The Bakker-Schut Plan: The Netherlands' Plan to Occupy Western Germany After World War 2

In the Second World War the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and annexed it to their expanding Reich. This is well known. But did you know that after the end of the war, the Netherlands tried to annex part of Germany and make it Dutch?
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#WW2 #History #netherlands

[@historywithhilbert]

Hi all! Thanks for watching - great to see so many people watching and enjoying! A few corrections: 1. I may have overstated the degree to which Eastern Germany (pre-WW1) was also inhabited by Slavic peoples. On further reading I found that German people made up the largest part of the populations here, and that following WW1 the regions that made up Poland were those parts of former Prussia with Polish majorities. The border exchanges after WW2 were due to Soviet desires to annex large swathes of eastern Poland, thus moving the Polish nation to the west by having large parts of eastern Germany become Polish. Notwithstanding, there were still a lot more Poles in eastern Germany (former Prussia) than Dutch people in western Germany, even if they did not make up a majority. So the point stands, only the detail of proportion is overstated. 2. At 13:00 I said the land was returned for DM 280,000, it was DM 28 Million - me not able to do numbers once again.

[@karlscher5170]

Is it so hard to mention, that 14 million ethnic Germans were expropriated and deported, of whom 1 million died?

[@gerritmeester3390]

Not quite. Territories with German majorities were handed to Poland after WW1; the town of Graudenz, which had a population which was 75% German was one example. There were no referenda in those towns and regions, least of all in Danzig (95% German population) which became a "free" city, forbidden to rejoin Germany regardless of the population's wishes. There was a referendum in Upper Silesia in which the majority (57%) voted to remain German, but which was not accepted by Poland. After several small wars The League of Nations, in which Poland was represented but Germany was not, arbitrarily awarded 75% of the disputed territory to Poland without any regard to ethnicities.

[@dinantvos8003]

Are you from the netherlands

[@ArnieC1974]

The hunger winter is due to our "beloved" queen who left with rest of the leaders and the gold (that never came back) she had that great plan that the Dutch should strike with driving trains. No trains, no freight, no freight no food! That easy! She should have been convicted when she came back! There name isn't even van Oranje and still cost us a lot of money! So don't blame the Germans for that hunger winter, blame that fat lady who named her self queen of the Netherlands! She gave the Netherlands away within a day she was gone! And again... where is that gold what she took with her with the government who also left the same day! We as Dutch didn't do a thing! We might as well be still Germany because they are better in everything! And please dismiss our king and let him work for his own money. They get 4 million euro a year for hanging around! Went on vacation in times of corona, again fleeing the country and left us behind! That's a second time! I rather be German than Dutch! And what is being Dutch these days? Doesn't mean a thing! The Netherlands is build up after WW2 and it was full! Now we have 19 million people from countries who try there luck here instead of building up there own country! Nice try what you did with this piece of history but this whole country went to sh!t and it will never be the same anymore!

[@EmeraldJlan]

At least 90%+ was german. The reason why its not german today is because the deported all germans there, and in Silesia, they even deported the native Silesians.

[@LordBitememan]

Allies: "Go ask the ocean for land or something." The Dutch: *gears start turning*

[@janelzinga1964]

Haha netjes

[@PlagueofRosesproductions]

breaking news: dutch people are moving to the english and norwegian border.

[@craigcook9715]

They didn't hear the story King Cnut, I guess.

[@peabase]

Ocean? The Dutch closed off an inland sea, turning it into a lake, and started reclaiming land there. The pre-war closure of this Zuiderzee was primarily a defensive measure to prevent destructive flooding during storms. You're making it appear like the Netherlands resurrected Atlantis or something.

[@TheEvertw]

The Lelyplan was already being implemented when the war broke out. So while funny, no, this didn't start anything.

[@niels.brouwer]

Fun fact: check out the 'Eltener Butternacht', when a load of exporters parked their lorries with goods like butter in the town of Elten on the last day before it was handed back to Germany. Next morning when they woke up, as if by magic they were now officially parked on German territory, without ever crossing the border and having had to pay the usual import duties. Honestly a rather genius move that saved them a lot of money!

[@Tuning3434]

Just was busy typing this. Such a fun and quirky tidbit of history.

[@hagnat]

was about to type this myself, glad to see more people remember this fact

[@bart3030]

Little did they know that by waiting a few years they could also skip the import taxes

[@davidschaftenaar6530]

That sounds like such an incredibly Dutch thing to do. 😅

[@jamesvandemark2086]

Never underestimate the cleverness of the Dutch.

[@HS-su3cf]

Drunk with success the Dutch would have continued, and re-conquered Charlemagne's Empire.

[@Shaman42069]

The Franks started in what is now the Netherlands, so that would make perfect sense!

[@boxsterman77]

The Dutch could never be such hegemonists. They would get too distracted with their first love: commerce.

[@ChristiaanHW]

They kinda did. The Netherlands is one of the founding nations of the EU. And the EU is now even bigger than Charlemagne's empire. Please don't take this to seriously.

[@jojojojo4332]

@@boxsterman77 wierd how most empires start with that.

[@jojojojo4332]

@@ChristiaanHW yes take this seriously, because we actually control the eu but make the Belgians look like the bad guys, we have the Germans as the body guards and the French just for the asthetics.

[@AlternateHistory]

Even Luxembourg had annexiation plans. They briefly occupied a part of Germany. At the end Luxembourg got Kammerwald from Germany but gave it back in 1959 for 58.3 Million DM. We got a better deal than the Dutch ;)

[@artembaguinski9946]

Everything is more expensive in Luxembourg.

[@ingydegmar2060]

Are you sure about that? a comment above mentioned that the part we kept has a pancake restaurant. I call that a win for us.

[@leflyxdvd]

@@artembaguinski9946 the hell are you on about? cigarettes in the Netherlands for a 20 pack is 15,50 you can get a 60 pack in Luxembourg for 16,60...

[@JaapNL-55]

@@leflyxdvd Hmm, so what, I don't smoke....

[@Borzasnyul]

Why is no one mentioning the temporary Belgian gains from Germany of the same period? Same story.

[@eastfrisian_88]

I was born and grew up in Ostfriesland and live near Wilhelmshaven, my family speaks Low German and it's my mother tongue, so I guess we could have stayed and I might have become Dutch. The East Frisian variant of Low German is really similar to Gronings and that helped me a lot to learn Dutch.

[@Ronnet]

Butterfly effect. Had all that happened then you wouldn't have been born. Neither would I for that matter.

