The National Union () was a Dutch

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

active during the 1920s and 1930s. The Union was set up in 1925 by

Carel Gerretson Frederik Carel Gerretson (born Kralingen, 9 February 1884 – died Utrecht, 27 October 1958) was a Dutch writer, essayist, historian, and politician. Early years Gerretson was educated in a public elementary school in Rotterdam before continuin ...

and

Robert Frédéric Groeninx van Zoelen The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

initially as a study group with the intention of arresting the factionalism that was gripping the Dutch

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

at the time. The Union set itself the task of improving unity and entered into negotiations with a number of groups, notably the

General Dutch Fascist League The General Dutch Fascist League (, ANFB) was a Dutch fascist party. It was founded on 29 June 1932 and dissolved in 1934. The leader of ANFB was Jan Baars, a merchant from Amsterdam. History ANFB won 17,157 votes in the general elections of 193 ...

. Ultimately it came together with this group and the followers of

Alfred Haighton Coenraad Alfred Augustus Haighton (26 October 1896 – 13 April 1943) was a millionaire businessman and the leader of the Netherlands' first fascist movement. Fascism From a privileged background, Haighton was born in Rotterdam and was well edu ...

to form the 'corporative concentration' in 1933. This however proved short-lived and when it broke down the following year the National Union largely fizzled out.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *'' Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester P ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...

'', Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 18

References

Fascist parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 1925 {{Fascism-stub