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The Cultural Mobilization of Language and Race During the First World War: The Interaction Between Dutch and Belgian Intellectuals in Response to the German Flamenpolitik

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the role of the neutral Netherlands in the Belgian language conflict during the period of 1914–1916. At that moment the Dutch became slowly aware of the German efforts in the Flamenpolitik to undermine the Belgian nation and support Flemish activism. Yet, this Flamenpolitik not only was aimed at Belgium but also threatened Dutch independence, as the German empire aimed to integrate both parts of Belgium and the Netherlands into a German Mitteleuropa. By mobilizing race and language as elements of cohesion between the Dutch, the Flemish and the Germans, German officials tried to win over Dutch intellectuals for these war aims. In this chapter, the very divergent Dutch responses to this German Flamenpolitik are examined. The Dutch responses went hand in hand with the formation in the Netherlands of three diverse alliances between Dutch intellectuals and Belgian refugees, coalitions that in turn were assisted, sometimes covertly, by the belligerent powers. Three types of alliances are analysed: one pro-German, one pro-French and a third that was simultaneously pro-Belgian and pro-Flemish.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Translations from Dutch into English are made by the author and Felicity Rash.

  2. 2.

    The studies of Lode Wils (1996, 2014) have been very fruitful in revealing the Dutch share in the German Flamenpolitik. But the focus on the role of pro-German Dutch intellectuals in Flemish activism has resulted in a tendency to overestimate the impact of pro-German Dutch intellectuals in the Netherlands and to omit other Dutch attitudes towards the Flamenpolitik. See also De Waele (1996), Vanacker (1991).

  3. 3.

    In transnational studies about the First World War in the Netherlands, the topic of interaction between Dutch and Belgian intellectuals is largely omitted (Tames 2006; Brolsma 2016). Sanders (2009, 2011, 2016) has examined pro-French Dutch intellectuals, while leaving out their interest in the Flemish question. Ham focuses on the interactions between pro-German Dutch and Flemish intellectuals (2008). Van Tuyll van Serooskerken (2016) highlights the complicated Belgian–Dutch relations during the war, while mainly focusing on political-military, diplomatic discussions around the Peace Conference in Versailles.

  4. 4.

    Other positions were, for instance, the pro-Flemish attitude of Leo Simons and Marcellus Emants who supported an anti-Belgian inspired Flemish autonomy but who to some extent kept their distance from the pro-German alliance (van den Steene 2001: 64–118),

  5. 5.

    Letter from Gerretson to Jacob Israël de Haan, 22.04.1915, Gerretson archives, National Archives, The Hague, 2.21.246/443.

  6. 6.

    The Dutch word stam is difficult to translate into English. In Dutch it literally refers to the trunk of a tree; in German it could be translated as Stammverwandte Völker. English “race” fits the meaning of stam, since Gerretson uses stam to refer to cultural, linguistic and ethnic relations and blood ties. Yet as Dutch and Flemish intellectuals far more often used stam, as Ham suggests (2008: 23–28). I will therefore refer to the word stam by using “tribe”, “kinship”, “kinsmen” and “family”.

  7. 7.

    ‘Vlamenprogramm’, von Kühlmann to von Bethmann Hollweg, 23.10.1915, Politische Archiv, Auswärtiges Amt (PAAA), Berlin, R4486.

  8. 8.

    Letter from von Kühlmann to von Bethmann Hollweg, 5.10.1915, PAAA, R.122708.

  9. 9.

    Von Kühlmann to von Bethmann Hollweg, 29.08.1915, see also reports of 8.05.1915, 30.05.1915, 5.06.1915 (Smit 1964: 23).

  10. 10.

    “Deutschland, Flandern, Holland”, 7.10.1915, PAAA, R4486.

  11. 11.

    “La Belgique au tournant de son histoire”, R72537, Bundesarchiv Berlin.

  12. 12.

    Letter from von Kühlmann to von Bethmann Hollweg, 9.05.1915, 17.05.1915, PAAA, R122708.

  13. 13.

    Letter von Kühlmann to R.A. Schröder, 18.10.1915, R.A. Schröder. Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.

