, a worker G. Wagenar, and a teacher J. Schouten. On June 26, 1941, the newspaper De Waarheid called on the Dutch to unite "without distinction of faith or political beliefs to deliver a decisive blow." In the July issue, the same newspaper emphasized that the fate of humanity is being decided on the Eastern Front.-

38 For more information about the February strike of 1941, see: Bauman G. G. February Strike of 1941.

39 Jong L. de. De bezetting. D. 1, biz. 207; Reuter F. Op. cit., blz. 49.

40 In the Waffen-Ss 17-20 thousand Dutch people fought against the USSR; half of them were Dutch fascists, the rest were criminals, most of whom went to the front from prison instead of serving their sentences (Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 6. 1975, blz. 441).

41 Prior to Japan's entry into the war, the Dutch authorities sent some tin, rubber, tea, etc. from Indonesia to Vladivostok (Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 9. 1979, blz. 201).

42 Algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden. D. 15, blz. 24.

43 Communist Party of the Netherlands. Congress of the 19th, p. 88; History of the Second World War 1939-1945. Vol. 4. Moscow, 1975, p. 219.

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and the people of the Netherlands 44, and in the issue of November 6, 1941, the task of helping the Red Army by "developing and strengthening the struggle for the freedom of the Netherlands"was put forward.

Partisan detachments created by the CPN disabled telephone and telegraph communications, damaged railway tracks, derailed trains with German servicemen, set fire to warehouses, blew up bridges, committed sabotage in factories, destroyed German soldiers and officers, and severely punished traitors. These operations were the first organized acts of armed struggle by the Dutch against the invaders. Its scale was constantly growing. So, in the period from May to July 1941, there were 12 cases of damage to Wehrmacht cables, and from August to October 1941 - more than 60. In November 1941, CPN combat troops set fire to a factory in Haarlem that was fulfilling important orders for the German Air Force. In the summer of 1942, they managed to blow up German fighters at the airfield "Gilse-Reyen". From the autumn of 1941 to the autumn of 1942, CPN combat detachments committed far more sabotage than all other sabotage groups combined. A 1942 report by the Amsterdam SD office stated that the illegal CPN was "the strongest fighting group" among Resistance organizations with a "particularly homogeneous and therefore dangerous composition" .45
The heroic struggle of the Communists served as an example that inspired the workers of the Netherlands to actively participate in the Resistance. In 1942, the CPN created a new armed resistance organization called the Dutch People's Militia. Its core was made up of Communists, but it also included non-partisans. It consisted of combat detachments, intelligence groups, and groups distributing illegal leaflets. In October 1942, a detachment of the "Dutch People's Militia" set fire to a Wehrmacht warehouse in The Hague.

The Nazis brutally persecuted the Communists. On September 6, 1941, the Reichskommissar issued a decree that participation in communist resistance groups would be punishable by death. From the summer of 1940 to the summer of 1942, about 1 thousand communists were arrested by the Nazis .46 Despite the Nazi terror, the Communist Party continued to fight.

The deployment of the partisan movement in the Netherlands was complicated by the country's natural conditions - the almost complete absence of forests and hills, a dense network of roads and canals. Almost no military experience 47 . There was an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition. In March 1942, the British secret military organization "Directorate of Special Operations" began sending agents to the Netherlands to establish contact with the Resistance movement and coordinate its actions with the plans of the Allies. However, German counterintelligence managed to capture about 60 British agents in an operation dubbed the "English game". The "English Game" continued until the fall of 1943. As a result, the Nazis were able to master the weapons intended for resistance organizations. 800 submachine guns, 2 thousand pistols, 60 machine guns, 8 thousand grenades and 50 thousand rounds of ammunition fell into their hands, 48 dumped in containers in places indicated by agents working for the Germans.

Of all the political parties in the Netherlands, the CPN was the only one that participated in the Resistance as a party. Other Users ' Guide

44 Cit. по: Groot P. de. In dienst van het volk, blz. 17.

45 Jong L. de Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 5, blz. 800, 833; d. 6, blz. 175.

46 Ibid. D. 5, blz. 818; d. 6, blz. 167.

47 From 1831 (i.e. after the Belgian Revolution), the Dutch army participated only in the colonial wars.

48 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 9, blz. 1074.

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Political parties, including the SDLP, limited their activities mainly to holding informal meetings of their party members. Similar contacts continued after the occupation authorities banned all political parties except the Fascist one in July 1941,49 Many functionaries of banned parties took part in the publication of illegal newspapers.

