Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War
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At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations. In February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta Conference that reparations would not be given in monetary form. The plan which was worked out in most detail was the one made by Frits Bakker Schut , and hence became known as the Bakker Schut Plan or Groot Nederland Plan.
In its most ambitious form, this plan included the cities of
Many Germans living in the Netherlands were declared "enemy subjects" after World War II ended and put into an internment camp in an operation called Black Tulip. A total of 3,691 Germans were ultimately deported.
Liberation
In the first year following the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945, dozens of pamphlets and brochures were published that focused on the integration of Western Germany into Western Europe and propagated annexation of territory of the former
The proponents of annexation joined in several local committees. On 19 June 1945, the Hague committee to examine the question of Dutch territorial expansion was founded. During a meeting of this committee on 12 July 1945, it was decided to split the committee into the Study Group Territorial Expansion (Studiegroep Gebiedsuitbreiding), chaired by Ph.J. Idenburg, and the Action Committee (Comité van Actie), which had as its primary function the education of the Dutch population about the expansion plans.
Six days later, the latter committee was renamed the Dutch Committee for Territorial Expansion. It was chaired by former
The Study Group Territorial Expansion set up many groups that reported about their findings. The final judgment of the State Commission would be largely based on the results of this study group. The Dutch Committee for Territorial Expansion published on the progress of the study group by giving out brochures and giving lectures. The annexation question however led to intense discussions, which led certain groups to go their own way and among other things found the Annexation Committee of the Foundation for Agriculture.
Bakker Schut Plan
Bakker Schut was the president of the National service for the National Plan, secretary of the Dutch Committee for Territorial Expansion, and a member of the State Commission for the Study of the Annexation Question and of the Study Group Territorial Expansion. In his expansion plan, he suggested to annex a large part of northwestern Germany. All the land west of the line Wilhelmshaven-Osnabrück-Hamm-Wesel would be added to the Netherlands, as well as the land east of Limburg, where the border followed the Rhine until close to Cologne, then diverging towards Aachen in the west.
In the A Variation of the plan, among others the large cities of Aachen, Cologne,
Areas to be annexed
The areas which were to be annexed according to the Bakker Schut Plan were the following then existing districts and cities.
No. | Name | A | B | C |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Norden-Emden | X | X | X |
02 | Wittmund | X | X | X |
03 | Jever-Varel | X | X | X |
04 | Aurich | X | X | X |
05 | Weener-Leer | X | X | X |
06 | Ammerland | X | X | |
07 | Oldenburg-Stadt | X | X | |
08 | Aschendorf-Hümmling | X | X | X |
09 | Cloppenburg-Friesoythe | X | X | |
10 | Meppen | X | X | X |
11 | Vechta | X | X | |
12 | Grafschaft Bentheim |
X | X | X |
13 | Lingen | X | X | X |
14 | Bersenbrück | X | X | |
15 | Ahaus | X | X | X |
16 | Steinfurt | X | X | X |
17 | Tecklenburg | X | X | |
18 | Osnabrück Stadt | X | X | |
19 | Osnabrück Land | X | X | |
20 | Münster Land | X | X | |
21 | Borken | X | X | X |
22 | Coesfeld | X | X | X |
23 | Münster Stadt | X | X | |
24 | Kleve | X | X | X |
25 | Emmerich | X | X | X |
26 | Lüdinghausen | X | X | |
27 | Geldern | X | X | X |
28 | Moers | X | X | |
29 | Kempen-Krefeld | X | X | |
30 | Krefeld-Uerdingen | X | X | |
31 | Erkelenz | X | X | |
32 | Mönchengladbach | X | ||
33 | Neuss | X | ||
34 | Grevenbroich | X | ||
35 | Heinsberg-Geilenkirchen | X | X | |
36 | Jülich | X | X | |
37 | Bergheim | X | ||
38 | Cologne | X | ||
39 | Aachen Stadt | X | X | |
40 | Aachen Land | X | X | |
41 | Düren | X | X |
Justification
Bakker Schut was aware that it was difficult to claim this area on historical grounds, due to the long-time German rule of the territory, and the historically German speaking population. Hence, he justified the annexation using arguments like increased power and greater security for the Dutch state. He furthermore considered the annexation as compensation for war damages and as a part of the population policy to be followed. Contrary to what might be expected, after an inventory he considered the natural resources of the territory to be annexed as insufficiently important to motivate annexation. In his view, even a transfer of the entire
Forced migration
A big point of discussion in Bakker Schut's expansion plan was the proposed forced migration of the original German population. Millions of Germans would have to be expelled to the remaining German territories, ostensibly because it was feared that increasing the Dutch population from 9 to 11 million people could cause trouble in providing everybody with food.
