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Noble burgomasters. The German occupation of the Netherlands as opportunity for the nobility to regain power?
The revision of the constitution in 1848 ended the constitutional role of the nobility. Their national political power declined from the end of the 19th century in line with the modernisation theory. Data collected on all burgomasters for 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 confirm this trend at the local level: the percentage of municipalities with a noble burgomaster declined as well. Following Lammers’ sociological theory on occupation regimes, Dutch nobility could make use of the opportunities during the Nazi-German occupation to maintain or regain their power by taking up burgomasters’ positions. To avoid dismissal, the pre-war appointed burgomasters had to accept and implement measures imposed by the occupying forces. Our research shows that noble burgomasters were just as often dismissed as non-noble burgomasters. Also, noble burgomasters resigned as frequently as non-noble burgomasters in protest against the Nazi-German policies. Vacant burgomasters’ posts offered openings to obtain local power. Only eight of the about 550 newly appointed burgomasters during the occupation were a member of the nobility. Seven of them were a member of the National Socialist Movement (NSB) compared to about 337 newly appointed non-noble burgomasters. It looks like the German occupier failed in attracting the nobility to cooperate as burgomasters while the nobility wasn’t very keen in taking up these positions. Why weren’t there more noble burgomasters in power during the occupation years? Following Dronkers’ theory that during upheaval being of noble origin loses its significance, members of the nobility had to compete with pro-German NSB-members during the occupation years. Supporting Dronkers’ finding that the nobility used university education to regain power, the share of university graduates was twice as high among noble burgomasters in 1940.