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The involvement of the Netherlands in World War II began with its invasion by Nazi Germany on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands had proclaimed neutrality when war broke out in September 1939, just as it had in World War I, but Hitler ordered it invaded anyway. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family escaped and went into exile in Britain. Following the defeat, the Netherlands was placed under German occupation, which endured in some areas until the German surrender in May 1945. Active resistance was carried out by a small minority, which grew in the course of the occupation. The occupiers deported the majority of the country's Jews to Nazi concentration camps, with the cooperation of the Dutch police and civil service. In fact, the Netherlands saw one of the highest levels of collaboration during the Holocaust of any occupied country. As a result of that, with also the good population registers comparing to other countries, about 75% of the country's Jewish population were killed during the conflict; a much higher percentage than comparable countries, like Belgium and France.〔http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=253941 Anti-semitic stereotypes in Dutch paper spark anger〕 Most of the south of the country was liberated in the second half of 1944. The rest, especially the west of the country still under occupation, suffered from a famine at the end of 1944, known as the "Hunger Winter". On 5 May 1945, the whole country was finally liberated by the total surrender of all German forces. ==Interbellum== Dutch governments between 1929 and 1940 were dominated by Christian and center-right political parties. From 1933, the Netherlands were hit by the Great Depression, which had begun in 1929.〔 The incumbent government of Hendrikus Colijn pursued a programme of extensive cuts to maintain the value of the Guilder, resulting in workers' riots in Amsterdam and a naval mutiny between 1933 and 1934.〔 Eventually, in 1936, the government was forced to abandon the gold standard and devalue the currency.〔 Numerous fascist movements emerged in the Netherlands during the Great Depression era, inspired by Italian Fascism or German Nazism. Nevertheless, they never attracted enough members to be an effective mass-movement, though the pro-Nazi movement, supported by the Nazi Party which took power in Germany in 1933, attempted to in 1935. Nazi-style racial ideology had limited appeal in the Netherlands, as did its calls to violence. The interwar period also saw a significant increase in civil infrastructure projects and land reclamation, including the Zuiderzee Works, which led to the final draining of seawater from the Wieringermeerpolder, and the completion of the Afsluitdijk dike.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Netherlands in World War II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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