Robert van Genechten | |
|---|---|
 Robert van Genechten (1940) | |
| Solicitor-General to the Court of Justice inThe Hague | |
| Minister for Education, Arts and Science | |
| Commissioner forSouth Holland | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 October 1895 Antwerp, Belgium |
| Died | 13 December 1945(1945-12-13) (aged 50) Scheveningen, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Belgian (1895-1945), Dutch (1930-1945) |
| Political party | National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands |
| Alma mater | University of Ghent |
Robert van Genechten (25 October 1895 – 13 December 1945) was aBelgian-bornDutch politician, writer, Nazi sympathizer, and a leadingcollaborator during theGerman occupation of the Netherlands.
Van Genechten was born inAntwerp and studiedjurisprudence at theUniversity of Ghent.[1]
After theImperial German forces invaded Belgium in theGreat War, Van Genechten wasted no time in collaborating with the occupying German forces. After the armistice and end of the war, he fled to the Netherlands, receiving an eight-year prison sentence in absentia.[1] In the Netherlands, he made a living as a lawyer and a teacher atUtrecht University, taking Dutch citizenship on 14 June 1930.[1]
When the statute of limitations ran out on Genechten's Belgium conviction he returned to his native country, but he later returned to the Netherlands to enter politics. Joining theNational Socialist Movement in the Netherlands in 1934,[1] he quickly rose through the party ranks, at one time acting as spokesman on education, and from 1938, editor-in-chief ofNieuw Nederland. As a regular writer on the rightwing paper, he expounded at length on his hatred ofrationalism andhumanism.[1]
In 1937, he wrote a series of Nazi propaganda articles,Van den vos Reynaerde, which was a re-interpretation of theReynard cycle attacking Jews. The articles went on to become a book in 1941,[2] and ananimated cartoon in 1943.[3] Given his pro-Nazi stance, he was interned by the Dutch government inHoorn prison during the 1940 invasion.[1]
His fortunes changed once the Nazis took control, and he was released from jail to take a role as the appointed Solicitor-General to the Court of Justice inThe Hague, where he presided over "peace courts" introduced byArthur Seyss-Inquart.[1] For a time he was also Minister for Education, Arts, and Science inAnton Mussert's proposed cabinet, but he never took power as the Germans refused to devolve power to the NSB and thus the cabinet never took office.[4]
As the occupation of the Netherlands wore on, he fell out of favor with the Germans, and in February 1943 was given the new role of Commissioner forSouth Holland, a demotion.[1] Reacting badly to his reduced role, he attempted suicide, an act that saw him removed from all positions because of his perceived unstable nature.[1]
After the liberation of the Netherlands byCanadian forces, he was arrested and sentenced to death by the Special Court. He committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell before the sentence could be carried out.[5]
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