[@xXTheoLinuxXx]

Moin! Ostfriesland and Groningen are both 'Oostlauwersfries', so yes we share quite some things in common. The family Cirksena (a kind of royalty) from Greetsiel was for a period of time in charge in the Province of Groningen. In the old coat of arms of Delzijl, you could see some signs of it. Emden took a lot of dutch protestants in e religious war agianst catholics. Oh and the first battle in the 80 years war against Spain (De slag bij Heiligerlee) we had support from Ostfriesland too. The biggest difference between Groningen and Ostfriesland is the tea consumption LOL

[@aheroyaheroyalproductions7631]

Gronings is "Nedersaksisch" ,a language from Groningen into the Achterhoek in the Netherlands and over the German border.

[@xXTheoLinuxXx]

@@aheroyaheroyalproductions7631 Ostfriesland and Groningen are both speaking a Nedersaksisch dialect with (West)Frisian influences. I'm born and raised in Stadskanaal in Gronings we call it 'Knoal' (the Frisian written form) but in Nedersaksisch it would be 'Knaol' tp give you an example.

[@FipsAsmussen-m8f]

This guy from Rheiderland /Ostfriesland sounds almost dutch to me kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4LHpH9ohLmHgrs

[@HistoricDefense]

Fun fact: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (while being a princess) married a German prince in 1966 who had been a member of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Obviously a good part of the populace didn't like the very idea and there were even protests against the marriage. Yet it did happen, and her husband, Prince Claus worked tirelessly to prove himself in the eyes of the Dutch people, and to mend the relations between the two nations. By the time of his passing (2004) he was one of the most beloved member of the Dutch royal family.

[@b.w.9392]

And than there was bernhard.....

[@Werkelijk]

Fun fact, Beatrix is 95% german 5% russian

[@Mohawkmarcje]

He had been a member of the Hitler Youth, he served in an anti aircraft crew. Nothing spectacular really.

[@jan22150]

​@Werkelijk how is Beatrix 95 % german. ?

[@Werkelijk]

@@jan22150 check the family tree. Easy to find online

[@andriesbakker4861]

Weird that the French Flag said no, seeing the French actually did support the claims because they hated Germany. It was America who was done with European Colonialism/Imperialism and the British who held the territory at the time and would be forced to take care of the displaced Germans who both said no way in hell.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

America was done with imperialism except their own.

[@andriesbakker4861]

@@RomanHistoryFan476AD That’s why i specifically mentioned European haha

[@alanbrookes275]

It conflicted with French plans to annex the Rhineland with overlapping claims. In the end though the French contented themselves with de facto control of the Saarland region as a client state until 1965.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@andriesbakker4861 Were all hypocrites ain't we in this world.

[@andriesbakker4861]

@@alanbrookes275 the overlap was minimal and these parts were not even part of the French occupation area at all.

[@ackaaa22]

The polish claim over all the German land that was given to them was just as flimsy as the Dutch claims, the Soviets just didn't care and were prepared to do an ethnic cleansing.

[@starhalv2427]

Soviets didn't care 'cuz they wanted to expand their own territory, so they pushed Polish people and Polish borders west. These Poles were as much victims as Germans.

[@DanielMendez18103]

The Soviets just pushed the polish people westward, so they wouldnt ask back for their pre ww2 territories, as now these territories lost all theri polish population

[@lisanalgaib555]

Yeah, the Russians are the OG land stealer. They are the biggest land by area for a reason. Even with a shrinking population they send hundreds of thousands of their soldiers to the death for some Ukrainian territory. It's in their genes.

[@Pietervandebuurt]

@@starhalv2427 Since when are Germans victims? Or is it sarcastic?

[@sammakkotonttu]

@@PietervandebuurtErm, since 15 million innocent German civilians were forcibly expelled from the former eastern territorries.

[@bananenmusli2769]

Münster is constantly sending a request for annexation to the Netherlands by having good bike infrastructure and the Dutch are ignoring it.

[@doomie21]

You have a source?

[@julianosvonskingrad7009]

@@doomie21: I am pretty sure that was a so-called "joke". A statement made for pure entertainment of the reader.

[@HerveMaas]

​@@julianosvonskingrad7009still, I would like a source.

[@bananenmusli2769]

@@doomie21 twust me bwo.

[@wolteraartsma1290]

as long as we get their WONDERFUL cheese

[@aarohalme1020]

Emphasizing the mixed nature of Eastern Germany is a bit iffy since the territories were almost entirely German, aside from some of southern Prussia and upper silesia. The Dutch annexation would have ofc led to German instability as stated though.

[@christeankapp6549]

agreed this was the only small inaccuracy of Hilbert's excellent presentation. In many areas plebiscite in 191-1920 actually confirmed extremely high areas of people who identified as German, namely in East Prussia and OberSchlesien.

[@domino2560]

Most of which that weren't had there inhabitants ethically cleansed like Germans anyway

[@thiccpasta8589]

Thank you, wanted to point that out as well.

[@omayaki5264]

Although in significant part due to germanization efforts in the previous centuries.

[@onurbschrednei4569]

@@omayaki5264 no, not really, it was mostly voluntary assimilation. Germanisation efforts only started in the 19th century and were a total failure. And the ethnic Slavic minorities in places like East Prussia were also ethnically cleansed after WW2 and sent to Germany, even though they were literally speaking slavic languages and the descendants of the original slavic tribes in the area.

[@bobkelly8644]

I was an American high school exchange student in Kleve in 1981. The mother's side of the family considered themselves Dutch. She had been banned by the Nazis from the Gymnasium due to being Dutch. A group of us Americans went biking one day up to Hoch Elten and then we must have come down to Elten. We found ourselves on the Dutch side of a border post without our passports. The guards just waved us through. Our German families told us to always take our passports along when going about in this area. Some of us made shopping trips into the Netherlands to buy peanut butter (pinderkaas), which you couldn't find in Germany.

[@Jaykk02]

pindakaas*

[@bobkelly8644]

@@Jaykk02 Thanks!

[@DarwinskiYT]

Wait isn’t Kaas cheese?

[@Jaykk02]

@@DarwinskiYT yeah, directly translated = peanutcheese

[@anotheruser9876]

@@DarwinskiYT In NL you cannot call something butter when it isn't butter, hence 'pindakaas' and not 'pindaboter'. Recently there was a kerfuffle over Roombeter.

[@MonsieurWeevil]

Ah yes, Eastern Germany.

[@TheStickCollector]

The Berlin wall wouldn't have happened if they managed to succeed

[@koffieatletisch]

🤣

[@TheStickCollector]

@@MonsieurWeevil my comment got deleted. Guess you can't mention a certain wall in Berlin here.

[@monkofdarktimes]

Now the richest area of Poland

[@Goblynn-s5l]

@@monkofdarktimesarea with the most toilets too. Wonder why polish & russians are so into stealing em & not making their own🤷‍♀️

[@AvrahamYairStern]

14:40 missed opportunity to say Schengenanagins

[@mercomania]

On the Polish situation you forgot to mention that Stalin was keeping the Eastern part of Poland the Soviets invaded in 1939. He just moved his new creation of Poland westwards into Schliesen and Pommern. Also keeping Ost Preussen as the new Soviet enclave of Kaliningrad.