  14. 14.

    Letter Greshoff to Anton Kippenberg, 22.08.1915, archives Greshoff, Letterkundig Museum, The Hague.

  15. 15.

    The history of Insel Verlag’s translation project is very complex and illustrates that intellectuals had divergent reasons—from ideological to professional and financial—for participating in belligerent cultural propaganda (Van den Berg 2014).

  16. 16.

    Letter of von Kühlmann to von Bethmann Hollweg, 24.05.1916, PAAA, R8324.

  17. 17.

    For more on the issue of disappointment see “Vlaamsche litteratuur in Duitschland”, De Telegraaf, 13.10.1916, 2.

  18. 18.

    See also G.S.S., “Dîner, jubilé, baptême”, La Revue de Hollande, 1, 1915, pp. 138–139.

  19. 19.

    French officials were less willing to support La Revue de Hollande. Piérard got support from the French Ministry of Arts and the Foreign Office, but other officials refused to fund the magazine, as de Solpray was of Hungarian origin, and as such issued from enemy territory (Pierson-Piérard 1971: 58–60, 256–257).

  20. 20.

    Letter from Maurice Gandolphe to Henry Allizé, 24.04.1916, 306 Propagande, Poste La Haye, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (AMAE)/Nantes; Rapport de Maurice Gandolphe, 12.05.1916, nr. 13, Papiers Berthelot, MP, AMAE/Paris.

  21. 21.

    Liste des membres “Nederland-Frankrijk” 1917, 306 Propagande, Poste La Haye, AMAE/Nantes

  22. 22.

    Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, 21.01.1917.

  23. 23.

    “La neutralité hollandaise”, 16.03.1916, Maison de la Presse, 14, Belgique-Pays-Bas, AMAE/Paris, 24.

  24. 24.

    Letters from Piérard to Van Eeden, Special Collections, University of Amsterdam, archives Van Eeden-genootschap, XXIV C66.

  25. 25.

    “De Vereeniging voor Letterkundigen. Jaarvergadering in Hotel American”, De Telegraaf, 4.06.1916, 8.

  26. 26.

    Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, 21.01.1917.

  27. 27.

    In general, Dutch intellectuals were far less charmed by the English claims to be the guardian of small, neutral nations. Great Britain increasingly pressured Dutch neutrality and lasting memories of the Boer War provoked deeply rooted anti-British sentiments among the Dutch. In many ways, France was considered to be the less threatening belligerent (Lobbes forthcoming).

  28. 28.

    See, for example, “Nederlandsche Belgische voordrachten”, Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant, 3.03.1916, p.3. Piérard was a supporter of the Walloon Movement which demanded more autonomy for Wallonia; he reconciled his regionalist ideas with his love for a mainly francophone Belgium (van Ginderachter 2005: 293; 303–304).

  29. 29.

    See also G.S.S., “Notes, faits et documents”, La Revue de Hollande, 1, July 1915, 138–139.

  30. 30.

    Letter from René de Clercq to Carel Adama van Scheltema, 28.06.1916, Letterkundig Museum, Den Haag, Collection Adama van Scheltema, C.2872 B.1

  31. 31.

    Van Vlaanderen, De Amsterdammer, 24.10.1915, p. 3.

  32. 32.

    Van Vlaanderen, De Amsterdammer, 1915–1916, see 5.12.1915, 30.01.1916, 2.04.1916, 13.05.1916, 30.12.1916.

  33. 33.

    De Kroniek, nr 1. 1915.

  34. 34.

    De Kroniek, December 1915, 2, p. 2. So far, I have found no trace of French support for this Dutch-Belgian journal De Kroniek (Lobbes forthcoming).

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  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Tessa Lobbes

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  1. Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Felicity Rash

  2. University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Christophe Declercq

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Lobbes, T. (2018). The Cultural Mobilization of Language and Race During the First World War: The Interaction Between Dutch and Belgian Intellectuals in Response to the German Flamenpolitik . In: Rash, F., Declercq, C. (eds) The Great War in Belgium and the Netherlands. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73108-7_5

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