The Netherlands was once just as nationalistic as Putin
King’s Day is the day par excellence where the Netherlands celebrates being a nation, but for few people nationalism is still an issue. That makes sense if you look at how the Dutch view their own identity, says De Graaf: “In the Netherlands, we find Article 1 of the constitution, equal treatment, very important. But that is an extremely Dutch value,” she says. “You don’t dictate to the Dutch, you let them have their value; that is our Dutch citizenship.”
This identity ensures that many Dutch people do not understand at all that people from other countries want to give their lives for their country. She tells about someone she was on a talk show at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. “He said: I don’t understand those men stay there and fight. You’re just leaving, aren’t you? You’re just going to live somewhere else? Who cares?” It is exemplary of our culture, she thinks.
Divine calling for the Netherlands
But once it was different. In the seventeenth century, a number of Dutchmen saw William of Orange as a God-sent leader. “He was going to lead us out of the oppression of Roman Spain. The Prince is an instrument of the crucified Christ, who came to liberate the enslaved people and the enslaved Church.”
It was even thought that God saw a kind of second Israel in the Netherlands, says the historian. “The war in Indonesia was also made with an appeal to God, Orange and sacred history. That was pretty much considered a jihad.”
This mix between nationalism and religion is dangerous. It is also happening in Russia at the moment. An earlier episode of the Incredible Podcast discussed the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the current conflict. However, Russian nationalism is rather exaggerated. “Russia is not a nation, it is a multi-ethnic state,” says De Graaf. “Putin does things that are ultra-nationalistic, but he actually wants the czar empire back. But that was precisely an empire where many peoples and religions live together.”