[@potholer54]

Fascinating history, told in a mix of Geordie and Dutch! Thanks for the info.

[@pennyspencer450]

My grandparents too. My Oma couldn't bear to throw away the smallest scrap of food until it was green liquid, and my Opa had "hiding from the Germans" as a part of his CV. The hunger was a main reason for them emigrating to Australia.

[@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmo]

Typical cowards. Know what my Grandpa did during the war? Saved yours.

[@onn0]

@@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmo ?

[@mythakas]

@@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmo Bro chill the fuck down. Not everybody is a soldier.

[@pico22442]

@@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmo bait post detected!

[@Lemon.487]

​@@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmoThen why dont you go fight in Ukraine just like your grandpa if you're so proud?

[@tomtwo222]

Im a student from Groningen and originally I am from Ostfriesland. I think I and many other Ostfriesen, would like to be united with groningen and friesland, but in a way we are through europe :D However, one of those few deported people is actually my grandpa and his family who had to leave the border even when they spoke platt. So he left to east ostfriesland, to avoid dutch occupation.

[@HermanWillems]

yeah now look the Dutch Economy is going great, while the German one is declining. We heavily invest in internet, germany: No. We have plans to build 4 new nuclear power plants: Germany: Closes them. Dutch: Activly trying to get away from Gas: Germans: we love Russia, gas is green. Do you understand that we Dutch think the Germans are becoming more and more crazy? Maybe even go back to... WW2 thoughts? Afd... etc Where is Germany going and why are they not listening to USA and other EU countries.

[@lottifuehrscheim]

Meanwhile, nobody in the Netherlands though of finally solving the over four centuries old border conflict over the river Ems. It would have been very easy in 1945.

[@JusticeMouse]

1940s European countries try not to colonise each other (impossible)

[@geraldknupelpeter1014]

😂XD

[@gabrielsanders7292]

1970s African countries trying not to commit genocide against each other (impossible)

[@felixmustermann790]

calling pommerania and the region around Königsberg mixed is a joke, those regions were 3/4 german if not more

[@panzerofthelake4752]

Not after WW2, most fled West. Those that didn't were forced out, raped, and/or murdered.

[@Josh_0579]

@@panzerofthelake4752Many of the Germans would have come back. And it’s not like the polish were following the germans on their heels. Your argument is ridiculous

[@panzerofthelake4752]

@@Josh_0579 I never said it was the Poles, I should’ve specified that it was the Russians. My bad.

[@viktor8552]

If they wanted to stay, perhaps rhey shouldn’t have started a couple of wars. No sympathy for the aggressor.

[@Josh_0579]

@@panzerofthelake4752 The Russian army yes. But they didn’t start living there. If you go there now there are no Russian villages. It was deliberately resettled with Poles who themselves were often deported from the former eastern polish territories. It’s by no means a polish annexation plan but a Russian one. But it was certainly not right. Also look at how many Germans were deported or killed AFTER the war all the way to 1949. There was nothing natural about the territory changes. Especially the further west you go. Nobody would have expected Stettin to become Polish. Not even the Polish did. That was decided last minute by the Russians simply for the sake of taking a big city from Germany

[@PropagandalfderWeiße]

5:30 that is simply wrong. The last time Silesia or Pommerania belonged to Poland was in the 10th century. And all areas with a lot of polish population had been given to Poland in the treaty of Versailles.

[@Nakla]

Silesian is a dialect of Old Polish Thats why A its so close to Polish and B why even German Silesians speakers sound like Poles who speak German with a heavy dialect Germanization did happen especially after the Reich was created but yeah not all of Silesia

[@DB-lz7hp]

@@Nakla Bro you polish deported the silesians to germany. Yeah we silesians had polish ancestory, but this are my ancestors not yours!

[@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire]

Exactly what I thought. They want us to forget Eastern Germans.

[@sebe2255]

@@Nakla Parts of Silesia (mostly central and lower) had been German for centuries by this point

[@matthieuk6396]

Das ist nur Kaszinskis Propaganda !Schlesien ist deutsch seit dem 10. Jahrhundert, seit der Christianisierung. Dies gilt auch für Pommern, Westpreußen, Ostpreußen und später für die Provinz Posen.

[@BartDemandt1]

I used to live near the N274, it was called “The Neutral Road” and legend had it that you could drive as fast as you wanted on the part that was on German territory, even though the official speed limit was 80 km/h. The reason for this was that the road belonged to the Dutch so the Germans would not use speed cameras (Blitzer), but neither could the Dutch use flitsers because those would have to be positioned next to the road, which was German soil. Anyway, as you mentioned this situation is no longer as such. The road now does have intersections and is under German (speed) control.

[@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva]

5:10 - Uh not really. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth owned some of that land, but it had also still been Germanized in whole or in part by the Baltic Crusades. Silesia, Pomerania, and East Prussia hadn't been ruled by a Polish state for several centuries by the 20th. There were obviously Polish _people_ there, but this wasn't really land being returned to Poland, it was being given as compensation to the new communist puppet state in Poland for the Soviets keeping what they took in 1939.

[@karlscher5170]

Only the land was given. 14 million civilians were deported and their property expropriated. One million died.

[@patrickabas1112]

being Dutch and loving history but this I did not know, thanks for sharing

[@ErikOosterwal]

This episode was fascinating to me; it touched on things my father went through being raised in Rotterdam by a Dutch father and German mother as well as things my mother went through being raised in Schlesien by a Dutch father and German mother. @Hilbert Have you seen Paul Verhoeven's movie "Black Book"? I'd be interested in your comments on that movie from a historian's viewpoint. I'm not sure anything in the movie is about a specific event of the war but it seems to capture a lot of the general confusion and betrayal of the time.

[@HayaseMTSR]

I live right next to Selfkant in Germany and actually grew up there. We sometimes refer to it as "German-Netherlands" because the cultures are just so mixed there. You can speak both languages and be totally fine. We also call the L410 the "Dutch road" because it just looks so different from the others. For example it has bicycle paths which most major roads in Germany do not. It's an amazing piece of trivia you can tell someone when they come visit.

[@MarcelPolman]

The Dutch: Fine. We’ll just make our own province then.

[@Kitsu_ne108]

The way you said "operatie zwarte tulp" was so good it shocked me and i had to rewind to hear it again

[@glovesandsteeringwheel8222]

Fairly certain that the guy is dutch lol

[@Kitsu_ne108]

@@glovesandsteeringwheel8222 oh. Makes sense

[@geertenvink]

He clearly speaks Dutch, but I reckon he is not speaking Dutch day to day. His pronounciation is good, but as a native there's a bit of an uncanny valley effect. It's good but something is off in a way that's hard to pinpoint.

