immigration and two taboos in Dutch society

Submitted by myth (Germany), Apr 9, 2014 at 11:31

Charles, I agree with your statements about Denmark's protection of Jews as compared to The Netherlands. I confirm that most Dutch I know would come up with the same link between today's immigration troubles and WW2. Your perspective is the deportation of Jews and comparison with another small country. Only I do not think the perspective on WW2 as you describe it translates into NL in 2014. Here's my take on what really does:

Two taboos define the Dutch perspective on WW2 that leave two blind spots in the year 2014:

1. The Dutch government failed to opt for either Britain or Germany after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. The Dutch political elite maintained a neutrality for their own class while the wider Dutch population were bound to be in the conflict as victims. As a contradiction of that neutrality the Dutch Queen left for exile in Britain. Nobody addresses the taboo and says the Dutch Royalty deserted the population. As a common denominator the Dutch Elite deserted the population in the face of occupation and turned a blind eye on casualties. Today's mass immigration and violent crimes committed by those immigrants repeat that situation. Again, the Dutch Elite turns a blind eye on the neighbourhoods and quasi-occupied cities like Rotterdam they do not live in. On exile in the chicque neighbourhoods of Den Haag, Amsterdam, Haarlem or Wassenaar they maintain the distance of politcal-correctness. Here's where Wilders comes in, expressedly a man of the people, not the Elite, and calls for action. He voices the taboo that the Dutch Eilte deserts the population.
2. You compare The Netherlands with Denmark. You illustrate another taboo related to WW2: never compare NL with Germany, rather go for any other country. The Netherlands had a Nazi party of its own (the NSB) and did not need German occupation to share that ideology. The NSB even had Jewish members in their early days. That's just one example to raise eyebrows and dig deeper, ask questions. However comparing the Dutch NSB with Germany's NSDAP constitutes a taboo. In 2014 that taboo extends to avoiding any comparison between NL and Germany. Here are some questions to ask: Why is it that 2-3million Turkish immigrants pose a problem orders of magintude smaller than the Moroccans in NL? Why is there so much less immigration-related crime in Germany given that the threshold for criminal punishment in DE is lower and the sentences passed are longer? Does the Turkish descent vs the Moroccon descent of muslim immigrants account for the differences in integration DE vs NL? What makes ordinary Dutchmen burn cars on new-year's eve when Germany knows no such behaviour?

My opinion is this:

The very violent nature of Moroccan related crime and its frequency no longer allows for an off-the-shelf sociological explanation. I suspect that active or potential criminals are transferred from Morocco to NL in an organized way.

The Dutch legal system applies laws that are too weak to begin with and is indecisive in its law-enforcement toward real criminals. To put a finer point to this: the Dutch laws adapt downwards to the crime-levels rather than the police adapting upwards in numbers.

Maybe the NL-DE comparison accounts for Wilders' electorate. Strangely. his electorate sits east close to the German border and not in the big cities where Moroccans actually live in large numbers. Perhaps his voters compare their experiences in NL against similar situations across the border.

By the way, Elmer den Braber is about to publish his book

"Mijn vader was een NSBer" (my father was a Dutch Nazi)

http://www.elmerdenbraber.nl

soon. It is fiction.

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