Jan Baars

Joannes Antonius Baars (Amsterdam, 30 June 1903 – Andijk, 22 April 1989) was a leading Dutch fascist during the 1930s.

Jan Baars
Jan Baars in 1931
Born
Joannes Antonius Baars

(1903-06-30)30 June 1903
Amsterdam
Died22 April 1989(1989-04-22) (aged 85)
Andijk
CitizenshipDutch
OccupationMarket trader
Known forFascist politician
Political partyGeneral Dutch Fascist League

During the 1920s Baars emerged as part of the group associated with De Bezem, a fascist journal aimed at the poor.[1] The magazine split in 1930 and Baars supported Alfred Haighton over H.A. Sinclair de Rochemont, joining Haighton's Fascistische Jongeren Bond.[1] The two quarrelled in 1932 however and the rabble-rousing Baars soon set up his own movement, the General Dutch Fascist League (ANFB).[1] The stated purpose of this new group was to unite the various strands of fascism within the Netherlands under a single umbrella.[2]

Baars gained some support amongst the poor as his coarse, down-to-earth style of rhetoric could easily be identified with by people who spoke in the same manner.[1] This group joined Haighton's movement and the National Union in 1933 to form a 'corporative concentration', although Baars, who was a market trader by profession, had little time for Carel Gerretson, the university professor who led the new group.[1] He stood down from the ANFB as a consequence in 1934 and that group soon fell apart. After a brief involvement in opposing Anton Mussert and the NSB, Baars quit politics in 1936 and returned to market trading.[1] Having previously criticized Adolf Hitler's treatment of the Jews, Baars played no role in collaboration and was even active in the Dutch resistance.[1]

References
  1. Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890
  2. R.J.B. Bosworth, The Oxford Handbook of Fascism, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 454


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