The "Political Convention", created in the summer of 1940 by representatives of the six largest political parties in the Netherlands, was transformed in the autumn of 1941 into the "Grand Citizens 'Committee", which in 1942 established its own working body of five people, called the"National Committee". This committee was responsible for developing plans for the post-war reconstruction of the Netherlands and was not associated with active Resistance. In the autumn of 1942, the "Grand Citizens' Committee " sent a petition to the emigrant government 50 for recognition as the provisional Government of the Netherlands during the liberation of the country. The Government, which at that time did not have sufficient information about this committee, refused to do so. In the spring of 1943, members of the" Big Civil Committee " were arrested. After that, a new body of five people was formed, called the " Patriotic Committee "and continued, in essence, the activities of the"National Committee". The right-wing social Democrat V. Dres became the chairman of the "Patriotic Committee".

From the autumn of 1941, the invaders began to implement a large-scale policy of Nazification of the Netherlands. An important tool in their hands was the NSD, whose number reached more than 80 thousand people .51 The invaders tried to force the Dutch to join various pro-Nazi organizations. The core of these organizations were members of the NSD, and around them, according to the plan of the Nazis, wide sections of the Dutch people were to rally. Such measures, however, met with strong resistance from the Dutch. In the "Labor Front" created on May 1, 1942, the invaders managed to lure only 200 thousand workers (out of 700 thousand workers united in trade unions at the beginning of the occupation). Almost half of the peasants refused to join the "Dutch Rural Estate". Of the 6.5 thousand doctors available in the Netherlands, 5 thousand did not want to enter the "Chamber of Physicians" 52 .

Since March 1942, after the decree of the German Commissioner for the mobilization of labor, F. Sauckel, on the new mass sending of Dutch skilled workers to Germany, the movement against forced labor to Germany has become even more widespread in the Netherlands. In April 1942, workers at the Welsen ironworks went on strike to protest the forced transfer to the Reich 53 . Strikes have repeatedly broken out in Limburg's coal mines, sparked by attempts by the occupation authorities to force miners to work on Sundays.

Of particular importance for the deployment of Resistance in the Netherlands was the Battle of Stalingrad, which was followed by all Dutch patriots. The newspaper "De Waarheid" on October 10, 1942 wrote that " the heroic defense of Stalingrad is a decisive battle

49 At the end of 1941, the "Union of the Netherlands", which had long before lost all political significance, was also banned.

50 In the summer of 1942, regular communications were established between London and the occupied Netherlands via Sweden and Switzerland. In July 1943, after the arrest of doctor A. Oosterhuis, who had contacts with Sweden, found the so-called Swedish route closed.

51 Het Proces Mussert, blz. 149, 219.

52 Warmbrunn W. Op. cit., p. 45; Jong L. de. Verzet en Illegaliteit, blz. 6.

53 Sijes B. A. De arbeidsinzet, blz. 218.

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World War II", and called on Dutch workers to follow the example of courageous Soviet soldiers.

In the spring of 1943, under the influence of the defeat of the German-Fascist troops at Stalingrad, the rise of the Resistance movement in the Netherlands began. New organizations were created that included various strata of the Dutch people. The most active role in the armed resistance to the invaders was played by the "Resistance Council" established in March 1943, whose leadership included representatives of the Communist Party, Social Democrats grouped around the newspaper "Het Parool", and representatives of bourgeois groups .54 Already on March 14-15, 1943, under the leadership of the "Resistance Council", a number of sabotages were carried out on the railways leading to Amsterdam. The "Council of Resistance" tried to unite all organizations and groups of Resistance, but it failed to achieve this. Until the autumn of 1944, he had at his disposal about 2 thousand people to carry out various special operations .55 In mid-1943, the Communists included their " mil groups "in the combat detachments of the"Council of Resistance".

In early February 1943, a Resistance group called "CS-6", which included Communists, killed two prominent figures of the NSD. The Nazis managed to establish that this group included students. On February 6, the invaders organized raids on students in Amsterdam, Delft, Utrecht, and Wageningen, as a result of which they managed to capture about 600 people. In March 1943, the Reichskommissar demanded that students sign a "Declaration of Loyalty" under the threat that those who refused to do so would not be allowed to continue their studies. 86% of students refused to sign the shameful statement. In May 1943, the occupation authorities announced that all non-signatories would be sent to Germany. Only a third of those who were subject to labor mobilization came to the assembly points. The rest of the students were forced to hide from the Nazis 56 .

