Evidence that confused the country! The former prince turned out to be a ‘Nazi’

Evidence that Consort Bernhard, who died in the Netherlands, was a member of the Nazi Party caused confusion in the country.

Former director of the Dutch Royal Archives, Flip Maarschakerweerd, stated that he found Bernhard’s original NSDAP membership card in his private archives in Soestdijk, which they inventoried after his death in 2004.

Maarschakerweerd claimed that he was surprised to find his membership card and correspondence regarding the cancellation of his membership in 1936, when he became engaged to Princess Juliana, and stated that he expected them to be in Germany as they were German documents.

Maarschakerweerd receives a 1949 letter from Lucius Clay, military administrator of the American sector in Germany: “Dear Prince Bernhard, I have kept these documents in my safe for many years. “I was going to destroy them, but I thought you had the right to destroy them yourself.” He said that when he found the written note he understood the matter.

ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS NOT A MEMBER OF THE NAZI PARTY

In an interview he gave shortly before his death, the Prince Consort said that he was never a member of the Nazi party and did not have a membership card.

Historians Gerard Aalders and Coen Hilbrink stated in their book De affaire Sanders, published in 1996, that they found copies of the documents in question.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands had given Maarschakerweerd access to all royal archives related to the war.