[@Leviwosc]

@@geertenvink: He's speaking Dutch day to day. He's obviously a native speaker. Everyone's pronunciation is a bit off while speaking another language.

[@ingydegmar2060]

Pretty sure he mentioned that his grandparents suffered during the hongerwinter. Not 100% guaranteed that he's Dutch himself, but along with his pronounciations you can be pretty certain.

[@Hrafnskald]

Just think, in an alternate timeline, Meppen was part of central Netherlands. Imagine all the glorious lands of Emsland under Dutch rule. The bombed out shell of post-War Hanover, with its lovely piles of rubble. Think of all those pieces of land that could be dug up, and used to extend the coastline of the Netherlands :D

[@Daniel-jm7ts]

Emsland basically looks like the netherlands already only difference would be that everyone would steak plattdeutsch and east frisian (nightmare scenario)

[@Hrafnskald]

@@Daniel-jm7ts Agreed. I've eaten Emsland seafood, and the thought of making steaks out of that while conversing in plattdeutsch and frisian is enough to make the blood run cold... ;)

[@JohnBlutarski]

​@@HrafnskaldThat bad?

[@glede2097]

We can still speak with eachother in our dialect in Ostfriesland and Groningen.

[@SanderSmit77]

Nice video! Frits Bakker Schut is written without a minus sign between Bakker and Schut. The minus sign is used for marriages. If a woman called Schut would marry a guy names Bakker, her name would become Bakker-Schut. But this is royalty, for “adel” a double name is written without the minus sign: Frits Bakker Schut.

[@Fromdownunder-dq6he]

Zeer interessant. Ik wil nu wel meer bekijken.

[@grumpyfatso3071]

Netherlands wanted to go naar rechts, rechts, rechts, but the Allies told them to stay links, links, links!

[@gauloiseguy]

Boomers and gen X in the northern part of the Netherlands grew up with: 'Eet je bord leeg!' (Finish your plate). My grandmother, without much tact but a lot of love, would add: 'Eat it when it's available' and 'a bit of a belly is good to have in bad times'. So yeah, the 'hongerwinter' marked three generations.

[@walterjoshuapannbacker1571]

It would have been really interesting for me since I am from a Low German speaking family in Friesland/Ostfriesland and when I grew up, I always had the gut feeling (supported by historical evidence) that we were a lot closer linguistically and mentality wise to our neighbours in the provinces of Groningen and Fryslân than to our neighbours in Lower Saxony. Historically, it would have made sense since until towards the beginning of the 17th century, the area was perceived as belonging together (going so far as the lyrics of the Dutch national anthem being composed in Ostfriesland, in the Lütetsburg), the language of education was Dutch in many parts up until the Prussian time and the language of the church much longer. We have had pictures from the early 19th century hanging in my parents' house for as long as I can remember and the descriptions on them are in French, Dutch, and Frisian. Even some synagogues in the region used prayer books heavily influenced by the Amsterdam tradition until they were placed under Prussian control. Also economically, it would have made a lot of sense - we are one of the poorer regions of Germany, but looking at the Netherlands and how successful they are with the same kind of landscape, we could have been a lot better off, probably (and with Wilhelmshaven, the Netherlands would have got a very good port - the only German deep water port). Maybe even some of the Jewish communities of the region might have been revived - since some of the survivors chose to remain in Groningen; they might have had more trust to return under Dutch rule (thereby preserving some of the unique Jewish traditions of the region). And think of some of the finer castles/palaces in the region that could have become royal residences instead of being repurposed as schools or administrative buildings ... 😉

[@Josh_0579]

Definitely a very interesting plan. I would love to see a “what if” video, especially because I would be living in the Neatherlands now if this plan had gone through

[@Freedom9X]

Or not, your ancestors would have been deported.

[@Josh_0579]

@@Freedom9X My Grandma had already been deported from Posen so I’m not sure what they would have done with them. But the others who had lived here for ever would probably have been deported

[@evilgingerminiatures5820]

Fascinating foot note, thank you for posting

[@vmycode5142]

A good video but i think your point about eastern germany being mixxed is a bit overblown, the vast majority of polish inhabbited lands, which used to be german were already handed over to poland after ww1, and much of the land which was given to poland had been german for over 700 years since the 1200s. So whilst danzig, and some of southern silesia may have had significant polish minorities, almost all of the rest was fairly homogenously german. I am no irridentist, but this point in your video is at best appologetic.

[@kacperolkusz3985]

Apologetic towards whom? Poland didn't wanted this land, Germany of course wanted to keep it, the only reason the border is as it is today is because Stalin wanted a big buffer state while keeping eastern Poland. Today Putin often flaunts this fact over polish government how ungrateful it is for supporting Ukraine while Russia "gifted" 1/3 of its lands. I mean nobody's happy with this arrangement but it is what it is and history cannot be changed. I wouldn't call it apologetic its just wrong.

[@lucasolbinski3269]

@@kacperolkusz3985 not to mention that Stalin took HALF of pre-war Poland, not just a bit, half... Now imagine Poland coming out of WW2, not only occupied by russians but also shrunk by 50%... of course something needed to be added... and of course, given what just had transpired, which, in case anyone is mystified, was the greatest and as such deadliest war in the human history,..... courtesy of Germany..... only 20 years after setting the previous world record (you gotta admire the consistency)... well then, yes she needed to pay, so it is what it is. Now 30 years after the end of soviet occupation, the free Poland turns out to be a pretty good custodian of those lands, it's no longer russkiy mir with its implicit mess and pathology. so far so good.

[@thkempe]

Danzig? About 3 % Polish in 1923. Is this "significant"? I don't think so.

[@tylersmith3139]

​@@thkempe Danzig the city was at least 10% Polish, what are you talking about? The actually countryside around Danzig was mainly Polish.

[@tylersmith3139]

That's doesn't the change the fact that even after world war one, there still was a sizable Polish and Lithuanian minority population in Eastern Germany. Southern East Prussia was mostly Polish speaking for example.

[@benvergus1573]

We did get the Isle of Schiermonnikoog as well though! Before WW II Friesland had sold the Isle to the German count Bernstoff. During the war it was part of the Atlantikwall and the last place of the current Netherlands that got liberated. After the war, the island was taken back from the German count as part of reparations and it was returned to Friesland

[@teidelmoo]

I know one thing that would have happened if the plan succeeded. My city would have nice bike infrastructure. Uhm weird question, but is it too late to get annexed :D?

[@wilhelmrk]

And you would not live there because so many would have been deported

[@jkr9594]

Well, at least in the rural regions most would have just continued on, on basis of their dialect allredy being more inteligable to dutch speakers than to germans, at least in my village.​@@wilhelmrk

[@rubentreingames6466]

Nederlanders. Als wij vriendelijk zijn kunnen uitbreiding krijgen iets wat wij echter sinds 1815 nooit van hebben gehoord.

