De voorman: Henk Feldmeijer en de Nederlandse SS

Henk Feldmeijer became the 479th member of the NSB in 1932. From 1935 onwards he devoted himself entirely to the party, laying aside his studies in mathematics and physics for this purpose. This is when he started to radicalize. His zealous attitude helped him to quickly climb the ranks of the NSB, where he would always be one of the hardliners. He remained a fanatical believer in the SS doctrine of Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil) until his death in February 1945, on his way to the front in the Betuwe. Germanic SS Feldmeijer’s role in the NSB has been largely overlooked compared to that of Meinoud Rost van Tonningen. This is evident, inter alia, in Loe de Jong’s famous history of the Second World War. That alone justifies this biography, explains Bas Kromhout: ‘Feldmeijer is an interesting figure thanks to the important role he played as head of the Germanic SS. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered him to establish this NSB organization to secure the German interests in the party. He was supposed to set Mussert on the right path in the interests of the Nazification of the Netherlands. When this failed, the SS authorities considered putting Mussert aside and appointing Feldmeijer as the ‘Leader’. Racial purity Feldmeijer’s fanaticism and his status made him a competitor of Rost van Tonningen, who is generally seen as Mussert’s chief rival. Rost van Tonningen was older and had more status than Feldmeijer, but still Himmler had more regard for his younger rival. Feldmeijer was not only young and dedicated, he was also racially pure, a subject of doubt in Rost van Tonningen’s case. ‘Mussert was totally fixated on Rost van Tonningen and even wrote about him in his prison cell. This is why Rost van Tonningen has received so much attention. But Rost van Tonningen considered Feldmeijer as his main rival and Feldmeijer was a much greater threat to Mussert.