Realisation project:
Aletta, instituut voor vrouwengeschiedenis (©)
Timeframe: 1935-2008
Location: Netherlands
Number of interviews: 11
Thematic collection: Erfgoed van de Oorlog
DANS: https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zgv-ff3x
As a political organisation, the NSB also had great appeal for women. One third of the members were women, an unprecedentedly high percentage at the time. Since 1938, the National Socialist Women’s Organisation (NSVO), an NSB branch organisation, also existed and was open to women who were not NSB members. In 1942, the NSVO had 20,000 members. Little was known so far about the experiences of women who were members of the NSB or other National Socialist organisations. In this oral history project, women who were members of the NSB between 1931 and 1945 are interviewed.
Most of the interviews were recorded on audio only; the women did not want to be filmed because an NSB past is still a taboo. Central to the interviews are the women’s memories of their activities during the occupation, their experiences after Dolle Dinsdag and their internment after the war. The interviews reveal, among other things, that their membership in the NSB was hardly a conscious choice, because they had grown up in an NSB family. Furthermore, it appears that the motives for becoming a member of secondary organisations could vary widely. It is generally assumed that NSB women were, on average, poorly educated. From the interviews we can conclude that this image needs some adjustment. It also appears that National Socialism has lost none of its attraction for two interviewed women.