The culmination of the rise of Resistance in the spring of 1943 was the April-May strike, in which about 1 million Dutch people took part. The reason for the strike was the order of the occupation authorities to send 300 thousand former Dutch military personnel as labor to Germany. The strike began spontaneously on April 29 in Hengelo and quickly spread to the Twente industrial district. On the same day, workers in Eindhoven in the province of North Brabant and miners in the province of Limburg went on strike. The next day, the strike spread across the country, covering not only cities, but also rural areas. The "Council of Resistance" appealed to the population of the Netherlands to turn the strike into a general one. On May 1, the occupation authorities declared a state of emergency in the country. However, strikes did not end until May 4 in most cities, and May 6 in most villages .57 The invaders executed 80 Dutch people by court martial, 95 were killed and 400 seriously wounded during the dispersal of demonstrations. 900 strikers were sent to concentration camp 58 .

54 Istoriya vtoroi mirovoi voyny 1939-1945 [History of the Second World War 1939-1945], vol. 6, Moscow, 1976, p. 319.

55 Warmbrunn W. Op. cit., p. 196. In the autumn of 1944, according to some (perhaps exaggerated) data, the number of combat detachments of the Resistance Council was 3.8 thousand people.

56 The Nuremberg Trial of the main German War Criminals. Vol. 5. Moscow 1960, pp. 456-457; Jong L. de. De bezetting. D. 4, blz. 35. In the 1943/44 academic year, less than 10% of students continued their studies, and later they were completely discontinued.

57 For more information, see: Bauman G. G. The April-May strike of 1943 and its significance in the struggle of the Dutch people against fascism.

58 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 6, blz. 843.

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The Dutch Communist Party failed to play the same prominent role during the April-May strike of 1943 as it did during the February strike of 1941. In April 1943, members of the leadership of the illegal CPN L. were arrested. 59. P. de Groot was forced to go deep underground. Two of the three members of the CPN 60 reserve leadership were also arrested and executed . The party apparatus suffered heavy losses, as the Gestapo also dealt heavy blows to local party organizations. A new management of CPN was created, headed by Ya.Postma. In November 1943, the Nazis managed to arrest members of the second leadership of the Communist Party. The third leadership of the illegal CPN, which existed until the liberation of the country, was headed by J. Brandenburg. Despite the losses suffered by the party, the Communists were still the leading force of Resistance and their influence on the masses was constantly growing.

A radical change in the course of World War II, as a result of the Red Army's historic victories at Stalingrad and on the Kursk Bulge, also resulted in the activation of bourgeois resistance organizations. In the summer of 1943, the Dutch bourgeoisie created a "National Committee of Resistance". This committee, closely connected with the" Service of Order", considered its main task to organize a boycott by government officials of the activities of the occupiers to mobilize labor.

At the beginning of 1943, the Protestant "National Organization for Assistance to the Fugitives"was created. In August 1943, branches of this organization, which had 13 thousand members, were already available throughout the country. Its leadership, established in October 1943, was responsible for coordinating the activities of individual local groups. This organization provided assistance to all victims of the persecution of the Nazis, including the Dutch, who did not obey the orders of the invaders to go to work in Germany. In late 1943 and early 1944, more than 100,000 Dutch people were hiding from Nazi persecution, and in September 1944 - about 250-300 thousand .61 No less than 100-200 thousand Dutch families hid hiding patriots. One of the main tasks of the "Organization of assistance to the fugitives" was the purchase of ration cards. Some of them were obtained from officials who collaborated with this organization. The rest of the cards were obtained through attacks on ration card bureaus carried out by the organization "Fighting Squads", which is closely linked to the "National Organization for Assistance to Fugitives". "Combat squads" were created in the summer of 1943. Their leaders belonged to bourgeois Protestant circles, but there were also workers in their groups. "Squads" released political prisoners, attacked population registration offices, and killed traitors. Similar operations were carried out by the "Resistance Council". Unlike the last "Fighting Squads", however, until September

59 L. Jansen and J. Dieters were shot by the Nazis in October 1943. The newspaper De Waarheid published Jansen's farewell letter. Before his execution, this courageous fighter wrote to his wife and children: "I take my tragic fate quite calmly. I have always lived in accordance with my beliefs, and the principle of my life has always been a great love for working people... Jan Dieters and I fell in this gigantic battle of nations, just as thousands of people fell before us and will die afterward. But the reward for all these sacrifices will be a happy humanity... I have not lived my life in vain. It was full of meaning and content. So I go quietly to the execution" (De Waarheid, 28. X. 1943).

