Netherlands shocked by discovery of 'Nazi Party membership card' of king's grandfather

Prince Bernhard, the maternal grandfather of Dutch King Willem Alexander, died in 2004. He always denied being a member of the Nazi party, the ruling party in Germany during Hitler's Nazi era, although he admitted to being a member of several Nazi military units, saying it was normal for men his age at the time.

The Israel Center for Information and Documentation (CIDI) said on October 6 that "the discovery of Prince Bernhard's original NSDAP membership card is a new story in a painful chapter of Dutch history," although there have always been doubts that he was a member of the party, according to Reuters. NSDAP is the German acronym for the Nazi Party, the full name is the German Nazi Party.

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands during his lifetime

CIDI calls on the National Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) to conduct an investigation into the relationship between Prince Bernhard and Hitler.

"Bernhard's membership is not shocking: Most Dutch people already know that. But the fact that he continued to deny it until his death is frustrating," CIDI said in a statement.

In an interview with De Volkskrant shortly before his death, Prince Bernhard continued to deny the suspicion. "I can put my hand on the Bible and declare that I was never a Nazi," he said.

The Dutch government confirmed that the original Nazi party membership card bearing Bernhard's name had been found but rejected calls for an investigation.

Born Bernhard von Biesterfeld in 1911, he later became a Dutch citizen and served in Allied combat missions against Germany during the war. He married Princess Juliana, who became Queen of the Netherlands in 1948 and is the grandmother of the current king.

Internationally, he is best known as the founder of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1961. He was its president until 1977, according to AFP.

The Royal Netherlands Information Service said the card - which shows Prince Bernhard first joined the Nazi party in 1933 - was found by historian Flip Maarschalkerweerd. According to Maarschalkerweerd, Prince Bernhard may have forgotten he had the card in the vast grounds of the palace.

Photo of the original Nazi Party membership card of a man named Bernhard

As early as 1996, Dutch journalists published a book containing a photograph of a Nazi party membership card bearing Bernhard’s name that had been found in US archives, along with correspondence showing that he had left the party in 1936 when he became engaged to Juliana.

King Willem Alexander said the discovery of the original card in Prince Bernhard's private archives could revive painful memories of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.

"I can very well imagine that this news has a big impact, arousing a lot of emotions. Especially in the Jewish community," the king told reporters on October 5.

The latest developments come amid calls on Dutch social media to abolish the monarchy following shocking revelations and polls showing support for the royal family is waning.

According to a September Ipsos poll, just 38% of Dutch people said they still had “strong confidence” in the king, down from nearly 80% in 2020. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of those surveyed said they wanted the Netherlands to become a republic.

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