[@rey_nemaattori]

You're still welcome to join. But beware, we have the same idiots in government as you guys 😅

[@rey_nemaattori]

​@@wilhelmrkI dont think anyone would be deported, as it would upset allies and their already immense immigration. If Bakker-Schut didnt plan to deport half a million people, even offering to take thousands in, it would have a much better chance of parts being accepted. After that its just a matter of naturalization, within 2 generations they'll be riding bikes, eating cheese and saying 'godverdomme'

[@bevbevan6189]

Was in Selfkant this spring and learned about this episode. The locals attribute it to their coal deposits.

[@HYDROCARBON_XD]

Damn everyone wanted to conquer Germany after ww2

[@RoyD_S]

can't expect to conquaer and not getting conquered yourself kek

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

@@HYDROCARBON_XD They expected to be the Master Race for a thousand years so don’t cry too much for them.

[@kennethadler7380]

So did the French ​@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935

[@thkempe]

@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 People seem to forget that the war in the West was declared by the French and the British (Sept 3rd, 1939), while German expansion into neutral countries to the north, west and south was a military consequence of that war, such as the British conquest of neutral Iceland and Persia.

[@silliestsususagest3276]

​@@thkempeGermany all but declared war on the west when it invaded Poland. The Germans knew the UK and France guaranteed Poland. Germany started the war.

[@Timmie1995]

I grew up loving the walks and pancakes at the Duivelsberg, so I always have this as my fun fact.

[@vidarrodinsson2237]

Mixed population in the East was in Upper Silesia (part of it went to Poland after WWI) and southern parts of East Prussia (stayed with Germany after WWI, because local Poles, Mazurians, were Protestant and pro-Germany). There were no significant Polish population in Pommerania, Lower Silesia, Lusitania.

[@tylersmith3139]

Yes, there were significant Polish populations in Upper Silesia, Pomerania, Warmia and Lusitania. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Poles_in_Germany There was also a large Lithuanian and polish minority in East Prussia. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Prussia#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20II%2C%20the,language%20in%20Warmia%20and%20Masuria. No one was denying that it's a majority German but there still was a large non-german minority. We're not even talking about Sorbians and Kashubians.

[@karlscher5170]

@@tylersmith3139 Your link doesn't say anything about your claim

[@vidarrodinsson2237]

​@@tylersmith3139 Sorbians are not Poles. Kashubians lived in East Pommerania, which was given to Poland (except Danzig/Gdańsk). Lithuanians are not Poles, and city of Memel itself was predominantly German (57% German, 30% Lithuanian). As I stated, among the territories of 1919 Germany, which were given to Poland after WWII, some Polish minorities were present in Upper Silesia nad southern East Prussia. Lower Silesia, Lusitania, Pommerania controlled by Germany in 1919, didn't have any significant Polish population pre 1945. That's what I said. Comment on what I said please, not just type in some facts that don't contradict what I said.

[@XboxAngryBirdsMinecraft]

​@@vidarrodinsson2237You all are wrong! It is Lusatia not Lusitania, Lusitania is in Iberia

[@vidarrodinsson2237]

@@XboxAngryBirdsMinecraft Yes, Lusatia, my bad

[@wolfgangpagel6989]

5:30 - The territory given to Poland by the Soviet Union was "incredible mixed" - that is outright false. Much of the territory - Silesia, Prussia Pommerania, Brandenburg - there was no Polish inhabitants at all or a tiny percentage. The German population was driven out, exterminated and the Polish people got settled from the former Polish territories now in the Soviet Union. It is morally wrong to justify genocide and ethnic cleansing no matter who is the victim.

[@LCTesla]

I doubt the Dutch ever seriously wanted that much land with Germans on it. Try a tropical country 4x the size, we'd love that.

[@drpepper3838]

We wanted the land WITHOUT the germans

[@MijmerMopper]

The ads where "german land withouth Germans". There was a notion to deport the inhabitants.

[@rbleisem]

More about the Rijn river and it's industry, really, plus the harbors along the coast. The actual money makers.

[@rr-zb3rh]

One of the posters says the Dutch want German territory without the Germans on it haha

[@ralphweber3965]

Thank you for your explanation. Though I'm American, I have many connections with the Netherlands. My best friend from highschool's mother was from Eindhoven. She was one of those Germans who may have been expelled. She had mentioned some of what happened. She is in her 90s, not much chance of getting more info. I spent 2 1/2 years in Leiden. My heritage is Schwäbisch, but I was so proud when my hospita told me, "Je spreek veel beter nederlands dan Prins Claus!" :)

[@edgeman1135]

They should've taken the estuary in East Frisia to give them extra trade power in the English Channel.

[@djaydenbraakman954]

ah yes, trading in the English canal from the Netherlands, wdym?

[@sebe2255]

@@djaydenbraakman954 The Netherlands is right next to England and the Channel friend

[@djaydenbraakman954]

@@sebe2255 that's the North Sea my friend I haven't in my whole life heard someone say here or anywhere else that's the Channel

[@BrianFoster-ji9fp]

Absolutely hilarious. Thank you for making my day.

[@jamesvandemark2086]

NO sense of direction? Should read WESTERN Germany!

[@ugbhffgg]

Northwestern if we want to be more accurate

[@aidenbooksmith2351]

dude, relax. mistakes happen.

[@keigezellig]

The whole Ruhr area being Dutch would have been nice economically 😁. Actually i lived in the area of the N274 before 2002 and cycled it many times and i found it rather curious not able to turn off it. Now i live also near the border in Nijmegen and have visited the Duivelsberg very often, which by the way is not from the word 'Teufel' but 'Duffelt' which is the adjacent German territory

[@christeankapp6549]

Fascinating to speculate. As a German who grew up in one of those to be acquired German counties ( Gulick/Juelich ) and studied in Aken/Aachen there is no animosity in the border regions in modern times I could detect. What would happen with languages? Just after WWII dialects were stronger than High German but High German still is the only way to put anything in writing. However dialects differ from county to county. Juelich is known as closer to German but areas around Moenchgladbach somewhat closer to Dutch. Yet you understood each other most of the time. It is in no sense homogeneous. There were many language islands which still exist and not just in Germany. B and NL have their share too when you compare nedersaksik with niedersaechische or East Belgium with Germany. However it is academic. In Karneval the Rhenic people would make fun of the "Dutch owners" just as the do of the German government today. In any case we all speak english more and more and live in a cosmoplitan culture that is distinctly universal european or western. The nation state is just about dead.

[@HighWealder]

You are right, Europe needs to unite, despite those Brexit idiots. Anyway my wife and kids are claiming German citizenship because my mother in law's origin

[@jarjars3261]

@@HighWealder European Federalism is the most dangerous ideology we have had in 80 years. It will only lead to the destruction of local cultures, languages and people, with ethnic cleansing and war as its result. Take a look at Yugoslavia to see how that ends.