60 Communist Party of the Netherlands. Congress of the 19th, p. 74.

61 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, 1981, blz. 483.

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1944 was not actively engaged in sabotage. In September 1944, the" Combat Squads " included 1.5 thousand people .62
The "National Organization for Assistance to Fugitives" included the "identity card section" and the "falsification section", whose members were engaged in forgery of documents. 63 An organization called Natura was created to provide food to the fugitives and their families. Monetary aid to these people was provided by the" National Support Fund", headed by representatives of the bourgeoisie associated with the Resistance. For this purpose, funds received from wealthy people in the form of loans guaranteed by the emigrant government were used. During the years of occupation, the fund spent about 84 million guilders 64 .

After the April-May 1943 strike (partly due to the seizure of radio sets by the occupiers from the Dutch in May 1943), the importance of the illegal press increased. Seven major underground newspapers 65 were published in December 1943 with a total circulation of about 450,000 copies .66 In 1944, their circulation increased even more. There are also many new illegal press organizations. Some of them focused on post-war problems, ignoring the urgent tasks of Resistance, which was encouraged by the emigrant government.

In the first half of 1944, according to L. de Iong, about 25 thousand Dutch people were active in the organizations of the Resistance. The scale of the national liberation struggle terrified the London emigrant government, which in the spring of 1944 began to take measures to limit the scale of the popular movement, weaken the influence of communists in it, and direct this movement in the right direction. In the summer of 1944, the Minister of War of the emigrant government, O. van Lidt, said that he was afraid that " the Communists are the most courageous Resistance fighters." The emigrant government tried to prevent the national liberation struggle from escalating into a struggle for radical social transformation. In London, it was decided to declare a state of emergency in the Netherlands after the liberation and create a military administration there with broad powers and subordinate to the Anglo-American command. In June 1944, the 700-man military command staff was already prepared .67 Colonel X was placed at its head. Kruls.

In 1944, contacts between the "Council of Resistance", "Combat Squads" and the "Service of Order" began to take place. At meetings of representatives of these organizations, the leaders of the" Council of Resistance " stated that they did not object to coordinating their actions with the operations of the "Combat Squads", but they strongly rejected the demand of the commander of the "Order Service" P. Ya.Six to put officers from this organization at the head of the partisan detachments. Beginning in February 1944, regular meetings of the "core" were held once a week, which included representatives of the "Council of Resistance", the "National Organization for Assistance to the Fugitives",

62 History of the Second World War 1939-1945. Vol. 8, p. 222; Warmbrunn W. Op. cit., p. 193.

63 The "Council of Resistance" also had its own "section for falsifying documents", headed by the famous sculptor G. van der Ven, who died in the summer of 1944.

64 Jong L. de. Met Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 564.

65 In addition to the already mentioned newspapers "De Waarheid", "Het Parool", "Vrij Nederland", these included "Je Maintiendrai", "Ons Volk", "Trouw", "De Vonk".

66 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 472.

67 Ibid. D. 10a, blz. 80, 133, 174.

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"Fighting squads", "National Support Fund"and a group that rallied around the illegal newspaper "Trouw". At the beginning of July 1944, a month after the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy, at the insistence of the emigrant government and the Queen, a "Large Advisory Commission of Resistance" was created, consisting of representatives of 20 organizations. It had three sections: the left (which included the "Council of Resistance"), the center ("National Committee of Resistance"), and the right ("Organization of assistance to those in Hiding", "Fighting squads"). For reasons of secrecy ,the "Big Advisory Commission" formed a "Contact Commission" consisting of representatives of the sections, as well as the" Order Service "and the"Patriotic Committee".

The meetings of the" Contact Commission " soon revealed contradictions between the left and right sections. Representatives of the right section and the center opposed the proposals of the left section on expanding the partisan struggle, the need to implement serious social transformations after the liberation of the country. In the autumn of 1944, representatives of the left section of the "Grand Consultative Commission" issued a joint statement on the initiative of the Communists, which emphasized that after the war, a democratic state should be created in which mass unemployment and poverty of some and the wealth of other social strata would be eliminated .68
In August 1944, in anticipation of the imminent outbreak of hostilities in the Netherlands, the emigrant government appointed a board of trustees consisting of five well-known political figures of the pre-war period, headed by the former Royal Commissioner of the province of Utrecht, L. Bos van Rosenthal. Their task was to ensure "peace and order" in the territory of the liberated Netherlands until the arrival of representatives of the military administration. A little later, three more people were included in this board: representatives of the "Council of Resistance" and the "National Committee of Resistance", as well as a member of the "anti-revolutionary party".69 The bourgeois politicians agreed to accept a representative of the "Council of Resistance" on their board, provided that he would not be a communist .70 On September 4, the proxies entered into an agreement with Six, according to which they pledged to recognize the Service of Order as the only "legitimate" Resistance organization after its release.