A pamphlet titled Oostland - Ons Land (East land - Our land) contained a complete schedule for the expulsion of the population, starting with all inhabitants of municipalities with a population of at least 2,500, all former members of the
Dispute
In the Dutch cabinet, a dispute about the annexation question arose. Van Kleffens promoted territorial expansion, while Minister of Social Affairs
Dutch churches objected to the proposed mass expulsion, because in their eyes the German population could not be found guilty of the crimes of the
Implementation
In 1947, the planned large-scale annexation was rejected by the
At a conference of foreign ministers of the western allied occupation forces in London (14 January until 25 February 1947), the Dutch government (Cabinet Beel I) claimed an area of 1,840 km2 (710 sq mi). This claim included, apart from the island of Borkum, large parts of the Emsland, Bentheim, the cities of Ahaus, Rees, Kleve, Erkelenz, Geilenkirchen, and Heinsberg; and the areas around these cities.
In 1946, about 160,000 people lived in this area, of whom more than 90% spoke German.[citation needed] (Because of language change processes since the unification of Germany, this was the case even in areas that had previously spoken "East Dutch" Low Franconian dialects.) This plan was a very simplified version of the C-variation of the Bakker-Schut Plan. The KVP considered this proposal much too small, while the CPN rejected any kind of reparations in the form of territorial expansion.
The London conference of 23 April 1949 only permitted some less far-reaching border modifications. At 12 noon that day, Dutch troops moved to occupy an area of 69 km2 (17,000 acres), the largest parts of which were Elten (near Emmerich am Rhein) and Selfkant. Many other small border corrections were executed, mostly in the vicinity of Arnhem and Dinxperlo. At that time, these areas were inhabited by a total of almost 10,000 people.
Overview of areas annexed in 1949 (from north to south)
- Uninhabited areas (0.3 km2 (0.12 sq mi)) between Nieuweschans and Ter Apel
- Uninhabited areas on both sides of the Channel Almelo-Nordhorn (0.3 km2 (0.12 sq mi))
- Area near Losser, 18 inhabitants (1 km2 (0.39 sq mi))
- Small border road near Rekken south of Haaksbergen
- Uninhabited area near Kotten (0.09 km2 (0.035 sq mi))
- Suderwick, small village bordering on Dinxperlo, 342 inhabitants (0.64 km2 (0.25 sq mi))
- Elten, small town on the Rhine, 3,235 inhabitants (19.54 km2 (7.54 sq mi))
- Small border road near Millingen aan de Rijn
- Beek and Wijlerberg
- Border road near Mook;
- Uninhabited area near Ottersum (0.05 km2 (0.019 sq mi));
- Border road near Siebengewald, four inhabitants;
- Two areas north and south of Arcen, sixty inhabitants (0.4 and 0.41 km2 (0.15 and 0.16 sq mi))
- Area near Sittard of 41.34 km2 (15.96 sq mi) inhabited by 5,665 people (Selfkant, governed under the name of its main village Tudderen);
- Border road near Ubach over Worms;
- Area near Rimburg and Kerkrade, 130 inhabitants (0.88 km2 (0.34 sq mi));
- Fixed some border-technical mistakes in Kerkrade
- Area near Eijgelshoven, 110 inhabitants (0.11 km2 (0.042 sq mi))
Return
Starting in March 1957, West Germany negotiated the return of these areas with the Netherlands. These negotiations led to an agreement (German: Vertrag vom 8. April 1960 zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Königreich der Niederlande zur Regelung von Grenzfragen und anderen zwischen beiden Ländern bestehenden Problemen; short: Ausgleichsvertrag, i.e. treaty of settlement)[3] made in the Hague on 8 April 1960, in which West Germany agreed to pay 280 million German marks for the return of Elten, Selfkant, and Suderwick, as Wiedergutmachung.
The territory was returned to West Germany on 1 August 1963, except one small hill (about 3 km2 (1.2 sq mi)) near Wyler village, called Duivelsberg/Wylerberg which was annexed by the Netherlands and remains part of the Netherlands to this day.[1]
See also
- Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War
- German reparations for World War II
- Germany-Netherlands border
- Greater Netherlands
- Luxembourg annexation plans after the Second World War
- Oder–Neisse line
- Recovered Territories
- Saar Protectorate
References
- ^ a b "Treaty Series - No. 7404 - NETHERLANDS and FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY" (PDF). United Nations. 8 April 1960. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ISBN 978-90-485-5203-0.
- ^ Cf. Bundesgesetzblatt (federal law gazette), part III, no. 181-1.
External links
- Interview with Perry Laukhuff, secretary of mission with U.S. Political Adviser for Germany, Berlin, 1945-49 Describes how amongst other nations the Netherlands tried to grab German territory in 1949
- 'Eisch Duitschen grond!' Comprehensive overview, in Dutch.
- International Boundary Study No. 31 – April 6, 1964 Germany – Netherlands Boundary. The Geographer Office of the Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and Research (MAP})
- Germany-Netherlands Frontier Treaty of 1960 United Nations Treaty Series
- Ónze schulden zijn hún schuld Photographs with transcription and English translation of a pro-annexation booklet published in 1945.