[@sheeple04]

Most of these border regions dialectually had no issues understanding each other. Ostfreeschland speaks the same dialect as Grunnen (Groningen), just with certain words being derived from German where Gruns has it from Dutch. Its much the same in the Emsland (closest to Drents, Sallands), Bad Bentheim, Nordhorn and Kreis Borken (Twents, Achterhooks). Kleef/Kleve and Emmerik/Emmerich also speak/spoke dialects similar to whats spoken in Gelderland and northern Limburg. Issue would however be educating in Dutch suddenly, that would be a dramatic shift in the first decades. Kids suddenly having to be educated in Dutch rather then German, German only being a side subject. That wouldve created some weird situations. Perhaps the case for making Platt/Neddersassisk (Low Saxon/Low German) more unified on the Dutch side would be more strong. Irl the language wasnt recognised as such til the late 90s, here perhaps seeing that people from what was across the border speak the same language as eastern NL could maybe strenghten the case for it and have it recognised as a language earlier.

[@guanche011]

Excellent pronunciation of all the Dutch names! Just a small correction: the L410 was under German control for a longer time, and we've called it the 'international highway' for as long as I can remember."

[@micahistory]

last time I was this early, we were in a world war

[@TheEvertw]

Both my parents had life-long problems with their teeth as a result of the Hongerwinter. A terrible time.

[@strikemike7811]

3:05 Interesting backdrop you got there 👀😅

[@Brand131]

yea wtf

[@josiahmercer311]

Yeah, isn't that the Hitler jugend colors or something like that?

[@thorkushari4027]

The video creator is obviously a man of culture 😅

[@swampertdeck]

Eisch Duitschen Grond! I learned about this when walking the Pieterpad. It goes (or used to) through Germany for a bit, the part that was Dutch for a few years.

[@domino2560]

It was not a different situation, and those lands where often far longer German than they had ever been "polish", if they even where at all. The population was also not incredibly mixed but overwhelmingly German with several minor slavic ethnicities like Masurians of which most had before elected to stay part of Germany and where often like Germans Murdered and displaced to make space for Poles.

[@karlscher5170]

And it doesn't matter because they were all deported. 14 Million people

[@mantheman11]

"if they even were at all" yes, they were when Poland was created, those lands were inhabitated and by slavs, who later became Poles. Those lands were Polish from the start. Land up to the Elbe was settled by Slavs, to the point Berlin might have been originally founded by slavs, now guess what happened to them? Sorbian and lusatian slavs were conquered and assimilated, Poland was partitioned and then the slavs outbred on their own territories, then tried to enact a plan that would fully exterminate Poland and russia, so that germans could settle even more of slavic land, you fully deserve what happened to you in 1945

[@soldaatjhu]

2:00 my grandma's brother was almost traded for a bag of potatos. She wasn't born yet, but her eldest brother was around 4 and the younger brother, who almost got traded, was a couple of months. My great grandmother just couldn't give her son away despite starving. Crazy times.

[@henlofrens]

I don't understand the title. The plan was not to occupy. It was to annex. If post-war annexations are deemed 'occupations', then Belarus is now occupying parts of Poland and Poland is now 'occupying' Danzig.

[@skalderman]

Great plan. It always makes sense a little expansion given the sea level situation

[@thomasrinschler6783]

Yeah, that plan taking huge swathes of Germany just wasn't going to fly, and probably soured the Allies on the whole thing as soon as they saw that ridiculous map (I mean, really - Cologne?). If they had been smart, they should have just limited themselves to claiming just Ostfriesland from the start, which at least could be shown to have reasonable historical/ethnic ties to the Netherlands, and would have caused relatively minimal disruption to all involved.

[@MoLauer]

Yeah, but with that logic could also claim Nordfriesland and then the Dutch would have en enclave at the Danish border. And being included into the Netherlands would have endangered East and North Frisian even more, being lumped together with the much more dominant West Frisian. As part of Germany we can count on better minority rights. Which is kinda historic irony.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

Denmark and The Netherlands should have had a 100 km deep common border somewhere like Bremen.

[@thomasrinschler6783]

@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 there were actually thoughts on that for Denmark after the First World War, with Denmark possibly getting up to the Kiel Canal, or even all of Holstein. Just how much land would be included in the plebiscite actually caused a constitutional crisis for Denmark. They settled for more or less the language border in the end.

[@peterjones5243]

​@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935Still mad, Jew?

[@MoLauer]

@thomasrinschler6783 an independent democratic North German state with close political and cultural ties to the Netherlands and Denmark, would have been the best option. Low Saxon would have become the official language. Hamburg the capital. And finally, we wouldn't be controlled by South anymore. The ones who caused both world wars (NS being from Bavaria and the Prussian Royal family being from the southwest). I admit that we Northerners were dumb enough to bide into that awful ideology, but it wasn't our idea. Also, why was it only the North that was supposed to be territorily punished? I would have immediately given Bavaria to Czechoslovakia.

[@Warmolt48]

Wow did not expect you to be dutch, because your english sounds so neutral&good. but when you pronounced: "Operatie Zwarte Tulp" I heard the dutch :P

[@myriadar]

His accent is North East England but one of his parents is Dutch (or more accurately I believe from Friesland) 🙂

[@phartbay327]

Former East German territories were not very mixed actually. Pretty homogenous german

[@djaydenbraakman954]

not true

[@Borzasnyul]

It depends, It is not useful to talk about Former East German territories as if one like the other. In former Eastern Prussia a large area was Polish speaking and so was a part of South Eastern Silesia. The rest (a lot) were homogenous German speaking lands with very exceptional tiny linguistic islands (Slovintsian) in Pomerania barely surviving.

[@phartbay327]

@@Borzasnyul yes east prussia was an exception

[@sebe2255]

@@phartbay327 Even East Prussia as whole was majority German. Most territories with Polish minorities had already been handed over to Poland after world war one

[@MamaMia-go7co]

​@@djaydenbraakman954 it's true

[@brianbarker2551]

Reminds me of the Vennbann in Belgium, they took over a German railway but not some towns around it.

[@peabase]

We had a similar situation here in Singapore. Malaysia owned and operated a railway line that ran across Singapore, enjoying sovereignty over it, too. The terminus station had nice food, for which you paid in Malaysian Ringgit.

[@addeenen7684]

Ich kan auch low Dutch kalle. Ich bin van Belvend (Belfeld). Neemes hat mich gevrôag woa ich bie hüure woel. Mien oma is van Duisburg, en het zoel hèt worst gewêse sien. Wies der oorlog starte wôar ze al 60. Doerum bin ich veur Europa. Dee grens tussen Belvend en Bracht hat d'r nummer motte sien.