In the summer of 1944, the "Resistance Council" further expanded the scope of the armed struggle. In early July, he created an Operational Center for the management of sabotage operations, headed by a former employee of the communications Department Ya. By Theissen. At the end of August 1944, the "Fighting Squads" also decided to switch to acts of sabotage and formed special sabotage groups headed by I. A. van Beynen. In late August and early September, British planes dropped containers of weapons for the Dutch partisans. At the same time, until mid - September, 80 containers were dropped for the "Fighting Squads", and only 12 containers were dropped for the "Resistance Council".

In mid-September 1944, the Allied command concentrated a shock group of troops on the Belgian-Dutch border and launched an offensive in the direction of Arnhem. The goal of the operation was to quickly liberate the territory of the Netherlands. On September 17, at the direction of the emigrant government, a general strike began-

68 Reuter F. Op. cit., blz. 103.

69 The largest pre-war Protestant party.

70 Jong L. de. Hel Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 611.

71 Ibid. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 641; d. 10a, blz. 122.

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stovka of railway workers, which lasted until the end of the war. The "Council of Resistance" and "Fighting Squads" carried out large-scale sabotage operations in September. Dutch Resistance units took part in the battles of Arnhem and Nijmegen. During the Arnhem operation, however, the Allies made serious miscalculations, as a result of which they did not achieve their goal .72 Nevertheless, until mid-November 1944, the territory of the southern provinces of the Netherlands was almost completely liberated by Anglo-American troops, after which military operations were suspended until the spring of 1945.

The emigrant government, trying to prevent the widespread spread of the people's war, in September 1944 tried to subdue the Resistance movement. On September 3, the Queen announced the merger of the armed groups of the Resistance Council, Combat Squads and Order Service into the Internal Resistance Forces (AFS) and their inclusion in the armed Forces of the Netherlands. Prince Bernard was placed at the head of the VSS, who was subordinate to the command of the Allied forces. A few days later, he ordered the formation of a "Delta Center" from the commanders of the combat detachments of the three above-mentioned resistance organizations. On September 16, he also ordered the formation of provincial, district and local "triangles". At the end of September, Prince Bernard appointed Colonel X of the Dutch Army as his deputy in the occupied Netherlands. A cat who had not previously taken part in the Resistance. In October, the Koot ordered the introduction of the principle of unity of command in the VSS, and stated that the leadership of combat detachments should be entrusted, as a rule, to officers from the "Order Service". On October 27, the Koot banned sabotage without a special order from the high command, and on October 28, it decided to divide the VSS into combat units and reserve detachments. The latter were not supposed to participate in combat operations: their task was to provide assistance to the military administration after liberation.

Koot's decisions drew protest from van Beijnen, and in particular from Theissen, who called Koot's actions "monstrous". Theissen decided to sabotage the decisions made by Coote. Then the latter on November 1, 1944, removed Theissen from the post of head of the Operational Center. On November 8, Teissen was arrested by SD 73 , and a few months later he was shot. On November 28, 1944, van Beynen was killed during a battle with the invaders. The death of these two outstanding fighters was a heavy blow to the Resistance and negatively affected the activity of the armed struggle. In addition, the British stopped dumping containers of weapons and ammunition in November 1944. They resumed their assistance only in the spring of 1945, when the Allies launched a new offensive in the Netherlands.

In January 1945, the Resistance fighters managed to thwart the occupiers ' plans to send 650,000 Dutch workers to Germany. The occupation authorities have issued an order to make it mandatory for all Dutch citizens aged 16 to 40 to register with labour recruitment agencies. At the same time, the Nazis falsely claimed that this was done solely for the purpose of monitoring the existing exemptions from work in Germany. Resistance organizations distributed leaflets that called on them not to believe the promises of the occupiers. Fighters of the "Council of Resistance"

72 Istoriya vtoroi mirovoi voyny 1939-1945 [History of the Second World War 1939-1945], vol. 9, Moscow, 1978, p. 279.

73 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 649. Teyssen's associates believed that he was betrayed by officers from the "Service of Order" (ibid. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 626-627, 632).

