Arnold Meijer

Background

Meijer was born in Haarlemmermeer.

Career

Brought up a devout Roman Catholic and educated in a number of seminaries he soon became influenced by Wouter Lutkie, a Catholic priest and fascist. After a brief stopover in the Roman-Catholic State Party, which he found far too moderate, Meijer began to write for the authoritarian De Rijkseenheid and the General Dutch Fascist League"s De Fascist. He soon joined the League and, having inherited money from his father, launched his own journal Zwart Front.

Before long he had revived the Zwart Front name for his new movement and even visited Benito Mussolini with Lutkie to gain the fascist leader"s approval.

The Front failed to make much impact in elections, notably managing only 0.2% of the vote in the 1939 general election (although Meijer managed a 214% vote share in Oisterwijk). Despite the ban Meijer was allowed to simply retire from politics.

He was arrested on October the 27th of 1944 and was imprisoned in the former Steamship concentration camp in Vught until on May the 7th 1945 he escaped to Belgium. That same year he published a book about the treatment of former collaborators, Pruisische practijken in herrijzend Nederland!.

He returned to the Netherlands in 1946 to face a five year jail sentence.

He died, aged 60, in Oisterwijk.

Politics

As a result, Meijer"s faction was absorbed into the new National Front in 1940. He was released from prison in 1948 and returned to politics, writing for the Aristo journal which was sympathetic to Lutkie. He did not however resume his earlier involvement in party politics.

Connections

followers:

January Baars