{"id":143905,"date":"2023-10-05T16:14:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T16:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/?p=143905"},"modified":"2023-10-05T16:14:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T16:14:59","slug":"nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Nazi membership card proves Holland&#8217;s Prince Bernhard &#8211; in charge of Dutch resistance forces in 1944 &#8211; joined Hitler&#8217;s party\u2026 despite his repeated denials until the day he died<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Bernhard was a German nobleman who married the Queen of the Netherlands<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>He was suspected of holding Nazi party membership for decades prior to death\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Dutch government has officially verified the legitimacy of a party card that shows Prince Bernhard, the long-serving prince consort post-World War Two, was a member of Adolf Hitler&#8217;s Nazi party.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Prince Bernhard, a German nobleman who married Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, vehemently denied any ties to the NSDAP party &#8211; which later became known as the Nazi party &#8211; up until his death in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview published shortly after his passing, he said: &#8216;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.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He admitted to being part of two Nazi organizations after 1933 &#8211; including Hitler&#8217;s notorious paramilitary group the SS &#8211; but argued that initial participation was a necessity, and later went on to lead elements of the Dutch resistance forces after the Royal Family fled to Britain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But in 1996, researcher Gerard Aalders at the Dutch institute for war studies uncovered a copy of his party membership card in a US university archive, sparking major speculation over his Nazi affiliations that dogged the Prince&#8217;s later years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then in 2010 &#8211; six years after the Prince&#8217;s death, historian Annejet van der Zijl discovered another membership card in a German archive showing he&#8217;d joined the Nazi party as a student in April 1933.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it has emerged that former head of the Dutch royal family&#8217;s palace archives, Flip Maarschalkerweerd, found the original membership card in the Prince&#8217;s personal effects &#8211; and its authenticity has been officially verified by government officials.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211309-12598205-image-m-9_1696519771320.jpg\" height=\"868\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Prince Bernhard had a membership card of the NSDAP. Prince Bernhard denied that he was a member of Adolf Hitler&#8217;s Nazi party until his death in 2004<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211307-12598205-image-a-5_1696519739399.jpg\" height=\"393\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Prince Bernhard&#8217;s Nazi party membership card<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211311-12598205-image-m-8_1696519751285.jpg\" height=\"651\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Prince Bernhard is pictured in 1937, shortly before the start of WWII<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211345-12598205-image-a-4_1696519736670.jpg\" height=\"492\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A photograph of Adolf Hitler with his bodyguards at mass meeting of the Nazi party in Bad Harzburg in 1931. Prince Bernhard joined the Nazi party as a student in April of 1933<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the revelation, Aalders asserted on social media that &#8216;Prince Bernhard lied to the bitter end about his Nazi past.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And Dutch King Willem-Alexander said:\u00a0&#8216;I can well imagine that the news has a major impact and evokes many emotions, especially among the Jewish community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But I am convinced that we have to face the past, even the less beautiful parts of the past.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Married to Dutch Princess Juliana in 1937, Bernhard escorted the Dutch royal family in exile after the Second World War broke out, yet he was never fully trusted by British security services.<\/p>\n<p>Despite participating in a Dutch royal broadcast via the BBC in 1943, performing duties as an RAF pilot and ultimately leading the unified Dutch resistance forces in 1944, Bernhard was never able to shake the suspicions he was involved with the Nazis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Juliana&#8217;s ascension to queen in 1948 saw Bernhard become prince consort, but his credibility remained tarnished.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The revelation of the Nazi party card, seen as final confirmation of the Prince&#8217;s past affiliations, will send shockwaves through the Dutch military community, particularly among aged veterans those who had participated in the Dutch resistance and commemorated the liberation alongside the prince.<\/p>\n<p>The Prince regularly took part in commemorative processions and was pictured in May 2004, just months before his death, greeting WWII veterans at a Victory Day event.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76212179-12598205-image-a-14_1696520905577.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Dutch King Willem-Alexander said: &#8216;I can well imagine that the news has a major impact and evokes many emotions, especially among the Jewish community. But I am convinced that we have to face the past, even the less beautiful parts of the past&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211351-12598205-image-a-10_1696519794348.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Adolf Hitler (1889 &#8211; 1945), accompanied by other Nazi party officials, walks down a staircase at the 1938 Annual Reichs Party Congress, Nuremburg, Germany<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/05\/16\/76211347-12598205-image-m-13_1696519829732.jpg\" height=\"503\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Adolf Hitler (L) with his deputy and private secretary, Rudolf Hess, at a Nazi Party meeting shortly before the beginning of World War II<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch royal house swiftly confirmed the card&#8217;s existence, but immediately emphasised the current King Willem-Alexander&#8217;s commitment to independent research and understanding the kingdom&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I also have the option of removing things from the archive, but I have decided not to do that. I believe that the entire archive should be available as transparently as possible, for the purposes of historiography,&#8217; a statement from the King read.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, calls for an investigation have emerged from political parties and Jewish groups, urging the Netherlands&#8217; caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte to address the disturbing development.<\/p>\n<p>Rutte, who himself was a historian prior to his political career &#8211; said &#8211; research has already shown &#8216;quite convincingly&#8217; that Bernhard was a member of the party and commended King Willem-Alexander for his open stance on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think this shows that this royal family is completely transparent,&#8217; Rutte said. &#8216;And I think that is also part of a mature monarchy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>However, Rutte refused to confirm how long he and King Willem-Alexander had known about the existence of Bernhard&#8217;s membership card prior to the official announcement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Constitutionally I can never say anything about my contact with the King,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12598205\/Nazi-membership-card-proves-Hollands-Prince-Bernhard-charge-Dutch-resistance-forces-1944-joined-Hitlers-party-despite-repeated-denials-day-died.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nazi membership card proves Holland&#8217;s Prince Bernhard &#8211; in charge of Dutch resistance forces in 1944 &#8211; joined Hitler&#8217;s party\u2026 despite his repeated denials until&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&amp;apos;s party - Celebrity WShow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&amp;apos;s party - Celebrity WShow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nazi membership card proves Holland&#8217;s Prince Bernhard &#8211; in charge of Dutch resistance forces in 1944 &#8211; joined Hitler&#8217;s party\u2026 despite his repeated denials until&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celebrity WShow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Nazi-membership-card-shows-Dutch-Prince-Bernhard-joined-Hitlers-party.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/\",\"name\":\"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party - Celebrity WShow\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"World News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/category\/world-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrity WShow\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party - Celebrity WShow","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party - Celebrity WShow","og_description":"Nazi membership card proves Holland&#8217;s Prince Bernhard &#8211; in charge of Dutch resistance forces in 1944 &#8211; joined Hitler&#8217;s party\u2026 despite his repeated denials until&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/","og_site_name":"Celebrity WShow","article_published_time":"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Nazi-membership-card-shows-Dutch-Prince-Bernhard-joined-Hitlers-party.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/","url":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/","name":"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party - Celebrity WShow","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-05T16:14:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/world-news\/nazi-membership-card-shows-dutch-prince-bernhard-joined-hitlers-party\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"World News","item":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/category\/world-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Nazi membership card shows Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler&apos;s party"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/","name":"Celebrity WShow","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritywshow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}