Anton Adriaan Mussert was a Dutch politician who co-founded the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) in 1931 and served as its leader until the party was banned in 1945. As such, he was the most prominent Dutch leader of the National Socialism movement before and during World War II. Mussert collaborated with the German occupation government, but was granted little actual power and held the nominal title of Leider van het Nederlandsche Volk from 1942 onwards. In May 1945, as the war came to an end in Europe, Mussert was captured and arrested by Allied forces. He was charged and convicted of treason, and was executed in 1946.
Anton Mussert
Mussert's membership card in the NSB
Mussert giving a speech to NSB volunteers in The Hague, October 1941. To the rear are Rijkscommissaris Arthur Seyss-Inquart, general Hendrik Seyffardt and SS Obergruppenführer Hanns Albin Rauter.
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later Nazi political organisation that eventually became a political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s. Under German occupation, it remained the only legal party in the Netherlands during most of the Second World War.
Dutch WWII NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) cap
WWII Dutch NSB (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) armband
NSB Meeting (Utrecht 1941)
NSB Meeting (The Hague 1941)