Dutch People's Union

Founding years (1971–1973) The Dutch People's Union (NVU) was founded as a political party on 27 May 1971 by Guus Looy, with as key purpose to rehabilitate convicted war criminals of World War II in the Netherlands. In 1973, the Belgian Roeland Raes, vice chairman of the Flemish secessionist political party , also became vice chairman of the NVU—reflecting the desire of both parties to unify the Dutch and Flemish political scenes. joined the NVU and the party began agitating against the growing presence of migrant workers and Surinamese people in the Netherlands. According to a 1975 report from the Domestic Security Service, representatives of the NVU, including Glimmerveen, had been in talks with the Surinamese R.R. Nunes, who was said to be in contact with controversial Dutch military officer Raymond Westerling and who was alleged to have plans to form a mercenary army to seize power in Suriname. Glimmerveen had refused to work with the Surinamese G.A. Baker, who had also wanted to raise a mercenary army in which Glimmerveen, a veteran of the Korean War, had been offered to work as an instructor. In 1976, the NVU distributed an inflammatory pamphlet during street brawls between locals and immigrants in Schiedam. Glimmerveen became one of Kusters' biggest critics when he publicly aired the NVU's dirty laundry in 2003 and even threatened Kusters with legal action unless he quietly left the party. Nonetheless, the NVU was the most active far-right party in the Netherlands throughout the 2000s. During street actions it was supported by a Dutch chapter of the British neo-Nazi group Racial Volunteer Force (RVF). In 2015, the NVU attracted media attention when supporters of the party appeared in various municipalities on consultation evenings about the arrival of processing facilities for asylum seekers in the context of the European migrant crisis. The party has claimed close cooperation with the right-wing populist Forum for Democracy (, FvD). These claims were substantiated by, among other things, screenshots of bank statements of payments by the FvD to the NVU to rent a venue for a party meeting with FvD prominents Thierry Baudet and Theo Hiddema, and logs of Facebook Messenger conversations and email traffic between the FvD and NVU. Baudet has denied this collaboration, but did expel an FvD member who was also active for the NVU. == Criticism ==

One of the biggest critics of NVU leader Constant Kusters was Joop Glimmerveen, who had been the face and leader of the party since the early 1970s and its ideologue until the end of the 1990s. In 1996, after almost 11 years of inactivity, Glimmerveen handed the NVU over to Kusters and Eite Homan. Glimmerveen had given up party membership in 1994 but remained in control of the editorial rights of the party newspaper Wij Nederland. Kusters writes and edits the current party newspaper Wij Europa, which Glimmerveen could not stand for both its ideological course and its "shoddy production". In 2003, Glimmerveen published a special edition of Wij Nederland, subtitled (), filled with letters to Kusters, the latter's responses, and Glimmerveen's own vision for the NVU. Among other things, Glimmerveen accused Kusters of embezzling party funds to "supplement his meagre unemployment". He also threatened Kusters with court action if he did not sort out the financial management of the NVU. Abvakabo ban for child rapists and murderous pedophiles" In a combined effort with the Anne Frank Foundation, the former trade union Abvakabo forbade its members from being affiliated with organizations such as the NVU, ANS, and RVF. Other affiliations it proscribed were those of the ethnonationalist Voorpost and Netherlands National Youth (, NJN), the Dutch chapter of the British neo-Nazi group Blood & Honour, the Turkish ultranationalist Grey Wolves, and the NVU/CP'86 splinter group Association for Dutch Nationalists (, VNN). == Election results ==

The Dutch People's Union participated eight times in municipal council elections in different cities between 1974 and 2022. In none of these elections did party members gain enough votes for a seat on the council. The NVU also participated in the provincial council election for Gelderland in 2003 and 2007, but here too did not receive enough votes for a seat on the council. In 1977, 1981, and 1982, the party participated in the general election for the House of Representatives, but was unable to secure parliamentary representation. • Party was listed as Lijst Glimmerveen ==Notes==