Two brothers, raised in the same upper-class milieu, choose radically different paths. One resists during the war and becomes an icon within Dutch social democracy; the other ends up as a staunch fascist. Coincidence? Character? Or does it say something more profound about the appeal of radical ideologies?
In her new book *De rode en de zwarte jonker* (The Red and the Black Squire), historian and journalist Daniela Hooghiemstra traces the story of the two Van der Goes van Naters brothers. Whilst one brother found a place for romanticism within a democratic system, the other was spellbound by the feverish dream of a dictator.
After the war, everyone knew the ‘red squire’ Marinus van der Goes van Naters (1900–2005). But his brother, the National Socialist Willem (1897–1944), had been forgotten. Marinus, an anti-fascist Member of Parliament for the SDAP, was held hostage by the German occupiers during the war. After the liberation, he became the first party leader of the PvdA, founded in 1946. His brother Willem was a prominent member of the NSB and a supporter of Hitler. He died under mysterious circumstances whilst serving as an officer in the German Wehrmacht.
After the war, it was as if Willem had never existed. Historian Daniela Hooghiemstra set out to uncover the story behind the brothers who led such contrasting lives, and discovered that they had more in common than one might think. Struggling with homosexual feelings in a bourgeois society governed by strict Christian morality, the two aristocrats believed that secular ideologies could set them free.
Extensive source research, unique personal documents and interviews with family members have yielded a fascinating family history, which sheds new light on the interplay between male identity, imagination, idealism and dictatorship.
The Hurgronje Family Fund has made a financial contribution towards the publication of this book.
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