[@wolfgangpagel6989]

10:15 - Volksdeutsche is the term for German nationals not being a citizen of Germany. A passport holder is "Reichsdeutscher", which means that this is the status of every displaced person of former German territory. German nationals that were victims of ethnic cleansing in countries that did not belong to Germany at any given time would be "Volksdeutsche".Between 3 and 5 million died due to the circumstances of their treatment.

[@Eurobazz]

It was DM 280 million, not DM 280,000.

[@iamgott8730]

5:31 das stimmt so nicht ganz, die nach dem 1.Weltkrieg bei Deutschland verbliebenen Ostgebiet die später unter Polen und Russland geteilt wurden waren meist zum über 90 % Deutsch und Dies seit oft mehr als 700 Jahren.

[@victorsamsung2921]

True. Cities like Stettin, Breslau, Posen, Karlsbad, Königsberg and Reichenberg (Liberec) were 90% German at the time pre-WW1 and pre-WWII.

[@Zzzooooppp]

@@victorsamsung2921lmao Poznan wasn’t even majority German. Not even after intense efforts to de-polonize the land. German claims to Poznan are as ridiculous as Polish claims to Berlin

[@TheRudilueg]

The people are so similar in eastern holland and western germany and almost speak the same language. It is amazing how leaders from both sides can cause a generational conflict with no gain for anyone.

[@yetzt]

13:00 it was 2578355.96 Gulden, which was about 280 Million DM (280000000), not 280 Thousand (280000). You can find the primary source by googling the number.

[@AyubuKK]

Imagine Germany actually split apart into 4 separate countries after WWII

[@boxsterman77]

It would have worked. The synthesis of the German state is fairly recent and more or less driven by heavy-handed Prussians. For most of its history, Germany was a hodgepodge of principalities and duchies and that history still resonates at the local level. The Pfälzer is far from Prussian. Bavaria was its own Kingdom and is essentially separable. If the division was made thoughtfully, with special attention to the balance of powers, I think there would be several sustainable countries with identities unique enough to deter reunification. But then the problem would be France. History shows that when a powerful country borders weaker ones, it’s a temptation.

[@gregoryturk1275]

@@boxsterman77Try not to make Germany communist challenge: impossible

[@boxsterman77]

@@gregoryturk1275 talk about your incongruent responses. Oh, and I’m sure you don’t know what communism is.

[@nvelsen1975]

@@boxsterman77 Ah yes, because destroying, tearing apart and supressing the Dutch and Polish famously worked out fine and these days there's no Netherlands or Poland because groups like the Germans, Dutch and Polish with a shared identity happily submit to being broken up and never rebel and unify.... Honestly, are you trolling? It's hard to imagine you being aware of German nationalism, being aware that the German states were feudal units and not a country or nation, and still write such a post ignoring all that.

[@thkempe]

Imagine Germany been completely divided among its neighbors and its population deported to Siberia. This could have also been the outcome of the Second World War if the victors had agreed on it.

[@LennardA320]

Heerlijk het excellente Engels en tussendoor perfect gesproken Nederlands.

[@brianjonker510]

Denmark got a slice of germany. I always wondered why the Netherlands did not get its own 10 to 20 Kilometer slice?

[@OfficialDenzy]

They were Danish people

[@xaverlustig3581]

Denmark got a slice of Germany after WW1 due to ethnic considerations, and there was a referendum. After WW2 the Danish-German border remained unchanged.

[@janneslenkens5355]

as someone from Nijmegen I'm fully against taking land from others (I'm against borders at all), but the Duivelsberg is a beautiful area that I'm glad we kept.

[@rehurekj]

5:30 sorry but in most of the area Poland was given postWW2 was overwhelmingly German for centuries and territories with polish majority or significant minority were either already given to Poland after ww1 or held plebiscites and chose to stay German thats one untruth and second is they were polish in past. East Prussia was formally polish fief before partition thats 18century but was already for some time ruled by Germans and settled by germans by then and rest of the lands like Silesia and Pomerania was last time part of Poland around 13/ 14th century or for most part even earlier in history- thats over 6centuries, over 24generations, its couple of centuries before Europe discovered America or invented printing press, and around the time of Crusades to Holy Land and Hundred Years War, so claim they were returned to Poland cos they were once part of it is more absurd and more false than someones claim Ukraine is part of Russia. im not disputing fact those lands were given to Poland and aren't polish now I just have slight problem with BS justifications, so in short Dutch had just as much historical right to German land they claimed like Poland to the East German territories.

[@doomie21]

Het probleem met het plan was dat de regering van plan was om alle Duitsers uit het bezette gebied te verdrijven. Miljoenen Duitsers zouden naar de resterende Duitse gebieden moeten worden verdreven, wat een enorm probleem voor de geallieerden zou opleveren (want wat doe je met al die mensen?) terwijl ze al druk bezig waren met de opvang van de Heimatvertriebenen uit Centraal- en Oost-Europa.

[@djaydenbraakman954]

The lands were still Polish, if it was 1000 years or more, the origin came from there and the city names r still the same, just like Indonesia was Dutch for 400 years and people settled there, it wasn't that it was Dutch, it was still Indonesian cause they came from that lands

[@rehurekj]

@djaydenbraakman954 OK if the length of period of absence doesn't change the original land ownership then Polish have no right not just to recovered territories but to all current Polish territory at all cos it actually belongs to either German( before arrival of Slavs it's been homeland of Germanic tribes of which I guess Germans are the closest modern successors) or Irish as Ireland only sovereign state of modern Celts which were the inhabitants of modern Polish territory before Germans. Poland should start negotiations with Belarus and Ukraine and i guess keep fighting Russia for the actual original Slavic territory before their Drang nach Westen...

[@sebe2255]

@@rehurekj Germans are not the closest modern successor to East Germanic tribes, give it to the people wo live in Gotland because the names are similar and Goths might have come from that region. Jokes aside though, yeah it was German by that point and had been for centuries, saying anything else is just nationalist nonsense. But now the lands are Polish anyway so idk why they always whine about it so much

[@Marc42]

Wild story, thank you!

[@samipso]

This video makes it sound like it's completely nuts to make such demands.

[@acertainredpanda1115]

I think it's good that the Netherlands didn't annex large parts of Germany. Those lands were never significantly culturally Dutch, and would only create issues later on.

[@kimashitawa8113]

Local dialect had more in common with Dutch than German

[@tultrapfighter]

@@kimashitawa8113 language/dialect is only one part of culture.

[@kimashitawa8113]

@@tultrapfighter True, but the part that language plays in it should not be underestimated.

[@Seagull780]

Germany was never a cultural whole. The Netherlands and Austria were considered German for the longest time. It was only when they were not included in the unification that they began to be seen as really different. The language, religion and culture in the border regions are quite similar between the two sides of the border, even though the Germans have tried their best to destroy low German culture.

[@kimashitawa8113]

@@Seagull780 Exactly, we would've been "German" too if we weren't already an independent republic.

