Jonkheer (female equivalent: ; in the masculine only; ''jonkvrouw'' is used in the feminine, even in French; ) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used ...

Daniël de Blocq van Scheltinga ( Velp, 23 November 1903 –

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, 26 June 1962) was a Dutch

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

politician.

Before the war

After a difficult school period, he finally graduated from highschool at the age of 21. Through his marriage in 1928 with a daughter of the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

family von der Goltz, whose father had been a general in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he became interested in

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

and

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's policy of rearmament. Already in 1932, he and his wife joined the NSB, the Dutch equivalent of the German

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. He soon became engaged in the political work for the party, which ultimately resulted in being fired from his regular job. In 1935, he unsuccessfully tried to be elected as an NSB-candidate to the

States-Provincial The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States-Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. In 1937, he became the personal assistant of the co-founder of the NSB Cornelis van Geelkerken. Although he was a very dedicated and loyal member of the party, he gained the nickname ''Dom Daantje'' (literally: Dumb Danny) for his naivety. Nonetheless, he played an important role in the organization and administration of the NSB party. In 1937, he also was an NSB delegate to the

convention in

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

During the war

During the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, he and his wife were arrested by the Dutch government. After the Dutch army surrendered, he was released, and the head of the NSB,

Anton Mussert Anton Adriaan Mussert (; 11 May 1894 – 7 May 1946) was a Dutch politician who co-founded the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) in 1931 and served as its leader until the party was banned in 1945. As such, he was the most pro ...

, made him to the head of the General Affairs section of the party. In this function, De Blocq van Scheltinga became one of the closest advisers of Mussert, and also supported him in his internal power struggle against

Meinoud Rost van Tonningen Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen (19 February 1894 – 6 June 1945) was a Dutch politician of the National Socialist Movement (NSB). During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, he collaborated extensively with the Germa ...

, who believed that the Netherlands ought to be a part of a Greater Germany. In 1942 he was appointed as mayor of

Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a municipality and town located in the province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies north of that city on the N44/A44 highway near the Nort ...

. At the time, this post was considered important because of the large number of German officials and high-ranking NSB party members living in the municipality. He had his political rivals removed from the administration and replaced them with NSB members. One of the first rules he implemented consisted in ordering the German authorities to arrest and deport all the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

citizens from Wassenaar. After the assassination of the Nazi collaborator

Hendrik Seyffardt Hendrik Alexander Seyffardt (1November 18726February 1943) was a Dutch general, who during World War II collaborated with Nazi Germany during the occupation of the Netherlands, most notably as a figurehead of the Volunteer Legion Netherlands, a ...

, de Blocq van Scheltinga ordered a few dozen young to be arrested.

After the war

At the end of the war in 1945, he was arrested and initially sentenced to death. Later this verdict was changed into a 20-year prison sentence. In addition, most of his property was confiscated. In 1953 he was released (pardoned by then queen Juliana) and in 1958 he moved to live in Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blocq van Scheltinga, Daniel de 1903 births 1962 deaths Dutch nobility Jonkheers of the Netherlands Mayors in South Holland People from Wassenaar National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands politicians People from Rheden Dutch emigrants to Germany Dutch people convicted of war crimes Dutch prisoners sentenced to death Holocaust perpetrators in the Netherlands Prisoners sentenced to death by the Netherlands Recipients of Dutch royal pardons