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and the" Fighting squads " threw grenades at the registration offices, destroyed the officials who worked in them - Germans and Dutch fascists. As a result, the Nazis were able to capture only 10 thousand Dutch. The number of fugitives from the invaders increased by the beginning of 1945 to 350 thousand people .74
At the end of 1944, the Communist Party of the Netherlands published the "People's Program", in which it advocated the nationalization of the means of production, the creation of a single socialist workers ' party and a single trade union movement. By the end of the occupation, the influence of Communists had increased in all sectors of society, including among the intelligentsia and former Social Democrats .75 In the winter of 1944-1945, the Communist Party began publishing the theoretical journal " Scholing en Strijd. In a telegram to Coote dated 18 February 1945, Prince Bernard, alarmed by rumours about the growing authority of the Communists, demanded that the CPN be "prevented from being armed." 76
In March 1945, the Koot made an attempt to dissolve the "Resistance Council", but the leadership of this organization refused to comply with his request. On March 21, Koot ordered the abolition of the "Delta Center"and " triangles". Six was appointed commander of the VSS reserve detachments. The SCD consisted of 60 thousand people. Combat units of the VSS consisted of 5,5 thousand fighters, but from December 1944 to March 1945, only 500 partisans were really active .77
In mid-March 1945, the Allies launched an offensive to liberate the eastern provinces of the Netherlands. 5 thousand fighters of the VSS took part in the military operations. Especially successful were the operations of the VSS in the province of Friesland, a significant part of which was liberated by the partisans even before the arrival of the Allied troops.

One of the most important episodes of the partisan struggle in the Netherlands was the armed uprising of Soviet prisoners of war on Texel Island, who were in contact with the CPN. The Nazis brutally suppressed the uprising. In the battles on Texel Island, out of 800 rebels, 570 prisoners of war and about 90 Dutch died. The losses of the invaders amounted to 460 people 78 .

By April 20, 1945, Anglo-American troops advancing in a northerly direction blocked the grouping of German-Fascist troops in the occupied western provinces of the Netherlands. Further advance was suspended due to negotiations between Seyss-Inquart and representatives of the Allied command. Representatives of the Dutch Government also took part in them. On May 4, 1945, the document on the surrender of the German armed forces in the Netherlands was signed, which entered into force at 8 o'clock. morning of May 5 79 .

The victory of the anti-Hitler coalition led by the USSR brought liberation from fascism to the people of the Netherlands. The leading role of the Communists in the Resistance movement 80, the decisive role of the Red Army in the defeat of the Nazi troops-all this contributed to the growth of the authority of the CPN, which received 3 times more votes in the parliamentary elections in 1946 than in the pre-war elections. The masses of the people demanded the implementation of democratic reforms in the Netherlands. The Dutch government was forced to go to a number of

74 Ibid. D. 10b, h. 1. blz. 141; Algemene geschiedenis der Nederlanden. D. 15, blz. 83.

75 Reuter F. Op. cit., blz. 114 - 115.

76 Jong L. de. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 635.

77 Ibid. D. 10b, h. 1, blz. 745.

78 Ibid., h. 2, 1982, blz. 1310.

79 Istoriya vtoroi mirovoi voyny 1939-1945 [History of the Second World War 1939-1945], vol. 10, Moscow, 1979, p. 260.

80 60% of CPN members died fighting the invaders (Pravda, 10. IV. 1959).

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concessions to the working class. However, due to political and ideological differences, the Resistance organizations were unable to act as a unified force after the liberation of the country. Due to the refusal of the right - wing Social Democrats to cooperate with the Communists, the Communist Party was unable to continue the traditions of the "Resistance Council" within the framework of the Popular Front policy. In September 1945, the Dutch government dissolved the SCA.

Military administration, introduced immediately after the surrender of the Nazi troops, remained in the Netherlands until March 1946. With the support of Anglo-American troops and the split of the working class, the large monopolistic bourgeoisie of the Netherlands was able to maintain its dominance.

The experience of the anti-fascist struggle did not pass without a trace for the Dutch workers. The traditions of the anti-fascist resistance movement were preserved by the Dutch, who during the Cold War years launched a struggle for peace, against the arms race and subordination of the country to the interests of US imperialist circles. In the 70s and early 80s in the Netherlands, this struggle grew into a truly popular movement against the deployment of American missiles, for reducing military spending and abandoning NATO commitments. Dutch supporters of peace actively advocate the national sovereignty of their homeland and the strengthening of friendly relations between the peoples of the Netherlands and the USSR.

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