[@ХристоснашГосподь]

Incredibly underated

[@theChaosKe]

Poland should have never been moved westwards honestly. Its crazy how the allies agreed to stalins plan.

[@Robert-kb7dq]

Ik dacht eerst dat er een Engelsman aan het praten was. Tot er opeens Nederlands gesproken werd. Knap accentloos Engels! Hoe is dat zo gekomen? Oja, logischerwijs goede video :). Mvg, Robert

[@frank27a]

Insane plan, my grandad had a medal from the Netherlands for helping clear the River near Rotterdam of Mines while in British Navy not sure why the Dutch did not clear it themselves as one of the leading maritime nations for centuries they had the skills. When you see how Poland getting almost raised to the ground between Germany and Russia, you see why its land was returned to them from former Prussia. It was justified but for a Nation that basically sat out WW1 and 2 and was the nation that provided the most willing Volunteers from a third country to join the SS Reparations for the Netherlands… Insane

[@SemiLobster]

For languages, the Low Franconian language forms a linguistic continuum from the Netherlands, particularly in Kleve, Wessel and Dusseldorf. The German government had spent the past century attempting to crush local German languages, including Low Franconian. At the very least Dutch claims on this triangle shape of Germany isn't completely silly.

[@kimashitawa8113]

Exactly

[@hfricke2661]

"The German government had spent the past century attempting to crush local German languages" What are you talking? Where is the evidence? As for my Westfailan village no one was forced to speak high German. My Grandparents pre WW2 spoke local dialect and my parents grew up with it, but once working in a bigger city (evan so still Westfalia) it was just bit strange for tham, since most peole spoke high German with local accent. Different from Bavaria I guess we just lost the dialect, because of assimilation to the new time, a dont want to be seen as rural backward facing etc, . A kind of feeling was there to be describes as "sucsessfull people speak high German" so lets do that too and only use dialect at home with older parents plus "lets teach the kids high German , to give them a good start".

[@sebe2255]

These claims are obviously not based on vague historical language continuum maps though. Which were not even relevant anymore as Dutch and German had long since grown apart. If they had been based on this they would also have claimed more lands to the south and east (low Franconian) and less to the North (Saxon). They are based on the economic potential of the regions.

[@wolteraartsma1290]

Glad someone else knows about East Fryslan (no punctuation marks on this Korean keyboard!) being attached to the NL. That explains why some Germans have "Dutch" surnames - they must have been included in the 1811 registry. One thing right that Napoleon did right, only wish that he had been more generous and tossed in North Friesland as well.

[@VeLiiCe]

i would change the title....because eastern germany is in a complete different region :D

[@klaasbil8459]

Kudos for your Dutch pronounciation! (I'm Dutch)

[@Victor-07-04]

He’s Dutch too 😂 His pronunciation is just to good for him to not be Dutch

[@myriadar]

​@@Victor-07-04half English half Dutch as far as im aware, and from North East England and accent is this....

[@johndavidnew]

My grampa fought in Market Garten with the 101st Airborne Division.

[@karlscher5170]

they got their asses kicked

[@SaskatoonMonsoon]

Credit to that one politician who insisted on keeping that nature reserve so the they did gain *some* territory at the end of the day. 3km is 3km.

[@Sylvysprit]

2:33 Honestly, i am surprised that a history KZbinr such as yourself would still refer to the Indonesian War of Independence as the "politionele acties", especially in 2024

[@Zepoz]

Clearly positioned from the standpoint of Dutch men following WW2 for who it would be known as such?

[@dutchman7623]

He could have called it the Javanese colonization of the East Indies..., it would be more accurate.

[@Sylvysprit]

@@Zepoz Listen to it again, he says "as well as the fact that they would soon be embroiled in a conflict known as the politionele acties in their colony of the Dutch East Indies" He doesn't say "known at the time as" or "currently commonly known as", the fact that he ommits further elaboration on this is concerning The fact that he uses the word "fact" in the sentence doesn't make it any better either

[@aleksander5279]

Because he is part Dutch, why should he take the Indonesian point of view?

[@Ronnet]

​@@Sylvysprithe's speaking in present tense. "Their colony" so it's from the perspective of the Dutch at that time. A very common way of talking about historical events.

[@Macorian]

Thank you for this interesting story! A question I never really got answered: What evidence is there that the Germans willfully exacerbated the "Hongerwinter". The Allies had also bombed Germany herself into smithereens by that time, causing lack of food and other supplies.

[@williebrort]

I'm not old (25) and thinking about this very subject at least twice a year. Last time actually was about a week ago, so that fits nicely with your video. If you realize the damage the Germans did to the Netherlands, it is mind blowing that we forgave all that so relativly fast. In the end everything turned out great with the Schengen and the EU (at its start, because now it looks like it is turning to shit). The Bakker-Schut plan may have had a chance, if they didn't plan on deporting the people living there. The language barrier was lower back then and Germany had been devided so many times in the past century that the people probably would be sort of indifferent whether they would be Dutch or German.

[@MijmerMopper]

I wonder if Flevoland would have existed, given how much land there would be to govern already.

[@samcadwallader2899]

Your Dutch accent is almost as good as your English accent. Bravo!

[@sudjen]

Blatant lie at 5:25 West Slavic =/= polish

[@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire]

Poles aren't slavic?

[@sebe2255]

@@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire Poles are, but not all West Slavs are Polish. Sorbian, Kashubians, Pomeranians, Czechs, Slovaks are all not Polish

[@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire]

@@sebe2255 What are Sorbian, Kasubians and Pommeranians

[@sebe2255]

@@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire Well currently basically extinct or on the verge of extinction But they historically weren’t Polish. They were their own West Slavic cultures

[@SirGeorgeofWorcestershire]

@@sebe2255 Interesting. I will investigate myself, thank you.

[@poler44]

Wow didnt know you were dutch but after the dutch were appropiately pronounced I knew enough!

[@somebloke8405]

Just imagine the size of the Netherlands if the Bakker-Schut plan had worked and if the Belgian revolution never happened?

[@prorrie]

Een man kan dromen

[@tomtom2806]

I was born in 1961 and grew up in Holtwick near Bocholt in Germany, just behind the Dutch border. I would probably be Dutch today if the Bakker-Schut Plan had been implemented.

[@damnson0813]

Germans have lived in those eastern territories since Long before the Slavs came

[@chinchillatwitch7234]

I live near the duivelsberg, the part that the dutch kept from the germans. Its nice to walk there and I will tell you that they even have a dutch pancake restaurant there, typically dutch. So if the germans ever get any funny ideas, I am ready to defend my "pannenkoekenhuis"! On a real note, the border around wyler (german town), is a bit of a mess because all of it. And the road of wyler to the town of groesbeek or tivoli (which is a themepark in the city of Nijmegen) is used as a smuggle route from germany to the Netherlands.